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        <title>Frontiers in Cognition | Attention section | New and Recent Articles</title>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cognition/sections/attention</link>
        <description>RSS Feed for Attention section in the Frontiers in Cognition journal | New and Recent Articles</description>
        <language>en-us</language>
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        <pubDate>2026-05-13T05:49:52.338+00:00</pubDate>
        <ttl>60</ttl>
        <item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1818391</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1818391</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Attentional capture effects are modulated by the number of concurrently maintained search goals]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-22T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Katherine Sledge Moore</author><author>Ariel M. Kershner</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionIn hybrid visual-memory search, multiple search goals are concurrently maintained in memory and searched for in a visual display. When there are few goals, maintenance can operate in visual working memory, whereas when there are many concurrent search goals, they may be maintained in activated long-term memory. A central question here is how multiple search goals are concurrently maintained in memory and selectively enhanced during search. Two attentional capture effects illustrate goal enhancement in the presence of distraction: contingent capture, when distractors resemble the current trial's target, and set-specific capture, when distractors resemble one of your search goals, but not the current trial's target.MethodsIn the present study, participants memorized sets of 2, 4, or 16 objects, and searched for them in a continuous rapid serial visual presentation stream. On critical trials, a goal-related distractor appeared 1–2 frames before the target, matching either the same category as that trial's target (contingent capture) or a different target category than that trial's target (set-specific capture).ResultsContingent capture was greatest with 16-item sets, whereas set-specific capture was greatest with 2-item sets, and 4-item sets were in between.DiscussionThese findings indicate that search goal enhancement flexibly adapts to memory load, with implications for models of goal maintenance and attentional control. They also provide the first evidence of set-specific capture with complex objects as search goals.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1565885</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1565885</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Conflict and control in error monitoring during sustained visual discrimination]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-02T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Taylor M. Curley</author><author>L. Jack Rhodes</author><author>Lorraine Borghetti</author><author>Megan B. Morris</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Increases in response errors across time-on-task are ubiquitous in vigilance research, particularly for tasks that require visual operations. An important aspect of vigilance tasks is response monitoring, particularly when a prepotent response must be inhibited. Neural indices of performance monitoring, such as the error-related negativity (ERN), provide strong evidence for changes in response conflict across time during vigilance tasks; however, it is unclear whether the allocation of additional cognitive resources (i.e., working memory) during such tasks leads to differences in response errors and performance monitoring. To examine this relationship, we employed a visual discrimination task in which participants must compare pairs of lines either to each other (simultaneous discrimination) or to a template held in working memory (successive discrimination) and decide whether to withhold or provide a response across 4 blocks of trials. We predicted lower ERN amplitudes and greater false alarm rates during visual discrimination trials that employ working memory (successive discrimination) compared to those that do not (simultaneous discrimination). While ERN peak amplitude was significantly greater during simultaneous compared to successive discrimination for incorrect responses, participants showed significantly higher false alarm rates during simultaneous discrimination, contrary to our hypotheses. To further investigate these results, we developed and examined outputs from computational models of the two experimental tasks based on a parallel-distributed processing account of cognitive control in which working memory (during successive discrimination), response conflict, and effortful control modulate continuous task performance. Task simulations suggest that pre-stimulus processing of a working memory template during successive discrimination helps to lower false alarms and alleviate post-stimulus error monitoring. These results are interpreted in the context of resource allocation and compensatory control with respect to the vigilance decrement.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1632885</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1632885</link>
        <title><![CDATA[The vigilance decrement: its first 75 years]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-11-24T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Review</category>
        <author>Raymond M. Klein</author><author>Brett B. T. Feltmate</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The first major laboratory studies of vigilance by Mackworth in 1948 and later revealed a decline in the probability of detecting brief targets as the time on task increases. Whether referred to as a vigilance decrement or something else (e.g., a failure of sustained attention), because such failures have great applied significance (e.g., in road safety, radiology, air-traffic control, civil defense, etc.), understanding the vigilance decrement and discovering ways to avoid it are important goals for psychological science. The purpose of this historical review is to provide a picture of the extensive scientific literature exploring the nature(s) of the vigilance decrement, with an emphasis, but not exclusionary focus, on the signal detection theory framework. Beginning in the early 1960s, researchers started to interpret this decline in target detections using signal detection theory, wherein a decrease in detections can be attributed to a decrease in sensitivity of the observer to the difference between targets and non-targets, a conservative shift in the observer's response criterion, or, of course, both. Some early investigators suggested that which of these two causes of the decline in detections is operating may depend on the rate at which events (targets and non-targets combined) are presented: When the event rate is slow, criterion shifts dominate detection failures, whereas declines in sensitivity become more pronounced as event rates increase. Nevertheless, the contribution of sensitivity declines has been recently challenged. One source of the challenge is the relatively low false-alarm rate in so many studies on the vigilance decrement. Another is the possibility that for a variety of reasons, the observer in a relatively long vigil may stop attending to the source of the task-relevant signals. Some recommendations are offered based on our reading of the ~75 years of vigilance research.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1617561</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1617561</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Understanding vigilance and its decrement: theoretical, contextual, and neural insights]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-09-22T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Review</category>
        <author>Klara Hemmerich</author><author>Fernando G. Luna</author><author>Elisa Martín-Arévalo</author><author>Juan Lupiáñez</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The vigilance decrement refers to the gradual decline in the ability to monitor the environment and detect rare but critical stimuli over time. This phenomenon occurs in many everyday situations and work environments and may be exacerbated by brain damage or developmental disorders. However, despite its seeming omnipresence, the exact meaning of “vigilance” and vigilance decrement is often unclear, with the term “vigilance” frequently used interchangeably with related concepts such as arousal, alertness, or sustained attention. This narrative review seeks to clarify this conceptual overlap, offering a precise definition of vigilance, whilst separating it from these other phenomena. Furthermore, this narrative review also provides a detailed account of some of the factors that modulate vigilance performance, as well as an overview of current theories that explain its frequent and progressive decrement over time. Lastly, it highlights the most relevant structural and electrophysiological correlates of its proper functioning. By integrating these insights, a more refined understanding of vigilance and its decrement may emerge, helping to unify future research findings and facilitate the development of interventions to mitigate its effects.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1558164</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1558164</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Does the absence of the load effect imply the absence of the dilution effect?]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-09-05T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Opinion</category>
        <author>Hanna Benoni</author>
        <description></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1577053</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1577053</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Examining the association between vigilance and mind wandering]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-09-01T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Brief Research Report</category>
        <author>Brooke Schwartzman</author><author>Anthony P. Zanesco</author><author>Ekaterina Denkova</author><author>Jason S. Tsukahara</author><author>Amishi P. Jha</author>
        <description><![CDATA[There has been a growing interest in the relationship between the vigilance decrement, characterized by performance decline with greater time-on-task, and the occurrence of mind wandering—task-unrelated thought. Recent evidence from a large-scale military sample suggests a link between performance declines and increased mind wandering over a 20-min Sustained Attention to Response Task. Herein, we examined if similar patterns are present when the task duration is shorter and delivered online to college students who rely on sustained attention for academic success. Specifically, we explored the relationship between the vigilance decrement and mind wandering in undergraduates (N = 310) completing a 10-min Sustained Attention to Response Task embedded with mind wandering probes. Bivariate growth curve modeling was used to examine within-task changes in performance and mind wandering over time-on-task as well as their covariance. The results revealed that a decrease in accuracy and an increase in response time variability were associated with an increase in mind wandering with greater time-on-task. In addition, self-reported task motivation, interest, and difficulty ratings were assessed as potential person-level moderators of changes with time-on-task. The results showed that individuals with higher motivation and interest ratings demonstrated a reduced time-on-task effect on response time variability and mind wandering. These findings suggest that mind wandering contributes to the vigilance decrement, even in shorter-duration tasks. Additionally, higher task-related motivation and interest appear to reduce the performance costs of mind wandering.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1644789</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1644789</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Editorial: Rising stars in cognition: 2023/4]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-07-10T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Editorial</category>
        <author>Melissa R. Beck</author><author>George R. Mangun</author>
        <description></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1547773</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1547773</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Individual differences in brain attention networks: the challenge of indexing temporal change]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-06-18T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Gerald Matthews</author><author>Almira Kustubayeva</author><author>Manzura Zholdassova</author><author>Gulnur Borbassova</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The vigilance decrement in speed and accuracy of response is prevalent in studies of sustained attention. The amplitudes of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) elicited by task stimuli also show temporal decline. However, it is difficult to link the behavioral performance decrement to loss of efficiency in the specific brain circuits that control human attention. A recent study published by the authors used an extended duration-version of the Attention Network Test to explore temporal changes in behavioral and electroencephalographic indices in executive control, alerting, and orienting attention networks. This study found evidence for temporal decline in ERPs associated with the alerting network, as well as slowing of uncued reaction time. This study, like most psychophysiological studies of sustained attention, analyzed group data. The present article provides new analyses of data from the authors' previous study to investigate individual differences in loss of attention on the extended ANT, and their relationships with positive and negative affect. Data analyses addressed the temporal stability of attention network metrics, inter-relationships between different metrics, and associations between metrics and affective states. Results illustrated some challenges in assessment of brain networks at the individual level on tasks requiring sustained attention. Issues included differential temporal stability of metrics, divergence of behavioral and ERP measures, and distinguishing changes in network function from changes in baseline response. The ANT is well-supported by group data as a tool for investigating attentional functioning. However, the present results suggest that caution is necessary in utilizing network indices at the individual level in clinical and other applied contexts.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1606956</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1606956</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Association between PFAS exposure and attention processing in adolescent boys: a pilot study]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-06-13T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Brief Research Report</category>
        <author>Sharlene D. Newman</author><author>Yanyu Xiong</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals that have been used in industries and products for decades. Little is known about the neurological effects of PFAS in humans, particularly during adolescence, which is a critical period for brain development, making exposure to environmental toxins during this period even more likely to lead to cognitive deficits. We recruited adolescent boys to participate in this pilot study. We performed community data collection of (1) blood sample to measure blood-level PFAS, (2) parental assessments of behavior, and (3) electroencephalography (EEG) data during the performance of an attention task. Our findings demonstrated the feasibility of collecting community data, including EEG data. The data collected revealed an association between PFAS levels and EEG measures of attention, specifically P2 and N2, and parental assessment of attention. Although this is a pilot study, it indicates the feasibility of conducting more comprehensive studies to examine the neurocognitive effects of PFAS exposure.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1547295</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2025.1547295</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Inattention over time-on-task: the role of motivation in mitigating temporal increases in media multitasking]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-05-06T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Allison C. Drody</author><author>Effie J. Pereira</author><author>James Danckert</author><author>Daniel Smilek</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionNumerous studies have demonstrated that attention and performance decline with time-on-task. In modern contexts, this gradual fading of attention can manifest as increases in media multitasking over time. Across two studies, we investigated whether increasing individuals' motivation to perform well on a task mitigates temporal increases in media multitasking.MethodStudy 1 re-analyzed data from a previously published study which provided participants with standard or motivating instructions before having them complete a sustained attention task with the option to media multitask. Study 2 extended this work by critically assessing in-the-moment motivation through thought probes throughout the task.ResultsIn both studies, media multitasking and corresponding decreases in task performance over time were attenuated as a function of increased motivation. Moreover, results from Study 2 revealed that motivation decreased with time-on-task for both groups; however, this decline was more gradual in the motivated group.DiscussionOur findings suggest that increasing the value individuals assign to attending to their current task may aid in prolonging sustained attention. These findings align with recent theories of vigilance that attribute temporal decrements in attention and performance to varying cost-benefit analyses rather than a depletion of resources over time.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1505046</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1505046</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Beyond detection rate: understanding the vigilance decrement using signal detection theory]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-01-17T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Henri Etel Skinner</author><author>Barry Giesbrecht</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The vigilance decrement has been classically characterized as the decline in performance across time as individuals continuously attend to a task. Errors during these periods of degraded performance are often collectively characterized as failures of attention. Methodologically, the classic characterization of the vigilance decrement relies upon declines in detection rate, a binary measure that is unable to characterize performance beyond a single dimension. Theoretically, using a single construct, such as attention, to describe impaired performance obscures what is likely a range of behaviors. This is a critical issue for the study of vigilance because detection rate can be impacted both by changes in sensitivity and decision criterion. Commonly used tasks do not allow for the reliable computation of these metrics because they elicit a low number of false alarms or because they introduce confounding response demands. To address these shortcomings, we propose the use of a paradigm amenable to the application of the signal detection framework, which permits the reliable and isolated investigation of the vigilance decrement across multiple measures.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1452711</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1452711</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Decreasing the proportion of conflict does not help to exploit congruency cues in a Stroop task]]></title>
        <pubdate>2024-12-04T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Luis Jiménez</author><author>David Gallego</author><author>María José Lorda</author><author>Cástor Méndez</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionHumans are able to regulate the intensity with which they exert cognitive control in interference tasks in terms of factors such as the control level required on the previous trial, and the overall frequency of conflict. However, recent research has shown that the ability to follow explicit cues predicting the required level of control is more limited than previously assumed. Specifically, participants in color Stroop tasks did only take advantage of pre-cues informing them about the congruency of the following trial when the cue was presented in the interval between successive trials, but not when the information was conveyed by the preceding trial.MethodHere we explore the boundary conditions of these sequential cueing effects by using a Stroop task in which the proportion of high-conflict trials was increased, to improve practice with the rules, or decreased, to make the task less demanding.ResultsThe results showed no effect of trial-by-trial cueing, neither increasing nor decreasing the proportion of high-conflict trials. Furthermore, the cueing effect was not observed either when the cue was conveyed by neutral trials, thus reducing the conflation between the conflict present on a trial and the conflict that this trial predicts.DiscussionAs a whole, the results illustrate how difficult it is to adjust control parameters on the fly on the basis of sequential cues, even if they are explicit.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1436351</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1436351</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Detecting multiple simultaneous and sequential feature changes]]></title>
        <pubdate>2024-11-26T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Richard D. Wright</author><author>Amelia C. Pellaers</author><author>Ryan T. deKergommeaux</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The failure to notice changes to objects is called change blindness, and it is often studied with the flicker task. Observers performing this task see two rapidly alternating but slightly different stimulus displays that are usually photos of real-world scenes. In order to detect the change, they must compare objects in the pre-change scene with objects at the same locations in the post-change scene to determine whether they are the same or different. It has been proposed that change blindness can occur when the memory representation of a pre-change object is incomplete and thereby impairs the same/different comparison with the post-change object at the same location. It has also been proposed that even with intact pre-change object memory representations, failure of same/different comparisons for other reasons can cause change blindness. The goal of the current study was to conduct flicker task experiments to examine both proposals. We conducted the current experiments with non-photographic stimuli, varied the degree of feature-based change of colored lines and found that the greater degree of change, the faster the same/different comparisons, and the faster that changes were detected. We also examined the representation integrity account of change blindness by comparing detection times of target objects that underwent a single feature change with those that underwent multiple sequential feature changes. The latter were detected faster, which suggests that multiple identities of these sequentially changing objects were stored in memory and facilitated change detection. In another experiment we found that objects that underwent multiple sequential feature changes were not detected as fast as those that underwent multiple simultaneous feature changes. This is consistent with the representation account of change blindness and suggests that memories of multiple sequentially changing object identities are transient and may become less complete over time. And more generally that multiple simultaneous and multiple sequential feature-based changes to these stimuli can show the extent to which memory is involved when searching for flicker task targets. The results of the current study indicate that both the comparison failure and the representation integrity proposals can account for change blindness.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1460349</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1460349</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Predicting attentional lapses using response time speed in continuous performance tasks]]></title>
        <pubdate>2024-09-04T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Mini Review</category>
        <author>Shivang Shelat</author><author>Jonathan W. Schooler</author><author>Barry Giesbrecht</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Failures of sustained attention, including lapses and mind-wandering, have serious consequences on cognitive task performance. In recent years, real-time triggering methods have been used to isolate periods of optimal and suboptimal attention based on patterns of response times in monotonous continuous performance tasks. In a closed-loop fashion, these triggering designs reduce the need for retrospective processing to identify periods of poor attention by using simple intrasubject response time boundaries to trigger events based on inferred attentional state. In the current review, we first discuss studies that used principal component analysis to identify response patterns that precede both task errors and phenomenological reports of mind-wandering. Then, we review designs that used real-time triggering conditions to reinforce the relationship between lapsing and memory encoding. Finally, we describe important next steps to generalize the utility of the triggering procedure across populations, validate lapse countermeasures, and shine light on the limited human capacity to maintain vigilance.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1434642</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1434642</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Individual differences in visuo-spatial working memory capacity and prior knowledge during interrupted reading]]></title>
        <pubdate>2024-09-04T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Brief Research Report</category>
        <author>Francesca Zermiani</author><author>Prajit Dhar</author><author>Florian Strohm</author><author>Sibylle Baumbach</author><author>Andreas Bulling</author><author>Maria Wirzberger</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Interruptions are often pervasive and require attentional shifts from the primary task. Limited data are available on the factors influencing individuals' efficiency in resuming from interruptions during digital reading. The reported investigation—conducted using the InteRead dataset—examined whether individual differences in visuo-spatial working memory capacity (vsWMC) and prior knowledge could influence resumption lag times during interrupted reading. Participants' vsWMC capacity was assessed using the symmetry span (SSPAN) task, while a pre-test questionnaire targeted their background knowledge about the text. While reading an extract from a Sherlock Holmes story, they were interrupted six times and asked to answer an opinion question. Our analyses revealed that the interaction between vsWMC and prior knowledge significantly predicted the time needed to resume reading following an interruption. The results from our analyses are discussed in relation to theoretical frameworks of task resumption and current research in the field.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1305382</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2024.1305382</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Novel evidence for cue-based retrieval of top-down sets in spatial cueing]]></title>
        <pubdate>2024-03-04T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Christian Büsel</author><author>Christian Valuch</author><author>Rebecca Rosa Schmid</author><author>Pierre Sachse</author><author>Ulrich Ansorge</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Task cues that correctly (vs.incorrectly) inform humans about their upcoming tasks, benefit (vs. interfere with) performance because participants can use task cues to retrieve the corresponding task set, so that targets can (vs. cannot) be processed according to the currently applying task set from target onset onwards. Here, we tested if task-associated features of peripheral cues have a similar effect. Typically, peripheral cues with a task-associated, searched-for color (i.e., top-down matching cues) capture attention: Search for targets presented at the cued position (valid condition) is faster than for targets presented away from the cue (invalid condition), even if cues do not predict the likely target location. For example, when searching for red and green targets, a red cue captures attention even if presented prior to a green target, but a blue cue does not. We know that cue-target color congruence—whether the cue has a target-similar color (congruent case) vs. a target-dissimilar color (incongruent case)—additionally expedites vs. delays search times. However, it is unclear if this congruence effect reflects feed-forward color priming of the target only; or if cue-elicited retrieval of color-specific task sets is involved. Crucially, we hypothesized that cue-based task-set retrieval should incur additional costs if the task sets for the two target colors differ more. In contrast, mere feed-forward priming should not be affected by task-set similarity between color-associated task sets. Congruence effects were indeed larger when color-associated task sets were more different. This finding indicates cue-elicited retrieval of color-associated task sets can contribute to effects of cue-target color congruence. Results are discussed in light of recent theories.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1205618</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1205618</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Placing willed attention in context: a review of attention and free will]]></title>
        <pubdate>2023-11-06T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Review</category>
        <author>John G. Nadra</author><author>George R. Mangun</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Attention is the ability to focus one's awareness on relevant events and objects while ignoring distracting ones. Laboratory studies of top-down voluntary attention commonly use predictive or instructional cues to direct attention. However, in real world scenarios, voluntary attention is not necessarily externally cued, but may be focused by internal, self-generated processes. The voluntary focusing of attention in the absence of external guidance has been referred to as “willed attention,” a term borrowed from the literature on willed motor actions. In a fashion similar to studies of willed (self-initiated) actions, during willed attention, participants are given the freedom to deploy attention based on their own free choices. Electrophysiological studies have shown that during willed attention, ongoing neural activity biases willed attention decisions on a moment-to-moment basis as reflected in transient patterns of brain electrical activity that predict where participants will later choose to focus their attention. Brain imaging studies have revealed that compared to cued attention, willed attention involves additional frontal cortical structures, which interact with the classic attentional control networks of the human brain to produce a modified network organization for willed attention control. In this introduction to willed attention, we briefly review the fields of voluntary attention and self-initiated motor actions, in order to describe willed attention and its neural correlates as they relate to the broader concepts of attention and volition.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1203435</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1203435</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Aligning top-down and voluntary attention control across individuals]]></title>
        <pubdate>2023-07-07T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Bradley S. Gibson</author><author>Jamie M. Trost</author><author>Scott E. Maxwell</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Previous research has suggested that standard manipulations of top-down information in the spatial cueing paradigm do not elicit voluntary attention control across all participants. Instead, this research showed that only about half of the individuals exhibited the expected pattern in which they reported feeling more agency when they performed visual search with the aid of an informative (arrow or onset) cue than when they performed this task with an uninformative cue or without any cue at all. The present study replicated these previous findings under conditions in which the standard manipulation of top-down information was conveyed by a number cue (as opposed to an arrow or onset cue). But more importantly, the present study also found that the proportion of individuals who aligned top-down and voluntary attention control could be increased to approximately 90% by combining the standard manipulation of top-down information with a novel manipulation of volition in a separate condition in which participants were given the opportunity to freely choose (or not) the direction of the spatial cue on each trial. Despite conceding experimental control of cued direction (but not cue validity) to participants in this latter condition, most participants (85%) nevertheless distributed their direction choices equally across the four directions. These findings suggest that providing participants active control of stimulus parameters may be required to elicit a strong sense of agency (and voluntary control) in the laboratory.]]></description>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1207428</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1207428</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Quantifying attention span across the lifespan]]></title>
        <pubdate>2023-06-22T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Alexander J. Simon</author><author>Courtney L. Gallen</author><author>David A. Ziegler</author><author>Jyoti Mishra</author><author>Elysa J. Marco</author><author>Joaquin A. Anguera</author><author>Adam Gazzaley</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionStudies examining sustained attention abilities typically utilize metrics that quantify performance on vigilance tasks, such as response time and response time variability. However, approaches that assess the duration that an individual can maintain their attention over time are lacking.MethodsHere we developed an objective attention span metric that quantified the maximum amount of time that a participant continuously maintained an optimal “in the zone” sustained attention state while performing a continuous performance task.ResultsIn a population of 262 individuals aged 7–85, we showed that attention span was longer in young adults than in children and older adults. Furthermore, declines in attention span over time during task engagement were related to clinical symptoms of inattention in children.DiscussionThese results suggest that quantifying attention span is a unique and meaningful method of assessing sustained attention across the lifespan and in populations with inattention symptoms.]]></description>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1191595</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1191595</link>
        <title><![CDATA[On the relationship between rhythm-based temporal expectations and endogenous spatial attention in simple reaction-time tasks]]></title>
        <pubdate>2023-06-13T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Pom Charras</author><author>Ana B. Chica</author><author>Mariagrazia Capizzi</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionRecent evidence suggests that the temporal expectations afforded by a regular rhythmic structure operate independently from endogenous spatial attention in simple reaction-time tasks. The most common manipulation followed in previous studies consisted of presenting a target stimulus either “in-time” or “out-of-time” (earlier or later) with a preceding rhythm. However, contrary to the proposal of entrainment models predicting a behavioral advantage for in-time compared to both early and late targets, responses were still faster for late targets, according to the so-called “foreperiod effect”. This finding makes it difficult to fully disentangle the impact of rhythm and the benefits afforded by the passage of time on the relationship between rhythm-based temporal and endogenous spatial attention.MethodsTo shed more light on this issue, we combined a spatial orienting task with a rhythmic manipulation, in which two placeholders flanking the fixation cross flickered at either a regular or irregular pace. Spatial orienting to the target location was deployed by symbolic color cues that were displayed independently of the rhythm (independent cues) or were integrated with the temporal rhythmic cues (integrated cues). Crucially, for both independent and integrated cues, and for regular and irregular rhythms, the interval between the rhythm and the target (i.e., the foreperiod) was kept fixed in Experiments 1–3 to control for the foreperiod effect, while the effect of foreperiod was explored in Experiment 4.ResultsResults showed a more beneficial effect of rhythms with independent cues as compared to integrated cues. Additionally, the benefit of rhythms was slightly but significantly larger at valid, compared to invalid, spatial locations, regardless of the foreperiod.DiscussionOur results extend previous studies by showing that interactive effects of rhythms and endogenous spatial attention may emerge in low-demanding detection tasks.]]></description>
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