Global Processing Makes People Happier Than Local Processing

Forests or trees? The effect of generating solutions to distant analogies on global-local processing

The present research was designed to examine the effect of solving distant analogies on global-local processing. In two experiments, participants generated solutions to near analogies (near condition), or distant analogies (distant condition), and then they were required to either complete the Kimchi-Palmer task (Experiment 1) or the Navon letter task (Experiment 2). The experimental results showed that participants who generated solutions to distant analogies scored higher on the Kimchi-Palmer task and had faster reaction times to global letters. These findings indicated that solving distant analogies could promote global processing.

Investigation of frequency components embedded in EEG recordings underlying neuronal mechanism of cognitive control and attentional functions

Attentional cognitive control regulates the perception to enhance human behaviour. The current study examines the atltentional mechanisms in terms of time and frequency of EEG signals. The cognitive load is higher for processing local attentional stimulus, thereby demanding higher response time (RT) with low response accuracy (RA). On the other hand, the global attentional mechanisms broadly promote the perception while demanding a low cognitive load with faster RT and high RA. Attentional mechanisms refer to perceptual systems that afford and allocate the adaptive behaviours for prioritizing the processing of relevant stimuli based on the local and global features. The early sensory component of C1, which was associated with the local attentional mechanism, showed higher amplitudes than the global attentional mechanisms in parieto-occipital regions. Further, the local attentional mechanisms were also sustained in N2 and P3 components increasing higher amplitude in the left and right hemispheric sides of temporal regions (T7 and T8). Theta band frequency had shown higher power spectrum density (PSD) values while processing local attentional mechanisms. However, the significance of other frequency bands was noticeably minute. Hence, integrating the attentional mechanisms in terms of ERP and frequency signatures, a hybrid custom weight allocation model (CWAM) was built to assess and predict the contribution of insignificant channels to significant ones. The CWAM model was formulated based on the computational linear regression derivatives. All the derivatives are computationally derived the significant score while channelizing the hierarchical performance of each channel with respect to the frequent and deviant occurrences of global-local stimulus. This model enables us to configure the neural dynamicity of cognitive allocation of resources within the different locations of the human brain while processing the attentional stimulus. CWAM is reported to be the first model to evaluate the performance of the non-significant channels for enhancing the response of significant channels. The findings of the CWAM model suggest that the brain's performance may be determined by the underlying contribution of the non-significant channels.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-022-09888-x.

Cognitive and affective processes of prosociality

One piece of the puzzle to prosocial behavior is understanding its underlying cognitive and affective processes. We discuss how modeling behavior in social dilemmas can be expanded by integrating cognitive theories and attention-based models of decision processes, and models of affective influences on prosocial decision-making. We review theories speaking to the interconnections of cognition and affect, identifying the need for further theory development regarding modeling moment-by-moment decision-making processes. We discuss how these theoretical perspectives are mirrored in empirical evidence, drawn from classical outcome-oriented as well as contemporary process-tracing research. Finally, we develop perspectives for future research trajectories aiming to further elucidate the processes by which prosocial decisions are formed, by linking process measures to usually unobservable cognitive and affective reactions.

Emotion-Attention Interaction in the Right Hemisphere

Hemispheric asymmetries in affective and cognitive functions have been extensively studied. While both cerebral hemispheres contribute to most affective and cognitive processes, neuroscientific literature and neuropsychological evidence support an overall right hemispheric dominance for emotion, attention and arousal. Emotional stimuli, especially those with survival value such as threat, tend to be prioritized in attentional resource competition. Arousing unpleasant emotional stimuli have prioritized access, especially to right-lateralized attention networks. Interference of task performance may be observed when limited resources are exhausted by task- and emotion-related processing. Tasks that rely on right hemisphere-dependent processing, like attending to the left visual hemifield or global-level visual features, are especially vulnerable to interference due to attention capture by unpleasant emotional stimuli. The aim of this review is to present literature regarding the special role of the right hemisphere in affective and attentional brain processes and their interaction. Furthermore, clinical and technological implications of this interaction will be presented. Initially, the effects of focal right hemisphere lesion or atrophy on emotional functions will be introduced. Neurological right hemisphere syndromes including aprosodia, anosognosia and neglect, which further point to the predominance of the intact right hemisphere in emotion, attention and arousal will be presented. Then there will be a brief review of electrophysiological evidence, as well as evidence from patients with neglect that support attention capture by emotional stimuli in the right hemisphere. Subsequently, experimental work on the interaction of emotion, attention and cognition in the right hemispheres of healthy subjects will be presented. Finally, clinical implications for better understanding and assessment of alterations in emotion-attention interaction due to brain disorder or treatment, such as neuromodulation, that impact affective brain functions will be discussed. It will be suggested that measuring right hemispheric emotion-attention interactions may provide basis for novel biomarkers of brain health. Such biomarkers allow for improved diagnostics in brain damage and disorders and optimized treatments. To conclude, future technological applications will be outlined regarding brain physiology-based measures that reflect engagement of the right hemisphere in affective and attentional processes.

Short-Term Effects of Video-Games on Cognitive Enhancement: the Role of Positive Emotions

According to established background knowledge, playing is essential in human development and a power remediation tool in clinical populations. In clinical interventions, the beneficial roles of playing have often been sought and investigated in the specific features of the game, rather than in the positive emotions generated by playing. However, regardless of game specifications, cognitive enhancement could be driven by the emotions linked to play. Establishing the causal connections between play and cognitive enhancement should allow us to determine how to involve play in therapy, prevention and educational programmes. Today, video-gaming is one of the most diffused forms of play. In the first crossover randomized controlled trial, we compared the short-term effects induced by shooting and puzzle video-games in visual perception, sensorimotor and reading skills in children with developmental coordination disorder and dyslexia. The funnier and more activating game enhanced breadth of visual perception and reduced sensorimotor and reading disorders. Visual perception, sensorimotor and reading improvements correlated with fun. In the second crossover randomized controlled trial, comparing the effects of the same shooting with a fighting video-game in healthy young adults, we show that regardless of game characteristics, changes in positive emotions correlated with contextual reading enhancement, while play-driven biochemical activation boosted single word and pseudoword reading. The short-term effects induced by play could be a useful clinical tool for the prevention and treatment of multiple cognitive disorders.