Cocaine users display impaired inhibitory control. The influence of cocaine-related stimuli on inhibitory control has not been assessed. The Attentional Bias-Behavioral Activation (ABBA) task uses cocaine and neutral images as cues to determine if drug-related images impair inhibitory control in cocaine users. This dissertation was designed to assess the influence of cocaine images on inhibitory control in cocaine users through the conduct of studies designed to address four aims. The first aim was to demonstrate that cocaine users display impaired inhibitory control following cocaine images compared to neutral images on the ABBA task. This was accomplished through the conduct of two experiments. The first experiment piloted the ABBA task and cocaine users completed the cocaine go (n = 15) or neutral go condition (n = 15) of the task. The second experiment consisted of two studies designed to develop a within-subjects methodology for using the ABBA task. In the first study, cocaine users completed either the cocaine go (n = 20) or neutral go (n = 20) condition of the ABBA task and all participants also completed the Cued Go/No-Go task, with geometric shapes as cues. In the second study, cocaine users (n = 18) completed the cocaine go condition of the ABBA task and a modified version of the ABBA task with all neutral images as cues to further refine a possible within-subjects methodology. The second aim was to demonstrate that inhibitory failures occur most often when cues are presented for short compared to longer durations of time. Data collected during other protocols (n = 91) were combined to investigate the influence of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA; i.e., the amount of time a cue is presented before a target indicated a response should be executed or withheld) on inhibitory control following cocaine-related and neutral cues on the ABBA task. The third aim was to demonstrate impaired inhibitory control following cocaine images on the ABBA task is specific to cocaine users. Cocaine users (data collected in the second experiment of the first aim) and non-using control participants (n = 16) completed the cocaine go and all neutral conditions of the ABBA task and the Cued Go/No-Go task. The fourth aim was to demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of inhibitory control training to cocaine-related stimuli with cocaine users. A small pilot clinical trial was conducted and cocaine users were randomly assigned to complete inhibitory control training to cocaine images or geometric shapes. Cocaine images impaired inhibitory control on the ABBA task, as demonstrated by an increased proportion of inhibitory failures in the cocaine go condition compared to the neutral go condition in Experiments 1, 2, and 4. The proportion of inhibitory failures following cocaine images in Experiment 4 was increased at short (i.e., 100, 200) compared to long SOAs. Cocaine images also impaired inhibitory control compared to the Cued Go/No-Go Task in Experiment 2, however there were no differences in the proportion of inhibitory failures between the cocaine go and all neutral conditions of the ABBA task. There were no differences between cocaine users and controls in Experiment 3 for the proportion of inhibitory failures on the ABBA or Cued Go/No-Go tasks, but controls responded faster indicating a speed/accuracy trade off occurred in the control group. Inhibitory control training as an approach to improve treatment outcomes is feasible, as indicated by attendance and accuracy on the training task, and participants rated the overall procedure as satisfactory in Experiment 5. A better understanding of inhibitory control in the presence of cocaine related cues could be crucial to better understand how drug cues contribute to the risk for relapse and the continued use of drugs because both occur in the presence of drug cues.

The work within this thesis examined aspects of emotion processing among non-clinical females who varied in levels of eating-related psychopathology. Five studies employed a quantitative approach in order to assess potential deficits in both the control and experience of emotion. To examine the experience of emotion, Studies 1, 2 and 3 assessed the attentional processing of emotional stimuli in those with high and low levels of eating-related psychopathology. In Studies 1 and 2, specific components of attention bias including orientation, disengagement and avoidance were assessed in order to explore their role in contributing to disordered eating behaviour. Findings from these studies did not reveal any differences in attentional orienting between those with high and low levels of eating-related psychopathology. However, when primed with happy faces, those with high levels of disordered eating were significantly quicker than those with low levels to disengage from threat-relevant words. This finding could be interpreted in terms of emotional arousal with happy facial displays providing a protective function against subsequently presented stimuli. With regards to emotional avoidance, those with higher levels of eating-related psychopathology were more likely to avoid emotional displays relative to those with lower levels. In fact, a higher drive to achieve thinness was shown to predict a greater avoidance of both angry and happy facial expressions. Interestingly, depression, anxiety and alexithymia were all shown to impact upon attentional processing. In Study 3, the efficacy of attention training in reducing attentional biases towards threat in women with varying levels of disordered eating was examined. Importantly, a single session of attention training was found to be successful in modifying previously observed attentional biases towards threat. However, eating-related psychopathology was shown to have only a partial influence on participants attention processing. These findings suggest that the success of attention training may be independent of disordered eating. To examine the control of emotion within a non-clinical population, Study 4 utilised self-report questionnaires to explore associations between deficits in emotional functioning and severity of eating-related psychopathology. The data obtained from this questionnaire-based investigation are reported in a series of three short studies. Specifically, Study 4.1 of this chapter examined the relationship between difficulties in the regulation of emotion within eating-related psychopathology. Furthermore, Studies 4.2 and 4.3 set out to explore some of the factors which may influence emotion processing, such as pessimistic attitudes regarding emotional expression. Across all studies, the role of depression, anxiety and alexithymia as potential confounding factors was considered. Findings revealed a significant relationship between eating-related psychopathology and difficulties regulating emotion. Dysfunctional or negative attitudes towards the expression of emotion were also linked to a greater number of eating disorder-related concerns and behaviours. However, many of the associations between eating-related psychopathology and impaired emotional functioning were no longer apparent when depression, anxiety and alexithymia had been statistically accounted for. These findings not only support previous research, but highlight the importance of mood and alexithymia in contributing to the emotional deficits observed. Finally, Study 5 aimed to explore the potential consequences of inadequate emotion processing within eating-related psychopathology. Self-report measures were utilised to assess the frequency of eating-related intrusive thoughts in those with high levels of eating-related psychopathology. As predicted, those with greater levels of disordered eating reported experiencing a higher frequency of thoughts or intrusions relating to eating. This may point towards a failure to successfully process emotional experience in this group. Taken together, this body of work enhances the current understanding of the role of emotion processing in contributing to both the onset and maintenance of disordered eating. These findings also emphasise the key role of mood and alexithymia in influencing the relationship between emotional functioning and eating-related psychopathology. Therefore further research examining emotion processing within disordered eating must acknowledge the potential contribution of depression, anxiety and alexithymia. Furthermore, the present findings provide clear support for the development of a model of cognitive-emotion processing within eating-related psychopathology. The implications of these findings for both eating disorder treatment and prevention are discussed. Possible directions for future research are also identified.

Numerous studies have looked at cognitive processing, more specifically attention, and its important role in various dynamic and static movements. Research on attentional demands in sport is an expanding area with studies now being done on athletes revealing the role of cognitive factors in the execution of motor movements in sports. Objective: the purpose of this study was to determine the attentional demands of a delivery in curling using a classic probe technique with a verbal response time and by measuring numerous performance variables. Subjects: ten healthy skilled curling players and nine healthy novice curling players undertook an auditory probe reaction time concurrently with a delivery in curling. Method: Sixty shots were executed with ten shots for each of the three phases of the shot, in all 30 take outs and 30 draws were done by each participant. The first phase when the player comes out of the “hack”, the second phase of the throw was when the player slid across the “t-line”. The third phase is when the player arrives near the line of Hog and releases the stone. Results: results revealed that reaction times were longer at phase 1 of the delivery for all subjects. The attentional demands for the draw and take out were highest at the phase one of the delivery, furthermore, compared to the draw, a significant rise of RT was seen in phase 3 of the take out shot. Significant differences were also found between the two experimental groups, with the most notable ones being that expert had a better shot success and a slower delivery time than the novice group. Conclusion: These results will lead to a better understanding of the attentional demands of two key shots in the sport of Curling and help curling coaches and teachers, as well as the players of the sport to know more about the attentional demands of the execution movement of the sport. This study also opens a new and interesting perspective on the importance of attention while performing motor tasks that are more complex and demanding.

The purposes of this study were to examine the (a) attentional focus strategies used by high school distance runners, (b) changes in attentional focus across four laps in three 1.6 km runs, and (c) effects of a pre-performance intervention using motivational and instructional self talk on the attentional focus strategies used by and performance of high school distance runners. Participants (N = 42) completed a background and demographic questionnaire, the Cross Country Attentional Focus Inventory (CCAFI), a motivational and instructional statement survey, and the Self-Motivation Inventory. A series of oneway ANOVAs revealed significant differences in the types of attentional strategies used by each group, as well as fluctuations in use of strategies. The experimental group associated more during the each of the 1.6 km trials, whereas the control group dissociated more throughout each trial. A significant group by week interaction was found, with the experimental group maintaining their performance and the control group slowing from week one to week three.

L’effet du vieillissement sur les fonctions cognitives de haut niveau demeure encore relativement incompris. Cette recherche vise à mieux comprendre les différences interindividuelles de performances entre les individus jeunes et âgés par l’étude des processus de contrôle attentionnel mis en jeu dans les tâches de commutation attentionnelle. Dans unpremier temps, deux tâches d’alternance de type séries alternées ont été administrées à des adultes jeunes et âgés. Les résultats n’indiquent pas d’effet de l’âge sur les coûts d’alternance mesurés mais en revanche un coût d’alternance symétrique (étude 1) et des coûts d’alternance locaux et globaux différents selon les individus (étude 1 et 2). Dans un second temps, un travail de modélisation du fonctionnement cognitif à l’aide de l’architecture cognitive ACT-R a été réalisé. Il permet de tester la plausibilité des hypothèses de diminution de la vitesse de traitement (VT) et de diminution de la capacité de la mémoire de travail (CMT), à pouvoir reproduire les différences de performances entre jeunes et âgés. Lesrésultats des tests d’hypothèse pour les deux études réalisées indiquent que ces hypothèses ne reproduisent pas assez les effets empiriquement observés ce qui suppose que les hypothèses de diminution de la VT ou de la CMT sont insuffisantes pour expliquer les différences de performances individuelles observées. Cette étude met en évidence l’intérêt de la modélisation cognitive computationnelle dans la compréhension des processus sous-jacent le fonctionnement cognitif humain / The effect of aging on high level cognitive functions is still relatively misunderstood. The aim of this research is to better understand individual performance differences between young and elderly individuals, by studying the attentional control processes involved in task switching. Initially, two switching tasks were administered to young and elderly adults. The results indicate no age effect on the switching cost but show an asymmetric switching cost (Study 1) and differentlocal and global switching costs between individuals (study 1 and 2). In a second step, a computational cognitive modeling of cognitive functioning is built using the ACT-R architecture. It enables to test the veracity of the assumptions of reduced processing speed (VT) and reduced capacity of working memory (WCL), to reproduce the observed performance differences between young and old individuals. The results of the hypothesis tests for both studies indicate that these assumptions do not reproduce adequately the empirically observed effects, which implies that the assumptions of decreased VT or CMT are insufficient to explain the individual performance differences observed. This study highlights the interest of computational cognitive modeling in the understanding of the processes underlying human cognitive functioning

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between working memory capacity and golf performance in a dual-task paradigm. Twenty-eight golfers with ages varying from 19-58 participated in the study. The participants were instructed to, after assessing their working memory capacity with digit span tests, hit ten golf putts from varying distances in two different conditions, one single-task condition (just performing the golf putts) and one dual-task condition (golf putts plus a working memory task). In the dual-task condition the participants were given an address (including street name, postal code and city) to remember while hitting all ten putts. After hitting the putts in each condition the participants reported their perceived mental effort. Results from the study showed that participants with higher working memory capacity performed better than participants with lower working memory capacity in general, but especially in the distracted condition. Results also showed that participants with higher working memory capacity perceived less mental effort compared to participants with lower working memory capacity, especially in the distracted condition. The findings from this study indicate that working memory capacity is related to performance and mental effort exerted during performance, especially in a distracted condition.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of attentional focus on football performance. 20 junior elite football players participated in a repeated measure experiment where the effects of external focus and internal focus (compared to a control condition with no instructions regarding attentional focus) in a football related performance was investigated. The participants got to do an obstacle course three times, one with no instructions regarding focus of attention, one with internal focus and one with external focus. Significant effect of focus was found in two out of three dependent variables, passing points and cone touches, but no effect on time taken to finish the obstacle course. The participants got more points in passing and touched less cones in the obstacle course when having an external focus (with medium to strong effect sizes) compared to both internal focus and no instructions regarding focus. There were no differences in performance between internal focus and no instructions. The result in this study indicates that having external focus could enhance performance for junior elite football players, even though more research is needed on the subject for senior football players.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the past research that has been conducted to date on pre-shot routines in golf via a thorough review of the literature. A historical review is presented in a chronological order of research studies that have been conducted pertaining to pre-shot routines in golf over the last 40 years. From this review, the STOP S.L.O.W. GO Pre-Shot Routine Model for Golf was developed and assessed amongst college golf coaches in the United States. A total of 36 college golf coaches working at the NCAA Division I level participated in a two-round Delphi study to validate the usefulness and future utility of the STOP S.L.O.W. GO Pre-Shot Routine Model for Golf. The usefulness of the STOP S.L.O.W. GO Pre-Shot Routine Model for Golf was validated by achieving a 72.73% consensus agreement level amongst study participants. The researchers were unable to reach adequate levels of expert consensus amongst college golf coaches working at the NCAA Division I level pertaining to the future utility of the STOP S.L.O.W. GO Pre-Shot Routine Model for Golf in their golf instruction. However, it was found that future utilization rates of the model may increase if the designer of the model were to provide educational sessions to college golf coaches and members of their college golf team. Practitioners and researchers are encouraged to further examine the efficacy and future adoption rates of the STOP S.L.O.W. GO Pre-Shot Routine Model for Golf amongst golfers of all ability levels. In addition, a study examining the real adoption and utilization rates of college golf coaches working at the Division I level is encouraged upon the completion of face-to-face educational sessions by a researcher who has expertise in the area of pre-shot routines in golf.

abstract: A literature search revealed that previous research on the Attentional Blink (AB) has not examined the role of salience in AB results. I examined how salience affects the AB through multiple forms and degrees of salience in target 1 (T1) and target 2 (T2) stimuli. When examining increased size as a form of salience, results showed a more salient T2 increased recall, attenuating the AB. A more salient T1 did not differ from the control, suggesting the salience (increased size) of T2 is an important factor in the AB, while salience (increased size) of T1 does not affect the AB. Additionally, the differences in target size (50% or 100% larger) were not significantly different, showing size differences at these intervals do not affect AB results. To further explore the lack of difference in results when T1 is larger in size, I examined dynamic stimuli used as T1. T1 stimuli were presented as looming or receding. When T1 was presented as looming or receding, the AB was attenuated (T2 recall at lag 2 was significantly greater). Additionally, T2 recall was significantly worse at lags three and four (showing a larger decrease directly following the attenuated AB). When comparing looming and receding against each other, at lag 2 (when recall accuracy at its lowest) looming increased recall significantly more than receding stimuli. This is expected to be due to the immediate attentional needs related to looming stimuli. Overall, the results showed T2 salience in the form of size significantly increases recall accuracy while T1 size salience does not affect the AB results. With that, dynamic T1 stimuli increase recall accuracy at early lags (lag 2) while it decreases recall accuracy at later lags (lags 3 and 4). This result is found when the stimuli are presented at a larger size (stimuli appearing closer), suggesting the more eminent need for attention results in greater effects on the AB. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Human Systems Engineering 2019

When designing for the general population it is important to design inclusively in order to invite to participation in today’s digital society. With this study the widely used Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) gets investigated for its sufficiency in guidance towards inclusive design within mobile devices. Through a comparative analysis between the principles of WCAG and literature considering the effects of the limited attentional resources, deficits with WCAG are detected and discussed. Additionally, a parallel effort making a real-case with a WCAG adapted prototype based on a UX-design process is conducted in order to gain further insight and discussion. This process includes iterative sketching, persona-workshop, Service Blueprint-creation and usability testing. Findings show that WCAG does not fully consider the effects of the limited attentional resources. Recommendations are given for further scientific work in developing complementary guidance considering cognitive limitations to WCAG towards an inclusive design.