Atypical and Non-spontaneous Attentional Control in “just Look” Tasks for Face Recognition in ASD Children Revealed by Gaze Tracking Pupillometry

We hypothesized that abnormalities in social interaction and executive function may be related to fluctuations in pupil diameter, which reflect norepinephrine activity in terms of attentional function. We adopted “just look” tasks to examine spontaneous changes in attention. Twenty children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 39 typically developing (TD) controls participated. Intragroup comparisons of differences in pupil diameter changes during a shift from a scrambled image to the original image (task 1-a), fixation on faces, letters, and geometric patterns (task 1-b), and pupil diameter changes during a shift from a nonsense image to a face-like image (task 2) were performed. In task 1-a, ASD children had prolonged pupil dilation after the shift in images, whereas the pupil contracted in TD children, indicating deficits in attentional disengagement in ASD children. In task 1-b, ASD children preferred geometric patterns over faces. In task 2, the rate of pupillary dilatation during the shift in images was lower in ASD children than in TD children. Therefore, ASD children appear to have abnormalities in spontaneous attention to faces, which function automatically in TD children. In conclusion, atypical attentional function may contribute to the manifestation of abnormalities in social interaction and executive control in ASD.

Non‐invasive real‐time access to spatial attention information from 3T fMRI BOLD signals

Access to higher cognitive functions in real-time remains very challenging, because these functions are internally driven and their assessment is based onto indirect measures. In addition, recent finding show that these functions are highly dynamic. Previous studies using intra-cortical recordings in monkeys, succeed to access the (x,y) position of covert spatial attention, in real-time, using classification methods applied to monkey prefrontal multi-unit activity and local field potentials. In contrast, the direct access to attention with non-invasive methods is limited to predicting the attention localisation based on a quadrant classification. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility to track covert spatial attention localization using non-invasive fMRI BOLD signals, with an unprecedented spatial resolution. We further show that the errors produced by the decoder are not randomly distributed but concentrate on the locations neighbouring the cued location and that behavioral errors correlate with weaker decoding performance. Last, we also show that the voxels contributing to the decoder precisely match the visual retinotopic organization of the occipital cortex and that single trial access to attention is limited by the intrinsic dynamics of spatial attention. Taken together, these results open the way to the development of remediation and enhancement neurofeedback protocols targeting the attentional function.

Protocol for a Scoping Review of Research Practices in the Investigation of Bilingual Effects on Inhibition and Attentional Function in Young People

Background: While there is evidence in support of a bilingual advantage in executive function in children and adults, little work supports these effects in young people. This lack of support may result as consequence of a developmental ceiling effect on task performance in this age group. An alternative explanation can be found in the treatment of bilingualism as a categorical variable, and the use of exclusively fixed-effects methods of analysis. These methods treat bilinguals as a homogenous group, ignoring nontrivial differences between participants, and may contribute to this lack of evidence. This scoping review aims is to identify and summarize research practices in the investigation of bilingual effects in inhibition and attentional function in young people. Methods: The proposed scoping review will follow the five-stage framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). Searches will be conducted across five databases using inclusive search strings. Study selection will follow the guidance of the PRISMA-ScR checklist. This review will include both published and unpublished work. A standardized data extraction spreadsheet will be used and data will be presented in tabular and graphic format in alignment with the objectives of the review. Discussion: This review aims to provide a current understanding of research practices in the investigation of bilingual effects in young people as well as identify gaps in the literature. This review may also draw attention to methodological trends in the current literature that limit the conclusions researchers can draw.

Association between sleep duration on the night before surgery and postoperative cognitive function: a prospective cohort study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND As the world is rapidly aging, and the number of elderly patients who undergo surgery is rising, postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) among those patients has become an increasing healthcare problem. Although understanding risk factors and mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of POCD is critically important from a preventative viewpoint, such knowledge and evidence are lacking. A growing body of evidence suggest an association between cognitive function and sleep duration. The emergence of up-to-date wearable sleep trackers allows researchers to investigate sleep duration without disturbing the patients’ sleep. OBJECTIVE This study investigated the association between sleep duration on the night before surgery and postoperative cognitive function using a wearable sleep tracker. METHODS In this 6-month prospective cohort study, we analyzed data from 194 patients aged ≥65 years who underwent elective non-cardiac and non-cranial surgery under general anesthesia. According to the sleep duration on the night before surgery, patients were categorized into following four groups: <5 h, 5–7 h, 7–9 h, and >9 h. Perioperative cognitive function and domains were assessed using a neuropsychological test battery, and the incidence and prevalence of POCD over 6 months after surgery were analyzed using the multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS During the 6-month follow-up period, 41 patients (21%) developed POCD. The incidence of POCD was significantly elevated for the patients with sleep duration less than 5 h (vs. 7–9 h; adjusted odds ratio, 2.67; 95% CI, 1.01–7.04; P <.05). The association between sleep duration and prevalence of POCD was limited to the early postoperative period (at 1 week and 1 month). Among the cognitive domains assessed, attentional function was significantly impaired in patients with a sleep duration of less than 5 h. [vs. 7–9 h at 1 week; 4/37 (10.8%) vs. 0/73 (0%); P <.05]. CONCLUSIONS Sleep duration less than 5 h on the night before surgery was significantly associated with worse attentional function after surgery and higher incidence of POCD. The present results indicate that sleep deprivation on the night before surgery may have a temporary but significantly negative influence on the patient’s postoperative cognitive function and is a potential target for preventing POCD. CLINICALTRIAL N/A

Bayesian approximations to the theory of visual attention (TVA) in a foraging task

Foraging as a natural visual search for multiple targets has increasingly been studied in humans in recent years. Here, we aimed to model the differences in foraging strategies between feature and conjunction foraging tasks found by Kristjánsson et al. (2014). Bundesen (1990) proposed the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) as a computational model of attentional function that divides the selection process into filtering and pigeonholing. The theory describes a mechanism by which the strength of sensory evidence serves to categorize elements. We combined these ideas to train augmented Naïve Bayesian classifiers using data from Kristjánsson et al. (2014) as input. Specifically, we attempted to answer whether it is possible to predict how frequently observers switch between different target types during consecutive selections (switch rates) during feature and conjunction foraging using Bayesian classifiers. We formulated eleven new parameters that represent key sensory and bias information that could be used for each selection during the foraging task and tested them with multiple Bayesian models. Separate Bayesian networks were trained on feature and conjunction foraging data, and parameters that had no impact on the model's predictability were pruned away. We report high accuracy for switch prediction in both tasks from the classifiers, although the model for conjunction foraging was more accurate. We also report our Bayesian parameters in terms of their theoretical associations to TVA parameters, π_j (denoting the pertinence value) and β_i (denoting the decision-making bias).

Maternal Choline Supplementation as a Potential Therapy for Down Syndrome: Assessment of Effects Throughout the Lifespan

Maternal choline supplementation (MCS) has emerged as a promising therapy to lessen the cognitive and affective dysfunction associated with Down syndrome (DS). Choline is an essential nutrient, especially important during pregnancy due to its wide-ranging ontogenetic roles. Using the Ts65Dn mouse model of DS, our group has demonstrated that supplementing the maternal diet with additional choline (4-5 × standard levels) during pregnancy and lactation improves spatial cognition, attention, and emotion regulation in the adult offspring. The behavioral benefits were associated with a rescue of septohippocampal circuit atrophy. These results have been replicated across a series of independent studies, although the magnitude of the cognitive benefit has varied. We hypothesized that this was due, at least in part, to differences in the age of the subjects at the time of testing. Here, we present new data that compares the effects of MCS on the attentional function of adult Ts65Dn offspring, which began testing at two different ages (6 vs. 12 months of age). These data replicate and extend the results of our previous reports, showing a clear pattern indicating that MCS has beneficial effects in Ts65Dn offspring throughout life, but that the magnitude of the benefit (relative to non-supplemented offspring) diminishes with aging, possibly because of the onset of Alzheimer's disease-like neuropathology. In light of growing evidence that increased maternal choline intake during pregnancy is beneficial to the cognitive and affective functioning of all offspring (e.g., neurotypical and DS), the addition of this nutrient to a prenatal vitamin regimen would be predicted to have population-wide benefits and provide early intervention for fetuses with DS, notably including babies born to mothers unaware that they are carrying a fetus with DS.

High-Density Electrophysiological Recordings to Assess the Dynamic Properties of Attention

The brain has limited processing capacities. Attention selection processes are continuously shaping humans’ world perception. Understanding the mechanisms underlying such covert cognitive processes requires the combination of psychophysical and electrophysiological investigation methods. This combination allows researchers to describe how individual neurons and neuronal populations encode attentional function. Direct access to neuronal information through innovative electrophysiological approaches, additionally, allows the tracking of covert attention in real time. These converging approaches capture a comprehensive view of attentional function.

Musical expertise, musical style, and visual attention

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that people with experience within a particular domain have exceptional cognitive abilities for domain-specific information. Chess masters, for instance, are far better at memorizing visually presented chess positions than amateurs, and professional American football experts are highly sensitive to semantic changes in domain-related scenes. However, for non-domain-related material, experts’ performance becomes similar to novice performance. But how does this apply to music? We compared experienced musicians’ and novices’ attentional function and visual working memory using the change blindness flicker paradigm. The task was to detect minor changes between two otherwise identical music scores of differing styles: traditional (C-major, regular rhythms), contemporary (atonal, irregular rhythms), and random (nonsense music). We expected that (1) experienced musicians would detect changes faster, (2) the between-group difference would be larger for traditional than contemporary music, and (3) the groups’ performance would be more similar for random music. The experienced musicians detected changes significantly faster in both the contemporary and traditional music material, whereas the difference was nonsignificant for the random condition. The difference between groups was largest for contemporary music, despite its higher level of complexity. We discuss these results in relation to existing literature on expertise in visual information processing.

Attentional function in fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis

Concentration difficulties, forgetfulness and mental slowness are common in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS); initial findings suggest that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may also be accompanied by cognitive impairments. This study aimed to compare attentional performance between patients with FMS and RA. Attention was quantified in the domains of alerting, orienting and executive control using the Attentional Network Test–Interaction (ANT-I) in 56 women with FMS, 41 women with RA and 50 healthy women. Pain severity was statistically controlled in the group comparison. While FMS patients exhibited longer reaction times and made more errors on the ANT-I than RA patients and healthy women, performance did not differ between RA patients and healthy women. The magnitude of group differences did not vary by the experimental conditions of the ANT-I, suggesting a general attentional deficit in FMS rather than specific impairments in the domains of alerting, orienting and executive control. Differences between patient groups may relate to the different pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the disorders, i.e. inflammatory processes in RA and central nervous sensitization in FMS. In FMS, heightened activity in the pain neuromatrix may interfere with attention, because it requires enhanced neural resources in brain areas that are involved in both pain and attentional processing.

The Use of Lower or Higher Than Recommended Doses of Folic Acid Supplements during Pregnancy Is Associated with Child Attentional Dysfunction at 4–5 Years of Age in the INMA Project

We assessed the association between the use of lower- and higher-than-recommended doses of folic acid supplements (FAs) during pregnancy and attentional function in boys and girls at age of 4–5. We analyzed data from 1329 mother-child pairs from the mother-child cohort INfancia y Medio Ambiente Project (INMA) study. Information on FAs use during pregnancy was collected in personal interviews at weeks 12 and 30, and categorized in <400, 400–999 (recommended dose), and ≥1000 μg/day. Child attentional function was assessed by Conners’ Kiddie Continuous Performance Test. Multivariable regression analyses were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and beta coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Compared to recommended FAs doses, the periconceptional use of <400 and ≥1000 μg/day was associated with higher risk of omission errors—IRR = 1.14 (95% CI: 1.01; 1.29) and IRR = 1.16 (95% CI: 1.02; 1.33), respectively. The use of FAs < 400 μg/day and ≥1000 μg/day was significantly associated with deficits of attentional function only in boys. FAs use < 400 μg/day was associated with higher omission errors with IRR = 1.22 and increased hit reaction time (HRT) β = 34.36, and FAs use ≥ 1000 μg/day was associated with increased HRT β = 33.18 and HRT standard error β = 3.31. The periconceptional use of FAs below or above the recommended doses is associated with deficits of attentional function in children at age of 4–5, particularly in boys.