Comparison of Virtual Reality Exergames and Nature Videos on Attentional Performance: A Single-Session Study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the acute effects of a single session of a VR exergame (Beat Saber) and a VR nature video (Ireland 4K) on attentional performance, using the Flanker and Attentional Blink (AB) tasks. The objective was to assess whether these VR interventions could enhance attentional control, as measured by improvements in response times and accuracy. METHODS: A total of 39 psychology students, aged 19-25, were randomly assigned to one of three groups: VR exergame, VR nature video, or control. Participants completed the Flanker and AB tasks before and after the intervention. A repeated measures design was employed to analyze changes in response times and accuracy across pre- and post-test sessions. RESULTS: The study revealed significant improvements in response times and accuracy across all groups in the post-test measures, indicating a strong training effect. In the AB task, shorter stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) led to decreased accuracy and slower response times, emphasizing the difficulty in processing closely spaced targets. The interaction between Type and Group in response times for target stimuli suggested that the intervention types differentially influenced processing speed in specific conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that while brief VR interventions did not produce significant differences between groups, the training effect observed highlights the influence of task-specific factors such as SOA and target presence. Further research is needed to explore whether longer or repeated VR sessions, as well as the optimization of task-specific parameters, might lead to more pronounced cognitive benefits.

Attention focused on memory: The episodic flanker effect with letters, words, colors, and pictures.

We report 10 experiments exploring the proposition that memory retrieval is perceptual attention turned inward. The experiments adapt the Eriksen and Eriksen perceptual flanker effect to a memory task in which subjects must decide whether a cued item in a probe display appeared in the same position in a memory list. Previous research with this episodic flanker task found distance and compatibility effects like those in the perceptual flanker task, suggesting that the same attentional spotlight is turned inward in memory retrieval. The previous experiments used lists of six consonants. The experiments reported here were designed to generalize the results to a broader range of conditions, from letters to words, colors, and pictures, and from set size 6 to set sizes of 4 and 5. Experiments 1-4 varied distance and set size with lists of four, five, or six letters, words, colors, and pictures, respectively. The distance effect was observed with all materials and all set sizes. Experiments 5-8 varied compatibility by presenting context items in the probe that were either the same as the memory list (and therefore compatible with "yes" responses and incompatible with "no" responses) or different from the memory list (and therefore incompatible with "yes" responses and compatible with "no" responses). We found compatibility effects with all materials and all set sizes. These results support the proposition that memory retrieval is attention turned inward. Turned inward or outward, attention is a general process that applies the same computations to different kinds of materials.

Psychometrics of drift-diffusion model parameters derived from the Eriksen flanker task: Reliability and validity in two independent samples.

The flanker task is a widely used measure of cognitive control abilities. Drift-diffusion modeling of flanker task behavior can yield separable parameters of cognitive control-related subprocesses, but the parameters' psychometrics are not well-established. We examined the reliability and validity of four behavioral measures: (1) raw accuracy, (2) reaction time (RT) interference, (3) NIH Toolbox flanker score, and (4) two drift-diffusion model (DDM) parameters-drift rate and boundary separation-capturing evidence accumulation efficiency and speed-accuracy trade-off, respectively. Participants from two independent studies - one cross-sectional (N = 381) and one with three timepoints (N = 83) - completed the flanker task while electroencephalography data were collected. Across both studies, drift rate and boundary separation demonstrated comparable split-half and test-retest reliability to accuracy, RT interference, and NIH Toolbox flanker score, but better incremental convergent validity with psychophysiological measures (i.e., the error-related negativity; ERN) and neuropsychological measures of cognitive control than the other behavioral indices. Greater drift rate (i.e., faster and more accurate responses) to congruent and incongruent stimuli, and smaller boundary separation to incongruent stimuli were related to 1) larger ERN amplitudes (in both studies) and 2) faster and more accurate inhibition and set-shifting over and above raw accuracy, reaction time, and NIH Toolbox flanker scores (in Study 1). Computational models, such as DDM, can parse behavioral performance into subprocesses that exhibit comparable reliability to other scoring approaches, but more meaningful relationships with other measures of cognitive control. The application of these computational models may be applied to existing data and enhance the identification of cognitive control deficits in psychiatric disorders.

Response and conflict expectations shape motor responses interactively.

Efficient responses in dynamic environments rely on a combination of readiness and flexibility, regulated by anticipatory and online response control mechanisms. The latter are required when a motor response needs to be reprogrammed or when flanker stimuli induce response conflict and they are crucially modulated by anticipatory signals such as response and conflict expectations. The mutual influence and interplay of these control processes remain to be elucidated. Our behavioral study employed a novel combined response cueing/conflict task designed to test for interactive effects of response reprogramming and conflict resolution and their modulation by expectations. To this end, valid and invalid response cues were combined with congruent and incongruent target flankers. Expectations were modulated by systematically manipulating the proportions of valid versus invalid cues and congruent versus incongruent flanker stimuli in different task blocks. Reaction time and accuracy were assessed in thirty-one healthy volunteers. The results revealed response reprogramming and conflict resolution interactions for both behavioral measures, modulated by response and conflict expectations. Accuracy decreased disproportionally when invalidly cued targets with incongruent flankers were least expected. These findings support coordinated and partially overlapping anticipatory and online response control mechanisms within motor-cognitive networks.

Alpha oscillations during visual selective attention are aberrant in youth and adults with cerebral palsy.

Our understanding of the neurobiology underlying cognitive dysfunction in persons with cerebral palsy is very limited, especially in the neurocognitive domain of visual selective attention. This investigation utilized magnetoencephalography and an Eriksen arrow-based flanker task to quantify the dynamics underlying selective attention in a cohort of youth and adults with cerebral palsy (n = 31; age range = 9 to 47 yr) and neurotypical controls (n = 38; age range = 11 to 49 yr). The magnetoencephalography data were transformed into the time-frequency domain to identify neural oscillatory responses and imaged using a beamforming approach. The behavioral results indicated that all participants exhibited a flanker effect (greater response time for the incongruent compared to congruent condition) and that individuals with cerebral palsy were slower and less accurate during task performance. We computed interference maps to focus on the attentional component and found aberrant alpha (8 to 14 Hz) oscillations in the right primary visual cortices in the group with cerebral palsy. Alpha and theta (4 to 7 Hz) oscillations were also seen in the left and right insula, and these oscillations varied with age across all participants. Overall, persons with cerebral palsy exhibit deficiencies in the cortical dynamics serving visual selective attention, but these aberrations do not appear to be uniquely affected by age.

The influence of task-irrelevant color perception on flanker task performance: Insights from behavioral and ERP data.

Perception of color as a task-relevant stimulus can affect cognition and behavior in the flanker task; however, it remains unclear whether it has the same impact when it is a task-irrelevant stimulus dimension. To this end, we applied four-letter flanker tasks with or without colored (red/blue) to 23 healthy young adults, while recording the event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral performance. The flanker task included four kinds of color types: non-color letter (NC), all color letter (AC), flanker color letter (FC), and target color letter (TC), each flanker task included congruent and incongruent conditions. The behavioral data demonstrated the classic conflict effect across all color types of flanker tasks in both reaction times (RTs) and accuracy, the significant interaction and main effect of color type factors were only observed in accuracy. The ERP results showed significant interaction between conflict factor (congruent, incongruent) and color type (NC, AC, FC, and TC), and the color type factor enhanced the fronto-central P2 (180-200 ms), descended the fronto-centro-parietal N2b (260-320 ms), and increased the fronto-central P3b (360-520 ms). The fronto-central P2 and the fronto-central P3b were larger for TC than NC, AC, and FC in the congruent condition, while the fronto-central P3b was smaller for NC than AC, FC, and TC in the incongruent condition. Furthermore, the fronto-centro-parietal N2b was decreased successively in NC, AC, FC, and TC in both congruent and incongruent conditions. Overall, our findings suggested that the task-irrelevant stimuli dimension of color can capture some attentional resources and is affected by the location of color (target/flanker) and the type of task trial (congruent/incongruent) in the flanker task.

Enhancement of joint flanker effect in intergroup competition.

Representing the mental state of the partner lays the foundation for successful social interaction. While the representation of group members has been extensively studied, it is unclear how intergroup interactions affect it. In three experiments utilizing the joint flanker task, we found that competition between groups brought about a greater joint flanker effect (Experiment 1). Such phenomenon was not due to competition per se, as competition that occurred between individuals from different groups did not enhance the joint flanker effect (Experiment 2). Using the minimal grouping method to directly manipulate group entitativity, we found that the joint flanker effect was larger when participants perceived the group as being more closely connected; conversely, when they perceived the group as less close, the joint flanker effect was attenuated (Experiment 3). These results suggested that beliefs about the group may be key to how group competition enhanced the joint flanker effect. The potential cognitive mechanisms producing this phenomenon are fully discussed. Overall, our study is the first to explore the impact of intergroup interactions on the joint flanker effect and provides a new perspective on understanding the relationship between within-group representations and intergroup interactions.

A quantitative analysis of fidgeting in ADHD and its relation to performance and sustained attention on a cognitive task.

Introduction: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder where hyperactivity often manifests as fidgeting, a non-goal-directed motoric action. Many studies demonstrate fidgeting varies under different conditions as a self-regulating mechanism for attention and alertness during cognitively demanding tasks. Fidgeting has also been associated with reaction time variability. However, a lack of standard variables to define and quantify fidgeting can lead to discrepancies in data and interpretability issues across studies. Furthermore, little is known about fidgeting in adults with ADHD compared to youth. This study aims to design a framework to quantify meaningful fidgeting variables and to apply them to test the relation between fidgeting and performance on a cognitive task, the Flanker, in adults with ADHD. Method: Our study included 70 adult participants diagnosed with ADHD, aged 18-50 years (30.5 ± 7.2 years). Screening included a structured clinical interview, childhood, current self and current observer ratings of ADHD symptoms. Actigraphy devices were attached to the left wrist and right ankle during completion of a cognitive control, attention task (the Flanker). Laboratory testing was subsequently completed on a single day. The relation between task performance, reaction time variability and fidgeting was examined. Results and Discussion: Our analysis revealed increased fidgeting during correct trials as defined by our new variables, consistent with previous observations. Furthermore, differences in fidgeting were observed between early and later trials while the percentage of correct trials were not significantly different. This suggests a relation between the role of fidgeting and sustaining attention. Participants with low reaction time variability, that is, those with more consistent reaction times, fidgeted more during later trials. This observation supports the theory that fidgeting aids arousal and improves sustained attention. Finally, a correlation analysis using ADHD-symptom rating scales validated the relevance of the fidget variables in relation to ADHD symptom severity. These findings suggest fidgeting may be a compensatory mechanism that aids in sustained attention for those with ADHD, although alternative explanations exist. Conclusion: Our study suggests that fidgeting may aid in sustained attention during the attention-demanding, cognitive control processes for adults with ADHD, with more fidgeting observed during correct trials and among participants with lower reaction time variability. Furthermore, the newly defined fidget variables were validated through a significant correlation with ADHD rating scales. By sharing our implementation of fidget variables, we hope to standardize and encourage further quantitative research into the role of fidgeting in ADHD.

Reliability Theory for Measurements with Variable Test Length, Illustrated with ERN and Pe Collected in the Flanker Task.

In psychophysiology, an interesting question is how to estimate the reliability of event-related potentials collected by means of the Eriksen Flanker Task or similar tests. A special problem presents itself if the data represent neurological reactions that are associated with some responses (in case of the Flanker Task, responding incorrectly on a trial) but not others (like when providing a correct response), inherently resulting in unequal numbers of observations per subject. The general trend in reliability research here is to use generalizability theory and Bayesian estimation. We show that a new approach based on classical test theory and frequentist estimation can do the job as well and in a simpler way, and even provides additional insight to matters that were unsolved in the generalizability method approach. One of our contributions is the definition of a single, overall reliability coefficient for an entire group of subjects with unequal numbers of observations. Both methods have slightly different objectives. We argue in favor of the classical approach but without rejecting the generalizability approach.

Rare incompatible stimuli evoke visual mismatch negativity in a flanker task.

In the flanker task, the behavioral performance for incompatible stimuli is worse in the mostly compatible (rare) condition than in the equiprobable condition. Furthermore, incompatible stimuli evoke visual mismatch negativity (VMMN) when comparing the rare and equiprobable conditions. Compatible and incompatible stimuli differ in terms of their shape and type. This study aimed to examine whether VMMN evoked by rare incompatible stimuli were associated with the shape or type of the stimulus. In a modified version of the flanker task, stimuli were manipulated by two shapes (typical or peculiar) and two types (compatible or incompatible): typical compatible stimuli (< < < < < and > > > > >), typical incompatible stimuli (> > < > > and < < > < <), peculiar compatible stimuli (+ < < < + and + > > > +), and peculiar incompatible stimuli (+ > < > + and + < > < +). In the rare condition, typical incompatible, peculiar compatible, and peculiar incompatible stimuli were presented with a probability of 10%, whereas all the stimuli were presented equally in the equiprobable condition. Right posterior negativity from 200 to 250 ms was significantly more negative in the rare condition than in the equiprobable condition for typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli; however, this difference was not observed for peculiar compatible stimuli. VMMN was significantly more negative for typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli than for peculiar compatible stimuli, and was not significantly different between typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli. These findings suggest that VMMN for incompatible stimuli is associated with the type rather than the shape of the stimulus.

Stimulus-related oscillatory brain activity discriminates hoarding disorder from OCD and healthy controls.

Hoarding disorder (HD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are highly comorbid and genetically related, but their similarities and differences at the neural level are not well characterized. The present study examined the time-frequency information contained in stimulus-related EEG data as participants worked on a visual flanker task. Three groups were included: participants diagnosed with HD (N = 33), OCD (N = 26), and healthy controls (N = 35). Permutation-controlled mass-univariate analyses found no differences between groups in terms of the magnitude of the oscillatory responses. Differences between groups were found selectively for phase-based measures (phase-locking across trials and across sensors) in time ranges well after those consistent with initial visuocortical processes, in the alpha (10 Hz) as well as theta and beta frequency bands, centered around 6 Hz and 15 Hz, respectively. Specifically, HD showed attenuated phase locking in theta and alpha compared to OCD and HC, while OCD showed heightened inter-site phase locking in alpha/beta. Including age as a covariate attenuated, but did not eliminate, the group differences. These findings point to signatures of cortical dynamics and cortical communication task processing that are unique to HD, and which are specifically present during higher-order visual cognition such as stimulus-response mapping, response selection, and action monitoring.

Altered Error Monitoring and Decreased Flanker Task Accuracy in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

The error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) are components of the event-related potential following an error that are potential mechanistic biomarkers of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The study examined the ERN, Pe, flanker task accuracy, and clinical measures in 105 OCD cases and 105 matched healthy controls (HC) ages 8-18 years. Higher flanker task accuracy in all participants was associated with an increased ERN amplitude and increased difference between Pe and correct positivity amplitudes (ΔPe). Compared to HC, OCD cases had an increased ERN but decreased ΔPe and flanker task accuracy. Those differences were also significant in tic-related and non-tic-related OCD cases compared to HC. A lower ΔPe was associated in cases with an earlier age at OCD symptom onset. The results support the hypothesis that OCD involves defects in an error monitoring system and suggest a reduced ΔPe may compromise error signaling and cause uncertainty about the correctness of a response.

Putting the Spotlight Back Onto the Flanker Task in Autism: Autistic Adults Show Increased Interference from Foils Compared with Non-autistic Adults.

Autistic people may have a less focused spotlight of spatial selective attention than non-autistic people, meaning that distracting stimuli are less effectively suppressed. Previous studies using the flanker task have supported this suggestion with observations of increased congruency effects in autistic participants. However, findings across studies have been mixed, mainly based on research in children and on response time measures, which may be influenced by differences in response strategy between autistic and non-autistic people rather than differences in selective attention. In this pre-registered study, 153 autistic and 147 non-autistic adults completed an online flanker task. The aims of this study were to test whether increased congruency effects replicate in autistic adults and to extend previous work by fitting a computational model of spatial selective attention on the flanker task to the data. Congruency effects were increased in the autistic group. The modelling revealed that the interference time from the foils was increased in the autistic group. This suggests that the activation of the foils was increased, meaning suppression was less effective for autistic participants. There were also differences in non-interference parameters between the groups. The estimate of response caution was increased in the autistic group and the estimate of perceptual efficiency was decreased. Together these findings suggest inefficient suppression, response strategy and perceptual processing all contribute to differences in performance on the flanker task between autistic and non-autistic people.

Educational Attainment Moderates Task-State Control Network Connectivity Relations to Response Conflict Among Healthy Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: Older adult executive function varies widely due to brain and cognitive aging. Variance in older adult executive function is linked to increased response conflict from cognitive and brain aging. Cognitive reserve (CR) is a theoretical protective mechanism that lessens brain aging's impact on cognition and is associated with greater educational attainment. Recent work in rest-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggests CR proxies moderate the relationship between functional connectivity (FC) and cognitive performance. Brain network FC in "control networks," including the salience (SN), dorsal attention and frontoparietal networks, are associated with cognitive processes in older adults. CR is hypothesized to maintain cognitive processing in part through changes in how brain networks respond to cognitive demands. However, it is unclear how CR proxies like educational attainment are related to control network FC during performance when cognitive demands are increased relative to rest. Because CR is expressed more in those with higher education, we hypothesized stronger control network FC would relate to better performance, where this relationship would be strongest among the most educated. METHODS: We collected flanker task data during fMRI to assess the impact of a CR proxy (i.e., educational attainment) on response conflict among older adult subjects (n = 42, age = 65-80). RESULTS: Linear mixed-effects models showed more educated older adults with greater SN-FC had a smaller flanker effect (i.e., less influence of distractors; p < .001) during task performance. DISCUSSION: For the first time, we show that educational attainment moderates the relationship between task-state SN-FC and executive function among older adults.

Incorporating Evidence-Based Gamification and Machine Learning to Assess Preschool Executive Function: A Feasibility Study.

Computerized assessments and digital games have become more prevalent in childhood, necessitating a systematic investigation of the effects of gamified executive function assessments on performance and engagement. This study examined the feasibility of incorporating gamification and a machine learning algorithm that adapts task difficulty to individual children's performance into a traditional executive function task (i.e., Flanker Task) with children ages 3-5. The results demonstrated that performance on a gamified version of the Flanker Task was associated with performance on the traditional version of the task and standardized academic achievement outcomes. Furthermore, gamification grounded in learning science and developmental psychology theories applied to a traditional executive function measure increased children's task enjoyment while preserving psychometric properties of the Flanker Task. Overall, this feasibility study indicates that gamification and adaptive machine learning algorithms can be successfully incorporated into executive function assessments with young children to increase enjoyment and reduce data loss with developmentally appropriate and intentional practices.

Transposition and substitution-letter effects in a flanker task: Evidence from children and adults.

Several studies have shown that parafoveal processing is essential in reading development. In this study, we explore the effect of transposing and substituting inner and outer letters in a flanker lexical decision task administered to 78 children and 65 adults. The results show a significant interaction between the Group factor and the Flanker factor, suggesting differences in the effects of flankers for children and adults. In the case of adults, transposed and substituted letters generated benefit of the same magnitude in comparison with the unrelated condition, but of lesser magnitude than the Identity condition. In the case of children, the results show facilitation for the transposed conditions of the same magnitude as the Identity condition. However, the substitution conditions failed to generate any benefit in comparison with the unrelated condition. The results for the adults are in line with the predictions of the open bigram model, whereas the results for the children are explained through a developmental perspective of the dual-route architecture and open bigram framework.

Can the Spontaneous Electroencephalography Theta/Beta Power Ratio and Alpha Oscillation Measure Individuals' Attentional Control?

Past studies have shown that spontaneous electroencephalography indicators-namely, the theta/beta power ratio and alpha oscillation-may measure individuals' attentional control processes. However, there is lack of research distinguishing these differences. This study investigated whether the theta/beta power ratio and alpha oscillation were separately related to the objective and subjective criteria of attentional control in eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. The results showed two main findings: (1) In the eyes-open condition, the theta/beta power ratio at the Fz and Pz electrode sites were significantly negatively correlated with the attentional control scale score; the alpha power at the Pz electrode site was significantly negatively correlated with flanker RT interference effect; (2) In the eyes-closed condition, the alpha power at the Cz and Pz electrode sites were significantly positively correlated with flanker P3d. In summary, this study showed that the eyes-open spontaneous theta/beta power ratio may reflect individuals' beliefs in their attentional control ability, and the alpha oscillation may be related to individuals' attentional control ability.

EEG correlates of trait test anxiety in the flanker task for adolescents.

Adolescents face constant exams and often experience severe test anxiety. Previous studies suggested that test anxiety impairs individuals' inhibitory control. Neurophysiological evidence suggests that anxiety interferes with the recruitment of the prefrontal region of the brain, which modulates top-down attentional control during the completion of inhibitory control tasks. However, there is little neurophysiological evidence regarding how test anxiety impairs inhibitory control in adolescents. This study used the flanker task to measure individuals' inhibitory control ability, and both event-related potential and electroencephalography indicators were used to measure neurophysiological processes. The results showed that increased trait test anxiety was significantly negatively correlated with theta power oscillation, while adolescents performed both incongruent and congruent trials. This finding suggests that trait test anxiety adolescents are less able to exert greater effort to complete the inhibitory control task and show impoverished top-down attentional control resources.

The effect of working memory load on selective attention to emotional faces for social anxiety individuals.

Research has confirmed that individuals with social anxiety (SA) show an attentional bias towards threat-related stimuli. However, the extent to which this attentional bias depends on top-down cognitive control processes remains controversial. The present study investigated the effect of working memory (WM) load on selective attention to emotional faces in both high social anxiety (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA) groups by manipulating WM load through the inclusion of forward counting in multiples of two (low load) or backward counting in multiples of seven (high load) within a modified flanker task. In the flanker task, emotional faces (angry, happy, or neutral faces) were used as targets and distractors. A total of 70 participants (34 HSA participants; 36 LSA participants) completed the flanker task in the laboratory. The results showed that the HSA individuals performed worse when responding to angry targets. Relative to LSA individuals, HSA individuals showed interference from angry distractors in the flanker task, resulting in significantly lower accuracy in identifying angry targets compared to happy targets. These results were unaffected by the manipulation of WM load. The findings imply HSA individuals have impaired attentional control, and that their threat-related attentional bias relies more on the bottom-up automatic attentional process.

Altered Error Monitoring and Decreased Flanker Task Accuracy in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

The error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) are components of the event-related potential following an error that are potential mechanistic biomarkers of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The study examined the ERN, Pe, flanker task accuracy, and clinical measures in 105 OCD cases and 105 matched healthy controls (HC), ages 8 to 18 years, with 21 cases having a tic disorder history. Higher flanker task accuracy in all participants was associated with an increased ERN amplitude and increased difference between Pe and correct positivity amplitudes (ΔPe). Compared to HC, OCD cases had an increased ERN but decreased flanker task accuracy and ΔPe. Those differences were also significant in tic-related and non-tic-related OCD cases compared to HC. A lower ΔPe was associated in OCD cases with an earlier age at OCD symptom onset. The results support the hypothesis that OCD involves defects in an error monitoring system and suggest a reduced ΔPe may compromise error signaling and cause uncertainty about the correctness of a response.