The power of positivity: Do emotions influence attentional breadth?

<p>Fredrickson's (2001) broaden and build theory describes how experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness, broadens our 'thought-action repertoire' leading us to be more likely to go out and act on our positive emotions. This results in the building of new relationships, resources and skills, which we can draw on in times of need throughout life. In contrast, the experience of negative emotion is thought to narrow our 'thought-action repertoire', leading to specific actions to aid in survival (Fredrickson, 2001). The current experiments aimed to explore the effect of briefly presented schematic faces (happy, sad, and neutral) on attentional scope using the flanker task. Based on the broaden and build theory it was hypothesised that there would be an increase in reaction time in trials primed with a happy face due to a broadening of attention, leading to increased flanker interference. A decrease in reaction time was predicted for trials primed with a sad face, due to a narrowing of attention leading to less flanker interference. Results lend partial support to the broaden and build hypothesis, with reaction times being slower following happy primes in incongruent flanker trials in Experiment 1. Recent research is discussed in regards to potential mediators of the relationship between emotion and attention.</p>

The power of positivity: Do emotions influence attentional breadth?

<p>Fredrickson's (2001) broaden and build theory describes how experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness, broadens our 'thought-action repertoire' leading us to be more likely to go out and act on our positive emotions. This results in the building of new relationships, resources and skills, which we can draw on in times of need throughout life. In contrast, the experience of negative emotion is thought to narrow our 'thought-action repertoire', leading to specific actions to aid in survival (Fredrickson, 2001). The current experiments aimed to explore the effect of briefly presented schematic faces (happy, sad, and neutral) on attentional scope using the flanker task. Based on the broaden and build theory it was hypothesised that there would be an increase in reaction time in trials primed with a happy face due to a broadening of attention, leading to increased flanker interference. A decrease in reaction time was predicted for trials primed with a sad face, due to a narrowing of attention leading to less flanker interference. Results lend partial support to the broaden and build hypothesis, with reaction times being slower following happy primes in incongruent flanker trials in Experiment 1. Recent research is discussed in regards to potential mediators of the relationship between emotion and attention.</p>

Emergence of crowding: the role of contrast and orientation salience

Crowding causes difficulties in judging attributes of an object surrounded by other objects. We investigated crowding for stimuli that isolated either S-cone or luminance mechanisms or combined them. By targeting different retinogeniculate mechanisms, we aim to determine the earliest site at which crowding emerges. Discrimination was measured in an orientation judgement task where Gabor-targets were presented parafoveally among flankers. In the first experiment, we assessed flanked and unflanked orientation discrimination thresholds for S-cone, achromatic and combined stimuli. In the second experiment, we captured individual differences by measuring unflanked detection and orientation sensitivity, and performance under flanker-interference for stimuli containing luminance only or combined with S-cone contrast. We confirmed that orientation sensitivity was lower for unflanked S-cone stimuli. When flanked, the pattern of results for S-cone stimuli was the same as for achromatic stimuli with comparable (i.e., low) contrast levels. We also found that flanker interference exhibited a genuine signature of crowding only when orientation discrimination threshold was reliably surpassed. Crowding, therefore, emerges at a stage that operates on signals representing task-relevant featural (here, orientation) information. Since luminance and S-cone mechanisms have very different spatial tuning properties, it is most parsimonious to conclude that crowding takes place at a neural processing stage after they have been combined.

A social dancing pilot intervention for older adults at high risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Close to 6 million older US adults have Alzheimer's disease or related dementias, yet there is currently no cure or effective treatment. This single-blind randomized controlled trial (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03475316) aims to establish feasibility, and explore the relative efficacy, of a 6-month social ballroom dancing intervention versus a 6-month active control intervention (treadmill walking) for improving executive function in 32 older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. Dementia-at-risk status is determined with cut-scores on the memory impairment screen (≥3 to ≤6) and/or the AD8 Dementia Screening Interview (≥1). The primary outcome is a composite executive function score from digit-symbol substitution, flanker interference and walking-while-talking tasks. The secondary outcome is functional neuroplasticity during fMRI-adapted versions of digit-symbol substitution, flanker interference and walking-while-talking.

Skin and Macular Carotenoids and Their Implications for Cognitive Control and Achievement in Children (OR05-08-19)

Objectives Carotenoids are plant pigments that accumulate across several tissues including the macula and skin. However, the relationship between carotenoid deposition in retina and skin is unknown in children. Understanding these interrelationships is important, given that evidence indicates that carotenoid status is a marker of cognitive health in childhood. Importantly, the selectivity of cognitive function to carotenoids in different tissues remains understudied. The present work investigated associations between retinal and skin carotenoids and their implications for children's cognitive function and achievement. Methods Children 7–12 years old (N = 50) participated in the study. Retinal carotenoid status, i.e., macular pigment optical density (MPOD), was assessed using heterochromatic flicker photometry. Skin carotenoids were assessed using reflection spectroscopy at the fingertip using the Veggiemeter. Academic achievement was assessed using the Woodcock Johnson IV test and a modified Eriksen flanker task to assess children's ability for selective attention or interference control. Results There was a significant positive correlation between skin and retinal carotenoid levels (rs = 0.29, P = 0.02). Skin carotenoids were positively related to reading (rs = 0.42, P = 0.001) and math scores (rs = 0.34, P = 0.009). However, skin carotenoids were not significantly related to flanker interference scores (p's > 0.05). On the other hand, MPOD was positively related to reading (rs = 0.25, P = 0.04) but not math (rs = 0.12, P = 0.20). Further, MPOD was inversely related to flanker interference scores for reaction time (rs = −0.29, P = 0.02) and accuracy (rs = −0.28, P = 0.03), indicating that children with higher retinal carotenoids exhibited superior ability to maintain cognitive control performance when faced with greater task demands. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that carotenoid levels in skin and retina are correlated in children. These findings further suggest that carotenoid status in children is associated with cognition, perhaps selectively across site of accumulation and cognitive domains. Funding Sources This work was supported by funds provided by the Egg Nutrition Center.

Characteristics of executive control network function based on a lateralized version of the ANT-R test in athletes from open skill sports: An fNIRS study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the executive control network function characteristics of interceptive and strategic sports athletes from open skill sports. In order to do so, we used a revised lateralized attention network task to measure executive control efficiency and activation related to flanker interference changes on the right frontoparietal network using functional near-infrared spectroscopy in athletes from different sport sub-categories. Strategic athletes had higher accuracy and lower flanker conflict effects on accuracy, as well as longer reaction time and stronger conflict effects under the valid cue and invalid cue conditions. This was accompanied by higher activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus. These results extend the evidence suggesting that differences among interceptive sports and strategic sports athletes are due to the former using higher velocities to solve conflicts, and the latter using higher accuracy in the same tasks. These effects are attributed to differences in the right frontoparietal network.

Neural dynamics of selective attention deficits in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder

ObjectiveTo identify the neural markers of attention dysfunction in patients with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND).MethodsSixty participants, including 40 HIV-infected adults (half with HAND) and 20 demographically matched controls performed a visual selective attention task while undergoing high-density magnetoencephalography. Neuronal activity related to selective attention processing was quantified and compared across the 3 groups, and correlated with neuropsychological measures of attention and executive function. Spontaneous neural activity was also extracted from these attention-related cortical areas and examined with respect to HAND status.ResultsHIV-infected participants with and without HAND exhibited behavioral selective attention deficits on the magnetoencephalography task, as indicated by an increased flanker effect. Neuronal measures of flanker interference activity in the alpha and theta range revealed differential dynamics in attention-related brain areas across the 3 groups, especially in those with HAND. In addition, theta range flanker interference activity in the left inferior frontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was associated with executive function and attention composite scores, respectively. Progressively stronger spontaneous alpha and theta activity was also found in unimpaired HIV-infected and HAND participants relative to controls across brain regions implicated in different components of attention processing.ConclusionsBehavioral and neuronal metrics of selective attention performance distinguish participants with HAND from controls and unimpaired HIV-infected participants. These metrics, along with measures of local spontaneous neural activity, may hold promise as early markers of cognitive decline in participants with HIV infection and be useful prognostic indicators for HAND.

Graspable Objects Grab Attention More Than Images Do

The opportunity an object presents for action is known as an affordance. A basic assumption in previous research was that images of objects, which do not afford physical action, elicit effects on attention and behavior comparable with those of real-world tangible objects. Using a flanker task, we compared interference effects between real graspable objects and matched 2-D or 3-D images of the items. Compared with both 2-D and 3-D images, real objects yielded slower response times overall and elicited greater flanker interference effects. When the real objects were positioned out of reach or behind a transparent barrier, the pattern of response times and interference effects was comparable with that for 2-D images. Graspable objects exert a more powerful influence on attention and manual responses than images because of the affordances they offer for manual interaction. These results raise questions about whether images are suitable proxies for real objects in psychological research.