attention and the role of cognitive control

Question 1

load theory 2

Answer 1

• Perceptual load reduces distraction
  Do all difficult tasks focus attention?

Question 2

Effect of cognitive load - Lavie et al (2004):

Answer 2

• Response competition flanker test
  
  • Participants asked to remember digits during each trial
  • Either low cognitive load (1 digit) … or high cognitive load (6 digits)
  • Distractor interference increased under high cognitive load
  • One expt compares cognitive and perceptual load

Question 3

Attentional capture and cognitive load - Lavie and de Fockert, 2005:

Answer 3

• Same effects found with different distractor task:
  
  • Cognitive load increases interference from colour singleton distractor

Question 4

cognitive load and awareness

Answer 4

· Perceptual load reduces distractor processing and increases inattentional blindness
· Cognitive load increases distractor processing
· Can cognitive load reduce inattentional blindness?
· Carmel et al, 2012
Task:
- classify names
- ignore faces
- surprise memory test for faces
- low load - chance level (50%) accuracy in memory test
- high load - ~80% accuracy

Question 5

load theory part 2

Answer 5

· Visual perceptual load reduces distraction
· Do all difficult tasks focus attention?
· No - cognitive load increases distraction
· I.e., different types of load have opposite effects on attention.

Question 6

load theory

Answer 6

• early selection = availability of perceptual capacity determines whether distractors receive further processing
• late selection = cognitive control required to inhibit any distractors that make it this far

Question 7

individual differences in working memory capacity

Answer 7

· Operation Span (OSPAN) task:
- Simultaneously perform simple maths and read words
- Test recall of words
- OSPAN related to fluid intelligence
- Argued to assess efficiency of prefrontal functioning
- e.g. “4/2 + 1 = 3, NO, CAT”
· Individuals with low WM capacity show increased:
- Stroop interference.
- Response competition interference
- “Own name break-through” in dichotic listening
- High WM participants detected name 20%
- Low WM participants detected name 65%

Question 8

how does this affect individual differences?

Answer 8

· Are individuals with better cognitive control less distracted? - YES
· Cognitive control deficits also implicated in relation to clinical symptoms of inattention: e.g.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Anxiety
· Patients with damage to frontal/parietal regions show problems in attention and cognitive control

Question 9

neural mechanisms of attentional control

Answer 9

· Attention modulates neural activation related to perception

Question 10

fMRI spatial cuing studies

Answer 10

· E.g., Hopfinger et al, 2000
- Visual cortical response to cued location: Effect of attention
- Frontal-parietal activation at time of cue: Mechanisms orienting attention

Question 11

fMRI attentional capture

Answer 11

· De Fockert et al, 2004
- Singleton distractors present or absent
- Presence vs absence associated with:
- Reaction time interference
- Frontal and parietal activation
· Frontal activation negatively predicted behavioural interference

Question 12

fMRI response competition

Answer 12

· E.g., Bishop, 2009
· Incongruent versus congruent distractions associated
· with:
· Reaction time interference
· Frontal recruitment:
- Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
- Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)
· People high in anxiety recruited less DLPFC and ACC……and greater behavioural interference

Question 13

fMRI sustained attention

Answer 13

· E.g., Forster et al, 2013:
· Frontal regions also activated during sustained attention

Question 14

mind-wandering and external attention

Answer 14

· Mind-wandering positively relates to external task-irrelevant distraction:
- As well as to failures of sustained attention
· Christoff et al (2009):
· Some frontal regions involved in both:
- Attentional control
- Generating task-unrelated thought
· Challenge for studying attentional control of mind-wandering

Question 15

mind-wandering and working memory capacity

Answer 15

· Will increased working memory capacity be associated with more or less mind-wandering?
· Kane et al (2007) - high WM capacity associated with reduced mind-wandering during attentionally demanding tasks
- Mind-wandering = executive failure, not exec function?
· Levinson et al (2012) - high WM capacity associated with increased mind-wandering during low perceptual load response competition task