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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
•Measurement of the networks of attention is important in the clinic & the laboratory.•The AttentionTrip is more engaging than the ANT on which it is modelled.•A portable version of the AttentionTrip generates robust attention network scores.•The portable AttentionTrip is recommended when user engagement is important.
The course of pupillary constriction and dilation provides an easy-to-access, inexpensive, and noninvasive readout of brain activity. We propose a new taxonomy of factors affecting the pupil and link ...these to associated neural underpinnings in an ascending hierarchy. In addition to two well-established low-level factors (light level and focal distance), we suggest two further intermediate-level factors, alerting and orienting, and a higher-level factor, executive functioning. Alerting, orienting, and executive functioning – including their respective underlying neural circuitries – overlap with the three principal attentional networks, making pupil size an integrated readout of distinct states of attention. As a now widespread technique, pupillometry is ready to provide meaningful applications and constitutes a viable part of the psychophysiological toolbox.
Pupillometry provides a rich, (psycho)physiological readout of activity in specific brain networks. Highly interconnected but distinct neural circuits coordinate pupil responses.We propose a new taxonomy of five factors that drive pupil responses: the two well-established low-level factors – light level and focal distance, two intermediate-level factors – alerting and orienting, and a higher-level factor – executive control.Intermediate-level and higher-level factors and their underlying neural circuits closely correspond to established factors and networks of attention, suggesting that the pupil provides an integrated readout of distinct components of attention.Recent pupillometric discoveries are reviewed in the context of a comprehensive attention framework by providing examples of how high-level cognitive processes link to pupillary responses brought about by innervation of low-level pupil circuits via intermediate nuclei.
To test the hypothesis that simultaneous mobile phone-based alerting of CPR-trained volunteers (Mobile-Rescuers) with Emergency Medical Service (EMS) teams leads to better outcomes in out-of-hospital ...cardiac arrest (OHCA) victims than EMS alerting alone.
The outcomes of 730 OHCA patients were retrospectively analysed, depending on who initiated CPR: Mobile-Rescuer-initiated-CPR (n = 94), EMS-initiated-CPR (n = 359), lay bystander-initiated-CPR (n = 277). An adjusted analysis of the intervention and their main outcomes (emergency response time, return of spontaneous circulation, hospital discharge rate, neurological outcomes) was performed (Propensity Score Method with patient matching).
Recruited and trained Mobile-Rescuers (n = 740) arrived at the scene in 46% of all triggered alarms. There was a significant difference in response time between Mobile-Rescuers (4 min) and EMS teams (7 min), (p < 0.001). Compared to EMS-initiated-CPR, Mobile-Rescuer-initiated-CPR patients more frequently showed a return of spontaneous circulation, but statistical significance was narrowly missed (p = 0.056). The hospital discharge rate was significantly higher with the Mobile-Rescuer (18%) vs. EMS (7%), (p = 0.049). Good neurological outcomes (Cerebral Performance Categories Score 1 and 2) were seen in 11% of Mobile-Rescuer patients and 4% of EMS patients (p = 0.165). There were no significant differences compared with lay bystander-initiated-CPR.
Simultaneous alerting of nearby CPR-trained volunteers complementary to professional EMS teams can reduce both the response time and resuscitation-free interval and might improve hospital discharge rate and neurological outcomes after OHCA.
European Governments must implement a public alerting system to reach mobile phone users affected by major emergencies and disasters by June 2022. Cell Broadcast is used to issue emergency alerts in ...several countries but has not yet been introduced in the UK. This paper presents the results of a joint research exercise that explored recipients’ responses to cell broadcast messages that warned of floods of varying certainty, severity, and urgency. We adopted a mixed-methods approach employing semi-structured questions and focus groups to assess the perceptions of 80 workshop participants who received simulated emergency alerts on pre-prepared handsets. Our results suggest that although emergency alerting is welcomed, it is necessary to provide accurate and verifiable information, address accessibility challenges, and state location clearly and understandably. This life-saving technology, if used aptly by not over-alerting, specifying the specific urgency, certainty, severity and location of the flood risk, has the real potential of upgrading flood warnings in the UK.
•The concept of attention is critical for understanding human behavior and thought.•Alerting, orienting and executive control are 3 putative brain networks of attention.•The Attention Network Test ...(ANT) was created (circa 2000) to assess these networks.•Since 2000, the ANT has been widely used and many variants have been developed.•Inspired by the work of M. Posner, the evolution and future of the ANTs is discussed.
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.
Here, we update our 1990 Annual Review of Neuroscience article, "The Attention System of the Human Brain." The framework presented in the original article has helped to integrate behavioral, systems, ...cellular, and molecular approaches to common problems in attention research. Our framework has been both elaborated and expanded in subsequent years. Research on orienting and executive functions has supported the addition of new networks of brain regions. Developmental studies have shown important changes in control systems between infancy and childhood. In some cases, evidence has supported the role of specific genetic variations, often in conjunction with experience, that account for some of the individual differences in the efficiency of attentional networks. The findings have led to increased understanding of aspects of pathology and to some new interventions.
We present a learning approach designed to detect possible anomalies in photovoltaic (PV) systems in order to let an operator to plan predictive maintenance interventions. The anomaly detection ...algorithm presented is based on the comparison between the measured and the predicted values of the AC power production. The model designed to predict the AC power production is based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN), that is capable of estimating the AC power production using solar irradiance and PV panel temperature measurements, and that is trained using a dataset previously gathered from the plant to be monitored. Live trend data coming from the PV system are then compared with the output of the model and the vector of residuals is analyzed to detect anomalies and generate daily predictive maintenance alerts; there residuals are aggregated over 1-day and processed to detect out-of-threshold samples and system degradation trends; these trends are extracted by computing the Triangular Moving Average (TMA) where the window size is automatically determined. The paper also reports experimental data results revealing that the model leads to a good anomaly detection rate, which is measured as a positive predictive detection rate greater than 90%. Moreover, the algorithm is able to recognize trends of system’s deviations from normal operation behavior and generate predictive maintenance alerts as a decision support system for operatives, with the aim of avoiding possible incoming failures.
Ongoing actions are interrupted for a brief period of time whenever salient and expectancy-discrepant stimuli (surprise stimuli) interfere with the present task set. By contrast, salient stimuli ...(alerting cues) preceding targets can facilitate behaviour by reducing time to initiate actions. Both phenomena seem to be at odds with each other as actions are either impaired or facilitated. Therefore, in the present study, we asked how surprise and alerting effects interact. In two experiments, participants performed choice reaction tasks without any prior knowledge of the impending alerting cue. After a baseline period of trials without an alerting cue, the alerting cue was presented for the first time. It was found that the initial presentation of the alerting cue significantly slowed down reaction times. However, after just a single trial this impairment went away. This reveals that the beneficial effects of alerting for action presuppose that alerting cues are expected and represented in the top-down task set. As such, the present findings challenge the standard view of phasic alerting as a bottom-up and entirely stimulus-driven phenomenon.
•On first appearance, warnings slow down reactions•Afterward, warnings speed up reactions•To support action, warnings need to be expected
Growing evidence indicates that culture and education can influence cognitive constructs. Studies targeting Western and Asian populations have shown a positive relationship between aerobic fitness ...and cognitive control in children; however, this association has yet to be explored in the Arab world. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between aerobic fitness and attentional networks in Egyptian preadolescent children. In total, 103 preadolescent children (9.76 ± 0.11) completed an assessment of aerobic fitness using a 6-min running test and a computerized attention network test that allowed for assessing alerting, orienting, and executive networks. The results revealed that higher aerobic fitness was associated with shorter response time and higher response accuracy in a more cognitively demanding task condition (i.e., incongruent trials). Furthermore, higher aerobic fitness was associated with a more efficient executive network. No associations were observed for alerting and orienting networks. These findings corroborate growing evidence indicating the importance of aerobic fitness for cognitive development and extend the literature by suggesting that the positive association between aerobic fitness and cognitive control might be generalized to the Arab population and not significantly change across cultures.
Of the three subtypes of attention outlined by the attentional subsystems model, alerting (vigilance or arousal needed for task completion) and executive control (the ability to inhibit distracting ...information while completing a goal) are susceptible to age-related decline, while orienting remains relatively stable. Yet, few studies have investigated strategies that may acutely maintain or promote attention in typically aging older adults. Music listening may be one potential strategy for attentional maintenance as past research shows that listening to happy music characterized by a fast tempo and major mode increases cognitive task performance, likely by increasing cognitive arousal. The present study sought to investigate whether listening to happy music (fast tempo, major mode) impacts alerting, orienting, and executive control attention in 57 middle and older-aged adults (
= 61.09 years, SD = 7.16). Participants completed the Attention Network Test (ANT) before and after listening to music rated as happy or sad (slow tempo, minor mode), or no music (i.e., silence) for 10 min. Our results demonstrate that happy music increased alerting attention, particularly when relevant and irrelevant information conflicted within a trial. Contrary to what was predicted, sad music modulated executive control performance. Overall, our findings indicate that music written in the major mode with a fast tempo (happy) and minor mode with a slow tempo (sad) modulate different aspects of attention in the short-term.
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