Working Memory and Attention - A Conceptual Analysis and Review

The Impact of Interpreting Training Experience on the Attentional Networks and Their Dynamics

Interpreting, a complicated and demanding bilingual task, depends heavily on attentional control. However, few studies have focused on the interpreters' advantages in attention, and the findings so far have been inconsistent. Meanwhile, the connection between attentional networks and other cognitive abilities, such as working memory (WM), has rarely been explored in interpreters. The present study investigated whether interpreting experience (IE) contributed to the attentional networks of bilinguals and explored the link between interpreters' attention and WM. Three groups of Chinese-English bilinguals, differing only in their duration of interpreting training (the More-IE group, the Less-IE group, and the No-IE group), completed the Attention Network Test (ANT). Results showed that only the alerting network was more efficient in the More-IE group than in the Less-IE and No-IE groups; moreover, the dynamics between the alerting and executive networks were significant only in the More-IE group. Furthermore, we found a negative correlation between the executive effect and the working memory capacity (WMC) in the More-IE group. Our study validated and provided empirical support for the Attentional Control Model, stimulating further research into neurocognitive mechanisms of advanced second language learning.

The effect of background audio and audiovisual stimuli on students' autonomic responses during and after an experimental academic examination

BACKGROUND

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown during the online-distant education period, certain students tended to combine their courses and homework with TV or social media news or other media content, such as classical music, including a wealth of audio and audiovisual stimuli. As the audio and audiovisual stimuli existing in a learning environment may affect students' autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses negatively, the present study aimed to monitor the impact of background TV, classical music, and silence on students' ANS activity represented by heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), blood volume amplitude (BVA), and skin conductance level (SCL) during and after an experimental academic examination.

METHOD

Seventy-six students were randomly allocated to background TV, classical music, or silence groups. The experiment with repeated measures design consisted of four consecutive periods: baseline, anticipation, challenge, and recovery, lasting 4 min each.

RESULTS

Within-subject analyses indicated significant HRV decrement only in the background TV group. Regardless of the experimental groups, HR and SCL increased while BVA decreased during the task. In addition, the between-subject analysis showed that the background TV group experienced significantly larger changes in HR and HRV parameters compared to the other experimental groups relative to their respective baseline measurements.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on these results, we concluded that relative to classical music and silence, background TV, including audiovisual and verbal stimuli, extant in a learning environment might raise students' sympathetic activity. Further, classical music, without lyrics, may suppress the withdrawal of vagal activity and elevate the autonomic regulation capacity during the academic reading comprehension task. HRV is a more valid and reliable indicator of students' autonomic responses during a challenging academic task.

Selection within working memory impairs perceptual detection

There is broad consensus supporting the reciprocal influence of working memory (WM) and attention. Top-down mechanisms operate to cope with either environmental or internal demands. In that sense, it is possible to select an item within the contents of WM to endow it with prioritized access. Although evidence supports that maintaining an item in this privileged state does not rely on sustained visual attention, it is unknown whether selection within WM depends on perceptual attention. To answer this question, we recorded electrophysiological neural activity while participants performed a retro-cue task in which we inserted a detection task in the delay period after retro-cue presentation. Critically, the onset of to-be-detected near threshold stimuli was unpredictable, and thus, sustained perceptual spatial attention was needed to accomplish the detection task from the offset of the retro-cue. At a behavioral level, we found decreased visual detection when a WM representation was retro-cued. At a neural level, alpha oscillatory activity confirmed a spatial shift of attention to the retro-cued representation. We interpret the convergence of neural oscillations and behavioral data to point towards the theory that selection within WM could be accomplished through a perceptual attentional mechanism.

Effects of cholinesterase inhibition on attention and working memory in Lewy body dementias

Cholinesterase inhibitors are frequently used to treat cognitive symptoms in Lewy body dementias (Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies). However, the selectivity of their effects remains unclear. In a novel rivastigmine withdrawal design, Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies patients were tested twice: once when taking rivastigmine as usual and once when they had missed one dose. In each session, they performed a suite of tasks (sustained attention, simple short-term recall, distractor resistance and manipulating the focus of attention) that allowed us to investigate the cognitive mechanisms through which rivastigmine affects attentional control. Consistent with previous literature, rivastigmine withdrawal significantly impaired attentional efficacy (quicker response latencies without a change in accuracy). However, it had no effects on cognitive control as assessed by the ability to withhold a response (inhibitory control). Worse short-term memory performance was also observed when patients were OFF rivastigmine, but these effects were delay and load independent, likely due to impaired visual attention. In contrast to previous studies that have examined the effects of dopamine withdrawal, cognitively complex tasks requiring control over the contents of working memory (ignoring, updating or shifting the focus of attention) were not significantly impaired by rivastigmine withdrawal. Cumulatively, these data support that the conclusion that cholinesterase inhibition has relatively specific and circumscribed-rather than global-effects on attention that may also affect performance on simple short-term memory tasks, but not when cognitive control over working memory is required. The results also indicate that the withdrawal of a single dose of rivastigmine is sufficient to reveal these impairments, demonstrating that cholinergic withdrawal can be an informative clinical as well as an investigative tool.

Language-Specific Dual-Task Effects After Stroke: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE

The dual-task paradigm has been frequently used to examine stroke-related deficits because it samples behavioral performance under conditions of distraction similar to functioning in real-life environments. This original systematic review synthesizes studies that examined dual-task effects involving spoken language production in adults affected by stroke, including transient ischemic attack (TIA) and poststroke aphasia.

METHOD

Five databases were searched (inception to March 2022) for eligible peer-reviewed articles. The 21 included studies reported a total of 561 stroke participants. Thirteen studies focused on single word production, for example, word fluency, and eight on discourse production, for example, storytelling. Most studies included participants who had suffered a major stroke. Six studies focused on aphasia, whereas no study focused on TIA. A meta-analysis was not appropriate because of the heterogeneity of outcome measures.

RESULTS

Some single word production studies found dual-task language effects whereas others did not. This finding was compounded by the lack of appropriate control participants. Most single word and discourse studies utilized motoric tasks in the dual-task condition. Our certainty (or confidence) assessment was based on a methodological appraisal of each study and information about reliability/fidelity. As 10 of the 21 studies included appropriate control groups and limited reliability/fidelity information, the certainty of the findings may be described as weak.

CONCLUSIONS

Language-specific dual-task costs were identified in single word studies, especially those that focused on aphasia as well as half of the nonaphasia studies. Unlike single word studies, nearly all studies of discourse showed dual-task decrements on at least some variables.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23605311.

Self-Prioritization Reconsidered: Scrutinizing Three Claims

Such is the power of self-relevance, it has been argued that even arbitrary stimuli (e.g., shapes, lines, colors) with no prior personal connection are privileged during information processing following their association with the self (i.e., self-prioritization). This prioritization effect, moreover, is deemed to be stimulus driven (i.e., automatic), grounded in perception, and supported by specialized processing operations. Here, however, we scrutinize these claims and challenge this viewpoint. Although self-relevance unquestionably influences information processing, we contend that, at least at present, there is limited evidence to suggest that the prioritization of arbitrary self-related stimuli is compulsory, penetrates perception, and is underpinned by activity in a dedicated neural network. Rather, self-prioritization appears to be a task-dependent product of ordinary cognitive processes.

Control of bottom-up attention in scene cognition contributes to visual working memory performance

Several studies have investigated the relationship between working memory and attention. However, most of the relevant studies so far investigated top-down attention; only a few have examined possible interactions between bottom-up attention and visual working memory. In the present study, we focused on the visual saliency of different parts of pictures as an index of the degree to which one's bottom-up attention can be drawn towards each of them. We administered the Picture Span Test (PST) to investigate whether salient parts of pictures can influence the performance of visual working memory. The task required participants to judge the semantic congruency of objects in pictures and remember specific parts of pictures. In Experiment 1, we calculated a saliency map for the PST stimuli and found that salient but task-irrelevant parts of pictures could evoke intrusion errors. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that longer gazing time at target areas results in a higher probability of making correct recognition. In addition, frequent gaze fixation and high normalized scan-path saliency values in task-irrelevant areas were associated with intrusion errors. These results suggest that visual information processed by bottom-up attention may affect working memory.

Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings

We explored how individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity affected subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Unlike past studies, we tested WM and LTM not only for items, but also for item-color bindings. Our sample included 82 elementary school children and 42 young adults. The participants performed a WM task with images of unique everyday items presented sequentially at varying set sizes in different colors. Later, we tested LTM for items and item-color bindings from the WM task. The WM load during encoding constrained LTM, and participants with a higher WM capacity retrieved more items in the LTM test. Even when accounting for young children's poor item memory by considering only the items that they did remember, they exhibited an exacerbated difficulty with remembering item-color bindings in WM. Their LTM binding performance, however, as a proportion of remembered objects, was comparable to that of older children and adults. The WM binding performance was better during sub-span encoding loads, but with no clear transfer of this benefit to LTM. Overall, LTM item memory performance was constrained by individual and age-related WM limitations, but with mixed consequences for binding. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and developmental implications of this WM-to-LTM bottleneck.

Good-enough attentional guidance

Theories of attention posit that attentional guidance operates on information held in a target template within memory. The template is often thought to contain veridical target features, akin to a photograph, and to guide attention to objects that match the exact target features. However, recent evidence suggests that attentional guidance is highly flexible and often guided by non-veridical features, a subset of features, or only associated features. We integrate these findings and propose that attentional guidance maximizes search efficiency based on a 'good-enough' principle to rapidly localize candidate target objects. Candidates are then serially interrogated to make target-match decisions using more precise information. We suggest that good-enough guidance optimizes the speed-accuracy-effort trade-offs inherent in each stage of visual search.

Neuropsychological Functions and Audiological Findings in Elderly Cochlear Implant Users: The Role of Attention in Postoperative Performance

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate in a group of elderly CI users working memory and attention, conventionally considered as predictors of better CI performance and to try to disentangle the effects of these cognitive domains on speech perception, finding potential markers of cognitive decline related to audiometric findings. Methods Thirty postlingually deafened CI users aged >60 underwent an audiological evaluation followed by a cognitive assessment of attention and verbal working memory. A correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the associations between cognitive variables while a simple regression investigated the relationships between cognitive and audiological variables. Comparative analysis was performed to compare variables on the basis of subjects’ attention performance. Results: Attention was found to play a significant role in sound field and speech perception. Univariate analysis found a significant difference between poor and high attention performers, while regression analysis showed that attention significantly predicted recognition of words presented at Signal/Noise +10. Further, the high attention performers showed significantly higher scores than low attentional performers for all working memory tasks. Conclusion: Overall findings confirmed that a better cognitive performance may positively contribute to better speech perception outcomes, especially in complex listening situations. WM may play a crucial role in storage and processing of auditory-verbal stimuli and a robust attention may lead to better performance for speech perception in noise. Implementation of cognitive training in auditory rehabilitation of CI users should be investigated in order to improve cognitive and audiological performance in elderly CI users.

Relationship Between Inhibitory Control and Arithmetic in Elementary School Children With ADHD: The Mediating Role of Working Memory

OBJECTIVES

To test if inhibitory control was a significant predictor for arithmetic in children with ADHD and if the relationship between inhibitory control and arithmetic was mediated by working memory.

METHODS

Eighty-four children (ADHD, n = 54; Non-ADHD, n = 30) were tested on their interference control, behavioral inhibition, working memory, and arithmetic. Regression analysis was used to test the predictive role of inhibitory control in arithmetic. Moreover, mediation analysis was done to test whether working memory mediated the relationship between inhibitory control and arithmetic memory.

RESULTS

Interference control but not behavioral inhibition was a significant predictor for arithmetic. In addition, interference control had direct and indirect effects via working memory on arithmetic.

CONCLUSIONS

Results demonstrated that inhibitory control contributed to arithmetic in children with ADHD. Furthermore, interference control had direct and indirect effects via working memory on arithmetic, suggesting interventions for arithmetic difficulties should involve training on both inhibition and working memory.

Crows protect visual working memory against interference

Working memory, the ability to actively maintain and manipulate information across time, is key to intelligent behavior. Because of the limited capacity of working memory, relevant information needs to be protected against distracting representations. Whether birds can resist distractors and safeguard memorized relevant information is unclear. We trained carrion crows in a delayed match-to-sample task to memorize an image while resisting other, interfering stimuli. We found that the repetition of the sample stimulus during the memory delay improved performance accuracy and accelerated reaction time relative to a reference condition with a neutral interfering stimulus. In contrast, the presentation of the image that constituted the subsequent non-match test stimulus mildly weakened performance. However, the crows' robust performance in this most demanding distractor condition indicates that sample information was actively protected from being overwritten by the distractor. These data show that crows can cognitively control and safeguard behaviorally relevant working memory contents.

Systematic differences in visual working memory performance are not caused by differences in working memory storage

People vary in their performance on visual working memory tasks, and these individual differences covary with a wide range of higher-level cognitive processes including fluid intelligence. Performance also varies across study displays, purportedly driven by both low- and higher-level processes. Understanding what causes these sources of systematic variability has been crucial for developing theories of working memory. However, here we find that all such variability in performance on a test of visual working memory can be accounted for by concurrent variability in visual iconic memory: A person with relatively high working memory capacity will have high iconic memory capacity, and a particularly easy working memory display will also be easy under iconic memory conditions. These results are supported by a nonparametric factor analysis and hierarchical Bayesian model comparison. In a second experiment the relationship between iconic and working memory holds even when they are measured with substantially different experimental paradigms, and a third experiment suggests that the relationship between tests of iconic and working memory is driven by mechanisms other than iconic or working memory storage, such as variation in perceptual or attentional processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Blurred Lines: Memory, Perceptions, and Consciousness: Commentary on "Consciousness as a Memory System" by Budson et al (2022)

In the previous issue, Budson, Richman, and Kensinger (2022) put forth the intriguing proposal that consciousness may have evolved from the episodic memory system. In addition to providing a possible evolutionary trajectory for consciousness, I believe that viewing consciousness as an extension of memory in this way is particularly useful for understanding some of the puzzling temporal complexities that are inherent to consciousness. For example, due to neural transmission delays, our conscious experience must necessarily lag the outside world, which creates a paradox for both conscious perception (Do we see the past, rather than the present?) and action (How can we make rapid decisions if it takes so long to become conscious of something?). These paradoxes can be elegantly solved by treating consciousness as a memory system. Finally, the proposal put forth by Budson and colleagues (2022) aligns with the emerging perspective that consciousness, like memory, represents a narrative time line of events rather than any single instant. However, I believe that this conceptualization can be further extended to include not only the past, but also the future. In this way, consciousness can be provocatively viewed as the remembered past, present, and future.

Processing symmetry between visual and auditory spatial representations in updating working memory

Updating spatial representations in visual and auditory working memory relies on common processes, and the modalities should compete for attentional resources. If competition occurs, one type of spatial information is presumably weighted over the other, irrespective of sensory modality. This study used incompatible spatial information conveyed from two different cue modalities to examine relative dominance in memory updating. Participants mentally manoeuvred a designated target in a matrix according to visual or auditory stimuli that were presented simultaneously, to identify a terminal location. Prior to the navigation task, the relative perceptual saliences of the visual cues were manipulated to be equal, superior, or inferior to the auditory cues. The results demonstrate that visual and auditory information competed for attentional resources, such that visual/auditory guidance was impaired by incongruent cues delivered from the other modality. Although visual bias was generally observed in working-memory navigation, stimuli of relatively high salience interfered with or facilitated other stimuli regardless of modality, demonstrating the processing symmetry of spatial updating in visual and auditory spatial working memory. Furthermore, this processing symmetry can be identified during the encoding of sensory inputs into working-memory representations. The results imply that auditory spatial updating is comparable to visual spatial updating in that salient stimuli receive a high priority when selecting inputs and are used when tracking spatial representations.

Attentional switching between perception and memory: Examining asymmetrical switch costs

Attention can be defined as a mechanism for the selection and prioritization of elements among many. When attention is directed to a specific piece of information, this information is assumed to be in the focus of attention. On a day-to-day basis, we need to rely on efficient switching between information we are holding in working memory (internal modality) and information presented in the world around us (external modality). A recent set of studies investigated between-modality attentional switches and found that there is an asymmetrical switch cost for switching between the internal and external focus of attention (Verschooren et al., 2020, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 46[9], 912-925; Verschooren, Liefooghe, et al., 2019a, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 45[10], 1399-1414). In particular, participants switched on a trial-by-trial basis between an internal task using stimuli retrieved from memory and an external task using on-screen presented stimuli. A larger cost was found when switching from the external modality towards the internal modality than the other way around. The authors found that this cost asymmetry could be best explained in terms of associative interference (i.e., differences in shielding efficiency against the memory traces from the competing task set). The present study aimed to replicate the asymmetrical switch cost (Experiment 1) and investigate whether an alternative explanation in terms of stimulus strength can account for the asymmetrical switch cost (Experiment 2). Overall, the results confirm the presence of a subtle, asymmetrical switch cost, but we observed little to no contribution of stimulus strength.

Dynamics of working memory process revealed by independent component analysis in an fMRI study

Human memory is prone to errors in many everyday activities but also when cultivating hobbies such as traveling and/or learning a new language. For instance, while visiting foreign countries, people erroneously recall foreign language words that are meaningless to them. Our research simulated such errors in a modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm for short-term memory with phonologically related stimuli aimed at uncovering behavioral and neuronal indices of false memory formation with regard to time-of-day, a variable known to influence memory. Fifty-eight participants were tested in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner twice. The results of an Independent Component Analysis revealed encoding-related activity of the medial visual network preceding correct recognition of positive probes and correct rejection of lure probes. The engagement of this network preceding false alarms was not observed. We also explored if diurnal rhythmicity influences working memory processes. Diurnal differences were seen in the default mode network and the medial visual network with lower deactivation in the evening hours. The GLM results showed greater activation of the right lingual gyrus, part of the visual cortex and the left cerebellum in the evening. The study offers new insight into the mechanisms associated with false memories, suggesting that deficient engagement of the medial visual network during the memorization phase of a task results in short-term memory distortions. The results shed new light on the dynamics of working memory processes by taking into account the effect of time-of-day on memory performance.

Humans, fish, spiders and bees inherited working memory and attention from their last common ancestor

All brain processes that generate behaviour, apart from reflexes, operate with information that is in an "activated" state. This activated information, which is known as working memory (WM), is generated by the effect of attentional processes on incoming information or information previously stored in short-term or long-term memory (STM or LTM). Information in WM tends to remain the focus of attention; and WM, attention and STM together enable information to be available to mental processes and the behaviours that follow on from them. WM and attention underpin all flexible mental processes, such as solving problems, making choices, preparing for opportunities or threats that could be nearby, or simply finding the way home. Neither WM nor attention are necessarily conscious, and both may have evolved long before consciousness. WM and attention, with similar properties, are possessed by humans, archerfish, and other vertebrates; jumping spiders, honey bees, and other arthropods; and members of other clades, whose last common ancestor (LCA) is believed to have lived more than 600 million years ago. It has been reported that very similar genes control the development of vertebrate and arthropod brains, and were likely inherited from their LCA. Genes that control brain development are conserved because brains generate adaptive behaviour. However, the neural processes that generate behaviour operate with the activated information in WM, so WM and attention must have existed prior to the evolution of brains. It is proposed that WM and attention are widespread amongst animal species because they are phylogenetically conserved mechanisms that are essential to all mental processing, and were inherited from the LCA of vertebrates, arthropods, and some other animal clades.

The Grossberg Code: Universal Neural Network Signatures of Perceptual Experience

Two universal functional principles of Grossberg’s Adaptive Resonance Theory decipher the brain code of all biological learning and adaptive intelligence. Low-level representations of multisensory stimuli in their immediate environmental context are formed on the basis of bottom-up activation and under the control of top-down matching rules that integrate high-level, long-term traces of contextual configuration. These universal coding principles lead to the establishment of lasting brain signatures of perceptual experience in all living species, from aplysiae to primates. They are re-visited in this concept paper on the basis of examples drawn from the original code and from some of the most recent related empirical findings on contextual modulation in the brain, highlighting the potential of Grossberg’s pioneering insights and groundbreaking theoretical work for intelligent solutions in the domain of developmental and cognitive robotics.

Individual differences in executive attention and inhibitory control are related to spatial memory biases in adults

Executive attention is involved in working memory; however, the role of executive attention in the maintenance of information in spatial working memory is debated. This study examined whether inhibitory control was related to spatial working memory biases in adults in a simple spatial memory task where participants had to remember one location on an otherwise blank computer screen. On some trials, a distractor was presented during the maintenance period. Eighty-four participants completed the spatial working memory task and a battery of cognitive control measures. When a distractor was presented during the maintenance period of the spatial memory task, performance on two of the cognitive control measures, a measure of overall attention and a measure of inhibitory control was related to memory errors. When a distractor was not presented during the spatial memory task, memory errors were not related to performance on the cognitive control tasks. Overall, these effects demonstrated that attention is related to maintaining locations in spatial working memory in adults, and inhibitory control may also be related such that those with more efficient inhibitory control were less influenced by distractors presented during the maintenance period.

Computerized working memory training for adults with ADHD in a psychiatric outpatient context-a feasibility trial

This study investigated the feasibility (treatment completion, and acceptability) and preliminary effectiveness of computerized working memory (WM) training in a psychiatric outpatient context for adults with ADHD. Self-ratings, neuropsychological tests, and clinician's assessments were performed pre- and post-Cogmed WM training, as well as at the 2-month follow-up, which included 24 (age M = 36.75 SD = 8.37) participants. Of the 24 participants, 16 (66.67%) completed the 25 sessions within 7 weeks. Completers reported high treatment credibility, but a few spontaneously reported feeling stressed because of the time-consuming nature of the WM training (n = 4). Preliminary effectiveness analyses indicate fewer cognitive difficulties and increased neuropsychological performance in non-trained tests that remained stable at follow-up. Future development of WM training paradigms could investigate ways of making the perception of training experience less demanding regarding being time-consuming. The indication of preliminary effectiveness merits further randomized controlled studies in a clinical context.

Attention as a multi-level system of weights and balances

This opinion piece is part of a collection on the topic: "What is attention?" Despite the word's place in the common vernacular, a satisfying definition for "attention" remains elusive. Part of the challenge is there exist many different types of attention, which may or may not share common mechanisms. Here we review this literature and offer an intuitive definition that draws from aspects of prior theories and models of attention but is broad enough to recognize the various types of attention and modalities it acts upon: attention as a multi-level system of weights and balances. While the specific mechanism(s) governing the weighting/balancing may vary across levels, the fundamental role of attention is to dynamically weigh and balance all signals-both externally-generated and internally-generated-such that the highest weighted signals are selected and enhanced. Top-down, bottom-up, and experience-driven factors dynamically impact this balancing, and competition occurs both within and across multiple levels of processing. This idea of a multi-level system of weights and balances is intended to incorporate both external and internal attention and capture their myriad of constantly interacting processes. We review key findings and open questions related to external attention guidance, internal attention and working memory, and broader attentional control (e.g., ongoing competition between external stimuli and internal thoughts) within the framework of this analogy. We also speculate about the implications of failures of attention in terms of weights and balances, ranging from momentary one-off errors to clinical disorders, as well as attentional development and degradation across the lifespan. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Attention Neuroscience > Cognition.

Working memory load modulates the processing of audiovisual distractors: A behavioral and event-related potentials study

The interplay between different modalities can help to perceive stimuli more effectively. However, very few studies have focused on how multisensory distractors affect task performance. By adopting behavioral and event-related potentials (ERPs) techniques, the present study examined whether multisensory audiovisual distractors could attract attention more effectively than unisensory distractors. Moreover, we explored whether such a process was modulated by working memory load. Across three experiments, n-back tasks (1-back and 2-back) were adopted with peripheral auditory, visual, or audiovisual distractors. Visual and auditory distractors were white discs and pure tones (Experiments 1 and 2), pictures and sounds of animals (Experiment 3), respectively. Behavioral results in Experiment 1 showed a significant interference effect under high working memory load but not under low load condition. The responses to central letters with audiovisual distractors were significantly slower than those to letters without distractors, while no significant difference was found between unisensory distractor and without distractor conditions. Similarly, ERP results in Experiments 2 and 3 showed that there existed an integration only under high load condition. That is, an early integration for simple audiovisual distractors (240-340 ms) and a late integration for complex audiovisual distractors (440-600 ms). These findings suggest that multisensory distractors can be integrated and effectively attract attention away from the main task, i.e., interference effect. Moreover, this effect is pronounced only under high working memory load condition.

Weak impacts of neuropsychological measures on symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in university students

OBJECTIVE

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is involved in broad neuropsychological domains, including response inhibition, timing, delay aversion, sustained attention, and working memory. This study aimed to examine the relationship between ADHD symptoms and neuropsychological measures in university students.

METHODS

A total of 167 graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study. Neuropsychological characteristics were comprehensively assessed using stop signal, delay discounting, time discrimination, sensorimotor synchronization, continuous performance, and digit span tasks. ADHD symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of Conners' ADHD Rating Scale.

RESULTS

ADHD symptoms were significantly correlated with some neuropsychological measures, such as the false alarm rate in the continuous performance task; however, these correlations were not strong. In the multiple regression analyses, models including neuropsychological measures were significantly associated with ADHD symptoms, but the coefficients of determination ranged from 0.06 to 0.08. Thus, most of the variance in ADHD symptoms was not explained by neuropsychological measures.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that the impact of each neuropsychological measure on ADHD symptoms was weak in university students, and ADHD symptoms cannot be explained by neuropsychological characteristics, which are currently considered core characteristics of ADHD. In addition, ADHD symptoms assessed by self-rating questionnaire in the non-clinical sample might not reflect the degree of real ADHD severity.

Updating, Fast and Slow: Items, but Not Item-Context Bindings, are Quickly Updated Into Working Memory as Part of Response Selection

It is commonly held that attending to items facilitates their encoding into working memory (WM). This implies that the content of WM is updated with new input as a consequence of directing attention to it. On the other hand, abundant research shows that WM updating is rather slow and effortful, suggesting that shielding WM representation against incoming input, rather than its updating, is the default. To resolve this discrepancy, we suggest that while updating item-to-context associations is costly, updating a single item is fast and is automatically carried out as part of directing attention to items, for example as part of response selection. Participants performed a choice-RT task, in which stimuli appeared within frames, and needed to update their WM with the most recent red item that appeared in each frame. The need for updating was manipulated, so that some trials required updating and others did not. Experiment 1 (N = 25) showed that updating was slower than not updating with a set-size of two items, that required item-context binding, but faster when the set-size only involved one item. Experiment 2 (N = 28) replicated this finding. Experiment 3 (N = 20) showed that the slower no-update RTs are due to the removal of erroneously updated information. In contrast to previous findings, these results suggest that updating can be effortless and obligatory.

Working memory modulates the anger superiority effect in central and peripheral visual fields

Angry faces have been shown to be detected more efficiently in a crowd of distractors compared to happy faces, known as the anger superiority effect (ASE). The present study investigated whether the ASE could be modified by top-down manipulation of working memory (WM), in central and peripheral visual fields. In central vision, participants held a colour in WM for a final memory test while simultaneously performing a visual search task that required them to determine whether a face showed a different expression from other coloured faces. The colour held in WM matched either the colour of the target face (target-matching), the colour of a distractor face (distractor-matching), or neither (non-matching). Results showed that the ASE was observed when the probability of target-matching trials was low. However, when the top-down WM effect was strengthened by raising the probability of target-matching trials, the ASE in the target-matching condition was completely eliminated. Intriguingly, when the visual search task was substituted by a peripheral crowding task, similar results to central vision were found in the target-matching condition. Taken together, our findings indicate that the ASE is subject to the top-down WM effect, regardless of the visual field.

Impact of transcranial alternating current stimulation on working memory and selective attention in athletes with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

The current study aimed to investigate the impact of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on working memory and selective attention in athletes with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

METHODS

In total 45 athletes with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were randomly divided into three equal groups (sham, control and experimental groups). All participants in the sham and experimental groups received stimulations on the F3 and SO with a current of (10 HZ) 1 mA for 15 min over 10 sessions ( P  ≤ 0.05), and after 10 sessions, each group was retested. After 2 weeks, a follow-up test was performed according to the post-test using the Stroop test and N-BACK- (working memory test) to test statistical hypotheses ( P  ≤ 0.05).

RESULTS

The results of repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that applying tACS proved effective in improving the working memory and selective attention of ADHD athletes.

CONCLUSIONS

The study's findings indicated that the protocol of applying tACS 1 MA with 10 HZ improved the working memory and selective attention of ADHD athletes.

Experimental Studies of the Attention Processing Model in Multiple Object Tracking Task

(1) Background: Attention is an important cognitive process in daily life. However, limited cognitive resources have been allocated to attention, especially for multiple objects and its mechanism is still unclear. Most of the previous studies have been based on the static attention paradigms with relatively lower ecological validity. Thus, we aimed to explore the attention processing mechanism in a multiple object tracking (MOT) task by using a dynamic attention paradigm. Two experiments were conducted to assess whether there was a multi-focus attention processing model, and whether the processing model changes with the number of target balls. (2) Methods: During the experiments, 33 university students completed MOT combined with the simultaneous-sequential paradigm, with tracking accuracy and reaction time of correct reaction as indicators. (3) Results: (i) When there were two target balls, an obvious bilateral field advantage was apparent. (ii) When there were four target balls, participants' performance was significantly better when stimuli were presented simultaneously than when they were presented sequentially, showing a multi-focus attention processing model. (4) Conclusion: Attention processing is characterized by flexibility, providing strong evidence to support the multi-focus theory.

Inconsistencies between Subjective Reports of Cognitive Difficulties and Performance on Cognitive Tests are Associated with Elevated Internalising and Externalising Symptoms in Children with Learning-related Problems

Children with learning difficulties are commonly assumed to have underlying cognitive deficits by health and educational professionals. However, not all children referred for psycho-educational assessment will be found to have deficits when their abilities are measured by performance on cognitive tasks. The primary aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of this inconsistent cognitive profile (ICP) in a transdiagnostic sample of children referred by health and education service providers for problems related to attention, learning and memory (N = 715). A second aim was to explore whether elevated mental health problems were associated with ICPs. Findings suggest that approximately half of this sample could be characterised as having an ICP. Cognitive difficulties, whether identified by parent ratings or task performance, were associated with elevated internalising and externalising difficulties. Crucially, a larger discrepancy between a parent's actual ratings of a child's cognitive difficulties and the ratings that would be predicted based on the child's performance on cognitive tasks was associated greater internalising and externalising difficulties for measures of working memory, and greater externalising difficulties for measures of attention. These findings suggest that subjective cognitive difficulties occurring in the absence of any task-based performance deficits may be a functional problem arising from mental health problems.

The Rejection Template of Working Memory Operates after Attention Capture

Although scientists know that information stored in working memory guides visual attention, how this is accomplished is still under debate. Specifically, there is a dispute between the Biased Competition Model and Visual Attention Theory. The current study used two experiments to resolve this controversy based on previous research. Experiment 1 found that although inverse efficiency scores for High and Low numbers of memory distractors were both longer than the Baseline (no memory distractors), they did not significantly differ from each other. This indicated that memory might guide attention via a capture-then-global-inhibition process. Experiment 2 addressed the possibility that the findings resulted from the time needed to reject the interfering objects by requiring both memory-matching and memory-mismatching conditions to be rejected under a highlighted target. This result showed that the memory-matching condition resulted in longer search times than the memory-mismatching condition, indicating an attention-capture effect based on working memory. Together, the two experiments support the idea that when multiple memory-matching distractors in a search array first capture an individual’s attention, it then acts as a template that allows the individual to suppress all interfering items that containing memory information holds. This study supports the Biased Competition Model early on in visual search. However, the late stage of visual search supports the Visual Attention Theory. These advance our knowledge regarding the relationship between working memory content and attention.

Under-resourced or overloaded? Rethinking working memory deficits in developmental language disorder

Dominant theoretical accounts of developmental language disorder (DLD) commonly invoke working memory capacity limitations. In the current report, we present an alternative view: That working memory in DLD is not under-resourced but overloaded due to operating on speech representations with low discriminability. This account is developed through computational simulations involving deep convolutional neural networks trained on spoken word spectrograms in which information is either retained to mimic typical development or degraded to mimic the auditory processing deficits identified among some children with DLD. We assess not only spoken word recognition accuracy and predictive probability and entropy (i.e., predictive distribution spread), but also use mean-field-theory based manifold analysis to assess; (a) internal speech representation dimensionality and (b) classification capacity, a measure of the networks' ability to isolate any given internal speech representation that is used as a proxy for attentional control. We show that instantiating a low-level auditory processing deficit results in the formation of internal speech representations with atypically high dimensionality, and that classification capacity is exhausted due to low representation separability. These representation and control deficits underpin not only lower performance accuracy but also greater uncertainty even when making accurate predictions in a simulated spoken word recognition task (i.e., predictive distributions with low maximum probability and high entropy), which replicates the response delays and word finding difficulties often seen in DLD. Overall, these simulations demonstrate a theoretical account of speech representation and processing deficits in DLD in which working memory capacity limitations play no causal role. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Hypertension Status Moderated the Relationship between the Hippocampal Subregion of the Left GC-ML-DG and Cognitive Performance in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Background. To investigate the relationship between hypertension status, hippocampus/hippocampal subregion structural alteration, and cognitive performance in subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Methods. All participants were divided into two groups according to blood pressure status: SCD without hypertension and SCD with hypertension. The cognitive assessments and T1-MPRAGE brain MRI were performed to measure the cognitive function and the volume of the hippocampus and hippocampal subregions. Association and mediating/moderating effects were analyzed between the volume of hippocampus/hippocampal subregions and cognitive scores. Results. Compared to the SCD without hypertension, we found (1) increased reaction time (RT) of the Go/No go test, compatible test, and divided attention visual task and (2) decreased volume of the left whole hippocampal/left subiculum/left CA1/left presubiculum/left parasubiculum/left molecular layer HP/left GC-ML-DG/left HATA in SCD with hypertension. There was a significant negative association between the volume of the left GC-ML-DG and Go/No go test RT in SCD without hypertension. A significant moderating effect of hypertension status on the relationship between the volume of the left GC-ML-DG and Go/No go test RT was found. Conclusion. The results suggested that hypertension status affects inhibitory control function and visual divided attention which may be related to the reduction of hippocampus/hippocampal subregion volume in SCD. Limitations. The study has several limitations. First, this study does not include a healthy control group. In further studies, healthy controls may need to assess the interaction between hypertension status and disease status on cognitive function. Second, we defined the hypertension status using with or without hypertension disease. More detailed parameters of hypertension status need to be further studied. Third, our study was a small number of participants/single-center and cross-sectional study, which may hinder its generalization. A large-sample/multicenter, longitudinal study is helpful to comprehensively understand the relationship between hypertension status and cognitive function in SCD patients.

Assessment of cognitive impairment in psychosis spectrum disorders through self-reported and interview-based measures

Self-reported and interview-based measures can be considered coprimary measures of cognitive performance. We aimed to ascertain to what extent cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders, as assessed with a neuropsychological battery, is associated with subjective cognitive complaints compared to difficulties in daily activities caused by cognitive impairment. We assessed 114 patients who had a psychotic disorder with a set of neuropsychological tests and two additional measures: the Cognitive Assessment Interview-Spanish version (CAI-Sp) and the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ). Patients also underwent a clinical assessment. The CAI-Sp correlated significantly with all the clinical dimensions, while the FCQ correlated only with positive and depressive symptoms. The CAI-Sp correlated significantly with all cognitive domains, except for verbal memory and social cognition. The FCQ was associated with attention, processing speed and working memory. The combination of manic and depressive symptoms and attention, processing speed, working memory and explained 38-46% of the variance in the patients' CAI-Sp. Education and negative symptoms, in combination with attention, processing speed, and executive functions, explained 54-59% of the CAI-Sp rater's variance. Only negative symptoms explained the variance in the CAI-Sp informant scores (37-42%). Depressive symptoms with attention and working memory explained 15% of the FCQ variance. The ability to detect cognitive impairment with the CAI-Sp and the FCQ opens the possibility to consider these instruments to approximate cognitive impairment in clinical settings due to their ease of application and because they are less time-consuming for clinicians.

Task cues are quickly updated into working memory as part of their processing: The multiple-cue task-switching paradigm

Goal-directed behavior requires maintaining the relevant goal in working memory (WM) and using it to guide behavior. The contents of WM should be regulated, so only relevant goals, but not irrelevant ones, are maintained. Computational models suggest that a gate, which is closed by default, separates WM from perceptual input. Transient opening of the gate enables WM updating. Indeed, previous studies show that updating WM with relevant information is controlled, effortful, and slow. In contrast to the above, here we show that WM updating with goal information is faster and more accurate than not updating. A multiple-cue task-switching paradigm is introduced. Participants were presented with a sequence of task cues, followed by a single probe. They needed to respond to each cue using its corresponding key. The cues were presented in red or blue. When the probe appeared, participants had to judge it using the task cued by the most recent red (but not blue) cue. Accordingly, they had to update their WM when the cue appeared in red, but not when it was blue (the color mapping was counterbalanced in Experiment 2). In two experiments, we show that performance in update trials was faster and more accurate than in no-update trials, suggesting that updating, rather than not-updating, is the default mode of operation.

In search for consciousness in animals: Using working memory and voluntary attention as behavioral indicators

Whether animals have subjective experiences about the content of their sensory input, i.e., whether they are aware of stimuli, is a notoriously difficult question to answer. If consciousness is present in animals, it must share fundamental characteristics with human awareness. Working memory and voluntary/endogenous attention are suggested as diagnostic features of conscious awareness. Behavioral evidence shows clear signatures of both working memory and voluntary attention as minimal criterium for sensory consciousness in mammals and birds. In contrast, reptiles and amphibians show no sign of either working memory or volitional attention. Surprisingly, some species of teleost fishes exhibit elementary working memory and voluntary attention effects suggestive of possibly rudimentary forms of subjective experience. With the potential exception of honeybees, evidence for conscious processing is lacking in invertebrates. These findings suggest that consciousness is not ubiquitous in the animal kingdom but also not exclusive to humans. The phylogenetic gap between animal taxa argues that evolution does not rely on specific neural substrates to endow distantly related species with basic forms of consciousness.

Integrated cognitive and physical fitness training enhances attention abilities in older adults

Preserving attention abilities is of great concern to older adults who are motivated to maintain their quality of life. Both cognitive and physical fitness interventions have been utilized in intervention studies to assess maintenance and enhancement of attention abilities in seniors, and a coupling of these approaches is a compelling strategy to buttress both cognitive and physical health in a time- and resource-effective manner. With this perspective, we created a closed-loop, motion-capture video game (Body-Brain Trainer: BBT) that adapts a player’s cognitive and physical demands in an integrated approach, thus creating a personalized and cohesive experience across both domains. Older adults who engaged in two months of BBT improved on both physical fitness (measures of blood pressure and balance) and attention (behavioral and neural metrics of attention on a continuous performance task) outcome measures beyond that of an expectancy matched, active, placebo control group, with maintenance of improved attention performance evidenced 1 year later. Following training, the BBT group’s improvement on the attention outcome measure exceeded performance levels attained by an untrained group of 20-year olds, and showed age-equilibration of a neural signature of attention shown to decline with age: midline frontal theta power. These findings highlight the potential benefits of an integrated, cognitive-physical, closed-loop training platform as a powerful tool for both cognitive and physical enhancement in older adults.

Reclaiming saliency: Rhythmic precision-modulated action and perception

Computational models of visual attention in artificial intelligence and robotics have been inspired by the concept of a saliency map. These models account for the mutual information between the (current) visual information and its estimated causes. However, they fail to consider the circular causality between perception and action. In other words, they do not consider where to sample next, given current beliefs. Here, we reclaim salience as an active inference process that relies on two basic principles: uncertainty minimization and rhythmic scheduling. For this, we make a distinction between attention and salience. Briefly, we associate attention with precision control, i.e., the confidence with which beliefs can be updated given sampled sensory data, and salience with uncertainty minimization that underwrites the selection of future sensory data. Using this, we propose a new account of attention based on rhythmic precision-modulation and discuss its potential in robotics, providing numerical experiments that showcase its advantages for state and noise estimation, system identification and action selection for informative path planning.

Randomized trial estimating effects of hypnosis versus progressive muscle relaxation on medical students' test anxiety and attentional bias

BACKGROUND

Test anxiety is prevalent among medical students and leads to impaired academic performance. Test-related attentional bias has been identified as an important maintaining factor in test-anxious individuals.

AIM

To evaluate whether hypnosis and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) could modify medical college students' test anxiety and attentional bias.

METHODS

A total of 598 medical students were screened. The participants were divided into higher and lower test anxiety groups according to their scores on the test anxiety scale (TAS). Ninety medical college students with high TAS score were randomly assigned to a hypnosis or PMR group. Another 45 students with low TAS score were included, forming a baseline control group. The intervention was conducted weekly for 6 wk, and each session lasted approximately 30 min. The total intervention time and the number of intervention sessions for the hypnosis and PMR groups were equal. Data were collected at the pretest, posttest, and 2-mo follow-up.

RESULTS

Hypnosis group participants had a significantly lower TAS score at posttest (t = -21.827, P < 0.001) and at follow-up (t = -14.824, P < 0.001), compared to that at pretest. PMR group participants also had a significantly lower TAS score at posttest (t = -10.777, P < 0.001) and at follow-up (t = -7.444, P < 0.001), compared to that at pretest. At the posttest level, the hypnosis group had a significantly lower TAS score than the PMR group (t = -3.664, P < 0.001). At the follow-up level, the hypnosis group also had a significantly lower TAS score than the PMR group (t = -2.943, P = 0.004). Clinically significant improvement was found in both the hypnosis and PMR groups (hypnosis = 64.0%; PMR = 62.22%). Hypnosis was more effective than PMR in reducing test anxiety among medical college students. Hypnosis could modify attentional bias toward threatening stimuli, but PMR could not.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that attentional bias plays an important role in test anxiety treatment.

When does “inhibition of return” occur in spatial cueing tasks? Temporally disentangling multiple cue-triggered effects using response history and conditional accuracy analyses

Research on spatial cueing has shown that uninformative cues often facilitate mean response time (RT) performance in valid- compared to invalid-cueing conditions at short cue-target stimulus-onset-asynchronies (SOAs), and robustly generate a reversed or inhibitory cueing effect at longer SOAs that is widely known as inhibition-of-return (IOR). To study the within-trial time course of the IOR and facilitation effects we employ discrete-time hazard and conditional accuracy analyses to analyze the shapes of the RT and accuracy distributions measured in two experimental tasks. Our distributional analyses show that (a) IOR is present only from ~160 ms to ~280 ms after target onset for cue-target SOAs above ~200 ms, (b) facilitation does not precede IOR, but co-occurs with it, (c) the cue-triggered motor response activation is selectively and actively inhibited before target onset, (d) the presence of a central cue causes a temporary negative cueing effect in the conditional accuracy functions, (e) the IOR effect consists of a facilitatory and an inhibitory component when compared to central cueing, and (f) the within-trial time course of IOR is not affected much by the task employed (detection or localization). We conclude that the traditional mean performance measures conceal crucial information on behavioral dynamics in spatial cueing paradigms.

Sensory recruitment in visual short-term memory: A systematic review and meta-analysis of sensory visual cortex interference using transcranial magnetic stimulation

Sensory visual areas are involved in encoding information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Yet it remains unclear whether sensory visual cortex is a necessary component of the brain network for maintenance of information in VSTM. Here, we aimed to systematically review studies that have investigated the role of the sensory visual cortex in VSTM using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and to quantitatively explore these effects using meta-analyses. Fourteen studies were identified and reviewed. Eight studies provided sufficient data for meta-analysis. Two meta-analyses, one regarding the VSTM encoding phase (17 effect sizes) and one regarding the VSTM maintenance phase (15 effect sizes), two meta-regressions (32 effect sizes in each), and one exploratory meta-analysis were conducted. Our results indicate that the sensory visual cortex is similarly involved in both the encoding and maintenance VSTM phase. We suggest that some cases where evidence did not show significant TMS effects was due to low memory or perceptual task demands. Overall, these findings support the idea that sensory visual areas are part of the brain network responsible for successfully maintaining information in VSTM.

Working-Memory, Alpha-Theta Oscillations and Musical Training in Older Age: Research Perspectives for Speech-on-speech Perception

During the normal course of aging, perception of speech-on-speech or “cocktail party” speech and use of working memory (WM) abilities change. Musical training, which is a complex activity that integrates multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions, reportedly benefits both WM performance and speech-on-speech perception in older adults. This mini-review explores the relationship between musical training, WM and speech-on-speech perception in older age (> 65 years) through the lens of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model. Linking neural-oscillation literature associating speech-on-speech perception and WM with alpha-theta oscillatory activity, we propose that two stages of speech-on-speech processing in the ELU are underpinned by WM-related alpha-theta oscillatory activity, and that effects of musical training on speech-on-speech perception may be reflected in these frequency bands among older adults.

Cat-astrophic effects of sudden interruptions on spatial auditory attention

Salient interruptions draw attention involuntarily. Here, we explored whether this effect depends on the spatial and temporal relationships between a target stream and interrupter. In a series of online experiments, listeners focused spatial attention on a target stream of spoken syllables in the presence of an otherwise identical distractor stream from the opposite hemifield. On some random trials, an interrupter (a cat "MEOW") occurred. Experiment 1 established that the interrupter, which occurred randomly in 25% of the trials in the hemifield opposite the target, degraded target recall. Moreover, a majority of participants exhibited this degradation for the first target syllable, which finished before the interrupter began. Experiment 2 showed that the effect of an interrupter was similar whether it occurred in the opposite or the same hemifield as the target. Experiment 3 found that the interrupter degraded performance slightly if it occurred before the target stream began but had no effect if it began after the target stream ended. Experiment 4 showed decreased interruption effects when the interruption frequency increased (50% of the trials). These results demonstrate that a salient interrupter disrupts recall of a target stream, regardless of its direction, especially if it occurs during a target stream.

The Influences of a Knowledge Representation Tool on Searchers with Varying Cognitive Abilities

While current systems are effective in helping searchers resolve simple information needs (e.g., fact-finding), they provide less support for searchers working on complex information-seeking tasks. Complex search tasks involve a wide range of (meta)cognitive activities, including goal-setting, organizing information, drawing inferences, monitoring progress, and revising mental models and search strategies. We report on a lab study ( N =32) that investigated the influences of a knowledge representation tool called the OrgBox, developed to support searchers with complex tasks. The OrgBox tool was integrated into a custom-built search system and allowed study participants to drag-and-drop textual passages into the tool, organize passages into logical groupings called “boxes”, and make notes on passages and boxes. The OrgBox was compared to a baseline tool (called the Bookmark) that allowed participants to save textual passages, but not organize them nor make notes. Knowledge representation tools such as the OrgBox may provide special benefits for users with different cognitive profiles. In this paper, we explore two cognitive abilities: (1) working memory capacity and (2) switching ability. Participants in the study were asked to gather information on a complex subject and produce an outline for a hypothetical research paper. We investigate the influences of the tool (OrgBox vs. Bookmark) and the participant’s working memory capacity and switching ability on three types of outcomes: (RQ1) search behaviors, (RQ2) post-task perceptions, and (RQ3) the quality of outlines produces by participants.

Tracking attentional states: Assessing the relationship between sustained and selective focused attention in visual working memory

Attention has multiple influences on visual working memory (VWM). Fluctuations in sustained attention predict VWM performance. Furthermore, focusing selective attention in VWM by retro-cuing the to-be-tested item during maintenance boosts retrieval. So far, we lack knowledge how the ability to focus selective attention relates to the state of sustained attention during the VWM trial. Here, we combined a retro-cue task and a self-rated attention protocol to test whether focusing selective attention via retro-cues: (1) mitigates spontaneous attention fluctuations, in which case retro-cues should be more helpful under low levels of self-rated attention; (2) depends on an optimal state of sustained attention, in which case retro-cue benefits should be largest under high levels of self-rated attention; or (3) is independent of sustained attention, in which case retro-cue benefits and self-rated attention effects should be additive. Our data supported the additive hypothesis. Across four experiments, self-rated attention levels predicted continuous reproduction of colors. Retro-cue trials produced better recall and higher rated attention. Critically, retro-cues improved recall to a similar extent across all levels of self-rated attention. This indicates that attention has multi-faceted and independent contributions to VWM.

Effects of Attention Direction and Perceptual Distraction Within Visual Working Memory

Although substantial evidence demonstrates that directing attention to specific items is important for improving the performance of visual working memory (VWM), it is still not clear whether the attended items were better protected. The present study, thus, adopted a pre-cueing paradigm to examine the effect of attention direction and perceptual distractor on VWM. The results showed that a valid visual cue improved the individuals’ VWM performances and reduced their reaction time compared to the invalid and neutral cues. However, the VWM performances in the valid and neutral cue conditions were more disrupted by a post-stimuli distractor compared to the invalid cue condition. The findings suggest that although directing attention can improve the VWM performance, it is not efficient in protecting information from being distracted.

Preschoolers’ Attitudes, School Motivation, and Executive Functions in the Context of Various Types of Kindergarten

European policy has seen a number of changes and innovations in the field of early childhood preschool education over the last decade, which have been reflected in various forms in the policies of individual EU countries. Within the Czech preschool policy, certain innovations and approaches have been implemented in the field of early children education, such as the introduction of compulsory preschool education before entering primary school from 2017, emphasis on inclusive education, equal conditions in education and enabling state-supported diversity in the education concepts of kindergartens. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of various preschool education systems in the Czech Republic in the context of psychological variables reflecting selected children’s outcomes which may contribute to future school achievement. The monitored variables were the attitudes, motivations and executive functions of children in the last year of preschool education. A comparison was made between the traditional preschool education program and the so-called alternative types of preschool education, such as Montessori, Waldorf and religious schools. The total sample was divided into four subgroups, namely a group of children attending traditional kindergartens (731, 84.9%), religious (65, 7.5%), Montessori (35, 4.1%), and Waldorf (30, 3.5%) kindergartens. To determine empirical data, the following research methods were used: Attitude Questionnaire, School Performance Motivation Scale, and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The results of our survey show the fact that the type of kindergarten attended has a significant effect on the child’s level of school performance motivation, attitudes toward school as well as executive functions. Significant differences were found between the different types of kindergartens attended in the monitored variables.