Expression of Exploratory Activity of Rat Offspring Depends on the Expression of Exploratory Activity of Their Parents at the Moment of Mating.

The aim of this work was to study the, so far, unexplored possibility that non-genetic inheritance of animal behavioral characteristics could depend on the state of the parents at the time of conception. In this study, we measured the levels of motor and exploratory activity in rats at the ages of 2 and 5 months. Male and female rats were mated at the age of 5 months. The following groups were used: male and female rats with high motor activity at ages of 2 and 5 months (ACT+); male and female rats with high activity at the age of 2 months, but low activity at the age of 5 months (ACT-); male and female rats with low activity at the ages of 2 and 5 months (PAS-); male and female rats with low activity at the age of 2 months, but high activity at the age of 5 months (PAS+). It was found that both males and females ACT+ had significantly higher motor activity, which was observed in the first 10minutes, in the next 20-60minutes, in the center of the cage and more rearings as compared with PAS-rats. Significant differences in the severity of exploratory activity were found between the male offspring of ACT+ and ACT- rats. Differences between the offspring of PAS+ and PAS- rats were observed in both the male and female rats. The motor activity of animals in the period from 20minutes after the start of registration did not differ between groups. Thus, it can be considered that individual characteristics of general motor activity are due to genetically inherited factors, while differences in the level of exploratory activity, apparently, are formed due to non-genetic influences from parents during mating.

Integrating brain function and structure in the study of the human attentional networks: a functionnectome study.

Attention is a heterogeneous function theoretically divided into different systems. While functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has extensively characterized their functioning, the role of white matter in cognitive function has gained recent interest due to diffusion-weighted imaging advancements. However, most evidence relies on correlations between white matter properties and behavioral or cognitive measures. This study used a new method that combines the signal from distant voxels of fMRI images using the probability of structural connection given by high-resolution normative tractography. We analyzed three fMRI datasets with a visual perceptual task and three attentional manipulations: phasic alerting, spatial orienting, and executive attention. The phasic alerting network engaged temporal areas and their communication with frontal and parietal regions, with left hemisphere dominance. The orienting network involved bilateral fronto-parietal and midline regions communicating by association tracts and interhemispheric fibers. The executive attention network engaged a broad set of brain regions and white matter tracts connecting them, with a particular involvement of frontal areas and their connections with the rest of the brain. These results partially confirm and extend previous knowledge on the neural substrates of the attentional system, offering a more comprehensive understanding through the integration of structure and function.

Striking a balance: Exploring attention, attack accuracy and speed in fencing performance.

In fencing, it remains unclear whether practice enhances visual-spatial attention allocation. We explored whether this ability is improved in fencers and if it is related to attack speed and accuracy. Twelve novices (<1 year of experience) and 12 trained epee fencers (18 ± 10 years of experience) visited the laboratory twice (familiarization and testing session). They performed a covert orienting of visuospatial attention test (COVAT) on a computer and an epee test, involving 30 trials of 3 shuttles followed by fast attack phases where the fencers quickly hit a target (randomly proposed out of 8). We measured COVAT reaction time, number of successful target hits, and execution time to hit in the fencing test. We found shorter COVAT reaction time for trained fencers (332 ± 24 ms) versus novices (367 ± 32 ms; p < 0.001). The number of hits was greater for trained fencers (22 ± 3) versus novices (16 ± 3; p < 0.001). ANCOVA showed a difference in execution time at the test (823 ± 73 ms vs. 913 ± 141 ms, p = 0.035). A relationship was found between hits and execution time and between execution time and COVAT reaction time for the trained group (r = 0.62, p = 0.03 and r = 0.70, p = 0.01, respectively) but not in the novice group (r = 0.11, p = 0.72 and r = 0.45, p = 0.14, respectively). Mediation analysis showed that the relationship between execution time and number of hits (ADE: p = 0.008) was not mediated by COVAT reaction time (ACME: p = 0.17). These results evidence the importance of visual-spatial attention allocation in fencing and evidence differences between novices and trained fencers with important implications for talent development in the early career stage.

Push-Pull Mechanism of Attention and Emotion in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Background/Objectives: While deficits in executive attention and alerting systems in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are well-documented, findings regarding orienting attention in ADHD have been inconsistent. The current study investigated the mechanism of attentional orienting in children with ADHD by examining their attentional bias towards threatening stimuli. Furthermore, we explored the modulating role of anxiety levels in ADHD on this attentional bias. Methods: In Experiment 1, 20 children with ADHD and 26 typically developing children (TDC) performed a continuous performance task that included task-irrelevant distractions consisting of angry faces and neutral places. In Experiment 2, 21 children with ADHD and 25 TDC performed the same task, but with angry and neutral faces as distractors. To measure children's anxiety levels, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered before each experiment. Results: In Experiment 1, results revealed no attentional bias effects in children with ADHD, whereas TDC exhibited attentional capture effects by both types of distractors. However, in Experiment 2, ADHD children demonstrated an attentional bias towards angry faces, which revealed a significant positive correlation with their trait anxiety levels (r = 0.61, p < 0.05). Further analyses combining all ADHD children showed that trait anxiety levels in Experiment 2 were significantly higher than those in Experiment 1. Finally, a significant positive correlation was found between anxiety levels and attentional bias towards angry faces in all ADHD children (r = 0.36, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Children with ADHD exhibited atypical attentional-orienting effects to threats, and their levels of trait anxiety appeared to modulate such attentional-orienting mechanisms.

Electrophysiological correlation between executive vigilance and attention network based on cognitive resource control theory.

Attention is comprised of three independent and interacting attention networks: phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control. Previous studies have explored event-related potentials associated with these attention networks and executive vigilance, there is a lack of research on the relationship between executive vigilance and the three attention networks. However, there is a lack of research on the relationship between executive vigilance and the three attention networks. The present study aims to investigate this relationship. Based on the theory of cognitive resource control, two experimental blocks were designed with the vigilance task as the control variable. A total of 39 participants completed both ANTI and ANTI-V trials (two variants of the traditional attention network test ANT) in the same period. Through analysis of behavior measures (RT) and electrophysiological results related to phasic alertness (N1, P2, and contingent negative variation), orienting (P1, N1, and P3), and executive control (N2 and slow positive potential), we found that the reaction time of the ANTI block was lower than that of the ANTI-V block under all conditions, This suggests that adding a vigilance task may lead to reduced allocation of attention resources across all three attention networks. Furthermore, the orienting ability was weaker in the ANTI-V experimental block compared to that in the ANTI block due to effects on P1 and P3 regulation by the vigilance task. The N2 amplitude of the ANTI-V block was consistently reduced under similar conditions, indicating a weakening of executive control ability. The electrophysiological results revealed that executive vigilance inhibited the component of early attention perception related to the orienting network and was also related to the ability to detect conflict in the executive control network.

The Motor of Time: Coupling Action to Temporally Predictable Events Heightens Perception.

Timing and motor function share neural circuits and dynamics, which underpin their close and synergistic relationship. For instance, the temporal predictability of a sensory event optimizes motor responses to that event. Knowing when an event is likely to occur lowers response thresholds, leading to faster and more efficient motor behavior though in situations of response conflict can induce impulsive and inappropriate responding. In turn, through a process of active sensing, coupling action to temporally predictable sensory input enhances perceptual processing. Action not only hones perception of the event's onset or duration, but also boosts sensory processing of its non-temporal features such as pitch or shape. The effects of temporal predictability on motor behavior and sensory processing involve motor and left parietal cortices and are mediated by changes in delta and beta oscillations in motor areas of the brain.

Does the right hemisphere retain functional characteristics typical of the emotional adaptive system? An evolutionary approach to the problem of brain asymmetries.

The right and left hemispheres host two complementary adaptive systems with a right-sided prevalence of automatic and unconscious processing modes, typical of the 'emotional system', and a left-sided prevalence of propositional and conscious processing modes typical of the 'cognitive system' The principal right hemispheric syndromes (and the functioning modes typical of this hemisphere) are, indeed, characterized by automatic and unconscious processing modalities. Thus, the unilateral neglect syndrome discloses a defective automatic (and spared intentional) spatial orienting of attention; face and voice recognition disorders are due to disruption of mechanisms that automatically generate familiarity feelings and anosognosia seems due to the unconscious loss of personal significance attributed by the patient to the pathological event. Since emotions were the only adaptive system existing before the development of language (which is provided of a strong capacity to develop and shape cognition), the persistence in the right hemisphere of mechanisms typical of the emotional system strongly supports an evolutionary model of brain laterality. (160 words).

Introducing the portable AttentionTrip: An engaging tool for measuring the networks of attention.

BACKGROUND: Measurement of the efficacy of the networks of attention is a frequent component of research in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Developed in 2002, the Attention Network Test (ANT), has become the most widely used tool for this purpose. NEW METHOD: In 2017 a more engaging, game-like tool based on the ANT, called the AttentionTrip was described. The network scores from five studies which used AttentionTrip are shown to be robust. NEWER METHOD: That version of AttentionTrip required a steering wheel and desk-top computer. Here we describe a new, portable version of the AttentionTrip that is administered using a hand-held tablet (iPad) RESULTS: Three samples of participants (total = 44) completed the portable version of AttentionTrip. The network scores generated using the portable AttentionTrip were also robust. Effect sizes compare favourably with those generated by the ANT and the desktop version. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the use of the portable AttentionTrip as an alternative to the ANT when user engagement is important, such as when participants are prone to boredom, and when repeated administrations are required.

Research of visual attention networks in deaf individuals: a systematic review.

The impact of deafness on visual attention has been widely discussed in previous research. It has been noted that deficiencies and strengths of previous research can be attributed to temporal or spatial aspects of attention, as well as variations in development and clinical characteristics. Visual attention is categorized into three networks: orienting (exogenous and endogenous), alerting (phasic and tonic), and executive control. This study aims to contribute new neuroscientific evidence supporting this hypothesis. This paper presents a systematic review of the international literature from the past 15 years focused on visual attention in the deaf population. The final review included 24 articles. The function of the orienting network is found to be enhanced in deaf adults and children, primarily observed in native signers without cochlear implants, while endogenous orienting is observed only in the context of gaze cues in children, with no differences found in adults. Results regarding alerting and executive function vary depending on clinical characteristics and paradigms used. Implications for future research on visual attention in the deaf population are discussed.

Orienting role of the putative human posterior infero-temporal area in visual attention.

The dorsal attention network (DAN) is a network of brain regions essential for attentional orienting, which includes the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and frontal eye field (FEF). Recently, the putative human dorsal posterior infero-temporal area (phPITd) has been identified as a new node of the DAN. However, its functional relationship with other areas of the DAN and its specific role in visual attention remained unclear. In this study, we analyzed a large publicly available neuroimaging dataset to investigate the intrinsic functional connectivities (FCs) of the phPITd with other brain areas. The results showed that the intrinsic FCs of the phPITd with the areas of the visual network and the DAN were significantly stronger than those with the ventral attention network (VAN) areas and areas of other networks. We further conducted individual difference analyses with a sample size of 295 participants and a series of attentional tasks to investigate which attentional components each phPITd-based DAN edge predicts. Our findings revealed that the intrinsic FC of the left phPITd with the LIPv could predict individual ability in attentional orienting, but not in alerting, executive control, and distractor suppression. Our results not only provide direct evidence of the phPITd's functional relationship with the LIPv, but also offer a comprehensive understanding of its specific role in visual attention.

Threat of shock increases distractor susceptibility during the short-term maintenance of visual information.

Elevated arousal in anxiety is thought to affect attention control. To test this, we designed a visual short-term memory (VSTM) task to examine distractor suppression during periods of threat and no-threat. We hypothesized that threat would impair performance when subjects had to filter out large numbers of distractors. The VSTM task required subjects to attend to one array of squares while ignoring a separate array. The number of target and distractor squares varied systematically, with high (four squares) and low (two squares) target and distractor conditions. This study comprised two separate experiments. Experiment 1 used startle responses and white noise as to directly measure threat-induced anxiety. Experiment 2 used BOLD to measure brain responses. For Experiment 1, subjects showed significantly larger startle responses during threat compared to safe period, supporting the validity of the threat manipulation. For Experiment 2, we found that accuracy was affected by threat, such that the distractor load negatively impacted accuracy only in the threat condition. We also found threat-related differences in parietal cortex activity. Overall, these findings suggest that threat affects distractor susceptibility, impairing filtering of distracting information. This effect is possibly mediated by hyperarousal of parietal cortex during threat.

Electrodermal and central measures of the tonic orienting reflex (OR).

Sokolov described both phasic and tonic aspects of the Orienting Reflex (OR), but subsequent research and theory development has focussed primarily on the phasic OR at the expense of the tonic OR. The present study used prestimulus skin conductance level (SCL) during a dishabituation paradigm to model the tonic OR, examining its amplitude patterning over repeated standard stimulus presentations and a change stimulus. We expected sensitisation (increased amplitude) following the initial and change trials, and habituation (decrement) over the intervening trials. Prestimulus EEG alpha level was explored as a potential central measure of the tonic OR (as an inverse correlate), examining its pattern over stimulus repetition and change in relation to the SCL model. We presented a habituation series of innocuous auditory stimuli to two groups (each N = 20) at different ISIs (Long 13-15 s and Short 5-7 s) and recorded electrodermal and EEG data during two counterbalanced conditions; Indifferent: no task requirements; Significant: silent counting. Across groups and conditions, prestimulus SCLs and alpha amplitudes generally showed the expected trials patterns, confirming our main hypotheses. Findings have important implications for including the assessment of Sokolov's tonic OR in modelling central and autonomic nervous system interactions of fundamental attention and learning processes.

Threat priming diminishes the gaze cueing effect.

Gaze cueing effect (GCE) refers to attention orienting towards the gazed-at location, characterised by faster responses to gazed-at than non-gazed-at stimuli. A previous study investigated the effects of affective priming on GCE and reported that threatening primes enhanced GCE. However, it remains unknown whether the threat or heightened arousal potentiated GCE. We investigated how highly arousing threatening and positive primes, compared to low arousing neutral primes modulate GCE. After a brief exposure to an affective prime (pictures of threat or erotica) or a neutral prime, participants detected an asterisk validly or invalidly cued by the gaze direction of a neutral face. The results showed that the threatening primes diminished the magnitude of GCE. The highly arousing positive primes did not have an effect on GCE. Further analyses showed that, as compared to neutral priming, the reaction times after threatening primes were shortened on invalid trials. This finding was interpreted to suggest that the threatening primes enhanced goal-directed target detection and attenuated attention orienting by irrelevant gaze cues via improving executive control. In sum, the present findings indicate that threat priming modulates GCE, not because of heightened arousal but because of the threat.

Quicker Exogenous Orienting and Slower Endogenous Orienting in Autistic People.

Research is equivocal on whether attention orienting is atypical in autism. This study investigated two types of attention orienting in autistic people and accounted for the potential confounders of alerting level, co-occurring symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety, age, and sex. Twenty-seven autistic participants (14 males; 9-43 years) and 22 age- and sex-matched non-autistic participants (13 males; 9-42 years) completed the exogenous and endogenous Posner tasks. Response time and pupillometric data were recorded. Autistic participants were faster at orienting attention to valid cues in the exogenous task and slower at disengaging from invalid cues in the endogenous task compared to non-autistic participants. With increasing age, autistic participants showed faster exogenous and endogenous orienting, whereas non-autistic participants showed faster exogenous orienting but stable speed of endogenous orienting. Higher ADHD symptoms were associated with slower exogenous orienting in both groups, whereas higher anxiety symptoms were associated with faster exogenous orienting only in autistic participants. No group differences were noted for alerting levels, sex, or pupillary responses. This study provides new evidence of superior exogenous orienting and inefficient endogenous orienting in autistic people and suggests that age and co-occurring symptoms are important to consider when assessing attention orienting in autism.

The effect of considering eye movement time in evaluating the efficiency of attentional networks.

The attention network test (ANT) is a tool for assessing the executive, alerting, and orienting components of attention. However, conflicting findings exist regarding the nature and correlation between attention networks. This study aims to investigate the influence of eye movement time on the assessment of attention network efficiency. Forty male students, with an average age of 20.8 ± 1.3 years, participated in the study. The revised attention network test was conducted concurrently with the recording of the electrooculogram signal. The electrooculogram signal was used to estimate eye placement time on target stimuli. Considering eye movement time for calculating the score of each network was proposed as a novel method. The study explored the nature of attention networks and their relationships, and revealed significant effects for attention networks with and without considering the eye movement time. Additionally, a significant correlation is observed between the alerting and orienting networks. However, no significant correlation is found between attention networks using the proposed method. Considering eye movement time alters the assessment of attention network efficiency and modifies the correlation among attention networks.

Influence of Perceptual Load on Attentional Orienting in Post-Stroke Fatigue: A Study of Auditory Evoked Potentials.

OBJECTIVE: Increasing perceptual load alters behavioral outcomes in post-stroke fatigue (PSF). While the effect of perceptual load on top-down attentional processing is known, here we investigate if increasing perceptual load modulates bottom-up attentional processing in a fatigue dependent manner. METHODS: In this cross-sectional observational study, in 29 first-time stroke survivors with no clinical depression, an auditory oddball task consisting of target, standard, and novel tones was performed in conditions of low and high perceptual load. Electroencephalography was used to measure auditory evoked potentials. Perceived effort was rated using the visual analog scale at regular intervals during the experiment. Fatigue was measured using the fatigue severity scale. The effect of fatigue and perceptual load on behavior (response time, accuracy, and effort rating) and auditory evoked potentials (amplitude and latency) was examined using mixed model ananlysis of variances (ANOVA). RESULTS: Response time was prolonged with greater perceptual load and fatigue. There was no effect of load or fatigue on accuracy. Greater effort was reported with higher perceptual load both in high and low fatigue. p300a amplitude of auditory evoked potentials (AEP) for novel stimuli was attenuated in high fatigue with increasing load when compared to low fatigue. Latency of p300a was longer in low fatigue with increasing load when compared to high fatigue. There were no effects on p300b components, with smaller N100 in high load conditions. INTERPRETATION: High fatigue specific modulation of p300a component of AEP with increasing load is indicative of distractor driven alteration in orienting response, suggestive of compromise in bottom-up selective attention in PSF.

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.

Molecular signatures of attention networks.

Attention network theory proposes three distinct types of attention-alerting, orienting, and control-that are supported by separate brain networks and modulated by different neurotransmitters, that is, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine. Here, we explore the extent of cortical, genetic, and molecular dissociation of these three attention systems using multimodal neuroimaging. We evaluated the spatial overlap between fMRI activation maps from the attention network test (ANT) and cortex-wide gene expression data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. The goal was to identify genes associated with each of the attention networks in order to determine whether specific groups of genes were co-expressed with the corresponding attention networks. Furthermore, we analyzed publicly available PET-maps of neurotransmitter receptors and transporters to investigate their spatial overlap with the attention networks. Our analyses revealed a substantial number of genes (3871 for alerting, 6905 for orienting, 2556 for control) whose cortex-wide expression co-varied with the activation maps, prioritizing several molecular functions such as the regulation of protein biosynthesis, phosphorylation, and receptor binding. Contrary to the hypothesized associations, the ANT activation maps neither aligned with the distribution of norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine receptor and transporter molecules, nor with transcriptomic profiles that would suggest clearly separable networks. Independence of the attention networks appeared additionally constrained by a high level of spatial dependency between the network maps. Future work may need to reconceptualize the attention networks in terms of their segregation and reevaluate the presumed independence at the neural and neurochemical level.

Enhanced source memory for emotionally valenced sources: does an affective orienting task make the difference?

Previous research on whether source memory is enhanced for emotionally valenced sources yielded inconclusive results. To identify potential boundary conditions, we tested whether encoding instructions that promote affective versus different types of non-affective item-source-processing foster versus hamper source-valence effects. In both experiments, we used neutral words as items superimposed on emotional (positive & negative) or neutral pictures as sources. Source pictures were selected based on valence and arousal ratings collected in a pre-study such that only valence varied across sources. Source memory was measured via multinomial modelling. In Experiment 1, we applied an affective, item-focused orienting task (OT; i.e. word-pleasantness ratings) during item-source encoding and found enhanced source memory for emotionally valenced (positive & negative) compared to neutral sources. In Experiment 2, we systematically manipulated encoding instructions and again found enhanced source memory for emotionally valenced sources with an affective OT. No such effects occurred in the non-affective conditions, where participants were instructed to integrate item and source (item-source-fit judgments), to focus on the item (living-non-living judgments), or to encode the items only, respectively. With intentional item encoding, however, source memory was surprisingly better for positive than negative sources. We conclude that source-valence effects might unfold only under affective processing.

Higher sensory processing sensitivity: increased cautiousness in attentional processing in conflict contexts.

While interest grows in investigating sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), few studies have employed objective behavioural measures to directly explore the underlying attentional processing. The present study utilised two modified versions of the Emotional Attention Networks Test Integration (E-ANTI) to investigate whether and how emotion interacts with three attentional networks associated with SPS when emotion information was target-irrelevant (Experiment 1) and target-relevant (Experiment 2), respectively. Both experiments involved four manipulated within-subject factors: Signal (tone vs. no-tone), Cue Validity (valid vs. invalid), Flanker Congruency (congruent vs. incongruent), and Emotion (fearful vs. happy). Linear mixed models were employed, and three attentional networks were successfully captured in both experiments. In Experiment 1, we observed that as SPS increased, the difference in reaction time between valid and invalid cue conditions decreased, especially in incongruent trials. Participants rated fearful faces as more arousing than happy faces as SPS increased. In Experiment 2, we found that slow responding to fearful faces reduced as SPS increased, particularly in incongruent trials. The observed effects related to SPS in both experiments were particularly pronounced in incongruent conditions, suggesting that SPS may modulate attentional processes in high-conflict situations. Overall, higher SPS may be associated with increased cautiousness in conflict contexts.