Conscious and unconscious memory differentially impact attention: Eye movements, visual search, and recognition processes

How schema knowledge influences memory in older adults: Filling in the gaps, or leading memory astray?

Age-related declines in episodic memory do not affect all types of mnemonic information equally: when to-be-remembered information is in line with one's prior knowledge, or schema-congruent, older adults often show no impairments. There are two major accounts of this effect: One proposes that schemas compensate for memory failures in aging, and the other proposes that schemas instead actively impair older adults' otherwise intact memory for incongruent information. However, the evidence thus far is inconclusive, likely due to methodological constraints in teasing apart these complex underlying dynamics. We developed a paradigm that separately examines the contributions of underlying memory and schema knowledge to a final memory decision, allowing these dynamics to be examined directly. In the present study, healthy older and younger adults first searched for target objects in congruent or incongruent locations within scenes. In a subsequent test, participants indicated where in each scene the target had been located previously, and provided confidence-based recognition memory judgments that indexed underlying memory, in terms of recollection and familiarity, for the background scenes. We found that age-related increases in schema effects on target location spatial recall were predicted and statistically mediated by age-related increases in underlying memory failures, specifically within recollection. We also found that, relative to younger adults, older adults had poorer spatial memory precision within recollected scenes but slightly better precision within familiar scenes-and age increases in schema bias were primarily exhibited within recollected scenes. Interestingly, however, there were also slight age-related increases in schema effects that could not be explained by memory deficits alone, outlining a role for active schema influences as well. Together, these findings support the account that age-related schema effects on memory are compensatory in that they are driven primarily by underlying memory failures, and further suggest that age-related deficits in memory precision may also drive schema effects.

Have you been there before? Decoding recognition of spatial scenes from fMRI signals in precuneus

One potential application of forensic "brain reading" is to test whether a suspect has previously experienced a crime scene. Here, we investigated whether it is possible to decode real life autobiographic exposure to spatial locations using fMRI. In the first session, participants visited four out of eight possible rooms on a university campus. During a subsequent scanning session, subjects passively viewed pictures and videos from these eight possible rooms (four old, four novel) without giving any responses. A multivariate searchlight analysis was employed that trained a classifier to distinguish between "seen" versus "unseen" stimuli from a subset of six rooms. We found that bilateral precuneus encoded information that can be used to distinguish between previously seen and unseen rooms and that also generalized to the two stimuli left out from training. We conclude that activity in bilateral precuneus is associated with the memory of previously visited rooms, irrespective of the identity of the room, thus supporting a parietal contribution to episodic memory for spatial locations. Importantly, we could decode whether a room was visited in real life without the need of explicit judgments about the rooms. This suggests that recognition is an automatic response that can be decoded from fMRI data, thus potentially supporting forensic applications of concealed information tests for crime scene recognition.

Trichotomy revisited: A monolithic theory of attentional control

The control of attention was long held to reflect the influence of two competing mechanisms of assigning priority, one goal-directed and the other stimulus-driven. Learning-dependent influences on the control of attention that could not be attributed to either of those two established mechanisms of control gave rise to the concept of selection history and a corresponding third mechanism of attentional control. The trichotomy framework that ensued has come to dominate theories of attentional control over the past decade, replacing the historical dichotomy. In this theoretical review, I readily affirm that distinctions between the influence of goals, salience, and selection history are substantive and meaningful, and that abandoning the dichotomy between goal-directed and stimulus-driven mechanisms of control was appropriate. I do, however, question whether a theoretical trichotomy is the right answer to the problem posed by selection history. If we reframe the influence of goals and selection history as different flavors of memory-dependent modulations of attentional priority and if we characterize the influence of salience as a consequence of insufficient competition from such memory-dependent sources of priority, it is possible to account for a wide range of attention-related phenomena with only one mechanism of control. The monolithic framework for the control of attention that I propose offers several concrete advantages over a trichotomy framework, which I explore here.

Divergent thinking modulates interactions between episodic memory and schema knowledge: Controlled and spontaneous episodic retrieval processes

The ability to generate novel ideas, known as divergent thinking, depends on both semantic knowledge and episodic memory. Semantic knowledge and episodic memory are known to interact to support memory decisions, but how they may interact to support divergent thinking is unknown. Moreover, it is debated whether divergent thinking relies on spontaneous or controlled retrieval processes. We addressed these questions by examining whether divergent thinking ability relates to interactions between semantic knowledge and different episodic memory processes. Participants completed the alternate uses task of divergent thinking, and completed a memory task in which they searched for target objects in schema-congruent or schema-incongruent locations within scenes. In a subsequent test, participants indicated where in each scene the target object had been located previously (i.e., spatial accuracy test), and provided confidence-based recognition memory judgments that indexed distinct episodic memory processes (i.e., recollection, familiarity, and unconscious memory) for the scenes. We found that higher divergent thinking ability-specifically in terms of the number of ideas generated-was related to (1) more of a benefit from recollection (a controlled process) and unconscious memory (a spontaneous process) on spatial accuracy and (2) beneficial differences in how semantic knowledge was combined with recollection and unconscious memory to influence spatial accuracy. In contrast, there were no effects with respect to familiarity (a spontaneous process). These findings indicate that divergent thinking is related to both controlled and spontaneous memory processes, and suggest that divergent thinking is related to the ability to flexibly combine semantic knowledge with episodic memory.

Learned associations serve as target proxies during difficult but not easy visual search

The target template contains information in memory that is used to guide attention during visual search and is typically thought of as containing features of the actual target object. However, when targets are hard to find, it is advantageous to use other information in the visual environment that is predictive of the target's location to help guide attention. The purpose of these studies was to test if newly learned associations between face and scene category images lead observers to use scene information as a proxy for the face target. Our results showed that scene information was used as a proxy for the target to guide attention but only when the target face was difficult to discriminate from the distractor face; when the faces were easy to distinguish, attention was no longer guided by the scene unless the scene was presented earlier. The results suggest that attention is flexibly guided by both target features as well as features of objects that are predictive of the target location. The degree to which each contributes to guiding attention depends on the efficiency with which that information can be used to decode the location of the target in the current moment. The results contribute to the view that attentional guidance is highly flexible in its use of information to rapidly locate the target.

Evaluation of visual performance and eye movements in patients with blue light-filtering intraocular lenses versus ultraviolet light-filtering intraocular lenses

Background

Eye movement plays an important role in visual perception and provides essential visual information for everyday tasks. Our previous study indicated that the visual performance and eye movement pattern were impaired in age-related cataract patients and could be improved after cataract surgery, but the impact of different intraocular lens (IOL) types was obscure. Previous studies found that blue light might affect the eye movement pattern and cognitive function. In this study, we explored the visual performance and eye movement pattern in post-cataract surgery patients implanted with blue light-filtering IOLs or ultraviolet (UV) light-filtering IOLs to further understand the impact of different types of IOLs on and daily visual performance and eye movement pattern and to help ophthalmologists and patients make the personalized option of IOL types in future.

Methods

Patients after both-eye cataract surgeries were included in this study. Eye movement behaviors were automatically recorded by an eye tracker while performing three performance-based everyday tasks (non-social object search, face recognition, and reading). Visual performance and eye movement parameters were compared between participants with blue light-filtering IOLs and UV light-filtering IOLs. The correlation between visual performance and eye movement parameters was explored to determine which eye movement parameters had a significant influence on visual performance outcomes.

Results

A total of 30 patients (16 with blue light-filtering IOLs and 14 with UV light-filtering IOLs) were included. In this study, we found that the eye movement pattern was slightly different with these two IOLs: during non-social object visual search task, time to first fixation and fixation counts before first fixation were notably increased in yellow-tinted blue light-filtering IOL patients. During reading task, a higher total fixation count was also found in blue light-filtering IOL patients. However, the visual performance of these two IOLs was close, except for a quicker search of the target object with clear UV light-filtering IOLs.

Conclusion

Both blue light-filtering and UV light-filtering IOLs were able to successfully restore visual function and yield satisfactory outcomes after cataract surgery. Although subtle, yellow-tinted IOLs did have a slight but significant impact on visual performance and the eye movement pattern of elderly patients when handling everyday tasks.

Conscious and unconscious memory and eye movements in context-guided visual search: A computational and experimental reassessment of Ramey, Yonelinas, and Henderson (2019)

Are eye movements unconsciously guided towards target locations in familiar scenes? In a recent eyetracking study, Ramey, Yonelinas, and Henderson (2019) measured eye-movement efficiency (scanpath ratio) and memory judgments when participants searched for targets in repeated and novel scenes. When trials judged new with high confidence were selected, scanpath ratio was lower for old scenes (misses) than for new scenes (correct rejections). In addition, familiarity as measured by recognition confidence did not significantly predict scanpath ratio. Ramey et al. attributed these results to unconscious learning guiding eye movements. In a re-assessment of Ramey et al.'s data, we show that their findings can be accounted for by a single-system computational model in which eye movements and memory judgments are driven by a common latent memory representation. In particular, (a) the scanpath ratio difference between high-confidence misses and correct rejections is a consequence of regression to the mean, while (b) the null correlation between familiarity and scanpath ratio, partly a natural consequence of the low reliability of the scanpath ratio measure, is also reproduced by the model. Two pre-registered experiments confirm a novel prediction of the alternative single-system model. This work offers a parsimonious account of Ramey et al.'s findings without recourse to unconscious guidance of eye movements.

Eye movements dissociate between perceiving, sensing, and unconscious change detection in scenes

Detecting visual changes can be based on perceiving, whereby one can identify a specific detail that has changed, on sensing, whereby one knows that there is a change but is unable to identify what changed, or on unconscious change detection, whereby one is unaware of any change even though the change influences one's behavior. Prior work has indicated that the processes underlying these different types of change detection are functionally and neurally distinct, but the attentional mechanisms that are related to these different types of change detection remain largely unknown. In the current experiment, we examined eye movements during a change detection task in globally manipulated scenes, and participants indicated their change detection confidence on a scale that allowed us to isolate perceiving, sensing, and unconscious change detection. For perceiving-based change detection, but not sensing-based or unconscious change detection, participants were more likely to preferentially revisit highly changed scene regions across the first and second presentation of the scene (i.e., resampling). This increase in resampling started within 250 ms of the test scene onset, suggesting that the effect began within the first two fixations. In addition, changed scenes were related to more clustered (i.e., less dispersed) eye movements than unchanged scenes, particularly when the subjects were highly confident that no change had occurred - providing evidence for change detection outside of conscious awareness. The results indicate that perceiving, sensing, and unconscious change detection responses are related to partially distinct patterns of eye movements.

Episodic memory processes modulate how schema knowledge is used in spatial memory decisions

Schema knowledge can dramatically affect how we encode and retrieve memories. Current models propose that schema information is combined with episodic memory at retrieval to influence memory decisions, but it is not known how the strength or type of episodic memory (i.e., unconscious memory versus familiarity versus recollection) influences the extent to which schema information is incorporated into memory decisions. To address this question, we had participants search for target objects in semantically expected (i.e., congruent) locations or in unusual (i.e., incongruent) locations within scenes. In a subsequent test, participants indicated where in each scene the target had been located previously, then provided confidence-based recognition memory judgments that indexed recollection, familiarity strength, and unconscious memory for the scenes. In both an initial online study (n = 133) and replication (n = 59), target location recall was more accurate for targets that had been located in schema-congruent rather than incongruent locations; importantly, this effect was strongest for new scenes, decreased with unconscious memory, decreased further with familiarity strength, and was eliminated entirely for recollected scenes. Moreover, when participants recollected an incongruent scene but did not correctly remember the target location, they were still biased away from congruent regions-suggesting that detrimental schema bias was suppressed in the presence of recollection even when precise target location information was not remembered. The results indicate that episodic memory modulates how schemas are used: Schema knowledge contributes to spatial memory judgments primarily when episodic memory fails to provide precise information, and recollection can override schema bias completely.

The subconscious impact of line orientations in background images on memory of Chinese written characters

Oriented lines impact human cognition subconsciously. This study aimed to determine whether line orientations in the background of Chinese written characters influenced individual’s memory and emotion. Five pictures with Chinese characters as experimental material, in which four had equidistant parallel lines (0°, -45°, 90°, and +45°) as background and the other one had a blank background, were presented on a personal computer screen, for 15 seconds each, to 94 participants. The participants were then given 45 seconds to write down what they had just memorized. Participants’ emotion was identified by their Heart Rate Variability (HRV) simultaneously during the viewing process. The results showed that vertical (90°) and 45° leftward leaning lines (-45°) did not weaken users’ memory, and no significant difference in memory was found between these two states and the blank background, while horizontal (0°) and 45° rightward leaning lines (+45°) weakened the memory effect significantly. Overall, memory decreased in the condition of horizontally lined background while no influence in vertically lined background condition; and it showed asymmetry under leftward and rightward leaning line conditions: memory decreased in rightward leaning lined background while no influence in leftward lined background. Moreover, the results of emotion and memory showed negative similar trend. These findings provide practical suggestions for visual information design.

Driver's Visual Attention Characteristics and Their Emotional Influencing Mechanism under Different Cognitive Tasks

The visual attention system is the gateway to the human information processing system, and emotion is an important part of the human perceptual system. In this paper, the driver's visual attention characteristics and the influences of typical driving emotions on those were explored through analyzing driver's fixation time and identification accuracy to different visual cognitive tasks during driving. The results showed that: the increasing complexity of the cognitive object led to the improvement of visual identification speed. The memory and recall process increased drivers' fixation time to cognitive objects, and the recall accuracy decreased with the increase in time interval. The increase in the number of cognitive objects resulted in the driver improving the visual identification speed for the cognitive object at the end of the sequence consciously. The results also showed that: the visual cognitive efficiency was improved in the emotional states of anger and contempt, and was decreased in the emotional states of surprise, fear, anxiety, helplessness and pleasure, and the emotional state of relief had no significant effect on the visual cognitive efficiency. The findings reveal the driver's visual information processing mechanism to a certain extent, which are of great significance to understand the inner micro-psychology of driver's cognition.

The Pervasive Problem of Post Hoc Data Selection in Studies on Unconscious Processing

Studies on unconscious mental processes typically require that participants are unaware of some information (e.g., a visual stimulus). An important methodological question in this field of research is how to deal with data from participants who become aware of the critical stimulus according to some measure of awareness. While it has previously been argued that the post hoc selection of participants dependent on an awareness measure may often result in regression-to-the-mean artifacts (Shanks, 2017), a recent article (Sklar et al., 2021) challenged this conclusion claiming that the consideration of this statistical artifact might lead to unjustified rejections of true unconscious influences. In this reply, we explain this pervasive statistical problem with a basic and concrete example, show that Sklar et al. fundamentally mischaracterize it, and then refute the argument that the influence of the artifact has previously been overestimated. We conclude that, without safeguards, the method of post hoc data selection should never be employed in studies on unconscious processing.

Gender moderates the association between chronic academic stress with top-down and bottom-up attention

Research on the relationship between chronic stress and cognition is limited by a lack of concurrent measurement of state-anxiety, physiological arousal, and gender. For the first time, we assessed the impact of these factors on top-down/conscious (simple and choice reaction time) and bottom-up/reflexive (saccadic reaction time) measures of attention using CONVIRT virtual-reality cognitive tests. Participants (N = 163) completed measures of academic stress (effort-reward imbalance; ERI) and state-anxiety while heart-rate variability was recorded continuously throughout the experiment. Gender moderated the association between academic stress with the top-down measures (b = -0.002, t = -2.023, p = .045; b = -0.063, t = -3.080, p = .002) and higher academic stress was associated with poorer/slower reaction times only for male participants. For bottom-up attention, heart rate variability moderated the relationship between academic stress and saccadic reaction time (b = 0.092, t = 1.991, p = .048), and only female participants who were more stressed (i.e., ERI ≥ 1) and displayed stronger sympathetic dominance had slower reaction times. Our findings align with emerging evidence that chronic stress is related to hyperarousal in women and cognitive decrements in men. Our findings suggest that higher ERI and sympathetic dominance during cognitive testing was associated with poorer bottom-up attention in women, whereas for men, academic stress was related with poorer top-down attention irrespective of sympathovagal balance.

The past, present, and future of selection history

The last ten years of attention research have witnessed a revolution, replacing a theoretical dichotomy (top-down vs. bottom-up control) with a trichotomy (biased by current goals, physical salience, and selection history). This third new mechanism of attentional control, selection history, is multifaceted. Some aspects of selection history must be learned over time whereas others reflect much more transient influences. A variety of different learning experiences can shape the attention system, including reward, aversive outcomes, past experience searching for a target, target‒non-target relations, and more. In this review, we provide an overview of the historical forces that led to the proposal of selection history as a distinct mechanism of attentional control. We then propose a formal definition of selection history, with concrete criteria, and identify different components of experience-driven attention that fit within this definition. The bulk of the review is devoted to exploring how these different components relate to one another. We conclude by proposing an integrative account of selection history centered on underlying themes that emerge from our review.

Effects of visual search task on attentional bias and stress response under pressure

BACKGROUND

it has always been a problem for athletes that their performance is out of order due to pressure in major competitions. The change of attention pattern and the emergence of stress response (SR) caused by negative affect (NA) are the direct reasons for the greater impact on the performance of athletes. It is a hot topic to explore how to improve attention bias (AB) and SR of athletes in stressful situations.

OBJECTIVE

the study aimed to analyze the improvement effect of visual search task (VST) training on AB and SR of athletes under pressure situations.

METHODS

62 male basketball players with national level 2 or above of Shenyang sports institute were divided into experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). Visual search task training program was used in the EG (happy, sad, disgusted, neutral faces) and sham training program was used in the CG (all faces with neutral expression) for two months. Under the stress situation, attention behavior of all subjects before and after training was tested. Physiological coherence and autonomic balance system were used to record heart rate variability synchronously. Parallel frequency domain analysis was divided into very low frequency band (VLF), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and total spectrum (TP). The normalized treatment obtained indexes such as HFnorm, LFnorm, and LF/HF. The e-prime 2.0 software was adopted to obtain the attention bias score. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and the self-rating stress scale were adopted for evaluation before and after training.

RESULTS

the self-rating pressure in the two groups was lower than that before the training, and the pressure in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). After training, the positive emotion of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group, and the EG was lower than that of the CG (P < 0.05). After training, the score of attention bias of happy and neutral faces in the EG was higher than that of theCG, while the score of attention bias of sad and disgusted faces was lower than that of the CG (P < 0.05). After training, LF/HF and LFnorm in the EG were lower than those in the CG, and HFnorm was higher than those in the CG (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

the training of visual search task can effectively improve the athletes' PA and AB of positive information, reduce the attention bias of negative information and psychological pressure, and relieve theSR.

Eye tracking for work-related visual search: a cognitive task analysis

Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) is an important methodology in ergonomics for studying workplaces and work patterns. Using eye tracking as a CTA methodology, this article explores visual search patterns in complex work environments and situations. It presents a simulated crime scene case study that applies eye tracking-based experiments in foraging and sense-making loops to elicit and represent knowledge on expert versus novice search patterns for complex work. The case probes the visual search task of preliminarily evaluating and documenting potential crime scene evidence. The experimental protocol relies on the ASL Mobile Eye and the analyses of experimental data include preliminary inspections of live-viewing data on eye-movements, precedence matrices detailing scan paths, and gaze charts that illustrate participants' attention based on fixation counts and durations. In line with the CTA methodology, the article uses concept maps to represent knowledge derived from different phases of the study. The article also discusses the research implications and methodologically reflects on the case study. Practitioner summary: This study offers valuable insights for work design. The use of eye tracking as a CTA methodology offers potentials for translating visual search tasks into defined visual search concepts for complex work environments and situations. The ability to model visual attention is valuable for work designs that improve complex work performance, reduce work stress, and promote work satisfaction.

The spatial distribution of attention predicts familiarity strength during encoding and retrieval

The memories we form are determined by what we attend to, and conversely, what we attend to is influenced by our memory for past experiences. Although we know that shifts of attention via eye movements are related to memory during encoding and retrieval, the role of specific memory processes in this relationship is unclear. There is evidence that attention may be especially important for some forms of memory (i.e., conscious recollection), and less so for others (i.e., familiarity-based recognition and unconscious influences of memory), but results are conflicting with respect to both the memory processes and eye movement patterns involved. To address this, we used a confidence-based method of isolating eye movement indices of spatial attention that are related to different memory processes (i.e., recollection, familiarity strength, and unconscious memory) during encoding and retrieval of real-world scenes. We also developed a new method of measuring the dispersion of eye movements, which proved to be more sensitive to memory processing than previously used measures. Specifically, in 2 studies, we found that familiarity strength-that is, changes in subjective reports of memory confidence-increased with (a) more dispersed patterns of viewing during encoding, (b) less dispersed viewing during retrieval, and (c) greater overlap in regions viewed between encoding and retrieval (i.e., resampling). Recollection was also related to these eye movements in a similar manner, though the associations with recollection were less consistent across experiments. Furthermore, we found no evidence for effects related to unconscious influences of memory. These findings indicate that attentional processes during viewing may not preferentially relate to recollection, and that the spatial distribution of eye movements is directly related to familiarity-based memory during encoding and retrieval. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Temporal context guides visual exploration during scene recognition

Memories for episodes are temporally structured. Cognitive models derived from list-learning experiments attribute this structure to the retrieval of temporal context information that indicates when a memory occurred. These models predict key features of memory recall, such as the strong tendency to retrieve studied items in the order in which they were first encountered. Can such models explain ecological memory behaviors, such as eye movements during encoding and retrieval of complex visual stimuli? We tested predictions from retrieved-context models using three data sets involving recognition memory and free viewing of complex scenes. Subjects reinstated sequences of eye movements from one scene-viewing episode to the next. Moreover, sequence reinstatement decayed over time and was associated with successful memory. We observed memory-driven reinstatement even after accounting for intrinsic scene properties that produced consistent eye movements. These findings confirm predictions of retrieved-context models, suggesting retrieval of temporal context influences complex behaviors generated during naturalistic memory experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Why do we retrace our visual steps? Semantic and episodic memory in gaze reinstatement

When we look at repeated scenes, we tend to visit similar regions each time—a phenomenon known as resampling. Resampling has long been attributed to episodic memory, but the relationship between resampling and episodic memory has recently been found to be less consistent than assumed. A possibility that has yet to be fully considered is that factors unrelated to episodic memory may generate resampling: for example, other factors such as semantic memory and visual salience that are consistently present each time an image is viewed and are independent of specific prior viewing instances. We addressed this possibility by tracking participants’ eyes during scene viewing to examine how semantic memory, indexed by the semantic informativeness of scene regions (i.e., meaning), is involved in resampling. We found that viewing more meaningful regions predicted resampling, as did episodic familiarity strength. Furthermore, we found that meaning interacted with familiarity strength to predict resampling. Specifically, the effect of meaning on resampling was attenuated in the presence of strong episodic memory, and vice versa. These results suggest that episodic and semantic memory are each involved in resampling behavior and are in competition rather than synergistically increasing resampling. More generally, this suggests that episodic and semantic memory may compete to guide attention.

Eye Movements in Real-World Scene Photographs: General Characteristics and Effects of Viewing Task

The present study examines eye movement behavior in real-world scenes with a large (N = 100) sample. We report baseline measures of eye movement behavior in our sample, including mean fixation duration, saccade amplitude, and initial saccade latency. We also characterize how eye movement behaviors change over the course of a 12 s trial. These baseline measures will be of use to future work studying eye movement behavior in scenes in a variety of literatures. We also examine effects of viewing task on when and where the eyes move in real-world scenes: participants engaged in a memorization and an aesthetic judgment task while viewing 100 scenes. While we find no difference at the mean-level between the two tasks, temporal- and distribution-level analyses reveal significant task-driven differences in eye movement behavior.

Working memory can compare two visual items without accessing visual consciousness

Recent studies argued that unconscious visual information could access the working memory, however, it is still unclear whether the central executive could be activated unconsciously. We investigated, using a delayed match-to-sample task, whether the central executive is an unconscious process. In the experiment of the present study, participants were asked to compare the locations of two given visual targets. Both targets (or one of the two targets, depending on the experimental condition) were masked by a visual masking paradigm. The results showed an above-chance-level performance even in the condition that participants compared two unconscious targets. However, when the trials with the non-visual conscious experience of the target were removed from the analysis, the performance was no longer significantly different from chance level. Our results suggest that the central executive could be activated unconsciously by some level of stimulus signal, that is still below the threshold for a subjective report.

Mild acute stress improves response speed without impairing accuracy or interference control in two selective attention tasks: Implications for theories of stress and cognition

Acute stress is generally thought to impair performance on tasks thought to rely on selective attention. This effect has been well established for moderate to severe stressors, but no study has examined how a mild stressor-the most common type of stressor-influences selective attention. In addition, no study to date has examined how stress influences the component processes involved in overall selective attention task performance, such as controlled attention, automatic attentional activation, decision-making, and motor abilities. To address these issues, we randomly assigned 107 participants to a mild acute stress or control condition. As expected, the mild acute stress condition showed a small but significant increase in cortisol relative to the control condition. Following the stressor, we assessed attention with two separate flanker tasks. One of these tasks was optimized to investigate component attentional processes using computational cognitive modeling, whereas the other task employed mouse-tracking to illustrate how response conflict unfolded over time. The results for both tasks showed that mild acute stress decreased response time (i.e., increased response speed) without influencing accuracy or interference control. Further, computational modeling and mouse-tracking analyses indicated that these effects were due to faster motor action execution time for chosen actions. Intriguingly, however, cortisol responses were unrelated to any of the observed effects of mild stress. These results have implications for theories of stress and cognition, and highlight the importance of considering motor processes in understanding the effects of stress on cognitive task performance.