Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Cognitive Psychology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2019

Attention

Discipline
Institution
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Cognitive Psychology

Components Of Mindfulness Training: Impacts On Attention And Affect, Maximilian Fey Dec 2019

Components Of Mindfulness Training: Impacts On Attention And Affect, Maximilian Fey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literature on mindfulness supports a distinction between two components of non-judgmental acceptance and directed attention. The present research analyzed whether there are distinct differences in attentional capabilities or affect between mindfulness inductions which differed in either including only directed attention or directed attention and non-judgmental acceptance. I hypothesized that the acceptance component of mindfulness would increase participants sustained attentional capabilities relative to a control condition; furthermore, I hypothesized that the non-judgmental acceptance component of mindfulness would lead to significant increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect relative to control. Lastly, I hypothesized that an individual difference measure …


Memory-Guided Selective Attention: An Instance Theory Of Automatic Attentional Control, Nicholaus Paul Brosowsky Sep 2019

Memory-Guided Selective Attention: An Instance Theory Of Automatic Attentional Control, Nicholaus Paul Brosowsky

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cognitive control enables flexible goal-directed behavior via attention and action selection processes that prioritize goal-relevant over irrelevant information. These processes allow us to behave flexibly in the face of contradicting or ambiguous information and update behavior in response to the changing environment. Furthermore, they are thought to be in direct opposition to learned, automatic processing in that they enable us to disregard learned behaviors when they are inconsistent with our current goals. The strict dichotomy between stimulus-driven and goal-driven influences, however, has downplayed the role of memory in guiding attention. The position forwarded in this thesis is that a memory-based …


The Interaction Of Attention And Memory On The Reorienting Negativity, John C. Moses Sep 2019

The Interaction Of Attention And Memory On The Reorienting Negativity, John C. Moses

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The three-stage model of distraction asserts that when we are presented with salient but task-irrelevant information, our sensory systems first detect the distracting stimulus by way of sensory memory buffers, which is indicated electrophysiologically by the mismatch negativity (MMN). Following detection, attentional resources are involuntarily allocated towards the processing of the distraction, as represented by the P3a. Finally, attentional resources are shifted away from the distracting stimulus and returned to the task-relevant information, as indicated by the reorienting negativity (RON). A great deal of research has focused on this last step in the model, largely centering around defining the mechanisms …


Visual Entrainment Of Perception-Related Neural Oscillations As A Mechanism For Maintaining Rhythmic Temporal Expectations Across A Wide Range Of Frequencies, Michael James Gray Sep 2019

Visual Entrainment Of Perception-Related Neural Oscillations As A Mechanism For Maintaining Rhythmic Temporal Expectations Across A Wide Range Of Frequencies, Michael James Gray

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Visual sensitivity fluctuates rhythmically, in-synch with ongoing, EEG-recorded neural oscillations across a wide range of frequencies (~1-25hz). Some recent work has suggested that these perception-related neural oscillations can be entrained by rhythmic visual stimulation. Evidence is also emerging that the entrainment of ongoing oscillations in visual and auditory cortices is involved in rhythmic temporal expectations. In the introduction chapter, I attempt to bridge these bodies of literature and hypothesize that rhythmic visual stimuli automatically entrain ongoing, perception-related neural oscillations and that this mechanism supports the maintenance of rhythmic temporal expectations. Chapters 2 and 3 address this hypothesis from different angles. …


Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford Aug 2019

Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Age-related cognitive decline greatly impacts quality of life for older adults. Previous research has indicated that meditation may act as a neuroprotective factor to prevent age-related cognitive decline. This thesis sought to replicate previous findings and investigate if a four-week meditation intervention would improve sustained attention. Participants 60 years and older (n=27, 17 female) were recruited and assigned to a focused-attention (FA) meditation or relaxation group which met for four weeks, three times a week. Resting-state EEG was used to collect individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was also …


Behavioral Hypervigilance In A Normative Population, Karly Weinreb Aug 2019

Behavioral Hypervigilance In A Normative Population, Karly Weinreb

Theses and Dissertations

Hypervigilance is conceptualized as a symptom of trauma-related disorders, however it can also occur in a normative population. To distinguish normative hypervigilance from trauma-related hypervigilance, 372 participants (123 trauma-exposed and 249 non-trauma-exposed) completed a questionnaire assessing hypervigilance in contexts. Trauma-exposed participants reported greater levels of hypervigilance in 3 contexts.


Functional Opponency In Working Memory Capacity Predicts Cognitive Flexibility In Problem Solving., Charles A. Van Stockum Jr. Aug 2019

Functional Opponency In Working Memory Capacity Predicts Cognitive Flexibility In Problem Solving., Charles A. Van Stockum Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive flexibility is a hallmark of individuals with higher working memory capacity (WMC). Yet, research demonstrates that higher WMC individuals are sometimes more likely to adopt rigid problem-solving approaches. The present research examines a novel account for these contradictory findings—that different WMC mechanisms interact in ways that both support and constrain cognitive flexibility. Across three studies, participants completed the water jug task—a problem-solving task requiring them to first establish and then break mental set using a complex strategy. Participants then completed measures targeting three WMC mechanisms: attention control, primary memory, and secondary memory. Study 1 demonstrated that primary memory and …


Attention As A Mechanism For Object-Object Binding In Complex Scenes, Kacie Mennie Jul 2019

Attention As A Mechanism For Object-Object Binding In Complex Scenes, Kacie Mennie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study attempted to determine whether direct binding between objects in complex scenes occurs as a function of directed attention at encoding. In Experiment 1, participants viewed objects in one of these different types contexts: unique scenes, similar scenes, or arrays with no contextual information. Critically, only half of the objects were attended for each encoding trial. Participants then completed an associative recognition task on pairs of items created from the previously studied scenes. Test pairs consisted of two attended or unattended objects, and were associated with a unique scene, a similar scene, or an array. Evidence of binding …


Mapping Reward Values To Cues, Locations, And Objects: The Influence Of Reward Associations On Visual Attention, Constanza De Dios Jul 2019

Mapping Reward Values To Cues, Locations, And Objects: The Influence Of Reward Associations On Visual Attention, Constanza De Dios

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous work has attempted to fit reward-driven attentional selection as being exogenous (stimulus-driven) or endogenous (goal-driven). However, recent work suggests that reward’s effects on attention depend on the type of stimulus feature that the motivational information is imparted during learning (incentive salience). If true, then reward should not be limited to solely impacting early perceptual or late categorization processes attention. The current study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to test the idea that reward’s effects on attention depend on the process that the reward information is embedded – early perceptual or late categorization. Results demonstrated reward-driven effects on perceptual representation when …


Quantitative Reasoning: Individual Differences In Heart Rate And Response Latency, Abigail L. Van Nuland May 2019

Quantitative Reasoning: Individual Differences In Heart Rate And Response Latency, Abigail L. Van Nuland

MSU Graduate Theses

Math is something that all students are required to use at some point during their academic careers. Then they must use it again in the real world. Unfortunately, many students struggle with quantitative processing. In the current study, participants answered first grade level math problems in order to assess cognitive effort when solving math problem. Participants were then assigned randomly to one of two conditions; Answer or Equation. In the Answer Condition participants were asked to solve a series of math problems, whereby they were given a math equation and then they were asked to choose an answer. In the …


Coupled Correlates Of Attention And Consciousness, Ravi Varkki Chacko May 2019

Coupled Correlates Of Attention And Consciousness, Ravi Varkki Chacko

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been shown to restore lost motor function that occurs in stroke using electrophysiological signals. However, little evidence exists for the use of BCIs to restore non-motor stroke deficits, such as the attention deficits seen in hemineglect. Attention is a cognitive function that selects objects or ideas for further neural processing, presumably to facilitate optimal behavior. Developing BCIs for attention is different from developing motor BCIs because attention networks in the brain are more distributed and associative than motor networks. For example, hemineglect patients have reduced levels of arousal, which exacerbates their attentional deficits. More …


Differentiating Cognitive Deficits Between Adhd And In Utero Polysubstance Exposure, Dylan J. Seitz May 2019

Differentiating Cognitive Deficits Between Adhd And In Utero Polysubstance Exposure, Dylan J. Seitz

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

ADHD is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder in children, affecting their executive and overall well-being as a result (Barkley, 2014; Shaw, Gogtay, & Rapoport, 2010). A rampant increase in new diagnoses of ADHD suggests the potential for misdiagnosis. Stimulants are the first line of treatment and associated with a number of deleterious long-term consequences for those misdiagnosed (Urban & Gao, 2014a). This is of particular concern for children prenatally exposed to substances as in utero use acts on similar neural mechanisms impacted by ADHD – leaving the children vulnerable to misdiagnosis and contraindicated intervention (Derauf, Kekatpure, Neyzi, Lester, & Kosofsky, …


Levels-Of-Processing Effects On "Remember" Responses In Recognition For Familiar And Unfamiliar Tunes, Esra Mungan, Zehra F. Peynircioğlu, Andrea R. Halpern Jan 2019

Levels-Of-Processing Effects On "Remember" Responses In Recognition For Familiar And Unfamiliar Tunes, Esra Mungan, Zehra F. Peynircioğlu, Andrea R. Halpern

Andrea Halpern

We investigated the effect of level-of-processing manipulations on "remember" and "know" responses in episodic melody recognition (Experiments 1 and 2) and how this effect is modulated by item familiarity (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, participants performed 2 conceptual and 2 perceptual orienting tasks while listening to familiar melodies: judging the mood, continuing the tune, tracing the pitch contour, and counting long notes. The conceptual mood task led to higher d' rates for "remember" but not "know" responses. In Experiment 2, participants either judged the mood or counted long notes of tunes with high and low familiarity. A level-of-processing effect emerged …


Speech Interfaces And Pilot Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Kenneth A. Ward Jan 2019

Speech Interfaces And Pilot Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Kenneth A. Ward

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

As the aviation industry modernizes, new technology and interfaces must support growing aircraft complexity without increasing pilot workload. Natural language processing presents just such a simple and intuitive interface, yet the performance implications for use by pilots remain unknown. A meta-analysis was conducted to understand performance effects of using speech and voice interfaces in a series of pilot task analogs. The inclusion criteria selected studies that involved participants performing a demanding primary task, such as driving, while interacting with a vehicle system to enter numbers, dial radios, or enter a navigation destination. Compared to manual system interfaces, voice interfaces reduced …


Storytelling Study, Samantha Irene Pepe Jan 2019

Storytelling Study, Samantha Irene Pepe

Honors Theses and Capstones

Expressive prosody (i.e., a manner of communication that is characterized by lively rhythm and tempo) and inexpressive prosody (i.e., monotone speech) present different environments for listening to a story during a read-aloud session. This study aims to assess whether there are visual attention differences for preschoolers in these varied prosodic environments and how this affects comprehension.