Many of the studies examining cognitive control during selective attention across different sensory modalities conflict. This study was designed to study the effect of an irrelevant visual stimulus and an auditory distraction of backward speech on a forced attention dichotic listening test. I predicted that the visual stimulus and backward speech would not have a significant effect on the ear advantage. The results showed that all subjects were able to force their attention to the ear regardless of the visual or auditory distracters. In addition, I found that an irrelevant visual stimulus affects auditory attention more so in the left visual field than the right visual field. This proves that top-down processing can override bottom-processing and auditory tasks demanding full processing capacity limit the processing of the irrelevant visual stimulus.

The study of metacognition is rooted in the observation of behaviors under states of uncertainty (e.g., Smith et al., 1995). Individuals who are more responsive to uncertainty tend to show greater interference effects in a Stroop color-word naming task compared to those who are less responsive to uncertainty (Washburn, Smith, & Taglialatela, 2005). Individual differences in Stroop interference also have been shown to reflect relative differences in response competition (Washburn, 1994) and rule-maintenance ability (Kane & Engle, 2003). Why would individuals who respond to uncertainty most adaptively be characterized by the worst attention-control skills? The current study was designed to measure the individual contribution of sensitivity to response competition and rule maintenance ability to the pre-established relationship between Stroop interference and uncertainty responsiveness. Though participants performed as expected in both tasks, the previously reported relationship between Stroop interference and uncertainty responsiveness was not observed.

Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Lester C. Loschky / The effect of blur/clarity contrast on selective attention was investigated in terms of how unique blur and/or clarity guides attention. Visual blur has previously been suggested to be processed preattentively using a dual-task paradigm (Loschky et al., 2014). Experiments 1 and 2 used rotated L and T visual search tasks with blur/clarity contrast being manipulated such that it was non-predictive of the target’s location. Each experiment was preceded by a legibility control study such that blurred and clear letters had similar accuracy and reaction times. This allowed for the results to be interpreted as changes in attention rather than difficulty identifying the letters because they were blurry. Results suggest that when non-predictive of target location, unique blur plays a passive role in selective attention in which it is ignored, neither capturing nor repelling attention to its spatial location, whereas unique clarity captures attention. The findings provide insight to the role that blur/clarity contrast plays in guiding visual attention, which can be implemented in visual software to help guide selective attention to critical regions of interest displayed on a computer screen.

M.A. / This study is an exploratory pilot study that investigates the relationship between a childhood diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adult substance use disorders. The existing literature suggests four links in this relationship, namely: self – medication, the priming effect of psycho – stimulants, adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and psychiatric comorbidity. This study found that the relationship is not as linear as what the literature suggests. The full impact of the relationship between a childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adult substance use disorders should be investigated in terms of the lifelong development of ADHD. A deve-lopmental approach to psychopathology should be adopted. This study also identified a number of risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology. These risk and protective factors are another area for further research.

Attention impairment is one of the most common complaints following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Multiple studies have shown that performance on neuropsychological tests of attention is affected by many factors, including injury severity and effort. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of injury severity on neuropsychological tests across different domains of attention while controlling for effort. The domains of focused attention, selective attention, divided attention, sustained attention, and working memory were assessed by performance on the Digit Span Forward subtest, the Stroop Color Word Test, the Trail Making Test, the Conners' Continuous Performance Test - II, and Digit Span Backwards subtest, respectively. Effort was determined according to performance on the Portland Digit Recognition Test and the Test of Memory Malingering. Effort was found to have a greater effect on test performance (.79) than injury severity (.47). Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

This study examined the changes that occur in spontaneous speech when speakers are distracted by background audio. Forty young adults answered open ended questions under five audio conditions (pink noise, movie dialogue, heated debate, classical music, and contemporary music) and a silent condition. Acoustic parameters assessed during the sessions included mean and variability of the fundamental frequency (F0), mean and variability of intensity, speaking time ratio, and disfluency ratio. It was hypothesized that there would be significant increases in the mean and variability of F0 as well as the mean and variability of intensity. There were statistically significant increases in mean and variability of intensity and mean F0 across most audio conditions. There were no significant changes in variability of intensity in the pink noise condition and no significant changes in variability of F0 in any audio condition. We hypothesized that the speaking time ratio would decrease in the presence of background audio compared to the silent baseline. Results demonstrate significant increases in speaking time ratio except for the classical music condition. It was expected that the disfluency ratio of speech production for each participant would increase in the presence of background audio, with informational masking demonstrating the most increase. Results revealed a significant increase in disfluency ratios across background audio conditions except for the pink noise and classical music conditions. Participants reported the heated debate and contemporary music to be the most distracting. These results have potential clinical implications regarding the type of environment where therapy is given, and what type of everyday situations might cause the most difficulties with fluency as well as the processing and production of speech.

Abstract Working memory has been identified as an area in which children diagnosed with ADHD experience difficulty (Carnoldi, Marzocchi, Belotti, Caroli, De Meo & Braga, 2001). However, there are conflicting findings regarding the nature of working memory deficits in children diagnosed with ADHD and some researchers believe that working memory deficits may differ between the two ADHD subtypes (Diamond, 2005; Douglas, 2005; Knouse 2007; Milich , Balentine & Lynam, 2001). In addition, it is also thought that working memory may be one of the main contributing factors of this disorder (Rapport, Chung, Shore & Isaacs, 2001). Thus, there is clearly a need for additional and more detailed investigation into the way individuals with ADHD test with regard to their working memory functioning. This study attempted to examine the working memory functioning in children diagnosed with ADHD, in particular, the Predominantly Inattentive subtype and Predominantly Hyperactive/impulsive subtype in comparison to a control group. A sample of seventy-two participants was tested using the Ravens Progressive Coloured Matrices (RPCM) and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AMWA) to assess their nonverbal intelligence and working memory. The primary motivating factor for the choice of participants was that they had to have been diagnosed by a professional as having ADHD (either subtype) and they had to be in Grades one or two. None of the children in the control group met the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) criteria for ADHD. Repeated measures Abstract Working memory has been identified as an area in which children diagnosed with ADHD experience difficulty (Carnoldi, Marzocchi, Belotti, Caroli, De Meo & Braga, 2001). However, there are conflicting findings regarding the nature of working memory deficits in children diagnosed with ADHD and some researchers believe that working memory deficits may differ between the two ADHD subtypes (Diamond, 2005; Douglas, 2005; Knouse 2007; Milich , Balentine & Lynam, 2001). In addition, it is also thought that working memory may be one of the main contributing factors of this disorder (Rapport, Chung, Shore & Isaacs, 2001). Thus, there is clearly a need for additional and more detailed investigation into the way individuals with ADHD test with regard to their working memory functioning. This study attempted to examine the working memory functioning in children diagnosed with ADHD, in particular, the Predominantly Inattentive subtype and Predominantly Hyperactive/impulsive subtype in comparison to a control group. A sample of seventy-two participants was tested using the Ravens Progressive Coloured Matrices (RPCM) and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AMWA) to assess their nonverbal intelligence and working memory. The primary motivating factor for the choice of participants was that they had to have been diagnosed by a professional as having ADHD (either subtype) and they had to be in Grades one or two. None of the children in the control group met the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) criteria for ADHD. Repeated measures Abstract Working memory has been identified as an area in which children diagnosed with ADHD experience difficulty (Carnoldi, Marzocchi, Belotti, Caroli, De Meo & Braga, 2001). However, there are conflicting findings regarding the nature of working memory deficits in children diagnosed with ADHD and some researchers believe that working memory deficits may differ between the two ADHD subtypes (Diamond, 2005; Douglas, 2005; Knouse 2007; Milich , Balentine & Lynam, 2001). In addition, it is also thought that working memory may be one of the main contributing factors of this disorder (Rapport, Chung, Shore & Isaacs, 2001). Thus, there is clearly a need for additional and more detailed investigation into the way individuals with ADHD test with regard to their working memory functioning. This study attempted to examine the working memory functioning in children diagnosed with ADHD, in particular, the Predominantly Inattentive subtype and Predominantly Hyperactive/impulsive subtype in comparison to a control group. A sample of seventy-two participants was tested using the Ravens Progressive Coloured Matrices (RPCM) and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AMWA) to assess their nonverbal intelligence and working memory. The primary motivating factor for the choice of participants was that they had to have been diagnosed by a professional as having ADHD (either subtype) and they had to be in Grades one or two. None of the children in the control group met the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) criteria for ADHD. Repeated measures of Mann-Whitney and post-hoc analysis revealed that there were significant differences in the verbal short term memory, verbal working memory and visuospatial working memory between the three groups. Test results revealed no significant differences between the test scores of the Inattentive group and the control group in these areas. However, scores obtained by the Hyperactive/impulsive group differed significantly from those of the control and Inattentive groups. Score differences related specifically to verbal short term memory, verbal working memory and visuospatial working memory. This implies that children diagnosed with ADHD, (the Hyperactive/impulsive subtype) may need specific strategies in the classroom to enable them to encode, access and retrieve information to ensure optimal performance. The implications of these findings are discussed further in the thesis.

Resumo: A atenção é uma função neuropsicológica fundamental na entrada da informação no Sistema Nervoso. Os recursos atencionais são imprescindíveis para o desenvolvimento das demais funções neuropsicológicas. O uso eficiente da atenção voluntária supõe o emprego de um nível de persistência na execução de atividades por longo período de tempo, tarefa difícil para crianças com alterações no desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor e na aprendizagem, cujas falhas mostram-se relacionadas ao processamento atencional. Objetivo: o presente estudo propôs investigar os aspectos estratégicos da atenção de crianças com dificuldades psicomotoras e de leitura-escrita. Método: fizeram parte 45 crianças, de ambos os sexos, na faixa etária de 8 a 12 anos e 11 meses de idade, cursando do 3o ao 6o ano do Ensino Fundamental de escolas públicas, compondo três grupos: GI, formado por 15 crianças com queixa atencional e baixo rendimento escolar; GII, com 15 crianças com alterações no desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor e com queixa atencional; e, GIII, caracterizando o grupo-controle, com 15 crianças sem queixa escolar, psicomotora e atencional. O estudo foi realizado numa escola pública da cidade de Boracéia/SP. Instrumentos: Teste de Desempenho Escolar, Trail Making Test, Stroop Color Word Test, Tavis-4, Torre de Londres, Teste Wisconsin de Classificação de Cartas, Teste Matrizes Progressivas Raven, Teste de Cancelamento, Protocolo de Avaliação das Funções Psicomotoras e o Protocolo de Triagem Escolar para Pais e Professores, elaborado para esta pesquisa. Os dados foram analisados descritivamente e submetidos ao estudo estatístico sobre a média e desvio padrão, para obtenção dos escores brutos e transformados. Resultados: Na avaliação sobre os desempenhos intelectuais, o GII foi o grupo com recursos mais limitados no raciocínio perceptual de espaço-temporal lógico, com 46% dos sujeitos abaixo da média esperada à idade. No nível atencional, o GII foi o grupo que apresentou o maior número de erros por omissão e maior tempo de reação na atividade, principalmente no tipo alternado. Os resultados sobre a capacidade de planejamento e estratégia mostraram que o GI obteve 53% de acertos e o GII, 58,6%, com pontuações inferiores ao controle. Quando verificado o desempenho dos grupos com relação ao gerenciamento na resolução de problemas cognitivos, os índices de dificuldades conceituais dos GI e GII foram considerados altos. Conclusão: Apesar de tanto o GI quanto o GII evidenciarem mais prejuízo, comparados ao controle, nas tarefas que exigiram as funções executivas, o GII foi o grupo que apresentou desempenhos mais rebaixados nas tarefas submetidas, que requeriam a função atencional, estratégias de raciocínio, flexibilidade cognitiva e memória de trabalho visual. / Summary: Attention is a fundamental neuropsychological function in the input of information in the Nervous System. The attentional resources are essential to the development of other neuropsychological functions. The efficient use of voluntary attention supposes the use of a level of persistence in carrying out activities for a long period of time, a difficult task for children with changes in the neuropsychomotor and learning development, whose flaws show a relationship to attentional processing. Objective: The present study proposed to investigate the strategic aspects of attention in children with psychomotor and read-write difficulties. Method: took part in the research 45 children, of both sexes, aged 8-12 years and 11 months of age, attending the 3rd to the 6th year of Elementary School public school, forming three groups: GI, consisting of 15 children with attentional complaints and poor school performance, GII, with 15 children with developmental and attentional complaining and, GIII, characterizing the control group, with 15 children without learning, psychomotor or attentional difficulties. The was conducted in a public school in the town of Boracéia/SP. Instruments: Academic Performance Test, Trail Making Test, Stroop Color Word Test, Tavis-4, Tower of London, Wisconsin Test of Card Sorting, Raven Progressive Matrices Test, Cancellation Test, Protocol Assessment of psychomotor functions and Screening Protocol for School parents and Teachers, prepared for this research. The data was analyzed descriptively and subjected to statistical analysis on the mean and standard deviation, to obtain the raw scores and transformed. Results: In the evaluation of the intellectual performance, the GII was the group with more limited resources in perceptual reasoning of spatio-temporal logic, with 46% of subjects below the average expected age. In regards to attention, the GII was the group that had the highest number of omission errors and longer reaction time in the activity, especially in the alternate type. The results on the capacity and strategy planning showed that the GI got 53% correct, and GII 58,6%, with scores lower than the control. Analyzing the performance of the groups with regards to the management in the cognitive problem solving, the indices of conceptual difficulties of GI and GII were considered high. Conclusion: Although both the GI and the GII showed more damage compared to the control, in the tasks requiring executive functions, the GII was the group that presented performances lower in the submitted tasks, whick required the attentional function, reasoning strategies, cognitive flexibility, and visual working memory.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Kensinger / Thesis advisor: Katherine Mickley Steinmetz / Distractibility and impulsivity have long been thought of as two separate psychological processes; however, there is currently evidence that suggests otherwise. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding on the behavioral level of the interaction between these two traits. I proposed a model in which some individuals have a higher than average threshold for activation of the top-down cognitive control resources that are important for directing and maintaining attention as well as for regulating impulsive behaviors. To test the strength of this model I used an experimental paradigm that combined two different types of tasks—a spatial working memory task and a delay discounting of a primary reward (juice) task. Participants were administered the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scale in order to be classified in terms of their trait distractibility and trait impulsivity subscale scores. The results suggest that there is indeed an association between the traits of distractibility and impulsivity, and that they may be linked by a common mechanism involving a variable threshold of activation of top-down control resources to regulate these behaviors. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Psychology.

Inattentive responding by research participants may decrease the reliability and validity of self-report measures. The current studies broaden the record of personality traits correlated with inattention by examining individual differences in attachment anxiety and avoidance among adults in romantic relationships. Based upon the characteristics typically exhibited by adults high on attachment avoidance, I expected an overlap between this personality trait and inattention, such that participants higher on attachment avoidance would exhibit higher levels of inattentive responding when answering self-report questions about their relationship. Two studies addressed this hypothesis using both self-report data from individuals and partner-report data from romantic couples to examine the association between a participant’s attachment avoidance and their level of inattentive responding while participating in research focusing on their romantic relationships. Self-reported attachment avoidance was associated with greater inattentive responding in both studies. However, partner-reported attachment avoidance was not significantly associated with inattentive responding in Study 2. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection