Hypothesis on the informative principles of voluntary and involuntary attention: on the theory of non-systems and causal environments in causal dualism

The subject of this research is certain informative principles of functionality of human nervous system. In the limelight is the interdependence of consciousness and information, as well as the question in the spirit of anti-physicalist arguments: whether the conscious processes are informative, and thus physical, or require a categorical apparatus for description? The first part of the article discusses possible wording of some informative principles of functionality of nervous system that answer the question “why” rather than “how”. The second part is dedicated to the general classification of causal environments, as well as description of conscious processes within the framework of new possible terminology. A number of hypotheses is advanced on the informative mechanisms of involuntary and voluntary attention. With regards to involuntary attention, the author examines the mechanism for resource conservation, or filtering information, which suggests that the nervous system tends to consume resources for processing the rarer – and more information capacious messages. Such position complies with the law of conservation of energy. Voluntary attention is viewed on the basis of information interpretation of the Le Chatelier’s principle. Voluntary attention, resulting conscious actions, and responses of the nervous system (including creativity) are considered as informational messages aimed at alleviation of the impact of external environment, namely the level of information uncertainty. Such information approach prompts to view consciousness as a non-system or causal environment, within which causality is transmitted without transmitting information. The article provides the variant of classification of causal environments that may contribute to further development of non-informative (non-physicalist) approach towards the problem of consciousness.

Fluid Attention in Education: Conceptual and Neurobiological Framework

Attention is indispensable to our learning, performance, relationships, health, and daily life, and yet laboratory studies of attention have only scratched the surface of these lived varieties of attention. In this article, we begin with William James' theory of derived involuntary attention, which has largely been ignored in laboratory research. We then show that there is a gap in our attention vocabulary and the theory that underpins it, which depend on an incomplete voluntary/involuntary dichotomy. The negative effects of this dichotomy stretch beyond laboratory research to clinical diagnosis, influencing how we understand so-called attention deficits. To fill the gap between voluntary and involuntary, we introduce a third kind of attention—fluid attention (also called postvoluntary attention), which is goal-directed and selective, like voluntary attention, but also effortless and drawn to its source, like involuntary attention. Fluid attention is a rediscovery of James' derived involuntary attention. A distinguishing feature of fluid attention is its motivational component, which, we show, neurophysiologically also reveals a gap in the neurocognitive literature on attention. Recognizing fluid attention as fundamentally motivational allows ADHD to be redefined as a motivational rather than an attentional deficit, which we go on to show has significant implications for both special and regular education.

An image-computable model of how endogenous and exogenous attention differentially alter visual perception

Attention alters perception across the visual field. Typically, endogenous (voluntary) and exogenous (involuntary) attention similarly improve performance in many visual tasks, but they have differential effects in some tasks. Extant models of visual attention assume that the effects of these two types of attention are identical and consequently do not explain differences between them. Here, we develop a model of spatial resolution and attention that distinguishes between endogenous and exogenous attention. We focus on texture-based segmentation as a model system because it has revealed a clear dissociation between both attention types. For a texture for which performance peaks at parafoveal locations, endogenous attention improves performance across eccentricity, whereas exogenous attention improves performance where the resolution is low (peripheral locations) but impairs it where the resolution is high (foveal locations) for the scale of the texture. Our model emulates sensory encoding to segment figures from their background and predict behavioral performance. To explain attentional effects, endogenous and exogenous attention require separate operating regimes across visual detail (spatial frequency). Our model reproduces behavioral performance across several experiments and simultaneously resolves three unexplained phenomena: 1) the parafoveal advantage in segmentation, 2) the uniform improvements across eccentricity by endogenous attention, and 3) the peripheral improvements and foveal impairments by exogenous attention. Overall, we unveil a computational dissociation between each attention type and provide a generalizable framework for predicting their effects on perception across the visual field.

PEDAGOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF INTENSIVE TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

The article discusses the pedagogicalandpsychological prerequisites for intensive teaching of foreign languages. In intensive training, it is necessary to find such working methods that rely on the semantic component of logical memory, which activates the students' thinking. In this regard, intensive training involves the inclusion of the learner from the first lesson in active thought through a specially organized active learning. Favorable conditions are created for involuntary attention and memorization of the material. It is taken into account that emotionally - colored, personality-significant is remembered better, and the combination of visual-sensual and abstract-logical components of the presentation of the material contributes to the effectiveness of memorization. The entire system of introducing educational material reflects the correct specially organized alternation of imprinting and reproduction, which is carried out in controlled speech learning. The psycho-hygienic effect of intensive learning is of particular importance. Activation of the learner’s capabilities is, as it were, a compensatory psychological mechanism that counteracts the crisis.

Voluntary and Involuntary Attention in Bistable Visual Perception: A MEG Study

In this study, voluntary and involuntary visual attention focused on different interpretations of a bistable image, were investigated using magnetoencephalography (MEG). A Necker cube with sinusoidally modulated pixels' intensity in the front and rear faces with frequencies 6.67 Hz (60/9) and 8.57 Hz (60/7), respectively, was presented to 12 healthy volunteers, who interpreted the cube as either left- or right-oriented. The tags of these frequencies and their second harmonics were identified in the average Fourier spectra of the MEG data recorded from the visual cortex. In the first part of the experiment, the subjects were asked to voluntarily control their attention by interpreting the cube orientation as either being on the left or right. Accordingly, we observed the dominance of the corresponding spectral component, and voluntary attention performance was measured. In the second part of the experiment, the subjects were asked to focus their gaze on a red marker at the center of the cube image without putting forth effort in its interpretation. The alternation of the dominant spectral energies at the second harmonics of the stimulation frequencies was treated as changes in the cube orientation. Based on the results of the first experimental stage and using a wavelet analysis, we developed a method which allowed us to identify the currently perceived cube orientation. Finally, we characterized involuntary attention using the distribution of dominance times when focusing attention on one of the cube orientations, which was related to voluntary attention performance and brain noise. In particular, we confirmed our hypothesis that higher attention performance is associated with stronger brain noise.

Differential impact of endogenous and exogenous attention on activity in human visual cortex

How do endogenous (voluntary) and exogenous (involuntary) attention modulate activity in visual cortex? Using ROI-based fMRI analysis, we measured fMRI activity for valid and invalid trials (target at cued/un-cued location, respectively), pre- or post-cueing endogenous or exogenous attention, while participants performed the same orientation discrimination task. We found stronger modulation in contralateral than ipsilateral visual regions, and higher activity in valid- than invalid-trials. For endogenous attention, modulation of stimulus-evoked activity due to a pre-cue increased along the visual hierarchy, but was constant due to a post-cue. For exogenous attention, modulation of stimulus-evoked activity due to a pre-cue was constant along the visual hierarchy, but was not modulated due to a post-cue. These findings reveal that endogenous and exogenous attention distinctly modulate activity in visuo-occipital areas during orienting and reorienting; endogenous attention facilitates both the encoding and the readout of visual information whereas exogenous attention only facilitates the encoding of information.