•Attentional networks’ white matter connectivity in healthy adults was investigated.•The alerting network was associated with the right DLPFC and the splenium of the CC.•No consistent evidence was ...obtained for the orienting and executive control networks.•White matter connectivity was related to the most reliable behavioral performances.•Further evidence on the attentional networks’ structural connectivity is necessary.
Nowadays, there is considerable controversy regarding the structural connectivity underlying the attentional networks system (i.e., alerting and vigilance, orienting, and executive control). The present study aimed at further examining and dissociating the white matter connectivity underlying attentional and vigilance functioning by overcoming some critical limitations in previous research. To this end, we performed virtual in vivo dissections of attention-related white matter tracts from thirty healthy adults. Participants completed two sessions of the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance, a suitable task to assess simultaneously phasic alertness, orienting, executive control, and the executive component of vigilance (i.e., the ability to detect infrequent critical signals). Whereas we found a consistent correlation between phasic alertness and both the right dorsolateral prefrontal caudate tract and the splenium of the corpus callosum, evidence obtained for white matter connectivity underlying orienting, executive control, and executive vigilance, was either weak at the best, inconsistent, or null. White matter connectivity seemed to support nevertheless the most reliable performance: overall reaction time for attentional functioning was significantly associated with the left cingulate fasciculus and overall reaction time for executive vigilance was significantly linked to the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus I. The present outcomes provide interesting, consistent, and reliable evidence concerning the structural connectivity underlying the alerting network. We still consider that further evidence is necessary to better understand the controversial relationship between attentional/vigilance processes and microstructural white matter connectivity though.
Abstract Purpose Adolescents prefer sleep and wake times that are considerably delayed compared with younger children or adults. Concomitantly, multimedia use in the evening is prevalent among ...teenagers and involves light exposure, particularly in the blue-wavelength range to which the biological clock and its associated arousal promotion system is the most sensitive. We investigated whether the use of blue light–blocking glasses (BB) during the evening, while sitting in front of a light-emitting diode (LED) computer screen, favors sleep initiating mechanisms at the subjective, cognitive, and physiological level. Methods The ambulatory part of the study comprised 2 weeks during which the sleep–wake cycle, evening light exposure, and multimedia screen use were monitored in thirteen 15- to 17-year-old healthy male volunteers. BB or clear lenses as control glasses were worn in a counterbalanced crossover design for 1 week each, during the evening hours while using LED screens. Afterward, participants entered the laboratory and underwent an evening blue light–enriched LED screen exposure during which they wore the same glasses as during the preceding week. Salivary melatonin, subjective sleepiness, and vigilant attention were regularly assayed, and subsequent sleep was recorded by polysomnography. Results Compared with clear lenses, BB significantly attenuated LED-induced melatonin suppression in the evening and decreased vigilant attention and subjective alertness before bedtime. Visually scored sleep stages and behavioral measures collected the morning after were not modified. Conclusions BB glasses may be useful in adolescents as a countermeasure for alerting effects induced by light exposure through LED screens and therefore potentially impede the negative effects modern lighting imposes on circadian physiology in the evening.
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.
In recent years electric micromobility transportation, including electric scooters, has seen a surge in popularity due to technological advances and the move to lower emission transport. Although ...offering a range of societal benefits, such as reduced pollution and increased personal mobility, concerns have been raised regarding the implications for pedestrian safety, most notably within the blind and partially sighted community. The issue of pedestrian safety is well studied in the context of larger electric vehicles (EVs), and indeed regulations are now in place that specify mandatory Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS) for such vehicles. However, limited research has been done on the development of acoustic alerting systems for micromobility. In this paper, the development of an electric scooter (e-scooter) AVAS is considered by taking a perception-influenced design approach to designing alert sounds that optimise detectability and annoyance. A listening experiment has been conducted using ambisonic soundscapes and simulated auralisations of e-scooter passes at 20 km/h, in which a detection-based task and annoyance rating task were conducted. Objective metrics for detectability and annoyance were subsequently evaluated in relation to the subjective responses, so as to enable a more focused approach to the development of alert sounds. Results show that without additional alert sounds, the rate of detection for e-scooters in a soundscape of 60 dBA is as low as 23%. Regression analysis showed that the objective metric of Zwicker’s psychoacoustic annoyance is a useful predictor of subjective annoyance for AVAS sounds, with a coefficient of determination of R2=0.96, and explains more variance than other metrics previously reported in the literature. Partial loudness was also studied as a predictor of detectability, with strong positive association seen (R2≈0.9). Of the alert sounds evaluated, those comprising pure tones with frequency content in the 800 Hz - 1 kHz range, and with amplitude modulation or impulsive characteristics, offered the greatest balance between detectability and annoyance. This study offers much needed research into detectability of electric micromobility transport in a range of environmental noise conditions, and furthermore provides objective metrics for the development of micromobility AVAS sounds going forward.
•SD selectively affects attentional networks.•While alerting network is slightly impacted by SD, executive control and some components of orienting processes are significantly affected by sleep ...loss.•Disengagement component and orienting time are affected by SD.
While it is well accepted that sleep deprivation (SD) negatively affects overall vigilance and performance, research on the extent to which SD affects discrete components of attention has produced inconsistent results.
The present study aims at exploring the effects of SD on attentional components and their interactions using the revised attentional network test (ANT-R) which allows to examine the three attentional networks: alerting, orienting and executive control. Additionally, it allows the evaluation of subcomponents of orienting. The ANT-R was administered following two sleep conditions: Baseline (BL) – a regular night of uninterrupted sleep, and SD − 24 h of wakefulness. Our data show that SD selectively affects the three attentional networks. We have found a significant slowing down of executive control and a slight detriment of alerting. As far as orienting is concerned, the disengagement component was affected, while validity effect remained unaffected by SD. Our findings have relevant implications for intervention research, highlighting the importance of targeting specifically disengagement and executive control processes.
The main goals of this selective meta-analysis on the populations of ADHD, learning difficulties and typically developing individuals were (a) to determine whether attention can be improved by ...attention training programs, (b) to examine whether attention training effects transfer to other outcomes (i.e., academic and cognitive skills), and (c) to identify moderators of the attention training effects on attention. A meta-analysis of 15 studies with 113 effect sizes found a significant, medium-sized training effect on attention, Hedges g=.25, 95%CI .02, .47 and the effects of attention training significantly transferred to non-trained tasks (academic and cognitive skills), Hedges g=.24, 95%CI .01, .47. Moderation analyses indicated that attention training is more effective for improving attention when the training is adaptive and is more effective for younger individuals and for individuals with ADHD. Also, attention training seems more effective for improving attention when it targets the orienting attention network. The implications of these findings with respect to attention training are discussed.
•A meta-analysis investigating the efficacy of attention training•Attention training can improve attention and transfer to untrained tasks•Attention training is more effective for younger individuals and individuals with ADHD•Attention training seems more effective when targeting the orienting attention network
The development of efficient sensing technologies and the maturation of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm and related protocols have considerably fostered the expansion of sensor-based monitoring ...applications. A great number of those applications has been developed to monitor a set of information for better perception of the environment, with some of them being dedicated to identifying emergency situations. Current IoT-based emergency systems have limitations when considering the broader scope of smart cities, exploiting one or just a few monitoring variables or even allocating high computational burden to regular sensor nodes. In this context, we propose a distributed multi-tier emergency alerting system built around a number of sensor-based event detection units, providing real-time georeferenced information about the occurrence of critical events, while taking as input a configurable number of different scalar sensors and GPS data. The proposed system could then be used to detect and to deliver emergency alarms, which are computed based on the detected events, the previously known risk level of the affected areas and temporal information. Doing so, modularized and flexible perceptions of critical events are provided, according to the particularities of each considered smart city scenario. Besides implementing the proposed system in open-source electronic platforms, we also created a real-time visualization application to dynamically display emergency alarms on a map, demonstrating a feasible and useful application of the system as a supporting service. Therefore, this innovative approach and its corresponding physical implementation can bring valuable results for smart cities, potentially supporting the development of adaptive IoT-based emergency-aware applications.
Abstract
Background
Electronic health record (EHR) alert fatigue, while widely recognized as a concern nationally, lacks a corresponding comprehensive mitigation plan.
Objectives
The goal of this ...manuscript is to provide practical guidance to clinical informaticists and other health care leaders who are considering creating a program to manage EHR alerts.
Methods
This manuscript synthesizes several approaches and recommendations for better alert management derived from four U.S. health care institutions that presented their experiences and recommendations at the American Medical Informatics Association 2019 Clinical Informatics Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The assembled health care institution leaders represent academic, pediatric, community, and specialized care domains. We describe governance and management, structural concepts and components, and human–computer interactions with alerts, and make recommendations regarding these domains based on our experience supplemented with literature review. This paper focuses on alerts that impact bedside clinicians.
Results
The manuscript addresses the range of considerations relevant to alert management including a summary of the background literature about alerts, alert governance, alert metrics, starting an alert management program, approaches to evaluating alerts prior to deployment, and optimization of existing alerts. The manuscript includes examples of alert optimization successes at two of the represented institutions. In addition, we review limitations on the ability to evaluate alerts in the current state and identify opportunities for further scholarship.
Conclusion
Ultimately, alert management programs must strive to meet common goals of improving patient care, while at the same time decreasing the alert burden on clinicians. In so doing, organizations have an opportunity to promote the wellness of patients, clinicians, and EHRs themselves.
Extreme weather alerting systems are one of the central tools utilised in adapting to changing weather patterns resulting from climate change. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the current ...alerting systems for hot and cold weather used in England to notify the health and social care sector of upcoming extreme weather events. We consider the views of stakeholders on the current system and explore their perspectives on the proposal to move towards an impact-based system. The paper concludes that while the current system is an effective tool, stakeholders feel they need to draw on additional material to assist with the development of an appropriate response. We also highlight that many stakeholders are concerned about the potential for creating alert fatigue due to a lack of clarity of the geographical area impact of some of the alerts. Consequently, there was a high level of support from stakeholders for the move towards an impact-focused system.
•Extreme weather alerting systems are an important tool for protecting public health.•Impact-focused alerting systems can help planners and front-line staff deliver a more effective response to extreme weather.•It is important alerts are not sent out unnecessarily to protect the credibility of the system and avoid alert fatigue.
Abstract Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common but poorly understood developmental disorders in childhood. Although neuropsychological studies demonstrate that ...children with ADHD have attentional alerting deficits, the neurobiological bases of such deficits have not been examined extensively. In this study, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored the neural correlates of intrinsic alertness and phasic alertness deficits in ADHD by comparing twelve boys with ADHD (13.4 ± 1.7 years) with 13 age-matched normal controls (13.2 ± 1.2 years) in a cued target detection task. Behaviorally, compared with the controls, the ADHD group showed a higher overall error rate and a larger reaction time variability in performing the task. At the neural level, children with ADHD showed less activation than the controls in frontal (middle and superior frontal gyrus), parietal (inferior parietal lobe, precuneus) and putamen regions. These results demonstrate that children with ADHD have deficits in alerting functions and these deficits are related to the abnormal activities in frontal and parietal regions subserving top-down attention control processes.
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