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Abstract The study analyzes the relationships between working memory capacity, executive attention, and self-regulated learning (SRL) on math performance (MP), and more specifically on items with different levels of complexity and difficulty. Sample: 575 university students (female: 47.5%; 18–25 years old), first academic year. Instruments: Attention Network Test; Automated Operation Span; Mathematics Test; On-line Motivation Questionnaire, and Learning Strategies Questionnaire. Results confirm the crucial role of individual differences in WMC that impact directly on MP, mediated by subjective competence. Affective SRL contribute significantly as mediating variables but their positive effect depends on the availability of cognitive resources. Findings partially confirmed the differential contribution of cognitive processes in the prediction of performance in complex vs difficult items. We found support for a complex pattern of interactions between cognitive processes and components of SRL model at the strategy level, in their effect on MP, and given specific item characteristics. Highlights • Working memory capacity underlies self-regulated learning information processing. • Complex interactions between working memory capacity & self-regulation in mathematics tasks. • Motivational variables effects depend on the availability of cognitive resources. • Relative independence between task complexity and difficulty effects in math items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans have an ability to remember up to 10,000 previously viewed scenes with apparently robust memory for visual detail, a phenomenon that has been interpreted as suggesting a visual memory system of massive capacity. Attempts at explanation have largely focused on the nature of the stimuli and been influenced by theoretical accounts of object recognition. Our own study aims to supplement this by considering two observer-based aspects of visual long-term memory, one strategic, whether the observers are aware or not that their memory will subsequently be tested and the other executive, based on the amount of attentional capacity available during encoding. We describe six studies involving visual scenes ranging in difficulty from complex manmade scenes (d' = 2.54), to door scenes with prominent features removed (d' = 0.79). To ensure processing of the stimuli, all participants have to make a judgement of pleasantness (Experiments 1 and 2) or of the presence or absence of a dot (Experiment 3). Intention to learn influence performance only in the most impoverished condition comprising doors with prominent features removed. Experiments 4-6 investigated the attentional demands of visual long-term memory using a concurrent task procedure. While the demanding task of counting back in threes clearly impaired performance across the range of materials, a lighter load, counting back in ones influences only the most difficult door scenes. Detailed analysis of error patterns indicated that clear differences in performance level between manmade and natural scenes and between unmodified and modified door scenes was reflected in false alarm scores not detections, while concurrent task load affected both. We suggest an interpretation in terms of a two-level process of encoding at the visual feature rather than the whole scene level, with natural images containing many features encoded richly, rapidly and without explicit intent. Only when scenes are selected from a single category and with distinctive detail minimised does memory depend on intention to remember and on the availability of substantial executive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined how alerting and executive attention interact in a task involving conflict resolution. We proposed a tentative scenario in which an initial exogenous phasic alerting phase is followed by an endogenous tonic alerting phase, and hypothesized that these two processes may have distinct effects on conflict resolution. Phasic alerting was expected to increase the conflict, whereas tonic alerting was expected to decrease the conflict. Three experiments were conducted using different variants of the flanker task with visual alerting cues and varied cue-target intervals (SOA), to differentiate between effects of phasic alerting (short SOA) and tonic alerting (long SOA). The results showed that phasic alerting consistently decreased the efficiency of conflict resolution indexed by response time and accuracy, whereas tonic alerting increased the accuracy of conflict resolution, but at a cost in the speed of processing the conflict. The third experiment additionally showed that the effects of phasic alerting may be modulated by the psychophysical strength of alerting cues. Discussed are possible mechanisms that could account for the observed interactions between alerting and conflict resolution, as well as some discrepancies between the current and previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lozano's (2015) finding that impulsivity was only significantly related to the item-position effect of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices may provide important insight into the outcomes of previous research that reported a negative relationship between impulsivity and intelligence. We collected data from two large samples of university students to replicate the finding of Lozano and to further examine whether the finding can be generalized to another intelligence test (Horn's reasoning scale). Since executive attention has been found to show a substantial correlation with the position component of intelligence, measures of executive attention were also administered to explore whether the relationship between impulsivity and the item-position effect of intelligence is due to their overlap with executive attention. Our results indicated that impulsivity was not related to the position and ability components of intellgence. Executive attention showed the expected relationship with the position effect of intelligence, but showed only a modest relationship with impulsivity. We conclude that the relationship of impulsivity with the item-position effect of intelligence should be interpreted cautiously before further evidence is accumulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time of the start of Biological Psychology cognitive studies had developed approaches to measuring cognitive processes. However, linking these to the underlying biology in the typical human brain had hardly begun. A critical step came in 1988 when methods for imaging the human brain in cognitive tasks began. By 1990 it was possible to describe three brain networks that carried out the hypothesized cognitive functions outlined 20 years before. Their development was traced in infancy, first using age-appropriate tasks and later through resting state imaging. Imaging was applied to both voluntary and involuntary cued shifts of visual orienting in humans and primates, and a summary was presented in 2002. By 2008 these new imaging findings were used to test hypotheses about the genes involved in each network. Recently, studies of mice using optogenetics to control populations of neurons have brought us closer to a synthesis of how attention and memory networks operate together in human learning. Perhaps the coming years will bring us to an integrated theory of aspects of attention using data from all the levels that can illuminate these issues, thus fulfilling a key goal of the Journal. • Imaging the human brain has connected cognitive operations to neural networks. • Attention involves at least three functions found to have separate brain networks. • Different aspects of infant temperament correlate with attention networks at 7 years. • Resting MRI and cognitive tasks have traced attention network development from infancy • Using optogenetics in mice led to connections between attention and memory networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We sought to examine fundamental aspects of attention in children with Rett syndrome, a severely disabling neurodevelopmental disorder caused by spontaneous mutations in the X-linked MECP2 gene. To gauge their attention, we used eye tracking, which bypasses the profound impairments in expressive language and hand use in Rett syndrome. We report two aspects of attention-shifting and sustaining-basic abilities known to drive cognitive growth.Methods: Two groups were compared: those with Rett syndrome (N = 20; 3-15 years) and a typically developing comparison group (N = 14; 3-16 years), using a task in which an attractive central stimulus was followed, after a short gap, by a dynamic target presented to one side. Time to shift to the target location (reactive and anticipatory saccades) and time fixating the target were assessed.Results: Children with Rett syndrome were consistently slower to shift (largely because of fewer anticipations); their reactive saccades were also slower than those of typically developing children, but not significantly so. The Rett syndrome group spent considerable time looking at the target (over 75% of available time), although significantly less so than the typically developing group.Conclusions: These findings indicate that children with Rett syndrome could maintain attention on a stimulus and orient relatively quickly to the appearance of a target in the visual field. However, they had difficulty in anticipating predictable events, a difficulty in endogenous attention that is likely to have deleterious implications for executive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The event-related potential N270 component is known to be an electrophysiological marker of the supramodal conflict processing. However little is know about the factors that may modulate its amplitude. In particular, among all studies that have investigated the N270, little or no control of the conflict strength and of the load in working memory have been done leaving a lack in the understanding of this component. We designed a spatial audiovisual conflict task with simultaneous target and cross-modal distractor to evaluate the N270 sensitivity to the conflict strength (i.e., visual target with auditory distractor or auditory target with visual distractor) and the load in working memory (goal task maintenance with frequent change in the target modality). In a first session, participants had to focus on one modality for the target position to be considered (left-hand or right-hand) while the distractor could be at the same side (compatible) or at opposite side (incompatible). In a second session, we used the same set of stimuli as in the first session with an additional distinct auditory signal that clued the participants to frequently switch between the auditory and the visual targets. We found that (1) reaction times and N270 amplitudes for conflicting situations were larger within the auditory target condition compared to the visual one, (2) the increase in target maintenance effort led to equivalent increase of both reaction times and N270 amplitudes within all conditions and (3) the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex current density was higher for both conflicting and active maintenance of the target situations. These results provide new evidence that the N270 component is an electrophysiological marker of the supramodal conflict processing that is sensitive to the conflict strength and that conflict processing and active maintenance of the task goal are two functions of a common executive attention system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goals of this selective meta-analysis on the populations of ADHD, learning difficulties and typically developing individuals were (a) to determine whether attention can be improved by attention training programs, (b) to examine whether attention training effects transfer to other outcomes (i.e., academic and cognitive skills), and (c) to identify moderators of the attention training effects on attention. A meta-analysis of 15 studies with 113 effect sizes found a significant, medium-sized training effect on attention, Hedges g = .25, 95%CI [.02, .47] and the effects of attention training significantly transferred to non-trained tasks (academic and cognitive skills), Hedges g = .24, 95%CI [.01, .47]. Moderation analyses indicated that attention training is more effective for improving attention when the training is adaptive and is more effective for younger individuals and for individuals with ADHD. Also, attention training seems more effective for improving attention when it targets the orienting attention network. The implications of these findings with respect to attention training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Many preterm children show difficulties in attention at (pre)school age. The development of attention capacities of preterm and term toddlers was compared using a longitudinal and multi-method approach at 12, 18 and 24months.Method: Attention was measured for 123 preterm (32-36weeks gestation) and 101 term born children, using eye tracking (18months), observations during mother-child interaction (18months), and mother-reports (12, 18, and 24months).Results: Preterm toddlers had lower scores than term children on the eye-tracking measures of orienting and alerting. No group differences were found with observations, mother-reports, and the eye-tracking measure of executive attention. More preterm than term children had suboptimal scores on measures of the alerting system at 18months, possibly indicating difficulties in attention development.Conclusion: Preterm children showed an increased risk for suboptimal functioning in alerting attention capacities, as early as at a toddler age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder characterized by various behavioral and cognitive difficulties. Previous studies indicated that children with ADHD have language difficulties, including difficulties in metaphor understanding but the relation between metaphor processing and specific cognitive functions needs further investigation. In the current study we examined how adults with and without ADHD resolve semantic conflicts between a metaphorical prime and a metaphorical or literal target sentence. Twenty-six adults with ADHD and 24 age-matched control participants underwent a thorough evaluation of neuropsychological skills, as well as assessment of various aspects of attention. Results suggested that people with ADHD were less efficient than controls in resolving conflicts between metaphorical and literal meanings of sentence pairs. In addition they showed deficient sustained attention and executive attention. Moreover, the ability to resolve semantic conflicts was related to semantic fluency in the ADHD group, but to executive attention in the control group. These findings emphasize the various specific difficulties of adults with ADHD and shed light on the different role of attention in the resolution of semantic conflicts among ADHD individuals as compared to controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The hormone cortisol is often believed to play a pivotal role in the effects of stress on human cognition. This meta-analysis is an attempt to determine the effects of acute cortisol administration on core executive functions. Drawing on both rodent and stress literatures, we hypothesized that acute cortisol administration would impair working memory and set-shifting but enhance inhibition. Additionally, because cortisol is thought to exert different nongenomic (rapid) and genomic (slow) effects, we further hypothesized that the effects of cortisol would differ as a function of the delay between cortisol administration and cognitive testing. Although the overall analyses were nonsignificant, after separating the rapid, nongenomic effects of cortisol from the slower, genomic effects of cortisol, the rapid effects of cortisol enhanced response inhibition, g + = 0.113, p = .016, but impaired working memory, g + = −0.315, p = .008, although these effects reversed over time. Contrary to our hypotheses, there was no effect of cortisol administration on set-shifting. Thus, although we did not find support for the idea that increases in cortisol influence set-shifting, we found that acute increases in cortisol exert differential effects on working memory and inhibition over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Certain behavioral expressions of sensory modulation disorder (SMD) such as distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are often similar to those of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in pediatric and adult populations. There is also a high comorbidity rate between these two diagnoses and absence of research regarding the objective neuropsychological differentiation between them. In the present study we employed a factorial design which enabled us to: (a) systematically examine the effects of SMD and ADHD on executive attention in a sample of adult females using a Stroop-like task, and (b) measure the effect of aversive conditions (sounds) on executive attention. The experimental measures used were the Stroop-like Location – Direction Task ( SLDT ) to assess executive attention and the battery of aversiveness to sounds (BAS), a standardized measure of aversive sounds that was developed for this study and enabled individual customization of aversive auditory sounds. Results revealed, as expected, a specific core deficit in executive attention for the ADHD factor. In addition to that, the present study provides an important, pioneering finding of SMD impairment in a unique combination of a cognitively demanding task with aversive sounds, providing preliminary objective evidence differentiating SMD from ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The neuroanatomical basis of trait mindfulness was investigated in a large sample. [•] Trait mindfulness positively correlated with the GM volume in the hippocampus/amygdala and ACC. [•] Trait mindfulness negatively correlated with the GM volume in the PCC and OFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Introduction: This study examined the effects of three consecutive days of attentional training on the salivary alpha amylase (sAA), cortisol, and mood response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). The training was designed to elicit faster disengagement of attention away from threatening facial expressions and faster shifts of attention toward positive ones. Method: Fifty-six healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 30 participated in a double-blind, within-subject experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three attentional training conditions – supraliminal training: pictures shown with full conscious awareness, masked training: stimuli presented with limited conscious awareness, or control training: both supraliminal and masked pictures shown but no shifting of attention required. Following training, participants underwent the TSST. Self-reported mood and saliva samples were collected for the determination of emotional reactivity, cortisol, and sAA in response to stress post-training. Results: Unexpectedly, participants in both attentional training groups exhibited a higher salivary cortisol response to the TSST relative to participants who underwent the control training, F (4, 86)=4.07, p =.005, . Supraliminal training was also associated with enhanced sAA reactivity, F (2, 44)=13.90, p =.000, , and a more hostile mood response (p =.021), to the TSST. Interestingly, the effect of attention training on the cortisol response to stress was more robust in those with high attentional control than those with low attentional control (β =−0.134; t =−2.24, p =.03). Conclusion: This is among the first experimental manipulations to demonstrate that attentional training can elicit a paradoxical increase in three different markers of stress reactivity. These findings suggest that attentional training, in certain individuals, can have iatrogenic effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Executive attention and its link with EC in ADHD, ASD, and controls. [•] Correlations were often weak and varied depending on group and measure considered. [•] Most robust relationship was found with the ERN. [•] ADHD+ODD showed diminished executive attention, reflected in RT and P3. [•] ERN and CRN were smaller in ADHD, suggesting reduced response monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Attention has been related to functions of alerting, orienting, and executive control, which are associated with distinct brain networks. This study aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the development of attention functions during childhood. A total of 46 healthy 4–13-year-old children and 15 adults performed an adapted version of the Attention Network Task (ANT) while brain activation was registered with a high-density EEG system. Performance of the ANT revealed changes in the efficiency of attention networks across ages. While no differences were observed on the alerting score, both orienting and executive attention scores showed a more protracted developmental curve. Further, age-related differences in brain activity were mostly observed in early ERP components. Young children had poorer early processing of warning cues compared to 10–13-year-olds and adults, as shown by an immature auditory-evoked potential complex elicited by warning tones. Also, 4–6-year-olds exhibited a poorer processing of orienting cues as indexed by lack of modulation of the N1. Finally, flanker congruency produced earlier modulation of ERPs amplitude with age. Flanker congruency effects were delayed and more anteriorly distributed for young children, compared to adults who showed a clear modulation of the N2 in fronto-parietal channels. Additionally, interactions among attention networks were examined. Both alerting and orienting conditions modulated the effectiveness of conflict processing by the executive attention network. The Orienting×Executive networks interactions was only observed after about age 7. Results are informative of the neural correlates of the development of attention networks in childhood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Bidirectional relationships exist between phonological awareness (PA) and executive attention, with PA predicting executive attention and vice versa. [•] The predictive relationship of PA to executive attention was more pronounced for both English-onset and Chinese-rime awareness. [•] Orienting attention was strongly related to both English and Chinese PA skills, whereas executive-control attention was associated with English PA only. [•] Evidence for cross-linguistic transfer of PA skills suggests potentially concurrent contributions of bilinguals’ multiple PA skills to cognitive advantages in executive attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A recent history of failed clinical trials suggests that waiting until even the early stages of onset of Alzheimer's disease may be too late for effective treatment, pointing to the importance of early intervention in young people. Early intervention will require markers of Alzheimer's risk that track with genotype but are capable of responding to treatment. Here, we sought to identify a functional MRI signature of combined Alzheimer's risk imparted by two genetic risk factors. We used a task of executive attention during fMRI in participants genotyped for two Alzheimer's risk alleles: APOE-ε4 and CLU-C. Executive attention is a sensitive indicator of the progression of Alzheimer's even in the early stages of mild cognitive impairment, but has not yet been investigated as a marker of Alzheimer's risk in young adults. Functional MRI revealed that APOE-ε4 and CLU-C had an additive effect on brain activity such that increased combined genetic risk was associated with decreased brain activity during executive attention, including in the medial temporal lobe, a brain area affected early in Alzheimer's pathogenesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although fluid intelligence and complex learning are conceptualized differently and assessed by apparently different measures, both theoretical accounts and empirical evidence suggest a relationship between the two constructs. In this study, major working memory aspects including the storage capacity and executive attention were proposed to account for the relationship between fluid intelligence and complex learning. A sample of 184 participants completed fluid intelligence and complex learning scales, as well as working memory measures that each included two or three treatment levels differing in the demands on capacity or executive control. The differences among the treatment levels provided a favorable precondition for employing fixed-links models to separate the core processes of storage capacity or executive attention from the auxiliary processes. Results indicated that both storage capacity and executive attention contributed significantly to fluid intelligence and complex learning. A further analysis showed that the two working memory aspects, particularly the storage capacity, accounted for most of the shared variance between fluid intelligence and complex learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Aberrant attentional processes in individuals with mood disorders — bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) — have been well documented. This study examined whether unaffected youth at familial risk for mood disorders would exhibit poor alerting, orienting, and executive attention relative to age-matched controls. Methods: A sample of youth (8–17 years old) having one parent with either BD or MDD (Mood-Risk, n=29) and youth having healthy parents (HC, n=27) completed the Attention Network Test-Short version (ANT-S), which assesses alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Results: Relative to HCs, the Mood-Risk group had significantly slower reaction times on an index of executive attention, but no differences on indices of alerting or orienting. There were no differences between the two at-risk groups (i.e., youth with BD parent vs. youth with MDD parent) on any ANT-S measure. Limitations: The current study is limited by its cross-sectional design, small sample size, and failure to control for familial environmental factors. Conclusions: The findings extend previous results indicating that altered executive attention may represent an endophenotype for mood disorders in at-risk youth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Neural responses to negatively valenced stimuli such as fear are enhanced relative to positive or neutral stimuli, reflecting an emotional negativity bias. In the present study, high time resolution event related potential (ERP) techniques were used, to investigate whether C1, the earliest visually evoked potential, is modulated by emotional valence in the executive attention network. Subjects were instructed to respond to the expression of the face, while ignoring the content of word, in an emotional face-word Stroop task. We demonstrated modulation of C1 in response to fearful faces versus happy faces. The differentiation between detection of fearful and happy faces emerged at 60–90ms after the stimulus onset at the posterior electrode sites, and this early differentiation occurred regardless of whether the subject had viewed a congruent or incongruent trials (i.e., happy face with fear label or vice versa). The present results indicate that faces with a fearful expression capture processing resources at an early sensory processing stage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The attention network test (ANT) assesses the effect of alerting and orienting cues on a visual flanker task measuring executive attention. Previous findings revealed that older adults demonstrate greater reaction times (RT) benefits when provided with visual orienting cues that offer both spatial and temporal information of an ensuing target. Given the overlap of neural substrates and networks involved in multisensory processing and cueing (i.e., alerting and orienting), an investigation of multisensory cueing effects on RT was warranted. The current study was designed to determine whether participants, both old and young, benefited from receiving multisensory alerting and orienting cues. Eighteen young (M=19.17 years; 45% female) and eighteen old (M=76.44 years; 61% female) individuals that were determined to be non-demented and without any medical or psychiatric conditions that would affect their performance were included. Results revealed main effects for the executive attention and orienting networks, but not for the alerting network. In terms of orienting, both old and young adults demonstrated significant orienting effects for auditory-somatosensory (AS), auditory-visual (AV), and visual-somatosensory (VS) cues. RT benefits of multisensory compared to unisensory orienting effects differed by cue type and age group; younger adults demonstrated greater RT benefits for AS orienting cues whereas older adults demonstrated greater RT benefits for AV orienting cues. Both groups, however, demonstrated significant RT benefits for multisensory VS orienting cues. These findings provide evidence for the facilitative effect of multisensory orienting cues, and not multisensory alerting cues, in old and young adults. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the brain, numbers are thought to be represented in a spatially organised fashion on what is known as the Mental Number Line (MNL). The SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect refers to the faster responses to digits when the reaction side is congruent with the digit position on the MNL (e.g. a left-handed response to a small magnitude) and the slowing down of responses (inhibition) in the case of incongruity. We examined the electrophysiological correlates of conflict, which are linked to that of inhibition, to shed light on the relationship between the SNARC effect and executive attention. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from twenty-nine participants during a parity-judgment task. The participants responded more quickly on congruent than on incongruent trials. The congruency effect was reflected in early sensory (N1, N2) components above parieto-occipital and frontal regions, as well as in the later P3 component above centro-parietal areas. Moreover, both the N1 amplitude and N2 latency were greater with high than low magnitude digit targets. P3 amplitude modulation implies that the SNARC effect is the result of first evoking the parallel processing of digit magnitude categorisation (in the occipital and central areas) and numeric conflict detection (in the parieto-occipital and frontal areas) and secondly conflict monitoring and resolution localised in the centro-parietal and frontal sites. These results also suggest that the left hemisphere specialises in conflict processing of high magnitude digit targets, while the right hemisphere of low digit magnitudes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of the present study was to clarify the nature of the ability-specific and position-specific components of Raven''s Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) by relating them to a number of types of attention. The ability-specific component represents the constant part of cognitive performance whereas the position-specific component reflects the changes in processing of reasoning items as a result of the changing item position. A special model denoted fixed-links model was used to decompose the data of APM into independent components. Both components were related to two higher-order units of attention, perceptual attention and executive attention, which were derived from the various types of attention. In a sample of 226 participants the position-specific component of APM showed a substantially higher link with executive attention than with perceptual attention whereas the ability-specific component only showed a moderate link with perceptual attention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Attentional threat bias (ATB) has been suggested as one factor leading to maintenance and exacerbation of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). In the present study, attentional processes (i.e., facilitated engagement, difficulty disengaging) underlying the association between ATB and PTSS were examined. Additionally, attentional control (AC) was examined as a moderator of this relationship. Participants (N =97) completed a dot-probe task with two levels of stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA: 150 and 500ms). Higher PTSS were associated with ATB when SOA was longer (i.e., 500ms), suggesting difficulty disengaging from threat stimuli. AC moderated the relationship between PTSS and ATB when SOA was shorter (i.e., 150ms), with participants high in PTSS and high in AC having disengaged and shifted attention from threat stimuli using top-down AC when the emotional valence of threat stimuli was less salient (i.e., shorter presentation duration). Findings implicate AC as a buffering mechanism against prolonged attentional engagement with threat-related stimuli among those with high PTSS. Current PTSD interventions may benefit from incorporating attention-based components. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ascending serotonergic projections from the raphe nuclei to frontal brain areas and the dense distribution of receptor and transporter sites in prefrontal and sensory regions support the idea that serotonin exerts influence on cognitive functioning. Indeed, growing evidence suggests serotonin to be an important factor in learning and memory; however, its precise role in executive processes particularly in voluntary attention is less clear. Event-related EEG studies showed the N1 potential to predict top-down attention allocation and implicated the auditory N1 in central serotonergic activity. Dipole analyses and single-trial coupling of EEG and fMRI revealed N1 sources in the primary auditory cortex and in the anterior cingulate. In the present study, amplitude variation of the event-related N1 potential was investigated on 72 healthy subjects while performing an auditory novelty oddball paradigm to tap top-down and bottom-up attention allocation. Possible serotonergic effects on voluntary attention were analyzed using allele variants of a functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) of the gene encoding the serotonin transporter, a key regulator of serotonergic neurotransmission. Because mental effort has been related to top-down attention and N1 modulation, a measure of stable individual differences in cognitive effort was included. The main result was a strong interaction of 5-HTTLPR and cognitive effort on target N1 amplitude. Greater target-related attention allocation was evident in those carriers of the 5-HTTLPR s-allele who described themselves as being more engaged in effortful processing. We suggest that the observed interaction mirrors the interplay between effort-mediated top-down attention by the ACC and serotonergic adjustment on attentional systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Using orthogonal subtractions of performance in selected conditions the attentional network test (ANT) measures the efficacy of three isolable components of attention: alerting, orienting, and executive control. Ten test sessions, each containing two versions of the ANT (), were administered to 10 young adults to examine stability, isolability, robustness, and reliability of the tests. Participants indicated the direction of a target arrow presented either above or below the fixation. The target arrow was accompanied by distracting arrows, either pointing to the same direction (congruent) as or the opposite direction (incongruent) to the target arrow. The arrows were preceded by informative visual cues (central, double, spatial, and no cue) differing in temporal and spatial information (Fan et al.) or by alerting auditory signals (tone and no tone) and uninformative visual cues (valid, invalid, and no cue) (Callejas et al.). All network scores remained highly significant even after nine previous sessions despite some practice effects in the executive and the orienting networks. Some lack of independence among the networks was found. The relatively poor reliability of network scores with one session of data rises to respectable levels as more data is added. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Attention influences many aspects of cognitive development. Variations in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, known to affect dopamine neurotransmission, have frequently been found to influence attention in adults and older children. In this paper we examined 2 year old children and found that variation in the COMT gene influenced attention in a task involving looking to a sequence of visual stimuli. Because the influence of another dopamine-related gene (DRD4) has been shown to interact with parenting quality at this age, we explored parenting in relation to variations in the COMT gene. Variations in COMT interacted with parenting quality to influence our attention measure. The Val108/158Met polymorphism of COMT is commonly used to determine allelic groups, but recently haplotypes of several polymorphisms within this gene have been shown to be more strongly associated with perceived pain. Since attention and pain both involve the activation of the anterior cingulate gyrus in imaging studies, we compared the Val108/158Met influence with the COMT haplotypes and found the latter to be more predictive of attention. Our results confirm that important aspects of cognitive development including attention depend on the interaction of genes and early environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between the hemodynamic response of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and individual differences in cognitive control, as measured by a color-word interference task. Twenty-five healthy volunteers were observed through functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while performing a modified Stroop paradigm. Mean concentration levels of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) were correlated with behavioral performance in the conflict task. Those with shorter reaction times had higher levels of oxy-Hb concentration in superior dorsolateral PFC. Our results are the first to show a positive correlation between behavioral performance and oxy-Hb levels in superior dorsolateral PFC in a cognitive conflict task. These results suggest that the availability of oxygen in the superior PFC, possibly linked to an increase in metabolism, may be related to attention level and effectiveness of cognitive control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this study, self-regulation was investigated in 7- to 10-year-old children using three different measures: (1) parent and child report questionnaires measuring temperamental effortful control, (2) a conflict task assessing efficiency of executive attention, and (3) the mistaken gift paradigm assessing social smiling in response to an undesirable gift. Both efficiency in executive attention and smiling to the undesired gift increased over age. Executive attention was related to both parent-reported temperamental effortful control and smiling, suggesting links between attentional capacities, broad temperament measures, and social situations requiring attentional control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we outline a conception of attentional networks arising from imaging studies as connections between activated brain areas carrying out localized mental operations. We consider both the areas of functional activation (nodes) and the structural (DTI) and functional connections (DCM) between them in real time (EEG, frequency analysis) as important tools in analyzing the network. The efficiency of network function involves the time course of activation of nodes and their connectivity to other areas of the network. We outline landmarks in the development of brain networks underlying executive attention from infancy and childhood. We use individual differences in network efficiency to examine genetic alleles that are related to performance. We consider how animal studies might be used to determine the genes that influence network development. Finally we indicate how training may aid in enhancing attentional networks. Our goal is to show the wide range of methods that can be used to suggest and analyze models of network function in the study of attention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Although there is evidence for attentional dysfunction in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the neural basis of these deficits remains poorly understood. Methods: We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate brain activations related to three particular aspects of attention: alerting, reorienting, and executive control. Sixteen medication-naive boys with ADHD and 16 healthy boys, aged 8 to 12 years, were studied. Results: Behaviorally, children with ADHD showed a significant impairment only in their executive control system compared to healthy subjects. Neurally, children with ADHD (relative to controls) recruited deviant brain regions for all three attentional networks: less right-sided activation in the anterior cingulate gyrus during alerting, more fronto-striatal-insular activation during reorienting, and less fronto-striatal activation for executive control. ADHD symptom severity was associated with dysregulation of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal within the putamen during reorienting and executive control. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated altered brain mechanism in ADHD associated with all three attentional networks investigated. For alerting and executive attention, our data indicate a deviant mechanism of cortical control, while ADHD children may have adopted altered strategies for reorienting of attention. Our results also stress the etiological role of functional abnormalities in the putamen in medication-naive ADHD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study examined the relationship between specific attentional aspects of processing capacity and analogical reasoning in children from low-income families. 77 children aged 48–77 (M = 56.7) months were assessed on an analogical reasoning task (matrices subtest of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) and on computerized attention tasks designed to assess orienting, vigilance, and executive attention abilities [Posner, M.I., and Petersen, S.E. (1990). The attention system of the human brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 13, 25–42]. Results showed that analogical reasoning abilities were associated with the executive attention network abilities, suggesting that skills associated with this network, such as the resolution of conflicts between competing demands on attention, may be particularly important for relational mapping. This was evident in girls only. Implications for understanding how attentional components of processing capacity can affect children''s academic success in impoverished environments are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: To investigate the association between focal stroke lesions of Posner's executive attention network and a specific region of interest in the frontal lobes (orbital frontal and mesial frontal) and either attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or traits of the disorder (ADHD symptomatology). Method: Twenty-nine children with focal stroke lesions were studied with standardized psychiatric assessments and anatomical brain magnetic resonance imaging. The pattern of lesion overlap in subjects with ADHD symptomatology was determined. Results: Fifteen of 28 subjects with no prestroke ADHD were diagnosed with ADHD symptomatology at the time of assessment. The extent of lesions within the executive attention network was marginally related to ADHD symptomatology (p = .088; effect size = 0.66), whereas the extent of lesions in the specific frontal region of interest was significantly related to ADHD symptomatology (p = .040; effect size = 0.82). conclusions: Lesions within Posner's executive attention network and its orbital frontal connections may be linked to important mechanisms in the expression of ADHD symptomatology after childhood stroke. These findings are consistent with functional and structural imaging findings in studies of idiopathic ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We found no evidence of executive attention impairment in tinnitus participants. • Tinnitus participants and healthy controls performed comparably well on the Attention Network Test. • The result might reflect the performance of a high-functioning tinnitus sample. Subjective, chronic tinnitus is a condition that is common in most populations. Whereas many individuals tend to habituate to tinnitus over time, for some their attention seems pathologically drawn towards the sensation. For this subgroup of individuals with severe tinnitus, dysfunctional executive attention has been suggested to be implicated in the failure to habituate. However, since most previous studies have used attention tests with low validity and specificity in this assessment, there is a need for further corroborating studies. In the present study, the Attention Network Test was used to compare mainly the efficiency of executive attention between a group of individuals with chronic tinnitus (TG; n = 33) and a healthy control group (CG; n = 37). The results showed that individuals with chronic tinnitus, compared to the CG, did not present with a specific impairment in executive control of attention, nor in any of the other two attention domains. These findings are discussed in relation to the sampling characteristics in this study, which might have led to the sample being more homogenous and high functioning than samples in tinnitus studies generally. Overall, this study suggests that tinnitus and executive control of attention impairment might not be directly related, and that the latter might not necessarily be associated with the maintenance of the condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affect intensity (AI) refers to individual differences in the intensity with which people subjectively experience emotions. High AI is an aspect of emotion dysregulation that is present in a variety of mood and anxiety disorders. The present study evaluates the functioning of attentional networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control) for non-emotional stimuli in healthy subjects classified as having High (H-AI) and Low (L-AI) AI levels through clustering methods. A sample of 200 university students (100 women), aged between 18 and 25 years old, completed the Affect Intensity Measure and the Attentional Network Test (ANT). Women obtained higher AI scores than men and were more highly represented in the H-AI cluster. In ANT, mean response time was significantly shorter in men than in women, but men showed a worse functioning of the alerting network than women (which was not observed for the executive control and orienting networks). In addition, H-AI men exhibited a more efficient executive control network than L-AI men. Executive control was negatively correlated with AI in men, but not in women. These results will be discussed in terms of individual differences in emotion regulation and attentional networks. [Display omitted] • Men had faster response time in ANT than women. • Women had a more efficient alerting function than men. • High-AI men had a more efficient executive control than Low-AI men. • Negative correlation between executive control and AI in men, but not in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectually gifted children tend to demonstrate especially high working memory capacity, an ability that holds a critical role in intellectual functioning. What could explain the differences in working memory performance between intellectually gifted and nongifted children? We investigated this issue by measuring working memory capacity with complex spans in a sample of 55 gifted and 55 nongifted children. Based on prior studies, we expected the higher working memory capacity of intellectually gifted children to be driven by more effective executive control, as measured using the Attention Network Test. The findings confirmed that intellectually gifted children had higher working memory capacity than typical children, as well as more effective executive attention. Surprisingly, however, working memory differences between groups were not mediated by differences in executive attention. Instead, it appears that gifted children resolve problems faster in the processing phase of the working memory task, which leaves them more time to refresh to-be-remembered items. This faster problem solving speed mediated their advantage in working memory capacity. Importantly, this effect was specific to speed on complex problems: low-level processing speed, as measured with the Attention Network Test, did not contribute to the higher working memory capacity of gifted children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• tDCS add-on treatment alleviated illness-severity in schizophrenia. • tDCS add-on treatment acutely improved verbal WM performance in SZ patients. • Patients' post active-tDCS WM scores were comparable to healthy controls. Recent studies indicated that left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may improve clinical status and cognitive functioning in schizophrenia patients. The current study examined the effects of left prefrontal anodal tDCS on symptom-severity and on working memory performance in schizophrenia (SZ) patients. We conducted a double-blind, randomized sham-controlled parallel-group trial. Following baseline clinical and WM assessments, 19 chronic SZ patients were randomly assigned to receive 10 sessions of either active left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) tDCS or sham DLPFC-tDCS across five consecutive days, followed by post-tDCS assessments every four weeks across 12 weeks. Active tDCS significantly alleviated symptom-severity versus baseline and versus sham tDCS. WM-performance improved versus baseline in the active tDCS group. Patients' symptom alleviation was maintained for four weeks after tDCS intervention. Patients' Post-tDCS WM scores were comparable to healthy controls' WM scores. The present findings highlight the benefits of left-prefrontal tDCS interventions and support the association between DLPFC dysfunction and symptom-severity in schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the causal relations among age, speed of processing, control of processing, working memory and intelligence, fluid and crystallized. 158 participants aged from 7 to 18 years old completed a large battery of tests measuring latent factors of speed, control of processing and working memory. Intelligence was assessed using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. Structural equation modeling was performed to determine whether there is a cognitive-developmental cascade in which age-related increases in processing speed lead to improvements in control of processing that leads to increases in working memory, and whether improved working memory, in turn, leads to increases in both fluid and crystallized intelligence. Several alternative models of a different cascade order of the above factors were also tested. The results of the present study provide evidence of a cognitive-developmental cascade, confirming that this model describes cognitive development during childhood and adolescence. • The results confirm a cognitive-developmental cascade. • Our models demonstrate that developmental increases in WM contribute directly to the improvement of children's intelligence. • Age-changes in processing speed and control of processing do not contribute directly to increases in intelligence. • There is a causal chain connecting directly WM with fluid and crystallized intelligence. • Processing speed and control of processing influence indirectly fluid and crystallized intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Executive attention is involved in the regulation of thoughts, emotions and responses. This function experiences major development during preschool years and is associated to a neural network involving the anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal structures. Recently, there have been some attempts to improve attention and other executive functions through training. In the current study, a group of 5 years old children (n =37) were assigned to either a training-group who performed ten sessions of computerized training of attention or a non-trained control group. Assessment of performance in a range of tasks, targeting attention, intelligence and regulation of affect was carried out in three occasions: (1) before, (2) after, and (3) two months after completion of training. Also, brain function was examined with a high-density electroencephalogram system. Results demonstrate that trained children activate the executive attention network faster and more efficiently than untrained children, an effect that was still observed two months after without further training. Also, evidence of transfer of attention training to fluid intelligence and, to a lesser degree, to regulation of affect was observed. Results show that efficiency of the brain system underlying self-regulation can be enhanced by experience during development, providing opportunities for curricular improvement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]