Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychiatric disorder and is associated with impairment in multiple domains. Research on the development of PTSD symptoms is often limited by the use of cross-sectional designs and retrospective reports of pre-trauma factors. The trauma film paradigm allows for the measurement of pre-trauma factors to determine which variables serve as prospective predictors of posttraumatic stress symptom development. Two factors which may predict posttraumatic stress symptom development are distress intolerance and attentional control. Research suggests distress intolerance is related to posttraumatic stress symptoms, but this relationship has only been shown cross-sectionally. Research has further shown attention control prospectively predicts posttraumatic stress symptoms. Cross-sectional research also suggests attentional control moderates the relationship between distress intolerance and posttraumatic stress symptoms. The current study used the trauma film paradigm to investigate whether attentional control moderates the relationship between distress intolerance and posttraumatic stress symptoms. The current study findings were mixed, but suggest that attentional control does not moderate the association between distress intolerance and posttraumatic stress symptoms. These results suggest distress intolerance and attentional control may not be important variables in the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms.

The aims of the current research programme were, first, to examine expertise effects with regard to anticipation skill and the perception of deceptive movement, and, second, to examine how knowledge of the probability of behavioural events influences anticipation performance and visual search behaviour. In addition, this thesis sought to test the predictions of attentional control theory (ACT) in examining how anxiety affects the influence of top-down probability information on anticipation skill and visual search behaviour. In Chapter 3, skill-based differences in anticipation and decision making were examined using judgement accuracy and confidence ratings. High-skilled soccer players demonstrated superior anticipatory performance and were less susceptible to deception compared with low-skilled players. In Chapters 4 and 5 Posner’s spatial cueing paradigm was adapted to examine the influence of top-down probability information on anticipation skill and visual search behaviour. High-skilled participants were found to be more accurate and demonstrate more efficient visual search behaviour compared to low-skilled participants. However, findings demonstrated that both groups benefited from the provision of probability information, and performance was moderated by the degree of certainty conveyed through the probability information. In Chapter 6, the same anticipation task and process tracing measures were used to examine the effects of heightened anxiety on the processing of probability and visual information. The findings supported the predictions of ACT, as the influence of top-down information was suppressed during high-pressure conditions, owing to an increased influence of the stimulus-driven attentional control system. The series of studies in this thesis are the first to explore the influence of top-down probability information on anticipation performance and the perception of deception. Study 4 is also the first to test the predictions of ACT regarding the processing of (top-down) explicit knowledge and (bottom-up) visual information under pressure during a simulated soccer anticipation task. The use of probability information through performance analysis feedback plays a prominent role across a number of sports, and the present findings highlight the importance of understanding the costs and benefits associated with such information. It is concluded that future perceptual training interventions should incorporate context-specific information that mimics the real-life demands of competitive sport, and should be directed towards enhancing players' ability to detect deception rather than training players to become attuned to non-deceptive movement.

An attentional bias to threatening stimuli is associated with greater anxiety in children (see Puliafico & Kendall, 2006 for a full review). Attentional control is one factor that may influence the relationship between attentional bias and anxiety in children (Susa, Pitică, Benga, & Miclea, 2012). This current study focused on further exploring the relationship between attentional bias, attentional control, and anxiety. Participants (N = 46) completed a self-report measure of attentional control and anxiety, and an attentional bias task (i.e., the Emotional Go/No-Go). Two models were examined. First, attentional control was examined as a potential moderator in the relationship between attentional bias and anxiety. Second, attentional bias was examined as a potential mediator of the relationship between attentional control and anxiety. The moderation model was significant. However, the findings were not consistent with the literature, as results indicated attentional bias was associated with anxiety only for children with higher attentional control abilities. The moderation model was further examined with different dimensions of anxiety and attentional control. The mediation model was not significant. Explanation of the findings and future directions are discussed.

Attentional control and attentional bias are important factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007; Van Bockstaele et al., 2014). However, the effects of attentional control and attentional bias on the relationship between anxiety and stress response is understudied. Further, much of the research to date has relied on self-report measures of attentional control and stress response, representing a significant limitation. The current study addressed these problems and examined the relationship between attentional control, attentional bias, anxiety, and stress response. First, this study examined the relationship between self-report and performance-based measures of attentional control and stress response with anxiety. Study results found poor agreement between attentional control measures, good convergence between self-reported distress and physiological distress, and a negative association between anxiety and self-reported attentional control and stress response. Second, results showed that attentional control and attentional bias were not significant moderators of the relationship between anxiety and stress response. Explanation of study findings and future directions are discussed.

My thesis project aimed to assess potential meaningful differences in the behavioral subtypes of externalizing behaviors in children. Externalizing behaviors are a style of behavioral adjustment that are characteristic of early childhood behavior problems. They are commonly measured in developmental and clinical research using the Externalizing Scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The scale is comprised of Aggressive and Rule-Breaking Behaviors, which are divergent in their developmental trajectory and personological distinctions: aggressive behaviors have emotional underpinnings like frustration, whereas rule-breaking is linked to behavioral impulsivity. In situations of low regulation, negative affectivity may differentially predispose children to these behaviors due to a reactive propensity for anger and frustration. Attentional control can act to regulate these behaviors through shifting and focusing of attention, but may execute this regulation differently based on the situational context. The role of contextual attentional control in predicting two distinct externalizing behaviors has not been sufficiently evaluated in children. AC was behaviorally coded for during a frustrating context. Child behavior problems and temperament were assessed via parent report. Two mediation models were assessed with NA, AC, and aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors, but no indirect effects were found. When individual components of AC were assessed separately as moderations as opposed to mediations, attention shifting played a prominent role and moderated both the aggressive and rule-breaking models. Findings further clarify the role of attention in the relation between temperament and childhood behavior problems. / M.S. / Behavior problems in early childhood consist of aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors, which are distinct behaviors with meaningful differences in how they develop. Aggressive behaviors are marked by physical tendencies such as hitting and fighting, whereas rule-breaking behaviors tend to be non-aggressive, consisting of more impulsive behaviors like stealing, cheating, and lying. Negative affectivity in toddlerhood is a predictor of both behaviors, reflecting a heightened predisposition towards negative emotions like anger and frustration. Attentional control is a form of self-regulation, consisting of shifting and focusing attention, that may be responsible for regulating the impact of negative affectivity on each externalizing behavior. Additionally, attentional control in childhood may regulate each behavior differently based on context. The goal of the current study was to understand how negative affectivity predicts each behavior differently through attentional control, specifically based on the context it is measured in. Aggressive behaviors, rule-breaking behaviors, and negative affectivity were measured using parent-report questionnaire, and attentional control was behaviorally coded for during a frustrating puzzle task. Two mediation models were assessed with negative affectivity, attentional control, and aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors, but there were no significant findings. When individual components of attentional control (shifting and focusing) were assessed separately as moderators, attention shifting moderated the relation between negative affectivity and both aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors. Findings further clarify the role of attention in the relation between temperament and childhood behavior problems.

Complex behaviors require selectively attending to task-relevant items, and ignoring conspicuous, irrelevant items. For example, driving requires selectively attending to other cars on the road while ignoring flashing billboards. Dominant models of attentional control posit that we avoid distraction by biasing attention towards task-relevant items, and our ability to avoid distraction depends on the strength and specificity of this bias. I find that a strong, specific bias towards task-relevant items is insufficient for preventing distraction. Instead, preventing distraction also requires past experience ignoring distractors. I also find that long-term memory systems, rather than visual short-term memory or priming memory systems, maintain this experience. Based upon these findings, I propose that effective attentional control not only demands a strong, specific bias towards task-relevant items, but also requires that observers learn to ignore conspicuous, irrelevant items.

Objectives: Due to a number of conceptual and methodological limitations, existing research has provided only equivocal evidence that deficits/biases in attentional control (AC) are causally implicated in depressive rumination and/or that Cognitive Control Training (CCT) can be used to remediate such vulnerabilities. By using a well-validated training task and ensuring adequate training exposure, the current study aimed to examine the hypothesis that daily CCT would reduce rumination and improve mood among participants with elevated ruminative disposition. Method: Using a multiple baseline design (MBD), eight high-ruminating university participants rated their daily levels of rumination and mood before and after the randomly-determined introduction of daily CCT, designed to enhance their level of AC. Daily ratings were compared before and after the introduction of CCT, using systematic visual analysis and randomisation tests for significance at the group level. Results: No evidence was found to support the hypothesis that daily CCT reduces rumination and/or improve mood. While participants improved in their performance within the CCT across the training period, there was no evidence of near- or far-transfer, visual analysis revealed no impact of the introduction of daily training, and all group-level analyses were non-significant (p ≥ .05). Conclusion: Despite addressing a number of conceptual/methodological concerns, the current study provides no further support for AC theories of rumination or the use of CCT-based treatments for depression. Such conclusions must be interpreted in light of other methodological limitations, however, including the use of a non-clinical sample and the use of MBD to detect delayed treatment effects.

The suggestion that bilinguals show enhanced cognitive control compared to monolinguals in certain aspects of executive function has received much contention. While this has been explained as a result of the extensive training in bilinguals having to manage the conflict that arises from their concurrently active langauges, others have argued that the superiority in executive control is attenuated when background variables such as immigration status, education and general cognitive ability is taken into account. This thesis was motivated by the general question: How is executive control influenced by differing bilingualism experiences? To this end, we compared attentional control performance in bilinguals and monolinguals on the Attention Network Test, the auditory Elevator task (Test of Everyday Attention), and the number Stroop task. The main aim of the thesis was to examine the role of two bilingualism factors: (i) interactional context (defined in the Adaptive Control Hypothesis, Green & Abutalebi, 2013), which pertains to how bilinguals switch between their languages, and (ii) linguistic distance, which refers to the extent of similarity between the bilingual's languages. The comparison between Edinburgh monolinguals, Edinburgh late bilinguals, Edinburgh early bilinguals, and Singapore early bilinguals as differentiated by their interactional context revealed better performance in bilinguals on two specific test components. Singapore bilinguals, who came from a dual-language and dense code-switching context, showed enhanced conflict resolution on the Attention Network Test, whilst Edinburgh late bilinguals, who were from a single-language context, were better on the Elevator reversal subtest tapping on attentional switching. The results thus suggest differential effects of interactional context on attentional control. We further compared task performance of bilinguals with related or distant L1-L2 combinations as defined by the linguistic and orthography overlap between their two languages. The data did not support a role of linguistic distance on attentional control. Edinburgh bilinguals studying an Indo-European language performed similarly to those studying the non Indo-European languages of Chinese and Japanese. In Singapore bilinguals, English-Chinese bilinguals also did not differ from English-Malay bilinguals on any of the test components. We supplemented the investigation by further examining if the factors of test-order and age could impact on how differences between monolinguals and bilinguals are exhibited. Our results suggest that monolinguals may show an improvement in attentional control after relatively short periods of engagement in experimental tasks, whilst bilinguals did not receive this boost. Test order may therefore partly explain the inconsistencies in literature regarding the claimed bilingual advantage. The comparison between older and younger adults also implied an effect of age. In young adults, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the Elevator reversal subtest of auditory switching, whereas the advantage shown in older bilinguals was on visual attentional orienting. The results across the various themes are reviewed and discussed with relevance to the current standing in the field, and suggestions for future research directions are put forth.

Emotional Stroop task results have been shown to be inconsistent throughout the literature due to a multitude of factors including both stimulus and population factors. There are also several theories to explain the emotional Stroop effects, including the attentional control theory (Eysenck et al., 2007). This theory states that anxiety consumes attentional and memory resources, resulting in impairment in executive functions, and thus cognitive performance is lowered. Recently, Owens et al. (2014) reported that the effects of anxiety on cognitive performance might be moderated by working memory capacity (WMC). The present study explored whether Owens et al.'s (2014) paradigm fit the Stroop data. It also explored the role that WMC had in recognition memory for emotional and neutral words. Processing efficiency during the Stroop task and anxiety was expected to show a positive relationship for High WMC and a negative relationship for Low WMC. Furthermore, memory for emotional words were expected to be better for Low WMC due to longer processing times for emotional words. The results showed that WMC did not improve the model for both the emotional Stroop and the surprise recognition memory task, thereby contradicting Owens et al.'s (2014) proposed paradigm. Furthermore, an increase of anxiety scores showed a decrease in memory for emotional words but only for Low WMC.

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