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The present study compared attentional disengagement from threat-related stimuli in socially phobic (SP) and non-anxiety-disordered (NAD) adolescents. The associations between trait anxiety and state anxiety and attentional bias in SP adolescents were assessed. Furthermore, the present study compared the attentional control abilities of SP and NAD adolescents. Twenty-eight SP participants aged 12-17 and 27 NAD controls, matched on age and IQ, were administered a computer task to measure attentional disengagement from threat-related words. Participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and subtests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-ch). Mixed ANOVA analyses indicated that SP and NAD adolescents did not differ in their disengagement from threat-related stimuli. Correlational analyses indicated that state anxiety was associated with disengagement from threat, but only when SP participants with comorbid ADHD were excluded from analyses. Trait anxiety was not significantly associated with attentional disengagement from threat. Finally, SP participants performed more poorly than NAD participants on the TEA-ch subtests, indicating poorer attentional control in SP participants. These results suggest that SP adolescents experience a deficit in executive attentional skills. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed. / Psychology

Värdesättning av glädje är ett komplext fenomen relaterat till psykisk hälsa. Denna studie syftade till att undersöka värdesättning av glädje och dess specifika samband till emotionsreglering, emotionell uppmärksamhetskontroll och uppmärksamhetskontroll. Urvalet bestod av 252 vuxna deltagare (Målder=31.39, SDålder=12.09). Datainsamlingen gjordes via en online-enkät där deltagarna fick självskatta sin förmåga på skalorna: Valuing Happiness Scale, Emotional Attentional Control Scale, Attentional Control Scale och Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Resultatet visar att det finns specifika samband mellan värdesättning av glädje och uppmärksamhetskontroll i neutrala och emotionellt krävande situationer. Endast emotionell uppmärksamhetskontroll förklarar en statistiskt signifikant varians i värdesättning av glädje när man kontrollerar för de andra variablerna. Fortsättningsvis fann denna studie att det inte förekommer könsskillnader i värdesättning av glädje i en svensk kontext. Däremot finns det statistiskt signifikanta könsskillnader i strategin expressive suppression för emotionsreglering, där män använder strategin mer frekvent än kvinnor. Framtida studier bör undersöka värdesättning av glädje och relationen till dessa psykologiska variabler närmre och fylla i kunskapsluckorna som finns på detta komplexa fenomen. / Valuing happiness is a complex phenomenon related to mental health. This study aimed to investigate valuing happiness and its specific relationship to emotion regulation, emotional attentional control, and attentional control. The sample consisted of 252 adult participants (Mage=31.39, SDage=12.09). The data collection was done via an online survey where the participants had to self-assess their ability on the scales: Valuing Happiness Scale, Emotional Attentional Control Scale, Attentional Control Scale and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The results show that there is a specific relationship between valuing happiness and attentional control in neutral and emotionally demanding situations. Only emotional attentional control explains statistically significant variance in valuing happiness when controlling for the other variables. Furthermore, this study found that there are no gender differences in valuing happiness in a Swedish context. In contrast, there are statistically significant gender differences in the expressive suppression strategy for emotion regulation, with men using the strategy more frequently than women. Future studies should examine the valuing of happiness and the relationship to these psychological variables more closely and fill in the knowledge gaps that exist regarding this complex phenomenon.

The aims of the current program of research were to examine the impact of anxiety on performance and attentional control during the execution of two far aiming tasks, and to examine the efficacy of gaze training interventions in mediating these effects. Attentional control theory (ACT), which suggests that anxious individuals have impaired goal-directed attentional control, was adopted as a theoretical framework, and the Quiet Eye, characterised by long final fixations on relevant locations, was adopted as an objective measure of overt attentional control. In Studies 1 and 2 increased pressure impaired goal directed attentional control (QE) at the expense of stimulus-driven control (more fixations of shorter duration to various targets). The aim of studies 3 and 4 was therefore to examine the efficacy of an intervention designed to train effective visual attentional control (QE training) for novices, and determine whether such training protected against attentional disruptions associated with performing under pressure. In both studies the QE trained group maintained more effective visual attentional control and performed significantly better in a subsequent pressure test compared to the Control group, providing support for the efficacy of attentional training for visuo-motor skills. The aim of study 5 was to examine the effectiveness of a brief QE training intervention for elite golfers and to examine if potential benefits shown for novices in studies 3 and 4 transferred to competitive play. The QE-trained group maintained their optimal QE and performance under pressure conditions, whereas the control group experienced reductions in QE and performance. Importantly, these advantages transferred to the golf course, where QE-trained golfers reduced their putts per round by 1.9 putts, compared to pre-training, whereas the control group showed no change in their putting statistics. This series of studies has therefore implicated the role of attention in the breakdown of performance under pressure, but has also suggested that visual attentional training regimes may be a useful technique for alleviating this problem.

Literature review abstract Background: Domain-general processes, such as working memory (WM), short-term memory (STM), and attention, have been found to be related to mathematical performance in children. The relationship between these abilities, however, is not well understood. Objective: This systematic review aimed to evaluate the literature investigating the relationship between mathematical performance and WM, STM, and attention in typically developing primary school aged children. Methods: Three databases were searched for studies published between January 1974 and February 2015 reporting associations between mathematics performance and at least one measure of WM, STM, and attention. Study selection was undertaken by applying inclusion and exclusion criteria and 43 studies were selected for inclusion. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using a validated checklist. Results: WM, STM, and attention were all significantly related to mathematics performance. Visuospatial STM and WM were strongly related to mathematics performance in younger children, while verbal STM and WM were more strongly related in older children; although some studies found the opposite pattern. The relationship between attention and mathematics performance increased in strength with age. Conclusions: There are many factors relevant to the relationship between mathematical performance and WM, STM, and attention which can affect the strength of the association, including the types of tasks used to measure the constructs, the confounding variables considered, and the age of the participants. Future research needs to focus on the construction of an integrated model of mathematical development.   Empirical paper abstract Background: Moderate to late preterm children (MLPT; born between 32 weeks and 36 weeks and 6 days) are at increased risk of developing cognitive difficulties compared to term children (born between 37 weeks and 41 weeks and 6 days). Mathematical attainment is an important area of academic development. Domain-general cognitive abilities, which constrain all learning, and domain-specific mathematical precursors are both important for mathematical development. Objectives: The current study had two aims: 1) to investigate the relationship between gestational age (GA), mathematical attainment, working memory (WM), short-term memory (STM), and attentional control; and 2) to investigate WM, STM, and attentional control as domain-general predictors of mathematical attainment. It was hypothesised that WM would predict additional variance in mathematical attainment after attentional control, STM, and demographic variables (intellectual ability (IQ) and socioeconomic status) were accounted for. Methods: A cross-sectional and correlational design was used to investigate the study aims. Participants were 34 MLPT children and 25 term children who were between 72 and 107 months at the time of the study. Children who weighed less than 1500 grams at birth, had cerebral palsy, epilepsy, severe hearing or vision loss, or had a diagnosed learning disability were excluded. Each participant completed a cognitive assessment which measured their mathematical attainment and components of WM, STM, and attentional control. Results: GA was only significantly correlated with IQ. In the model of mathematical attainment, GA also significantly moderated the relationship between attentional switching and mathematical attainment. The hypothesis regarding the role of WM in predicting mathematical attainment was partially supported as only verbal WM predicted significant additional variance in mathematical attainment. Attention behaviour and IQ also predicted significant additional variance in mathematical attainment. Conclusion: These findings suggest that birth weight greater than 1500g, higher socioeconomic status, and lower levels of co-morbid medical conditions may serve as protective factors against the potential negative consequences of MLPT birth. Findings regarding the domain-general predictors of mathematical attainment supported some previous findings and highlighted the need for a variety of tasks to be used to measure each domain-general ability. Longitudinal studies in MLPT children would be helpful for further understanding the role of GA and domain-general abilities in the development of mathematical attainment.

Both theoretical models and empirical evidence implicate the combined influences of high emotional reactivity and low emotional regulation to exacerbation in children's stuttering behavior (e.g., Conture, Walden, Arnold, Graham, Hartfiled, Karrass, 2006; Conture & Walden, 2012; Karrass et al., 2006). Attentional control is a key factor in both the development and implementation of emotional regulation (Bell & Calkins, 2012; Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2004). The purpose of this study was to investigate attentional control along the distraction process in children who stutter using two event-related potential (ERP) experimental tasks: auditory-auditory distraction and visual search. Eight school-age children who stutter (CWS) and eight school-age children who do not stutter (CWNS) were recruited in this study. Using a Go/No Go paradigm, children in this study were asked to discriminate tone duration in the auditory-auditory distraction task and detect specific visual targets in the visual search task in both the auditory and visual tasks. Behavioral measures included reaction time (RT), hit rate (HR, accuracy) and false alarm (FA), while electrophysiological measures included the peak latency and mean amplitude of the mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a, N2pc and reorientation negativity (RON), and N2pc. Each ERP component reflects a specific stage along the distraction process: automatic scanning and change detection (MMN), involuntary orientation to deviants (P3a), attentional filtering (N2pc) and voluntary attentional reorientation (RON). The first three components are involved in the sensory/perceptual processing, while the last component is involved in the goal-directed processing (cognitive control for distraction compensation). These behavioral and ERP results were correlated with temperament data obtained from parent-report questionnaires. There were three main findings. First, CWS, but no CWNS, exhibited a P600 and increased peak latency of the late phase of RON (lRON). The P600 is elicited by violations in rule-governed sequences or the effect of encountering unexpected stimuli, while the lRON reflects evaluation of task-relevant information and motor preparation. The existence of P600 suggests that CWS return and re-evaluate deviants, perhaps due to reduced inhibitory control. As a result, CWS are delayed to start the attentional process reflected by lRON. Second, CWS exhibited a higher rate of false alarms in the auditory-auditory distraction task; this finding confirmed the notion of less efficiency in inhibitory control for CWS. Third, similar to previous research findings, our temperament data also revealed that CWS tended to exhibit relatively high negative affect in combination with relatively low effortful and attentional control, compared to their fluent peers. Taken together, present findings corroborate previous observations of relatively high emotional reactivity and relatively low efficiency in emotional regulation for CWS, including attentional and inhibitory control. Further, our results reveal that the low attentional control in CWS may result from less efficiency in the goal-directed processing for distraction compensation.

The efficiency of human visual information processing is supported by numerous attentional resources. These resources ensure that behaviourally relevant information within visual scenes is selected for detailed processing, while behaviourally irrelevant information is ignored. One of these attentional resources—reflexive visuospatial attention—operates by prioritising locations in visual space in response to the appearance of salient stimuli. The purpose of the present dissertation was to examine how this type of attention contributes to the efficiency of visual processing by asking: How is processing altered for information presented at the location of attention? To develop some initial evidence of the stage of processing affected by reflexive visuospatial attention, Chapters 1 to 6 assessed whether this attentional resource is related to four other stimulus-driven effects that are each associated with a specific stage of visual processing: identity processing, object filtering, visual working memory (VWM), and response generation. Based on the observation that only the stimulus-driven effects on VWM are related to reflexive visuospatial attention (i.e., only those effects were contingent on attentional control settings), a VWM model of reflexive visuospatial attention was proposed in Chapter 7, and tested in Chapters 8 to 11. According to this model, reflexive visuospatial attention alters visual processing by triggering VWM to update. Thus, the effect of reflexive visuospatial attention is to speed the encoding of attended information into VWM. As a result, this information is more likely than unattended information to bias our behaviour, in particular those behaviours that depend on VWM. Further, by biasing VWM, reflexive visuospatial attention can interact with other attentional resources that have also been associated with VWM. In this way, these attentional resources can coordinate in optimising the process of selection, thus, contributing to the efficiency of the human visual system.

The efficiency of human visual information processing is supported by numerous attentional resources. These resources ensure that behaviourally relevant information within visual scenes is selected for detailed processing, while behaviourally irrelevant information is ignored. One of these attentional resources—reflexive visuospatial attention—operates by prioritising locations in visual space in response to the appearance of salient stimuli. The purpose of the present dissertation was to examine how this type of attention contributes to the efficiency of visual processing by asking: How is processing altered for information presented at the location of attention? To develop some initial evidence of the stage of processing affected by reflexive visuospatial attention, Chapters 1 to 6 assessed whether this attentional resource is related to four other stimulus-driven effects that are each associated with a specific stage of visual processing: identity processing, object filtering, visual working memory (VWM), and response generation. Based on the observation that only the stimulus-driven effects on VWM are related to reflexive visuospatial attention (i.e., only those effects were contingent on attentional control settings), a VWM model of reflexive visuospatial attention was proposed in Chapter 7, and tested in Chapters 8 to 11. According to this model, reflexive visuospatial attention alters visual processing by triggering VWM to update. Thus, the effect of reflexive visuospatial attention is to speed the encoding of attended information into VWM. As a result, this information is more likely than unattended information to bias our behaviour, in particular those behaviours that depend on VWM. Further, by biasing VWM, reflexive visuospatial attention can interact with other attentional resources that have also been associated with VWM. In this way, these attentional resources can coordinate in optimising the process of selection, thus, contributing to the efficiency of the human visual system.

Since antiquity, philosophers, theologians, and scientists have been interested in human memory; however, researchers today are still working to understand the capabilities, boundaries, and architecture. While the storage capabilities of long-term memory are seemingly unlimited (Bahrick, 1984), working memory, or the ability to maintain and manipulate information held in memory, seems to have stringent capacity limits (e.g., Cowan, 2001). Individual differences, however, do exist and these differences can often predict performance on a wide variety of tasks (cf. Engle, 2001). Recently, researchers have promoted the enticing possibility that simple behavioral training can expand the limits of working memory which indeed may also lead to improvements on other cognitive processes as well (cf. Morrison&Chein, 2011). The current study investigated this possibility. Recommendations from the skill training literature (cf. Schneider, 1985) were incorporated to create optimized verbal and spatial working memory training tasks. Significant performance improvements were evident across eight days of cognitive training using verbal and spatial adaptive n-back procedures. Training-related improvements were also evident for some untrained measures of visual short-term memory, attentional control, and working memory. These training effects, however, were not universal. Other measures of visual short-term memory and attentional control, as well as measures of fluid intelligence were unaffected by training.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar se o treino de meditação da atenção focada promoveria melhoras em variáveis emocionais e cognitivas. Foram realizadas duas intervenções de diferentes durações, as quais foram avaliadas antes e depois através de um paradigma experimental que permitiu analisar a interferência emocional e o controle cognitivo, assim como de medidas de autorrelato avaliando variáveis de ansiedade, afeto, dificuldades de regulação emocional e atenção concentrada. A primeira intervenção compreendeu um ensaio randomizado de seis semanas, com encontros semanais e com dois grupos controle - relaxamento progressivo e lista de espera. A segunda compreendeu um ensaio de cinco dias consecutivos, com apenas um grupo controle de lista de espera. Os resultados de ambas intervenções indicaram que a meditação da atenção focada pode ajudar na modulação da interferência emocional, no controle cognitivo, assim como na melhora de aspectos emocionais, tal como redução de ansiedade e afeto negativo, e melhora na atenção concentrada. Além disso, estes resultados foram superiores àqueles observados nos grupos controle. Ressalta-se que apesar de complementares, os achados da intervenção mais curta foram menos robustos, indicando que um treino curto já pode produzir mudanças, mas que estas ganham maior magnitude à medida que o tempo de prática aumenta. Discute-se o papel da interrelação entre as variáveis investigadas para a regulação emocional, sugerindo-se que a meditação pode ser caracterizada como um tipo particular de estratégia regulatória. / The present work aimed to evaluate whether a focused attention meditation training would promote enhancements in emotional and cognitive variables. Two interventions with distinct durations were carried out, which were evaluated before and afterwards through an experimental paradigm that allowed the analysis of emotion intereference and cognitive control, as well self-report measures assessing variables such as anxiety, affect, difficulties in emotion regulation, and concentrated attention. The first intervention comprised of a six-week randomized trial, with weekly meetings and two control groups - progressive relaxation and wait list control. The second comprised a five-consecutive-day randomized trial, with only a wait list control group. Results from both interventions indicated that focused attention meditation can help modulating emotion interference, enhance cognitive control, as well as improve emotional aspects, such as reducing anxiety, negative affect, and increasing concentrated attention. In addition, these findings were superior to those observed in the control groups. We highlight that despite being complementary, the results from the short intervention were less robust, indicating that a short-term training can already promote some changes, but that the extent of their magnitude seems to be related to the amount of practice. We discuss the role of the interrelationship between the investigated variables for emotion regulation, suggesting that meditation can be considered a particular type of regulatory strategy.