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Subtle to no attentional differences have been broadly observed when using gaze and arrows as orienting cues. However, recent studies have found opposite effects when they are used as targets in spatial interference tasks, with arrows eliciting faster responses when their position is congruent with the indicated direction and gaze producing faster responses in incongruent conditions. In two preregistered experiments aimed at exploring the mechanisms supporting these findings, we examined whether the congruency sequence effects (CSE) elicited by gaze and arrows generalized from one stimulus to another, using an intrablock design where the type of stimuli was manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis. Typical CSE were observed for arrows, with a decrease of congruency effects after incongruent trials, and reversed CSE for gaze, with an increased inversion of congruency effects after incongruent trials. Both patterns occurred independently of the preceding type of target, showing that congruency effects can decrease after positive outcomes (e.g., arrow trials following an incongruent gaze trial), and generalized across different nonsocial and social stimuli as shown in a third experiment. These results are consistent with the coexistence of a shared spatial interference component between gaze and arrow trials, potentially responsible for the CSE obtained in switching target trials, and an additional social dimension, exclusively engaged in gaze trials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A decrease in vigilance over time is often observed when performing prolonged tasks, a phenomenon known as “vigilance decrement.” The present study aimed at testing some of the critical predictions of the resource-control theory about the vigilance decrement. Specifically, the theory predicts that the vigilance decrement is mainly due to a drop in executive control, which fails to keep attentional resources on the external task, thus devoting a larger number of resources to mind-wandering across time-on-task. Datasets gathered from a large sample size (N = 617) who completed the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance—executive and arousal components in Luna, Roca, Martín-Arévalo, and Lupiáñez (2021b, Behavior Research Methods, 53[3], 1124–1147) were reanalyzed to test whether executive control decreases across time in a vigilance task and whether the vigilance decrement comes along with the decrement in executive control. Vigilance was examined as two dissociated components: executive vigilance, as the ability to detect infrequent critical signals, and arousal vigilance, as the maintenance of a fast reaction to stimuli. The executive control decrement was evidenced by a linear increase in the interference effect for mean reaction time, errors, and the inverse efficiency score. Critically, interindividual differences showed that the decrease in the executive—but not in the arousal—component of vigilance was modulated by the change in executive control across time-on-task, thus supporting the predictions of the resource-control theory. Nevertheless, given the small effect sizes observed in our large sample size, the present outcomes suggest further consideration of the role of executive control in resource-control theory.

IntroductionVigilance is the challenging ability to maintain attention during long periods. When performing prolonged tasks, vigilance failures are often observed, reflecting a decrease in performance. Previous research has shown that changes in oscillatory rhythms are associated with states of vigilance loss. The present study aimed to investigate whether changes in different oscillatory rhythms anticipate failures in two vigilance components: (a) executive vigilance –necessary to detect infrequent critical signals– and (b) arousal vigilance –necessary to maintain a fast reaction to environmental stimuli without much control–.Methods37 young adults (age: M = 25.86; SD = 4.99) completed two experimental sessions in which high-density electroencephalography signal was recorded while they performed the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance – executive and arousal components, a task that simultaneously measures executive and arousal vigilance along with others attentional functions. Changes in delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma power before target onset were analyzed at the trial level in the executive and the arousal vigilance subtasks and as a function of the behavioral response.ResultsChanges in different oscillatory rhythms were observed prior to failures in executive and arousal vigilance. While increased alpha power in left occipital regions anticipated misses in the executive vigilance subtask, increased delta power in frontal-central regions anticipated very slow responses in the arousal vigilance subtask.DiscussionThe present results further support an empirical dissociation at the neural level between executive and arousal vigilance. Changes in alpha –in left occipital regions– and delta –in frontal-central regions– power might be identified as different brain states associated with loss in vigilance components when performing prolonged tasks.

Vigilance—maintaining a prolonged state of preparation to detect and respond to specific yet unpredictable environmental changes—usually decreases across prolonged tasks, causing potentially severe real-life consequences, which could be mitigated through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The present study aimed at replicating previous mitigatory effects observed with anodal high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) over the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) while extending the analyses on electrophysiological measures associated with vigilance. In sum, 60 participants completed the ANTI-Vea task while receiving anodal (1.5 mA, n = 30) or sham (0 mA, n = 30) HD-tDCS over the rPPC for ~ 28 min. EEG recordings were completed before and after stimulation. Anodal HD-tDCS specifically mitigated executive vigilance (EV) and reduced the alpha power increment across time-on-task while increasing the gamma power increment. To further account for the observed behavioral and physiological outcomes, a new index of Alphaparietal/Gammafrontal is proposed. Interestingly, the increment of this Alphaparietal/Gammafrontal Index with time-on-task is associated with a steeper EV decrement in the sham group, which was mitigated by anodal HD-tDCS. We highlight the relevance of replicating mitigatory effects of tDCS and the need to integrate conventional and novel physiological measures to account for how anodal HD-tDCS can be used to modulate cognitive performance.

Multiple theories have used perceptual sensitivity and response criterion indices to explain the decrements in performance across time on task (i.e., vigilance decrement). In a recent study, McCarley and Yamani (2021) offered conceptual and methodological advances to this debate by using a vigilance task that parametrically manipulates noise and signal and analyzes the outcomes with psychometric curves. In the present Commentary, we reanalyze data ( N = 553) from a different, already existing vigilance task, the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance—executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea). Psychometric curves with the ANTI-Vea showed robust changes in response criterion and lapse rate, although not in sensitivity. Our interpretation is that the need to keep the standard in memory in McCarley and Yamani’s task could produce a decrease in sensitivity and be related to reduced fidelity of the memory representation rather than to a decrement in perceptual abilities across time on task.

Previous literature has shown cognitive improvements related to musical training. Attention is one cognitive aspect in which musicians exhibit improvements compared to non-musicians. However, previous studies show inconsistent results regarding certain attentional processes, suggesting that benefits associated with musical training appear only in some processes. The present study aimed to investigate the attentional and vigilance abilities in expert musicians with a fine-grained measure: the ANTI-Vea (ANT for Interactions and Vigilance—executive and arousal components; Luna et al. in J Neurosci Methods 306:77–87, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.05.011 , 2018). This task allows measuring the functioning of the three Posner and Petersen’s networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control) along with two different components of vigilance (executive and arousal vigilance). Using propensity-score matching, 49 adult musicians (18–35 years old) were matched in an extensive set of confounding variables with a control group of 49 non-musicians. Musicians showed advantages in processing speed and in the two components of vigilance, with some specific aspects of musicianship such as years of practice or years of lessons correlating with these measures. Although these results should be taken with caution, given its correlational nature, one possible explanation is that musical training can specifically enhance some aspects of attention. Nevertheless, our correlational design does not allow us to rule out other possibilities such as the presence of cognitive differences prior to the onset of training. Moreover, the advantages were observed in an extra-musical context, which suggests that musical training could transfer its benefits to cognitive processes loosely related to musical skills. The absence of effects in executive control, frequently reported in previous literature, is discussed based on our extensive control of confounds.

There is evidence that already in Greco-Roman times, fish with electrical properties were placed on people's heads to relieve certain ailments, such as migraine or mood disorders. Since then, the use of electrical current as a treatment for pathological conditions or deficiencies has been progressively refined towards the development of a safe, effective, and standardized technique that modulates brain functioning. Here we address the basic principles of transcranial electrical stimulation and its use in the modulation of cognitive processes as relevant as attention.

Existe evidencia de que en tiempos tan remotos como la antigüedad greco-romana se colocaban peces con propiedades eléctricas sobre la cabeza de personas con el fin de aliviar ciertas dolencias, como la migraña o alteraciones del estado anímico. Desde entonces el empleo de la corriente eléctrica para tratar estados patológicos o deficiencias se ha refinado progresivamente hasta el desarrollo de una técnica protocolizada, segura y eficaz, para modular el funcionamiento cerebral. Aquí abordamos los principios básicos de la estimulación eléctrica transcraneal y su uso en la modulación de procesos cognitivos tan relevantes como la atención.

Multiple theories have used the indices of the signal detection theory (SDT) to explain vigilance decrement. A recent study by McCarley and Yamani offered conceptual and methodological advances to this debate by using a vigilance task that parametrically manipulates noise and signal, and analyzes the outcomes with psychometric curves. In the present commentary, we reanalyze data from an already existing different parametric vigilance task, the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance – executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea; Luna et al., 2018). Psychometric curves with the ANTI-Vea showed robust changes in response criterion and lapse rate, although not in sensitivity. We interpret that the need to keep in memory the standard in McCarley and Yamani’s task could produce a decrease in sensitivity and, therefore, the temporal change in this index would be related to reduced fidelity of the memory representation rather than to a decrement in perceptual abilities across time-on-task.

Classical theoretical models suggest that visual short-term memory can be divided in two main memory systems: sensory memory, a short-lasting but high-capacity memory storage and working memory, a long-lasting but low-capacity memory store. Whilst, previous research has systematically shown a strong interplay between attentional mechanisms and working memory, less clear is the role of attention in sensory memory. In the present study we approach this issue by asking whether withdrawing attentional resources by a dual task (Experiment 1) or by presenting task irrelevant information during memory maintenance (Experiment 2 and 3) similarly or differently affect sensory and working memory. Overall, results showed that sensory memory content was undermined not only by a simultaneous high-demanding cognitive task but even when purely task-irrelevant and non-masking visual distractors were presented during maintenance. Our data provide support against theories that consider sensory memories as a case of visual awareness free of attention.

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, through research projects to JL [grants number PSI2017-84926-P and PID2020-114790GB-I00] and the Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina (Proyecto Estimular to FGL). In addition, FGL received PhD scholarship support from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina and a scholarship mobility by the Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Posgrado (AUIP) in cooperation with the Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento de la Junta de Andalucía, España. Funding sources had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. Preliminary results of this work has been presented in the Spanish XI Scientific Meeting of Attention (RECA), developed from 28th to 30th of September 2017 in Baeza, Spain. This study is part of the doctoral thesis by FGL, conducted under the supervision of JL and EMA., Previous research has shown opposite effects of dual tasking on the vigilance decrement phenomenon. We examined the executive (i.e., detecting infrequent critical signals) and arousal (i.e., sustaining a fast reaction to stimuli without much control on responses) vigilance decrements as a function of task load. Ninety-six participants performed either a single signal-detection (i.e., executive vigilance) task, a single reaction time (i.e., arousal vigilance) task, or a dual vigilance task with the same stimuli and procedure. All participants self-reported their fatigue’ state along the session. Exploratory analyses included data from a previous study with a triple task condition. Task load significantly modulated the executive but not the arousal vigilance decrement. Interestingly, the largest increase in mental fatigue was observed in the single executive vigilance task condition. We discuss limitations of classic vigilance theories to account for the vigilance decrement and changes in mental fatigue as a function of task load., Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, grants number PSI2017-84926-P and PID2020-114790GB-I00, Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Posgrado (AUIP) in cooperation with the Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento de la Junta de Andalucía, España

In this study, we jointly reported in an empirical and a theoretical way, for the first time, two main theories: Lavie’s perceptual load theory and Gaspelin et al.’s attentional dwelling hypothesis. These theories explain in different ways the modulation of the perceptual load/task difficulty over attentional capture by irrelevant distractors and lead to the observation of the opposite results with similar manipulations. We hypothesized that these opposite results may critically depend on the distractor type used by the two experimental procedures (i.e., distractors inside vs. outside the attentional focus, which could be, respectively, considered as potentially relevant vs. completely irrelevant to the main task). Across a series of experiments, we compared both theories within the same paradigm by manipulating both the perceptual load/task difficulty and the distractor type. The results were strongly consistent, suggesting that the influence of task demands on attentional capture varies as a function of the distractor type: while the interference from (relevant) distractors presented inside the attentional focus was consistently higher for high vs. low load conditions, there was no modulation by (irrelevant) distractors presented outside the attentional focus. Moreover, we critically analyzed the theoretical conceptualization of interference using both theories, disentangling important outcomes for the dwelling hypothesis. Our results provide specific insights into new aspects of attentional capture, which can critically redefine these two predominant theories.

Our environment is full of rhythms, which have an important predictive value as cues for the preparation and temporal orienting of attention. At the neurocognitive level, rhythms promote attentional entrainment, concentrating higher levels of attention at the moments in which the appearance of a critical event is more likely. This strategic use of attention improves performance on several cognitive tasks. It yields both perceptual and motor benefits, respectively allowing a greater stimulus processing capacity and a greater opportunity to prepare complex responses.

In exogenous attention, two main behavioural effects are usually observed across time: facilitation at short cue-target onset asynchronies (CTOAs), and Inhibition of Return (IOR) at longer CTOAs. The presentation of an intervening event (IE)-i.e., a cue presented at fixation between the peripheral cue and target period-favours the appearance of IOR. However, although there is a general consensus on this empirical modulation, there is no agreement about the putative role of IEs and/or the mechanism/s underlying their effect. While some authors consider IEs as a "cue-back", automatically reorienting attention to fixation, thus allowing IOR to occur, others have considered IEs as events modulating cue-target integration processes, consequently affecting exogenous cueing. Even in this later case, it is not clear whether IEs modulate cueing by inducing an attentional set (top-down) modulation or by inducing a trial-by-trial (bottom-up) online modulation. To disentangle this issue, in two experiments, we manipulated the proportion of trials in which the IE was presented, thus being able to measure the effect of the presence/absence and proportion of IEs. We observed a gradual influence of the % of IEs over cueing effects, which becomes less positive or more negative as the % of IEs increases. This pattern of findings fits well with the idea that facilitation and IOR depend on cue-target integration processes, and presents critical implications for the open debate about the mechanism/s underlying exogenous spatial cueing effects.

It has been proposed that attention triggered by eye-gaze may represent a unique attentional process, different from that triggered by non-social stimuli such as arrows. To investigate this issue, in the present study we compared the temporal dynamics of the conflict processing triggered by eye-gaze and arrow stimuli. We investigated the electrophysiological activity during a task in which participants were required to identify the direction of laterally presented eye-gaze or arrow targets. Opposite behavioural effects were observed: while arrows produced the typical effect, with faster responses when they were congruent with their position, eye-gaze targets produced a reversed effect with faster responses when they were incongruent. Event-related potentials showed common and dissociable congruency modulation: whereas eye-gaze and arrows showed similar effects on earlier ERP components (P1 and N1), they led to opposite effects in later components such as N2 and P3. This represents the first electrophysiological demonstration of both early shared and later dissociable congruency effects for eye-gaze and arrow stimuli.

International audience; This study integrated functional connectivity measures using resting-state fMRI and behavioral data from a single-case observation of patient (PER) one year after right-hemispheric hemorrhage in the intraparietal sulcus and superior parietal lobule (IPS/SPL). PER showed no sign of clinical neglect. Her behavioral performance in the visuo-manual pointing task and in the letter discrimination task under conditions of endogenous and exogenous attentional cueing was compared between the left (affected) and right (unaffected/control) peripheral visual fields. The resting-state fMRI demonstrated an imbalance between the right and left hemispheric frontoparietal functional connectivity within the dorsal attentional and motor networks. Although the frontal and occipital cortices were not structurally damaged, specific fronto-occipital functional connectivity was imbalanced, which was strongly associated with the behavioral changes. First, the activity in the right frontal eye field showed weaker correlations with the activity in the right inferior occipital area compared to the correlation with the activity in the left inferior occipital area. This imbalanced fronto-occipital functional connectivity was accompanied by a specific impairment in endogenous covert attention in the left visual field. Second, the activity within M1 in both hemispheres showed weaker correlations with the activity of the right cuneus compared to the correlation with the activity in the left cuneus. The imbalanced fronto-occipital functional connectivity was associated with the impairment of the reaching movement of the left and right hands towards the left visual field (optic ataxia). Altogether, our results showed that a lesion to the posterior parietal cortex affects the relationship between distal regions underlying the sensorimotor and attentional abilities

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, research project to JL [grant number PSI2017-84926-P]; and by the Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina (Proyecto Estimular to FGL); FGL received PhD scholarship support from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina; FGL received a scholarship mobility by the Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Posgrado (AUIP) in cooperation with the Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento de la Junta de Andalucía, España; EMA was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness [IJCI-2015-23204]. Preliminary results of this work has been presented in the Spanish XI Scientific Meeting of Attention (RECA), developed from 28th to 30th of September 2017 in Baeza, Spain. This paper is part of the doctoral thesis by the first author, under the supervision of the last two authors., The vigilance decrement phenomenon has been traditionally studied by simple and monotonous behavioral tasks. Nowadays, however, there is considerable interest in measuring vigilance with more complex tasks, including independent measures of other attentional functions. In the present study, we provide evidence supporting the suitability of the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance – executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea) as an appropriate method to simultaneously assess multiple attentional and vigilance components. Vigilance was examined as two dissociated components: executive vigilance –as the detection of infrequent signals– and arousal vigilance –as the sustenance of a fast reaction to stimuli without response selection–. Importantly, the executive vigilance decrement was analyzed with a novel methodological approach to particularly determine whether the sensitivity loss effect is influenced by a floor level on the false alarms. As expected, the ANTI-Vea proved to be a task suitable to assess: (a) the main effects and interactions of phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control; (b) the executive vigilance decrement as a progressive change in the response bias; and (c) the arousal vigilance decrement as a progressive slowness and variability in reaction time. We discuss some critical theoretical and empirical implications of measuring vigilance components with the ANTI-Vea task. We expect the present study to provide a suitable method to analyze the vigilance decrement phenomenon when measuring multiple attentional and vigilance functions., Tradicionalmente, el decremento de la vigilancia se ha estudiado con tareas comportamentales simples y repetitivas. Sin embargo, actualmente existe un considerable interés en evaluar la vigilancia con tareas más complejas que incluyan medidas independientes de otros procesos atencionales. En el presente estudio, nuestro objetivo fue proporcionar nueva evidencia empírica sobre la adecuación del Test de Redes Atencionales para Interacciones y Vigilancia – componentes ejecutivo y de activación (ANTI-Vea) para medir simultáneamente múltiples componentes atencionales y de vigilancia. Examinamos la vigilancia como dos componentes disociados: vigilancia ejecutiva –como la detección de señales infrecuentes– y vigilancia de activación –como el mantenimiento de una reacción rápida a los estímulos sin control sobre la respuesta–. Es importante destacar que la vigilancia ejecutiva se analizó con un novedoso método para determinar si un efecto suelo en las falsas alarmas podría influenciar una disminución en la sensibilidad. Como se esperaba, se observó que la tarea ANTI-Vea es adecuada para medir: (a) los efectos principales e interacciones de las funciones de alerta fásica, orientación, y control ejecutivo; (b) el decremento en la vigilancia ejecutiva como un cambio en la tendencia de la respuesta; y (c) el decremento en la vigilancia de activación como un enlentecimiento y variabilidad de la respuesta. Discutimos algunas implicaciones teóricas y empíricas sobre la medición de los componentes de la vigilancia con la tarea ANTI-Vea. Esperamos que el presente estudio provea un método adecuado para analizar el decremento de la vigilancia cuando se evalúan múltiples funciones atencionales y de vigilancia., Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness PSI2017-84926-P, Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnologia from the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Asociacion Universitaria Iberoamericana de Posgrado (AUIP), Junta de Andalucia, Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness IJCI-2015-23204

Several studies have shown enhanced performance in change detection tasks when spatial cues indicating the probe’s location are presented after the memory array has disappeared (i.e., retro-cues) compared with spatial cues that are presented simultaneously with the test array (i.e., post-cues). This retro-cue benefit led some authors to propose the existence of two different stores of visual short-term memory: a weak but high-capacity store (fragile memory (FM)) linked to the effect of retro-cues and a robust but low-capacity store (working memory (WM)) linked to the effect of post-cues. The former is thought to be an attention-free system, whereas the latter would strictly depend on selective attention. Nonetheless, this dissociation is under debate, and several authors do not consider retro-cues as a proxy to measure the existence of an independent memory system (e.g., FM).We approached this controversial issue by altering the attention-related functions in the right superior parietal lobule (SPL) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), whose effects were mediated by the integrity of the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). Specifically, we asked whether TMS on the SPL affected the performance of retro cues vs. post-cues to a similar extent. The results showed that TMS on the SPL, mediated by right SLF-III integrity, produced a modulation of the retro-cue benefit, namely a memory capacity decrease in the post-cues but not in the retro-cues. These findings have strong implications for the debate on the existence of independent stages of visual short-term memory and for the growing literature showing a key role of the SLF for explaining the variability of TMS effects across participants., Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, European Commission PSI2015-73503-JIN

Over the past few years, there has been growing interest in using online methods for collecting data from large samples. However, only a few studies have administered online behavioral tasks to assess attention outside the lab. In the present study, we assessed the classic attentional functions and two vigilance components using two versions of the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance–executive and arousal vigilance components (ANTI-Vea): (1) a standard version, performed under typical experimental conditions (n = 314), and (2) an online version, completed outside the lab (n = 303). Both versions were equally effective in assessing (1) the main effects and interactions of phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control, and (2) the executive (i.e., a decline in the ability to detect infrequent critical signals) and the arousal (i.e., a progressive slowness and variability in responses to stimuli from the environment) vigilance decrement across time on task. Responses were generally slower in the online than in the standard version. Importantly, the split-half reliability observed for both tasks was (1) higher for executive control (~.67) than for phasic alertness and orienting (< .40), as observed in previous versions of the task, and (2) between .71 and .99 for the executive and arousal vigilance measures. We expect the present study will be of interest to researchers aiming to assess attentional functions with a valid and reliable method that, importantly, is publicly available on an open website ( https://www.ugr.es/~neurocog/ANTI/ ) and is easy to use in applied contexts.

Nowadays, there is considerable controversy regarding the structural connectivity underlying the attentional networks system (i.e., alerting and vigilance, orienting, and executive control). The present study aimed at further examining and dissociating the white matter connectivity underlying attentional and vigilance functioning by overcoming some critical limitations in previous research. To this end, we performed virtual in vivo dissections of attention-related white matter tracts from thirty healthy adults. Participants completed two sessions of the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance, a suitable task to assess simultaneously phasic alertness, orienting, executive control, and the executive component of vigilance (i.e., the ability to detect infrequent critical signals). Whereas we found a consistent correlation between phasic alertness and both the right dorsolateral prefrontal caudate tract and the splenium of the corpus callosum, evidence obtained for white matter connectivity underlying orienting, executive control, and executive vigilance, was either weak at the best, inconsistent, or null. White matter connectivity seemed to support nevertheless the most reliable performance: overall reaction time for attentional functioning was significantly associated with the left cingulate fasciculus and overall reaction time for executive vigilance was significantly linked to the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus I. The present outcomes provide interesting, consistent, and reliable evidence concerning the structural connectivity underlying the alerting network. We still consider that further evidence is necessary to better understand the controversial relationship between attentional/vigilance processes and microstructural white matter connectivity though.

Unpredicted objects, i.e., those that do not fit in a specific context, have been shown to quickly attract attention as a mean of extracting more information about potentially relevant items. Whether the required semantic processing triggering the attraction of attention can occur independently of participants' awareness of the object is still a highly debated topic. In the present study we make use of a change detection task in which we manipulate the semantic congruity between the to-be-detected object and the background scene. We applied inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the right temporo-parietal junction (right TPJ) and a control location (vertex) to test the causal role of the former in the processing of objects at a pre-conscious level. Our results clearly show that semantic congruity can impact detection and identification processes in opposite ways, even when low-level features are controlled for. Incongruent objects are quickly detected but poorly identified. rTMS over the right TPJ effectively diminishes semantic effects on object detection. These results suggest that at least some high order category processing takes place before conscious detection to direct attention towards the most informative regions of space. Moreover, rTMS over right TPJ also impacts object identification, which calls for a re-evaluation of right TPJ's role on object processing.

According to some theoretical models, information contained in visual short-term memory (VSTM) consists of two main memory stages/storages: sensory memory, a system wherein information is stored for a brief time with high detail and low resistance to visual interference, and visual working memory, a low-capacity system wherein information is protected from visual interference and maintained for longer delays. Previous studies have consistently shown a strong relationship between attention and visual working memory. However, evidence is contradictory on whether or not attention modulates the construction and maintenance of visual representations in sensory memory. Here, we examined whether and how spatial attention differentially affects sensory and working memory contents, by separately analysing attentional costs and attentional benefits. Results showed that both sensory memory and visual working memory were reliably affected by the distribution of spatial attention, suggesting that spatial attention modulates the VSTM content starting from very early stages of memory storage. Moreover, endogenously attending a specific location led to similar performance in sensory and working memory, and therefore to larger attentional benefits in working memory (where there was more room for improvement than in sensory memory, because of worse performance in unattended locations). On the other hand, exogenous attentional capture by peripheral unpredictive cues produced invariant attentional costs and invariant attentional benefits regardless of the memory type, with performance being higher in sensory memory than in working memory even at the attended location., FB was supported by a Marie Curie IF fellowship and by national research project PSI2015-73503-JIN. EMA was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness (IJCI-2015-23204). PB was supported by ANR through ANR-16-CE37-0005 and ANR-10-IAIHU-06.

Following non-informative peripheral cues, responses are facilitated at the cued compared to the uncued location at short cue-target intervals. This effect reverses at longer intervals, giving rise to Inhibition of Return (IOR). The integration-segregation hypothesis (Lupianez, 2010) suggests that peripheral cues always produce an onset-detection cost regardless the behavioral cueing effect that is measured – either facilitation or IOR. In the present study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate the causal contribution of this detection cost to performance. We used a cueing paradigm with a target discrimination task that was preceded by a non-informative peripheral cue. The presence-absence of a central intervening event was manipulated. Online TMS to the left superior parietal lobe (compared to an active vertex stimulation) lead to an overall more positive effect (faster responses for cued as compared to uncued trials), by putatively impairing the detection cost contribution to performance. The data revealed a strong association between overall RT and the TMS effect, and also between overall RT and the integrity of the first branch of the left superior longitudinal fascicule. These results have critical implications not only for the open debate about the mechanism/s underlying spatial orienting effects, but also for the growing literature demonstrating that white matter connectivity is crucial for explaining inter-individual behavioral variability.

Different electrophysiological components have been associated with behavioural facilitation and inhibition of return (IOR), although there is no consensus about which of these components are essential to the mechanism/s underlying the cueing effects. Different spatial attention hypotheses propound different roles for these components. In this review, we try and describe these inconsistencies by first presenting the electrophysiological component modulations of exogenous spatial attention as predicted by different attentional hypotheses. We then review and quantitatively analyze data from the existing electrophysiological studies trying to accommodate their findings. Variables such as the task at hand, the temporal properties and interactions between cues and targets, the presence/absence of intervening events, or stimuli arrangement in the visual field, might critically explain the discrepancies between the theoretical predictions and the electrophysiological modulations that both facilitation and IOR produce. We conclude that there is no single neural marker for facilitation and IOR because the behavioural effect that is observed depends on the contribution of several components: perceptual (P1), late-perceptual (N1, Nd), spatial selection (N2pc), and decision processes (P3). Many variables determine the electrophysiological modulations of different attentional orienting mechanisms, which jointly define the observed spatial cueing effects.

Previous research has demonstrated that fully irrelevant distractors - i.e., not sharing any feature with the target - capture our attention and modulate our responses. In the present study, we explored this interference by irrelevant distractors in a series of three experiments wherein the emotional valence of distractors (negative vs. neutral valence) was manipulated along with endogenous and exogenous attention. We aimed at jointly investigating - within the same paradigm - the possible modulations over the interference effect by these three critical variables in a systematic way. Although we replicated the interference effect by distractors previously reported in Martín-Arévalo et al. (2015), results showed no attentional and only weak emotional valence modulations over the interference effect. We discuss the possible boundary conditions underlying the absence (or weakness) of modulations over the interference effect by distractors observed in our experiments.

Attention comprises a wide set of processes such as phasic alertness, orienting, executive control, and the executive (i.e., detecting infrequent targets) and arousal (i.e., sustaining a fast reaction) vigilance components. Importantly, the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over attentional functioning have beenmostly addressed by measuring these processes separately and by delivering offline tDCS with low precision over the stimulation region. In the current study, we examined the effects of online High-Definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) over the behavioral and electrophysiological functioning of attentional and vigilance components. Participants (N ¼ 92) were randomly assigned to one of three stimulation groups: right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex stimulation, right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) stimulation, and sham. All of them performed in combination with the HD-tDCS protocol an attentional networks task (ANTI-Vea) suitable to measure the executive and arousal components of vigilance along with three typical attentional functions: phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control. In addition, EEG was registered at the baseline and at the post-stimulation period. We observed that, regardless the stimulation region, online HD-tDCS: (a) reduced phasic alertness (p < .008), but did not modulated the orienting and executive control functioning; and (b) mitigated the executive vigilance decrement (p < .011), but did not modulated arousal vigilance across time-on-task. Interestingly, only HD-tDCS over PPC reduced considerably the increment of alpha power observed across time-on-task (p < .009). The current study provides further evidence for both an empirical dissociation between vigilance components and the cortical regions underlying attentional processes. We highlight the advantages of using online HD-tDCS to examine the stimulationeffects on attentional and vigilance functioning. Fil: Luna, Fernando Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas; Argentina. Universidad de Granada; España Fil: Román Caballero, Rafael. Universidad de Granada; España Fil: Barttfeld, Pablo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas; Argentina Fil: Lupiáñez Castillo, Juan. Universidad de Granada; España Fil: Martín Arévalo, Elisa. Universidad de Granada; España

The present study tests whether two different manipulations leading to an earlier appearance of Inhibition of Return might operate by setting the system in different ways. Whereas the use of a range of very long SOAs has been proposed to set the system for an early reorienting of attention (Cheal & Chastain, 2002), introducing a distractor at the location opposite the target seems to induce a set to represent the cue and the target as separated events instead of the same event (Lupianez et al., 1999, 2001). The effects of these two manipulations were directly compared by using a spatial stroop paradigm. Although both manipulations altered the time course of cueing effects, we report here a pattern of critical dissociations: (i) the distractor manipulation was unique in introducing a shift towards more negative cueing affecting generally all levels of SOA, including the shortest 100 ms SOA; and (ii) the distractor manipulation, but not the range of SOAs, was also able to prevent the expected interaction between spatial stroop effects and cueing effects at the shortest SOA, typically found in previous experiments in the absence of a distractor (Funes et al., 2003). This pattern of dissociations is well accommodated into the hypothesis that these two attentional sets are different in nature.

The present study used event related potentials (ERPs) in a spatial cueing procedure to investigate the stages of processing influenced by intervening events presented between cues and targets, when they produce maximal behavioural modulations (i.e., facilitation in the absence of the intervening event, and inhibition of return - IOR, when the intervening event is presented). Our data challenge the traditional orienting-reorienting hypothesis, leading to alternative explanations of cueing effects that are beyond the orienting of attention. Peripheral cues always produced a detection cost (reflected in a reduced amplitude of the P100 component for cued as compared to uncued trials), independently on the behavioural effect that was measured. In contrast, facilitation was associated to modulations of later-stage components, such as N100, Nd, and P300. The N2pc component, usually associated to spatial selection, was the only component reflecting opposite and significant modulations associated to the behavioural effect. The present results suggest that facilitation and IOR can arise from changes at different stages of processing. We propose that the perceptual detection cost (reflected on the P100), and the hindered spatial selection (reflected on the N2pc) at the cued location determine the IOR effect at least in discrimination tasks, while the contribution of the later-stage components, beside attentional processes, determines other facilitatory effects of cueing, which altogether determine the behavioural effect that is measured.

Inhibition of return (IOR) consists of slower reaction times in response to stimuli appearing at previously attended or inspected locations. The exact mechanisms underlying the effect have not yet been determined. In the present work, we manipulated two variables, target duration and intervening event (fixation cue between cue and target), through which we modulated the IOR effect as a function of task. When the target was presented until response, the presence of an intervening event made the cueing effect more negative in all tasks, although facilitation in the absence of an intervening event was only observed in discrimination and go-no-go tasks. When the target duration was 50 ms, the effect of the intervening event on cueing was also only observed for the discrimination and go-no-go tasks. Target duration had no effect at all in the discrimination task. Possible mechanisms for these modulations (detection cost and spatial selection benefit, both of which are based on cue-target integration processes) are discussed.

Neglect patients typically show a rightward attentional orienting bias and a strong disengagement deficit, such that they are especially slow in responding to left-sided targets after right-sided cues (Posner et al., 1984). Prism adaptation (PA) can reduce diverse debilitating neglect symptoms and it has been hypothesized that PA's effects are so generalized that they might be mediated by attentional mechanisms (Pisella et al., 2006; Redding and Wallace, 2006). In neglect patients, performance on spatial attention tasks improves after rightward-deviating PA (Jacquin-Courtois et al., 2013). In contrast, in healthy subjects, although there is evidence that leftward-deviating PA induces neglect-like performance on some visuospatial tasks, behavioral studies of spatial attention tasks have mostly yielded negative results (Morris et al., 2004; Bultitude et al., 2013). We hypothesized that these negative behavioral findings might reflect the limitations of behavioral measures in healthy subjects. Here we exploited the sensitivity of event-related potentials to test the hypothesis that electrophysiological markers of attentional processes in the healthy human brain are affected by PA. Leftward-deviating PA generated asymmetries in attentional orienting (reflected in the cue-locked N1) and in attentional disengagement for invalidly cued left targets (reflected in the target-locked P1). This is the first electrophysiological demonstration that leftward-deviating PA in healthy subjects mimics attentional patterns typically seen in neglect patients.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTPrism adaptation (PA) is a promising tool for ameliorating many deficits in neglect patients and inducing neglect-like behavior in healthy subjects. The mechanisms underlying PA's effects are poorly understood but one hypothesis suggests that it acts by modulating attention. To date, however, there has been no successful demonstration of attentional modulation in healthy subjects. We provide the first electrophysiological evidence that PA acts on attention in healthy subjects by mimicking the attentional pattern typically reported in neglect patients: both a rightward attentional orienting bias (reflected in the cue-locked N1) and a deficit in attentional disengagement from the right hemispace (reflected in the target-locked P1). This study makes an important contribution to refining current models of the mechanisms underlying PA's cognitive effects.

El trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH) afecta a entre un 5% y un 10% de la población en desarrollo. Hiperactividad, impulsividad e inatención son los síntomas comportamentales que mejor caracterizan a este trastorno. A pesar de la extensa investigación clínica en relación al mismo, el déficit subyacente sigue aún generando bastante controversia. Por ello, estudiar las redes atencionales en relación a la caracterización sintomática del TDAH puede ayudar a tener una visión más clara del trastorno y con ello generar mejoras en su tratamiento.

This paper is conceived as a guide that will describe the very well known Spatial Orienting paradigm, used to explore attentional processes in healthy individuals as well as in people suffering from psychiatric disorders and brain-damaged patients. The paradigm was developed in the late 1970s, and since then, it has been used in thousands of attentional studies. In this review, we attempt to describe, the paradigm for the naif reader, and explain in detail when is it used, which variables are usually manipulated, how to interpret its results, and how can it be adapted to different populations and methodologies. The main goal of this review is to provide a practical guide to researchers who have never used the paradigm that will help them design their experiments, as a function of their theoretical and experimental needs. We also focus on how to adapt the paradigm to different technologies (such as event-related potentials, functional resonance imaging, or transcranial magnetic stimulation), and to different populations by presenting an example of its use in brain-damaged patients.

Inhibition of Return (IOR) is usually explained in terms of orienting–reorienting of attention, emphasizing an underlying mechanism that inhibits the return of attention to previously selected locations. Recent data challenge this explanation to the extent that the IOR effect is observed at the location where attention is oriented to, where no reorienting of attention is needed. To date, these studies have involved endogenous attentional selection of attention and thus indicate a dissociation between the voluntary attention of spatial attention and the IOR effect. The present work demonstrates a dissociation between the involuntary orienting of spatial attention and the IOR effect. We combined nonpredictive peripheral cues with nonpredictive central orienting cues (either arrows or gaze). The IOR effect was observed to operate independent of involuntary spatial orienting. These data speak against the “ reorienting hypothesis” of IOR. We suggest an alternative explanation whereby the IOR effect reflects a cost in detecting a new event (the target) at the location where another event (a cue) was coded before.