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This study examined the role of attention in goal setting theory, using techniques adapted from selective attention research. Specifically, it explored activation and suppression of goal related information in the presence of two conflicting assigned goals. Pre vs. post goal completion and goal commitment were examined as moderators of these attentional effects. In addition, exploratory analyses looked at the impact of individual differences on attention (goal preference & action-state orientation). Analyses were conducted using three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), where repeated measures occur within trials, which are nested within individuals. In general, results failed to support the hypotheses. However, weak support was found for attentional effects when commitment was also taken into consideration. Further, while commitment was not found to have the strong moderating influence on attention that was hypothesized, there is some evidence for its overall importance to the attentional mechanism of the goal/performance relationship. / Master of Science

As technology evolves and digital media is updated, the popularity of reels has become very high. Studies have shown that reels are now more of a marketing tool than a part of digital media. Messaging and branding through reels is a must for companies. Attention is an important part of the process that influences how people select and receive information.Therefore, it is very important to study what are the influencing factors for people to increase their attention for better messaging. This study will focus on the key factors that influence consumers' attention using reels as an example. This study uses qualitative research methods to interview five respondents and analyze the results of the interviews. We show that in addition to the factors mentioned in the most basic theory that affect attention, the color, video content and background music mix in reels are all factors that affect consumer attention. / consumer behaviour

The contextual cueing effect (CCE) is a phenomenon that shows that our brains can take advantage of invariant contextual information in our environment to help us locate targets or relevant information more efficiently. In a seminal study by Chun and Jiang (1998), participants searched for a target letter “T” among “L” distractors. Unbeknownst to the participants, some trials had repeated configurations, while others had novel ones. Participants found the “T” faster in repeated configurations, showing implicit learning. Classical studies demonstrated learning of only single context-target pairing. However, recent research (Wang et al., 2020) shows that learning could also happen for repeated contexts paired with one of multiple (e.g., 4) target locations. In the current study, we intended to examine such learning at the individual scene level by producing matching target eccentricity between a pair of repeated and novel scenes. We varied the magnitude of four target eccentricities by producing equal spacing (in Experiment 1) or variable spacing (in Experiments 2 and 3) of both repeated and novel scenes. Experiment 1 showed comparable learning for different target locations with different eccentricities except for targets with the smallest eccentricity. In Experiment 2, we compared conditions with targets concentrated on the larger versus smaller eccentricity range in a between-subject design, and we found that at least when the target appeared in a large eccentricity, CCE was larger when the target appeared in the distribution condition with larger eccentricity bias than distribution with low eccentricity bias. However, this trend appeared present even in the classical contextual cueing paradigm with one target paired with one repeated context. In Experiment 3, we performed the same manipulation of eccentricity distribution in the classical contextual cueing paradigm and found the effect seen in Experiment 2 was not robust. These results suggest that when a given target could be paired with multiple repeated contexts, the learning of target-context association is more flexible and can be modulated by the target's location probability. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Through our daily interactions with the environment, we learn consistent relations between objects. For example, in a classroom with a fixed seating arrangement, the teacher can find a particular student with greater ease after repeated exposures. This type of learning can be demonstrated in laboratory settings through the contextual cueing effect (CCE). When participants encounter repeated search displays, they locate targets faster than if the display was novel. This learning occurs implicitly. Even when the repeated context is paired with multiple possible target locations learning still occurs (Wang et al., 2020). The present studies investigate this multiple target location–context pairing using a paradigm similar to that used by Wang et al.. We ask whether each target location is learned equally well when multiple targets are paired with repeated contexts, and explore if location probability cueing influences the CCE. Our results suggest that participants can learn multiple target locations equally well and may also learn the target's location probability. Humans interact with their environment daily, learning consistent relationships between objects. For example, in a classroom with a fixed seating arrangement, finding a particular student becomes easier. This type of learning is known as the contextual cueing effect (CCE) in laboratory settings. When participants encounter repeated search displays, they locate targets faster than in novel ones, and this learning occurs implicitly. Recent findings (Wang et al., 2020) show that learning also occurs when a repeated context is paired with one of multiple possible targets, as long as those targets pair with other repeated contexts. The goals of the current studies are to investigate, in the paradigm used by Wang et al. 2020, whether each target location is learned equally well when multiple targets are paired with repeated contexts and to determine if location probability cueing can influence CCE. Our results suggest that participants can learn target locations equally well and may also learn the target's location probability.

L'attention focalisée est une fonction cognitive de haut niveau permettant à l'Homme de faciliter sélectivement certaines actions et perceptions. Dans un monde regorgeant de choix d'actions, et de possibilités de perceptions, l'attention focalisée représente une composante vitale de la cognition humaine. Un constat important doit cependant être noté : l'Homme est incapable de maintenir indéfiniment un état stable d'attention focalisée. Cette incapacité est mise en évidence pendant les tâches d'attention soutenue par l'apparition progressive de déficiences sensori-motrices au cours du temps. L'impulsivité motrice augmente alors, ainsi que le temps de réponse aux stimuli impératifs, et la sensibilité perceptive diminue. À l'heure actuelle, les bases neuronales du phénomène restent très peu connues et ce manque de connaissance est clairement perceptible au sein de deux champs disciplinaires - les Neurosciences Cognitives et l'Ingénierie Cognitive. En Neurosciences Cognitives, la question demeure ainsi posée : pourquoi l'Homme est-il incapable de maintenir un niveau de performance sensori-motrice optimal au cours de tâches d'attention soutenue ? En Ingénierie Cognitive, la problématique concerne le développement d'Interfaces Cerveau-Machine (ICM) passives : identifier les marqueurs neuronaux des déficits d'attention permettrait, à terme, de suivre en temps réel l'état cognitif de l'Homme et de l'alerter de la survenue de ces déficits durant son activité. Ces deux problématiques ont été traitées dans cette thèse. Dans un premier temps, je démontre que le maintien d'une attention focalisée sur une stimulation visuelle entraîne une rapide inhibition des aires visuelles corticales. Cette inhibition sensorielle serait liée à l'absence de variation de la stimulation sensorielle. Ainsi, l'inhibition sensorielle serait bénéfique au cours de tâches de recherche visuelle : elle permettrait à l'Homme d'éviter de réexaminer plusieurs fois le même stimulus, le même objet, la même localisation spatiale; mais lorsqu'une attention soutenue est requise, ce mécanisme serait alors à l'origine de l'apparition de déficiences sensorielles. La présence de cette inhibition sensorielle apporte une explication probante à la diminution de sensibilité perceptive et à l'allongement du temps de réaction qui caractérisent le phénomène. Je montre ensuite que l'activité de structures neuronales motrices et d'aires corticales connues pour sous-tendre l'attention focalisée (i.e., tractus cortico-spinal, et aires corticales motrice primaire, préfrontale et pariétale droite) augmente progressivement au cours d'une tâche d'attention soutenue. Ce sur-engagement reflèterait un processus de compensation en réponse au désengagement préalable des aires corticales sensorielles et à la diminution de la qualité des représentations perceptives. Aussi, l'augmentation d'activité des structures neuronales motrices expliquerait l'augmentation de l'impulsivité motrice, une des signatures comportementales des déficits d'attention. Dans un second temps, je teste la possibilité d'exploiter ces corrélats neuronaux des déficits d'attention afin de discriminer deux états attentionnels donnés (i.e., avec ou sans déficits d'attention) au sein d'une ICM passive. Nous avons pour cela appliqué des méthodes de classification supervisées sur des données de spectroscopie proche infra-rouge reflétant l'activité hémodynamique des aires corticales préfrontale et pariétale enregistrées pendant une tâche d'attention soutenue. Nous rapportons des résultats encourageant en termes de performance de classification pour le futur développement d'ICM passives. Pris ensemble, les résultats décrits dans cette thèse apportent une meilleure compréhension des corrélats neuronaux des déficits d'attention et montrent comment cette connaissance peut être exploitée afin de développer des systèmes permettant de limiter la survenue d'accidents et d'incidents liés à l'erreur humaine dans un contexte écologique. / Focused attention represents a high-level cognitive function enabling humans to selectively facilitate specific actions and perceptions. In a world full of choices of action, and of perceptual possibilities, focused attention appears to be a vital component of human cognition. One observation however, is worth making: human-beings are unable to maintain stable states of focused attention indefinitely. This inability manifests during sustained attention tasks with the progressive occurrence of sensory-motor deficiencies with time-on-task. The phenomenon - called attention decrement - is characterized by increases in motor impulsivity and in response times to imperative events, and by a reduction in perceptual sensitivity. So far, the neural underpinnings of attention decrement have not been fully elucidated and this lack of knowledge is clearly palpable within two disciplinary fields : Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Engineering. In Cognitive Neuroscience, the associated question is why are human-beings unable to maintain an optimal sensory-motor performance during sustained attention tasks? In Cognitive Engineering, the lack of a complete scientific understanding of attentional issues impacts the development of efficient passive Brain-Computer interfaces (BCI), capable of detecting the occurrence of potentially dangerous attention decrements during the performance of everyday activities. Both issues have been addressed in this thesis. In terms of Cognitive Neuroscience, I demonstrate that sustaining focused attention on a visual stimulation rapidly leads to an inhibition of the visual cortices. This sensory inhibition can be causally related to the lack of changes in perceptual stimulation typically characterizing sustained attention tasks. While the mechanism may be beneficial during visual search tasks as it helps humans avoid processing the same stimulus, the same object, the same location several times, it can lead to the occurrence of sensory deficiencies when sustained attention is required. As such, the sensory inhibition provides a compelling explanation as to the decrease in perceptual sensitivity and to the increase in reaction time that typify attention decrement. I show in a second study that attention decrement is associated with an increase in the activity of motor- and attention-related neural structures (i.e., cortico-spinal tract, primary motor, prefrontal and right parietal cortices). This excessive engagement reflects a compensatory process occurring in response to the sensory disengagement already highlighted and to the related degradation of the quality of perceptual representations. It is notable that the excessive engagement of the motor neural structures with time-on-task provides a potential explanation for the increase in motor impulsivity typifying attention decrement. In terms of application of these new findings, I investigated the potential of exploiting these neural correlates of attention decrement to discriminate between two different attentional states (i.e., with or without attention decrement) through a passive BCI system. To do so, we applied supervised classification analyses on near-infrared spectroscopy signals reflecting the hemodynamic activity of prefrontal and parietal cortices as recorded during a sustained attention task. We achieved relatively promising classification performance results which bode well for the future development of passive BCI. When considered together, the results described in this thesis contribute towards a better understanding of the neural correlates of attention decrement and demonstrate how this novel knowledge can be exploited for the future development of systems which may enable a reduction in accidents and human error-driven incidents in real world environments.

L’attention est un sujet qui concerne l’enseignant depuis l’émergence de la relation maître élève. Le terme fait partie de la doxa scolaire mais qu’en est-il de son lien avec l’éducation ? Notre recherche présente une analyse pluriréférentielle des théories concernant sa nature et son lien avec l’apprentissage. Un historique des perspectives philosophiques cherche à répondre aux questions « l’attention peut-elle s’éduquer et si oui, comment ? » De l’antiquité au XVIIème siècle, une réponse affirmative fait place à des méthodes centrées autour de la maîtrise de la perception, le corps et les passions. Du XVIII au XIXème siècle c’est l’aspect volontaire du phénomène attentionnel qui engage les philosophes et les pédagogues alors qu’au cours du XIXème siècle l’attention est transformée en objet de science puis rejetée à cause de sa nature insaisissable. A l’aube du XXème siècle le thème de l’éducabilité de l’attention est plus évanescent. Ce sont les apports philosophiques, psychologiques et neuroscientifiques qui conçoivent l’attention comme élément fondamental de la cognition incarnée et qui nous permettent d’aborder la problématique de la pertinence des apprentissages scolaires pour éduquer le phénomène attentionnel. Ces derniers confirment le bien fondé des savoirs philosophiques datant de l’Antiquité sur l’éducation de l’attention. Toutefois l’analyse des connaissances, des croyances et des pratiques enseignantes actuelles nous montre un décalage prononcé entre ces dernières et les savoirs théoriques exposés. La littérature insiste sur la nécessité d’éduquer l’attention mais les enseignants gardent des pratiques qui reflètent les recommandations du XIXème siècle. / This dissertation adopts a multi-referential approach for the analysis of the problem of attention. An historical survey of the philosophical literature proposes to answer the question of whether or not attention can be educated. Philosophers from Antiquity to the 17th century advance the existence of attention as a mental entity or a mode of thinking. They link attention with the mastery of the intellect, the body and the passions, and confirm the need for its education. From the 18th to the 19th century the voluntary nature of the faculty of attention captures the interest of scholars. At the end of the 19th century attention is objectified, examined by science then rejected as a worthy subject of research owing to its elusive nature. We address the problem of educating attention or Attention Training (AT) through the lens of more recent philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific texts conceptualizing attention as a principal component of embodied cognition. This perspective credits methods dating back to Antiquity with a capacity for the education of attention. Our mixed methods research demonstrates an important gap between the theoretical literature and current teacher epistemology and practice. Although the literature argues in favor of adopting interoceptive practices, teachers tend to prioritize exteroceptive and behaviorist methods dating back to the 19th and early 20th century.

The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), and especially its caudal, sensory-related, half (cTRN), has been hypothesised for years to be at the very heart of thalamic sensory processing modulation, and attentional processes in particular. Very limited behavioural evidence is available, nonetheless, in support of such a functional attribution. In this thesis we carried out a series of investigations, combining immunocytochemical and lesion techniques with tests of behaviour, in order to examine the potential role of cTRN in attention and identify the attentional processes, if any, that it is more likely to contribute to. In chapter II, we looked at the Fos activation levels within modality-specific sectors of cTRN following attentive behaviours to stimulation of different modalities. We observed a selective activation of the visual sector of cTRN in visually attentive animals but not in tactilely attentive, yet visually stimulated, animals, thus demonstrating an involvement of that area in processes of visual attention. In chapter III we looked at the role of cTRN in cross-modal expressions of divided attention. We found that its removal, through neurotoxic lesioning, did not result in any behavioural costs with regard to the division of attention. Detriments in response accuracy, however, suggested that cTRN may be involved in stimulus processing enhancement operations, unrelated with the division of attention. Finally, in chapters IV and V, we looked at the effects of lesions of the visual sector of cTRN (TRNvis) on the ability to orient attention covertly within visual space. We found that the removal of TRNvis did not affect visual covert orienting behaviour, both when this is triggered by exogenous and endogenous means. Overall our results suggest that even though cTRN appears to be involved in some aspects of attention, it does not represent a necessary structure for the generation and operation of certain other forms of attention.

This study investigated the effects of assessment context on state anxiety and attention according to the Mirsky (1996) model of attention. Context varied in the physical testing environment, demeanor of the assessor, and explanation of the purpose of testing. A relaxed condition (RC) and structured medical condition (SMC) distinction was made prior to data collection and the two contexts were designed to reflect contrasting practices of neuropsychologists. Elements of attention evaluated included Encoding (Digit Span), Focusing/Executing (Visual Search and Attention Test), Shifting (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Computerized Version 2), Sustaining, and Stabilizing (Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs). Eighty healthy adult females participated in the study. The findings suggest that the SMC caused higher levels of anxiety and lower valence than the RC, which in turn caused poorer sustained attention and superior shifting attention for this condition. Such interpretations are consistent with several theories on the effects of anxiety on attention. It should be noted, however, that differences observed in attention were limited to select measures. Factor analysis also indicates that the encode, shift, and sustain elements of attention were largely consistent with the factor solution proposed by Mirsky, while findings on the focus/execute and stabilize elements bring into question the construct validity of these aspects of the model. Findings from the study are considered relevant to those interested in attention theory and particularly researchers and clinicians involved in the administration of neuropsychological testing.

Ce travail propose une revue ciblée, philosophique et psychologique, des études de l’attention sélective au cours de la seconde moitié du XXé siècle. Il prend pour cible principale la thèse du débordement phénoménal proposée par Block: selon cette thèse, le contenu phénoménalement conscient est plus riche que le contenu effectivement disponible pour la formation de croyances et d’intentions d’action, et l’attention n’entre pas dans les ingrédients de base de la conscience.L’attention module l’accès conscient, le fait que certains contenus fassent l’objet de croyances ou soient remarqués. En me basant sur le phénomène de la cécité inattentionnelle, et en critiquant la conception du contenu mobilisée par Block, j’attaque la thèse du débordement phénoménal et argumente en faveur d’une conception dépendantiste de la conscience phénoménale, dans laquelle l’attention est le facteur qui conditionne la promotion de certains contenus vers la conscience, de manière à procurer une expérience phénoménale. Par ailleurs, j’examine un effet phénoménal remarquable associé à l’attention: celui de la saillance attentionnelle. Je défends une compréhension représentationnaliste de cet effet, en faisant de l’attention focale un modulateur de la résolution des représentations mentales conscientes. Ce travail s’inscrit dans une perspective naturaliste, et choisit de prendre au sérieux les contributions récentes des sciences cognitives à l’étude de la conscience:selon l’approche que je défends, la conscience est empiriquement manipulable - j’avance qu’elle ne l’est pas indépendamment de l’attention. / This work is a selective review of consciousness and attention studies over the last century. Itfocuses primarily on Ned Block’s ‘overflow thesis’. I argue against Block, by showing thatattention is a constitutive component of phenomenal consciousness: I defend a ‘dependency thesis’regarding attention and consciousness. This thesis is vindicated by a careful examination of Block’sempirical data, and by a criticism of his conception of content. I also tackle the issue of‘phenomenal salience’ - one of attention’s most typical effects - and provide a representationalaccount of this phenomenon: focal attention enhances the resolution of conscious content, therebylinking the phenomenal difference to a representational difference: focusing on an aspect of aperceptual scene changes what is consciously represented. This work is a first step in naturalizingthe mind; it relies heavily on the contributions of cognitive science to the study of consciousness.According to the accounts I favor, manipulations of consciousness are manipulations of attention.