An Automobile's Tail Lights: Sacrificing Safety for Playful Design?

OBJECTIVE: The counterintuitive "Union Jack"-inspired turn signals on versions of BMW's Mini vehicles was investigated to reveal potential impacts on human performance. BACKGROUND: When some Mini drivers indicate a change in direction, they do so with an oppositely oriented arrow. This conflict, between the task-irrelevant spatial shape and task-relevant location of the signal, mimics a "converse" spatial-Stroop effect that, in combination with the ubiquitous use of arrows on road signs, may be confusing. METHOD: Participants (n = 30) responded-via right and left keypresses-to the directions of road signs and turn signals in both pure and mixed blocks. Reaction times and accuracies were recorded to determine performance in each condition (compatible, neutral, incompatible). RESULTS: Performance suffered when the location and direction of the stimuli did not correspond. When responding to turn signals the cost to performance was especially salient in mixed blocks. Thus, when driving on roads where the meanings of arrows on road signs is important, turn signals pointing in a direction opposite from the directional intention indicated by the signals' location are likely to be confusing. CONCLUSION: The design of some Mini's "Union Jack" style taillights opposes well-established principles of cognitive functioning, caused confusion in our laboratory study and therefore may be a safety hazard-a possibility that ought to be explored in more realistic (e.g., driving simulator) situations. APPLICATION: BMW designers should consider universally adopting the neutral, "horizontal line," illumination style that is currently available in the aftermarket.

Changes in the Networks of Attention across the Lifespan: A Graphical Meta-Analysis.

Three Posnerian networks of attention (alerting, orienting, and executive control) have been distinguished on the bases of behavioural, neuropsychological, and neuroscientific evidence. Here, we examined the trajectories of these networks throughout the human lifespan using the various Attention Network Tests (ANTs), which were specifically developed to measure the efficacy of these networks. The ANT Database was used to identify relevant research, resulting in the inclusion of 36 publications. We conducted a graphical meta-analysis using network scores from each study, based on reaction time plotted as a function of age group. Evaluation of attentional networks from childhood to early adulthood suggests that the alerting network develops relatively quickly, and reaches near-adult level by the age of 12. The developmental pattern of the orienting network seems to depend on the information value of the spatial cues. Executive control network scores show a consistent decrease (improvement) with age in childhood. During adulthood (ages 19-75), changes in alerting depend on the modality of the warning signal, while a moderate increase in orienting scores was seen with increasing age. Whereas executive control scores, as measured in reaction time, increase (deterioration) from young adulthood into later adulthood an opposite trend is seen when scores are based on error rates.

Assessing the predictions from Posner's theory of phasic alertness using data from Los and Schut (2008).

Alertness has been construed as one of three fundamental components of attention. When generated by a warning signal, phasic changes in alertness ubiquitously decrease reaction time. But how does it do so? Based on earlier findings, in 1975, Posner proposed a theory of phasic alertness with two postulates: (i) phasic alertness does not affect the accumulation of information; (ii) phasic alertness accelerates when a response based on the accumulating information will be generated. When targets are continuously presented, this theory predicts that alertness will reduce reaction at the expense of an increase in errors-that is, generate a speed-accuracy trade-off. Los and Schut, Cognitive Psychology, 57, 20-55, (2008), while endorsing Posner's theory, claimed to have failed to replicated the tell-tale trade-off reported by Posner et al. Memory and Cognition, 1, 2-12, (1973, Experiment 1). The primary goal of this commentary was to use all the data from Los and Schut to see if the predicted speed-accuracy trade-off would be verified or not. With the increased power, it was confirmed that the conditions that benefited the most in reaction time from alertness also had higher error rates. It is noteworthy that recent studies have generated replications and extensions of the methods and findings of Posner et al; thus, it appears that the empirical pattern predicted by Posner's theory of phasic alertness is relatively robust.

Is gaze cuing more like endogenous or exogenous orienting?

People shift their attention in the direction of another person's gaze. This phenomenon, called gaze cuing, shares properties with purely endogenous (i.e., "deliberate") and purely exogenous (i.e., "reflexive") control of spatial attention. For example, as with purely endogenous orienting, gaze cues appear at visual fixation; yet, as with purely exogenous orienting, gaze cues elicit shifts of attention rapidly after their appearance. Prior experiments have shown that when controlled endogenously versus exogenously, the effects of attention upon the processing of targets are dramatically different. Briand and Klein (1987; see also Briand, 1998) showed that endogenous orienting is additive with opportunities for illusory conjunctions, whereas exogenous orienting is interactive. Klein (1994) showed that endogenous orienting is interactive with nonspatial expectancies, whereas exogenous orienting is additive. In the present project, we applied this double-dissociation strategy to attention controlled by gaze cues. In Experiment 1, gaze cuing effects (in accuracy) were additive with opportunities for illusory conjunctions (akin to endogenous control), whereas in Experiment 2, gaze cuing was additive with the nonspatial expectancy effect (akin to exogenous orienting). Therefore, in the nature of its effects upon performance, gaze cuing functions like a hybrid of endogenous and exogenous orienting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Slippage of the attentional beam when searching in space and in time.

"Slippage" of attention in time and space has been studied separately, using visual search (e.g., Snyder, 1972) and rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) (e.g., McLean, Broadbent, & Broadbent, 1982). The primary purpose of the current study was to see if we could replicate these findings of slippage and if we did, to use individual differences to explore relationships between slippage in the temporal and spatial domains. The participants identified and localized targets in visual search and in RSVP sequences. In Experiment 1, we used visual search and RSVP tasks closely replicating the methods of Snyder and McLean et al. In Experiment 2, we closely equated the two tasks as far as possible while maintaining the crucial space/time difference. Consistent with the previous studies, and reflecting binding errors (or slippage) in both space and time, erroneously reported identities were predominantly from items adjacent to the targets. Correlations between measures of the slippage in space (visual search) and time (RSVP) were near zero, suggesting that different attentional 'beams' bind features in space and time, a possibility that is consistent with other behavioural as well as neuropsychological evidence.

Using Speed and Accuracy and the Simon Effect to Explore the Output Form of Inhibition of Return.

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to slower responses to targets presented at previously cued locations. Contrasting target discrimination performance over various eye movement conditions has shown the level of activation of the reflexive oculomotor system determines the nature of the effect. Notably, an inhibitory effect of a cue nearer to the input end of the processing continuum is observed when the reflexive oculomotor system is actively suppressed, and an inhibitory effect nearer the output end of the processing continuum is observed when the reflexive oculomotor system is actively engaged. Furthermore, these two forms of IOR interact differently with the Simon effect. Drift diffusion modeling has suggested that two parameters can theoretically account for the speed-accuracy tradeoff rendered by the output-based form of IOR: increased threshold and decreased trial noise. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate that the threshold parameter best accounts for the output-based form of IOR by measuring it with intermixed discrimination and localization targets. Experiment 2 employed the response-signal methodology and showed that the output-based form has no effect on the accrual of information about the target's identity. These results converge with the response bias account for the output form of IOR.

Individual differences in working memory capacity and visual search while reading.

Individual differences in working memory capacity are related to variations in a wide range of cognitive tasks. Surprisingly, effects of individual differences in working memory capacity are somewhat limited in visual search tasks. Here we tested the hypothesis that such an effect would be robust when search was one component of a dual task. Participants were presented strings of letters using rapid serial visual presentation and were required to detect all instances of a particular target letter. In Experiment 1, participants performed the letter search task in three contexts, while: (a) reading a prose passage, (b) processing a stream of random words, or (c) processing a random stream of non-words. In the absence of the dual task of reading prose, and in line with much of the literature on individual differences in working memory capacity and visual search, search performance was unaffected by working memory capacity. As hypothesized, however, higher working memory capacity participants detected more target letters than lower capacity participants in the "true" dual task (searching while reading prose). The hypothesized results from the prose passage were replicated in Experiment 2. These results show that visual search efficiency is dramatically affected by working memory capacity when searching is combined with another cognitive task but not when it is performed in isolation. Our findings are consistent with recent suggestions that visual search efficiency will be affected by working memory capacity so long as searching is embedded in a context that entails managing resource allocation between concurrent tasks.

Thinking about attention: Successive approximations to a productive taxonomy.

Attention, the recruitment of processing resources, is viewed as pivotal for understanding normal behaviour and thought as well as the disorganizations associated with brain damage and disease. A brief history foreshadows aspects of a proposed taxonomy of attention that builds upon Posner's tripartite taxonomy. Posner's influential taxonomy views attention as a set of isolable neural systems (alerting, orienting and executive control), often working together to organize behaviour. For measuring the efficacy of these three networks, Posner and colleagues created the Attention Network Test (ANT). The impact of the taxonomy and this model task for exploring it is illustrated by the facts that they have spawned numerous variants designed for different purposes and that one or another variant has been used in almost a thousand publications. We have previously built upon this conceptual framework by considering: two modes of control over resource allocation which we labelled exogenous and endogenous and three domains over which these modes of control are presumed to operate (space, time and task or activity). The Combined Attention Systems Test (or CAST) was developed to measure the efficacy of the six kinds of attention implied by revised taxonomy. Lastly, this taxonomic effort is further developed by incorporating the distinction between overt, observable behaviour in the "real" world and covert "behaviour" in the realm of thought and imagination.

Spatio-temporal properties of oculomotor activation by multiple, simultaneous peripheral stimuli.

Oculomotor research shows that eye movements are primed toward the midpoint of an array of visual stimuli, such that an eye movement to a visual target is executed most rapidly when it appears near the midpoint of an earlier array. At longer intervals between the prime and target, this facilitatory effect can reverse to become inhibitory - such that eye movements are slower when made toward the midpoint - but the source of this inhibition is unclear. One of our prior studies suggests a global source: target proximity to the midpoint determines inhibition, consistent with the notion that oculomotor activation is responsible for the effect and the original definition of inhibition of return. A later study suggests a local source: target proximity to the nearest array element determines inhibition, consistent with the notion that repeat stimulation of an input pathway is responsible. To resolve the ambiguity we systematically test whether timing differences between studies altered the source of the inhibition. We find that both previously observed patterns are reproducible depending on the prime offset - target onset asynchrony. We also resolve the discrepancy by showing that when this asynchrony is less than 200 ms, target proximity to the array's midpoint and its proximity to any given array element can jointly determine inhibition, whereas when the asynchrony is approximately 200 ms, inhibition is robust at the midpoint of the array. At longer asynchronies, all inhibitory effects rapidly dissipate.

Re-examining attention capture at irrelevant (ignored?) locations.

In 2018, Ruthruff and Gaspelin used a modified spatial cuing paradigm in which targets were presented at two locations while abrupt-onset cues could be presented at four locations. They found that performance following cues presented at irrelevant locations was no worse than following no cue or following a centrally presented cue. They concluded, as conveyed by the title of their article (Immunity to Attentional Capture at Ignored Locations) that a spatial attentional control setting had eliminated capture of attention. This conclusion was reached by comparing response time to targets on cue-absent versus irrelevant cues condition. We administered the exact same task in Experiment 1 and observed that responses on irrelevant trials were faster compared with cue absent trials providing support for the "immunity to attention capture claim" made by Ruthruff and Gaspelin (2018). However, cue absent trials may not be the most appropriate baseline condition as they lack the alerting benefit provided by cue-present trials. Thus, equivalent response times (RTs) on trials with absent cues and irrelevant cues observed in Ruthruff and Gaspelin (2018) could have been due to the lack of this alerting benefit. We tested this in Experiment 2 by additionally including a warning beep on every trial as an alerting signal. With this methodological change, we observed that responses were slower on irrelevant trials compared with the cue absent trials suggesting interference from cues at irrelevant locations. This study underscores the importance of using the appropriate baseline while testing attention capture. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

On the origins and evolution of the Attention Network Tests.

Attention is a pivotal cognitive function and efforts to understand its properties and operations are fundamental. Building upon the best known taxonomy of attention put forward by Posner and colleagues, the Attention Network Test (ANT) was designed to efficiently provide scores that reflect the efficacy of alerting, orienting and executive control. The ANT has not only been very widely adopted by scholars around the world, it has inspired a wide range of variants, the ANTs, - each with its own purpose. This review will describe the origin of the ANT in the taxonomic contributions of Posner and the evolution of the ANTs with some discussion of the nature and rationale for each major variant described here. We briefly allude to minor modifications of the ANT and present some suggestions related to data reporting and data analysis. We end with some projections about the future use of the original ANT and its notable variants.

Role of aging and working memory in performance on a naturalistic visual search task.

Studying age-related changes in working memory (WM) and visual search can provide insights into mechanisms of visuospatial attention. In visual search, WM is used to remember previously inspected objects/locations and to maintain a mental representation of the target to guide the search. We sought to extend this work, using aging as a case of reduced WM capacity. The present study tested whether various domains of WM would predict visual search performance in both young (n = 47; aged 18-35 yrs) and older (n = 48; aged 55-78) adults. Participants completed executive and domain-specific WM measures, and a naturalistic visual search task with (single) feature and triple-conjunction (three-feature) search conditions. We also varied the WM load requirements of the search task by manipulating whether a reference picture of the target (i.e., target template) was displayed during the search, or whether participants needed to search from memory. In both age groups, participants with better visuospatial executive WM were faster to locate complex search targets. Working memory storage capacity predicted search performance regardless of target complexity; however, visuospatial storage capacity was more predictive for young adults, whereas verbal storage capacity was more predictive for older adults. Displaying a target template during search diminished the involvement of WM in search performance, but this effect was primarily observed in young adults. Age-specific interactions between WM and visual search abilities are discussed in the context of mechanisms of visuospatial attention and how they may vary across the lifespan.

Crossmodal Correspondence Between Auditory Timbre and Visual Shape.

Crossmodal correspondences are defined as associations between crossmodal stimuli based on seemingly irrelevant stimulus features (i.e., bright shapes being associated with high-pitched sounds). There is a large body of research describing auditory crossmodal correspondences involving pitch and volume, but not so much involving auditory timbre, the character or quality of a sound. Adeli and colleagues (2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8, 352) found evidence of correspondences between timbre and visual shape. The present study aimed to replicate Adeli et al.'s findings, as well as identify novel timbre-shape correspondences. Participants were tested using two computerized tasks: an association task, which involved matching shapes to presented sounds based on best perceived fit, and a semantic task, which involved rating shapes and sounds on a number of scales. The analysis of association matches reveals nonrandom selection, with certain stimulus pairs being selected at a much higher frequency. The harsh/jagged and smooth/soft correspondences observed by Adeli et al. were found to be associated with a high level of consistency. Additionally, high matching frequency of sounds with unstudied timbre characteristics suggests the existence of novel correspondences. Finally, the ability of the semantic task to supplement existing crossmodal correspondence assessments was demonstrated. Convergent analysis of the semantic and association data demonstrates that the two datasets are significantly correlated (-0.36) meaning stimulus pairs associated with a high level of consensus were more likely to hold similar perceived meaning. The results of this study are discussed in both theoretical and applied contexts.

Evolution of social attentional cues: Evidence from the archerfish.

Social cues such as gaze, head, and body orientation are essential for the survival of any social animal. The gaze cuing paradigm is a well-studied experimental manipulation, employed to detect automatic attentional shifts in humans. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has tested non-primates in a paradigm that is similar to the one typically used on humans. Herein, three archerfish observed a conspecific picture oriented toward the right or the left, followed unpredictably by a visual target presented in the socially cued or un-cued location. Similar to the pattern observed in humans, fish demonstrated faster reaction times for targets presented at the socially cued location. Results suggest that social cues may have an early evolutionary origin and can elicit automatic attentional orienting even in species without a visual cortex.

Inhibition of return: An information processing theory of its natures and significance.

Inhibition of return (IOR) is an inhibitory aftereffect of visuospatial orienting, typically resulting in slower responses to targets presented in an area that has been recently attended. Since its discovery, myriad research has sought to explain the causes and effects underlying this phenomenon. Here, we briefly summarize the history of the phenomenon, and describe the early work supporting the functional significance of IOR as a foraging facilitator. We then shine a light on the discordance in the literature with respect to mechanism-in particular the lack of theoretical constructs that can consistently explain innumerable dissociations. We then describe three diagnostics (central arrow targets, locus of slack logic and the psychological refractory period, and performance in speed-accuracy space) used to support our theory that there are two forms of inhibition of return-the form which is manifest being contingent upon the activation state of the reflexive oculomotor system. The input form, which operates to decrease the salience of inputs, is generated when the reflexive oculomotor system is suppressed; the output form, which operates to bias responding, is generated when the reflexive oculomotor system is not suppressed. Then, we subject a published data set, wherein inhibitory effects had been generated while the reflexive oculomotor system was either active or suppressed, to diffusion modelling. As we hypothesized, based on the aforementioned theory, the effects of the two forms of IOR were best accounted for by different drift diffusion parameters. The paper ends with a variety of suggestions for further research.

Effects of fatigue on attention and vigilance as measured with a modified attention network test.

As part of a larger study on the effects of fatigue on various attentional and behavioural measures, we had participants complete a modified version of Luna et al.'s (J Neurosci Methods 306:77-87, Luna et al., J Neurosci Methods 306:77-87, 2018) ANTI-Vea task (mANTI-Vea) at the beginning and end (pre/post) of each of two 8-h testing sessions. Between these administrations of the mANTI-Vea our participants spent ~ 6 h performing an intervening task. Our intent in this project was two-fold: first, to replicate the pattern of effects reported in Luna et al.'s original presentation of the ANTI-Vea; second, to assay the impact of fatigue on vigilance and attention by observing shifts in mANTI-Vea performance as a function of time on task and before versus after the intervening task. With time-on-task (the mANTI-Vea is divided into six sub-blocks) we observed that participants became increasingly conservative in their biases to respond towards infrequent targets, showed a decline in sensitivity, and lapsed in responding in the psychomotor vigilance task with greater frequency. In the pre/post comparison, we observed an increase in the proportion of lapses, but not in participants' response biases. Attentional network scores were found to be somewhat insensitive to our fatigue manipulations; the effect of time-on-task was only significant for orienting scores on RT, and our pre/post comparison was only significant for RT derived executive functioning scores.

The missing-colour effect: The attentional beam captures reading-relevant and reading-irrelevant information.

According to many models, reading is driven by an attentional beam. In two experiments, we investigated the specificity of the beam by testing its sensitivity to a reading-irrelevant feature: colour. More specifically, participants were asked to read either a black-and-white version or a multi-colour version of the text in which each letter was printed in a different colour. In addition, while reading for comprehension, participants either searched for a target letter (t or d) or for a colour (pink or black). In Experiment 1, we used the Nelson-Denny reading test and in Experiment 2, we used an experimental text. In both the experiments, the typical missing-letter effect was observed with letters: Participants missed more letters in function than in content words. Most importantly, although the effect was smaller, this pattern of results was also observed when participants searched for a colour (e.g., pink or black letters in a multi-coloured passage). Our results suggest that the attentional beam involved in reading is sensitive to both reading-relevant and reading-irrelevant information.

The Attention Network Test Database: ADHD and Cross-Cultural Applications.

Attention is a central component of cognitive and behavioral processes and plays a key role in basic and higher-level functioning. Posner's model of attention describes three components or networks of attention: the alerting, which involves high intensity states of arousal; the orienting, which involves the selective direction of attention; and the executive control, which involves cognitive functions such as conflict resolution and working memory. The Attention Network Test (ANT) is a computerized testing measure that was developed to measure these three networks of attention. This project describes the ANT, its widely used variants, and the recently developed ANT Database, a repository of data extracted from all studies that have used the ANT as of 2019. To illustrate the potential uses of the database, two meta-analyses conducted using the ANT Database are described. One explores task performance in children with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The other one explores regional differences between studies conducted in China, Europe, and the United States. We are currently in the process of integrating the database into a publicly available web interface. When that work is complete, researchers, clinicians, and the general public will be able to use the database to explore topics of interest related to attention.

Brief Report: A Gaming Approach to the Assessment of Attention Networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development.

Attentional impairments are among the earliest identifiable features of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Three attention networks have been extensively studied using the attention network test (ANT), but this long and repetitive task may pose challenges for individuals with ASDs. The AttentionTrip was developed as a more engaging measure of attention network efficiency. In 20 adults with ASDs and 20 typically developing controls, both tasks produced typical network scores (all p < .003, all Cohen's d > 0.78). Reaction time was less variable in the AttentionTrip than the ANT, possibly reflecting improved task engagement. Although the AttentionTrip elicited more consistent responses throughout an experimental session, anomalously low split-half reliability for its executive control network suggests that some changes may be needed.