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Sample records for multifocal individual-specific attention-related

  1. Neural dynamics of object-based multifocal visual spatial attention and priming: object cueing, useful-field-of-view, and crowding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley, Nicholas C; Grossberg, Stephen; Mingolla, Ennio

    2012-08-01

    How are spatial and object attention coordinated to achieve rapid object learning and recognition during eye movement search? How do prefrontal priming and parietal spatial mechanisms interact to determine the reaction time costs of intra-object attention shifts, inter-object attention shifts, and shifts between visible objects and covertly cued locations? What factors underlie individual differences in the timing and frequency of such attentional shifts? How do transient and sustained spatial attentional mechanisms work and interact? How can volition, mediated via the basal ganglia, influence the span of spatial attention? A neural model is developed of how spatial attention in the where cortical stream coordinates view-invariant object category learning in the what cortical stream under free viewing conditions. The model simulates psychological data about the dynamics of covert attention priming and switching requiring multifocal attention without eye movements. The model predicts how "attentional shrouds" are formed when surface representations in cortical area V4 resonate with spatial attention in posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC), while shrouds compete among themselves for dominance. Winning shrouds support invariant object category learning, and active surface-shroud resonances support conscious surface perception and recognition. Attentive competition between multiple objects and cues simulates reaction-time data from the two-object cueing paradigm. The relative strength of sustained surface-driven and fast-transient motion-driven spatial attention controls individual differences in reaction time for invalid cues. Competition between surface-driven attentional shrouds controls individual differences in detection rate of peripheral targets in useful-field-of-view tasks. The model proposes how the strength of competition can be mediated, though learning or momentary changes in volition, by the basal ganglia. A new explanation of

  2. Event-related potential indices of inter-individual and age differences in visual attention capacity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wiegand, Iris; Töllner, Thomas; Dyrholm, Mads

    The ‘Theory of Visual Attention’ quantifies an individual’s capacity of attentional resources in parameters visual processing speed C and vSTM storage capacity K. By combining TVA-based assessment with neurophysiology, we showed that distinct ERP components index inter-individual differences......-related changes in attentional capacities, these ERP markers of individual differences in processing speed and storage capacity were validated in an older group. Furthermore, additional components were related to performance exclusively in older inidividuals: Anterior N1 amplitudes were reduced for slower older...... that reorganization of attentional brain networks, including age-specific decline and compensation mechanisms, determines older individuals’ attention capacity. Furthermore, we show that the distinctiveness of the two functions, as defined in TVA, is preserved (or even increased) in older age....

  3. Three-dimensional vectorial multifocal arrays created by pseudo-period encoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Tingting; Chang, Chenliang; Chen, Zhaozhong; Wang, Hui-Tian; Ding, Jianping

    2018-06-01

    Multifocal arrays have been attracting considerable attention recently owing to their potential applications in parallel optical tweezers, parallel single-molecule orientation determination, parallel recording and multifocal multiphoton microscopy. However, the generation of vectorial multifocal arrays with a tailorable structure and polarization state remains a great challenge, and reports on multifocal arrays have hitherto been restricted either to scalar focal spots without polarization versatility or to regular arrays with fixed spacing. In this work, we propose a specific pseudo-period encoding technique to create three-dimensional (3D) vectorial multifocal arrays with the ability to manipulate the position, polarization state and intensity of each focal spot. We experimentally validated the flexibility of our approach in the generation of 3D vectorial multiple spots with polarization multiplicity and position tunability.

  4. Attention processes in chronic fatigue syndrome: attentional bias for health-related threat and the role of attentional control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Ruihua; Moss-Morris, Rona; Risdale, Anna; Lynch, Jeannette; Jeevaratnam, Preshan; Bradley, Brendan P; Mogg, Karin

    2014-01-01

    Cognitive behavioural models of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) propose that attention processes, specifically, enhanced selective attention to health-threat related cues, may play an important role in symptom maintenance. The current study investigated attentional bias towards health-threat stimuli in CFS. It also examined whether individuals with CFS have impaired executive attention, and whether this was related to attentional bias. 27 participants with CFS and 35 healthy controls completed a Visual Probe Task measuring attentional bias, and an Attention Network Test measuring executive attention, alerting and orienting. Participants also completed self-report measures of CFS and mood symptoms. Compared to the control group, the CFS group showed greater attentional bias for health-threat words than pictures; and the CFS group was significantly impaired in executive attention. Furthermore, CFS individuals with poor executive attention showed greater attentional bias to health-threat related words, compared not only to controls but also to CFS individuals with good executive attention. Thus, this study revealed a significant relationship between attentional bias and executive attention in CFS: attentional bias to threat was primarily evident in those with impaired executive attention control. Taking account of individual differences in executive attention control in current intervention models may be beneficial for CFS. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Individual working memory capacity is uniquely correlated with feature-based attention when combined with spatial attention

    OpenAIRE

    Bengson, Jesse J.; Mangun, George R.

    2011-01-01

    A growing literature suggests that working memory and attention are closely related constructs. Both involve the selection of task-relevant information, and both are characterized by capacity limits. Furthermore, studies using a variety of methodological approaches have demonstrated convergent working memory and attention-related processing at the individual, neural and behavioral level. Given the varieties of both constructs, the specific kinds of attention and WM must be considered. We find...

  6. A rare case of a medullary, multifocal lesion in the distal radius

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aktas, Birol; Ozturan, Burak; Kilic, Bulent; Ozkan, Korhan

    2017-01-01

    In multifocal findings, the possibility of multifocal osteoid osteomas should be considered and this case helps us to be attentive for the unusual radiographical presentation of osteoid osteoma. PMID:28748099

  7. Foot clearance and variability in mono- and multifocal intraocular lens users during stair navigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renz, Erik; Hackney, Madeleine; Hall, Courtney

    2016-01-01

    Intraocular lenses (IOLs) provide distance and near refraction and are becoming the standard for cataract surgery. Multifocal glasses increase variability of toe clearance in older adults navigating stairs and increase fall risk; however, little is known about the biomechanics of stair navigation in individuals with multifocal IOLs. This study compared clearance while ascending and descending stairs in individuals with monofocal versus multifocal IOLs. Eight participants with multifocal IOLs (4 men, 4 women; mean age = 66.5 yr, standard deviation [SD] = 6.26) and fifteen male participants with monofocal IOLs (mean age = 69.9 yr, SD = 6.9) underwent vision and mobility testing. Motion analysis recorded kinematic and custom software-calculated clearances in three-dimensional space. No significant differences were found between groups on minimum clearance or variability. Clearance differed for ascending versus descending stairs: the first step onto the stair had the greatest toe clearance during ascent, whereas the final step to the floor had the greatest heel clearance during descent. This preliminary study indicates that multifocal IOLs have similar biomechanic characteristics to monofocal IOLs. Given that step characteristics are related to fall risk, we can tentatively speculate that multifocal IOLs may carry no additional fall risk.

  8. Individual Differences in Recovery Time From Attentional Capture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K.

    2015-01-01

    Working memory capacity reflects a core ability of the individual that affects performance on many cognitive tasks. Recent work has suggested that an important covariate of memory capacity is attentional control, and specifically that low-capacity individuals are more susceptible to attentional capture by distractors than high-capacity individuals are, with the latter being able to resist capture. Here, we tested an alternative account according to which all individuals are equally susceptible to attentional capture, but high-capacity individuals recover more quickly than low-capacity individuals. Using psychophysical and electrophysiological methods, we measured recovery time from attentional capture. In two experiments, we found that high- and low-capacity individuals showed equivalent attentional capture effects in the initial moments following capture, but that low-capacity individuals took much longer to recover than high-capacity individuals did. These results suggest that the poor attentional control associated with low capacity is due to slow disengagement from distractors. PMID:21310945

  9. Specificity and overlap of attention and memory biases in depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchetti, Igor; Everaert, Jonas; Dainer-Best, Justin; Loeys, Tom; Beevers, Christopher G; Koster, Ernst H W

    2018-01-01

    Attentional and memory biases are viewed as crucial cognitive processes underlying symptoms of depression. However, it is still unclear whether these two biases are uniquely related to depression or whether they show substantial overlap. We investigated the degree of specificity and overlap of attentional and memory biases for depressotypic stimuli in relation to depression and anxiety by means of meta-analytic commonality analysis. By including four published studies, we considered a pool of 463 healthy and subclinically depressed individuals, different experimental paradigms, and different psychological measures. Memory bias is reliably and strongly related to depression and, specifically, to symptoms of negative mood, worthlessness, feelings of failure, and pessimism. Memory bias for negative information was minimally related to anxiety. Moreover, neither attentional bias nor the overlap between attentional and memory biases were significantly related to depression. Limitations include cross-sectional nature of the study. Our study showed that, across different paradigms and psychological measures, memory bias (and not attentional bias) represents a primary mechanism in depression. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Musical minds: attentional blink reveals modality-specific restrictions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sander Martens

    Full Text Available Formal musical training is known to have positive effects on attentional and executive functioning, processing speed, and working memory. Consequently, one may expect to find differences in the dynamics of temporal attention between musicians and non-musicians. Here we address the question whether that is indeed the case, and whether any beneficial effects of musical training on temporal attention are modality specific or generalize across sensory modalities.When two targets are presented in close temporal succession, most people fail to report the second target, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB. We measured and compared AB magnitude for musicians and non-musicians using auditory or visually presented letters and digits. Relative to non-musicians, the auditory AB was both attenuated and delayed in musicians, whereas the visual AB was larger. Non-musicians with a large auditory AB tended to show a large visual AB. However, neither a positive nor negative correlation was found in musicians, suggesting that at least in musicians, attentional restrictions within each modality are completely separate.AB magnitude within one modality can generalize to another modality, but this turns out not to be the case for every individual. Formal musical training seems to have a domain-general, but modality-specific beneficial effect on selective attention. The results fit with the idea that a major source of attentional restriction as reflected in the AB lies in modality-specific, independent sensory systems rather than a central amodal system. The findings demonstrate that individual differences in AB magnitude can provide important information about the modular structure of human cognition.

  11. Musical minds: attentional blink reveals modality-specific restrictions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martens, Sander; Wierda, Stefan M; Dun, Mathijs; de Vries, Michal; Smid, Henderikus G O M

    2015-01-01

    Formal musical training is known to have positive effects on attentional and executive functioning, processing speed, and working memory. Consequently, one may expect to find differences in the dynamics of temporal attention between musicians and non-musicians. Here we address the question whether that is indeed the case, and whether any beneficial effects of musical training on temporal attention are modality specific or generalize across sensory modalities. When two targets are presented in close temporal succession, most people fail to report the second target, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). We measured and compared AB magnitude for musicians and non-musicians using auditory or visually presented letters and digits. Relative to non-musicians, the auditory AB was both attenuated and delayed in musicians, whereas the visual AB was larger. Non-musicians with a large auditory AB tended to show a large visual AB. However, neither a positive nor negative correlation was found in musicians, suggesting that at least in musicians, attentional restrictions within each modality are completely separate. AB magnitude within one modality can generalize to another modality, but this turns out not to be the case for every individual. Formal musical training seems to have a domain-general, but modality-specific beneficial effect on selective attention. The results fit with the idea that a major source of attentional restriction as reflected in the AB lies in modality-specific, independent sensory systems rather than a central amodal system. The findings demonstrate that individual differences in AB magnitude can provide important information about the modular structure of human cognition.

  12. How Does Attention Relate to the Ability-Specific and Position-Specific Components of Reasoning Measured by APM?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Xuezhu; Goldhammer, Frank; Moosbrugger, Helfried; Schweizer, Karl

    2012-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to clarify the nature of the ability-specific and position-specific components of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) by relating them to a number of types of attention. The ability-specific component represents the constant part of cognitive performance whereas the position-specific component reflects the…

  13. Individual differences at high perceptual load: the relation between trait anxiety and selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadeh, Naomi; Bredemeier, Keith

    2011-06-01

    Attentional control theory (Eysenck et al., 2007) posits that taxing attentional resources impairs performance efficiency in anxious individuals. This theory, however, does not explicitly address if or how the relation between anxiety and attentional control depends upon the perceptual demands of the task at hand. Consequently, the present study examined the relation between trait anxiety and task performance using a perceptual load task (Maylor & Lavie, 1998). Sixty-eight male college students completed a visual search task that indexed processing of irrelevant distractors systematically across four levels of perceptual load. Results indicated that anxiety was related to difficulty suppressing the behavioural effects of irrelevant distractors (i.e., decreased reaction time efficiency) under high, but not low, perceptual loads. In contrast, anxiety was not associated with error rates on the task. These findings are consistent with the prediction that anxiety is associated with impairments in performance efficiency under conditions that tax attentional resources.

  14. Atomoxetine effects on attentional bias to drug-related cues in cocaine dependent individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passamonti, Luca; Luijten, M; Ziauddeen, H; Coyle-Gilchrist, I T S; Rittman, T; Brain, S A E; Regenthal, R; Franken, I H A; Sahakian, B J; Bullmore, E T; Robbins, T W; Ersche, K D

    2017-08-01

    Biased attention towards drug-related cues and reduced inhibitory control over the regulation of drug-intake characterize drug addiction. The noradrenaline system has been critically implicated in both attentional and response inhibitory processes and is directly affected by drugs such as cocaine. We examined the potentially beneficial effects of the noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor atomoxetine in improving cognitive control during two tasks that used cocaine- and non-cocaine-related stimuli. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, and cross-over psycho-pharmacological design was employed. A single oral dose of atomoxetine (40 mg) was administered to 28 cocaine-dependent individuals (CDIs) and 28 healthy controls. All participants performed a pictorial attentional bias task involving both cocaine- and non-cocaine-related pictures as well as a verbal go/no-go task composed of cocaine- and food-related words. As expected, CDIs showed attentional bias to cocaine-related cues whilst controls did not. More importantly, however, atomoxetine, relative to placebo, significantly attenuated attentional bias in CDIs (F 26  = 6.73, P = 0.01). During the go/no-go task, there was a treatment × trial × group interaction, although this finding only showed a trend towards statistical significance (F 26  = 3.38, P = 0.07). Our findings suggest that atomoxetine reduces attentional bias to drug-related cues in CDIs. This may result from atomoxetine's modulation of the balance between tonic/phasic activity in the locus coeruleus and the possibly parallel enhancement of noradrenergic neurotransmission within the prefrontal cortex. Studying how cognitive enhancers such as atomoxetine influence key neurocognitive indices in cocaine addiction may help to develop reliable biomarkers for patient stratification in future clinical trials.

  15. Visual attention in preterm born adults: specifically impaired attentional sub-mechanisms that link with altered intrinsic brain networks in a compensation-like mode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finke, Kathrin; Neitzel, Julia; Bäuml, Josef G; Redel, Petra; Müller, Hermann J; Meng, Chun; Jaekel, Julia; Daamen, Marcel; Scheef, Lukas; Busch, Barbara; Baumann, Nicole; Boecker, Henning; Bartmann, Peter; Habekost, Thomas; Wolke, Dieter; Wohlschläger, Afra; Sorg, Christian

    2015-02-15

    Although pronounced and lasting deficits in selective attention have been observed for preterm born individuals it is unknown which specific attentional sub-mechanisms are affected and how they relate to brain networks. We used the computationally specified 'Theory of Visual Attention' together with whole- and partial-report paradigms to compare attentional sub-mechanisms of pre- (n=33) and full-term (n=32) born adults. Resting-state fMRI was used to evaluate both between-group differences and inter-individual variance in changed functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks relevant for visual attention. In preterm born adults, we found specific impairments of visual short-term memory (vSTM) storage capacity while other sub-mechanisms such as processing speed or attentional weighting were unchanged. Furthermore, changed functional connectivity was found in unimodal visual and supramodal attention-related intrinsic networks. Among preterm born adults, the individual pattern of changed connectivity in occipital and parietal cortices was systematically associated with vSTM in such a way that the more distinct the connectivity differences, the better the preterm adults' storage capacity. These findings provide first evidence for selectively changed attentional sub-mechanisms in preterm born adults and their relation to altered intrinsic brain networks. In particular, data suggest that cortical changes in intrinsic functional connectivity may compensate adverse developmental consequences of prematurity on visual short-term storage capacity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. A relational structure of voluntary visual-attention abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skogsberg, KatieAnn; Grabowecky, Marcia; Wilt, Joshua; Revelle, William; Iordanescu, Lucica; Suzuki, Satoru

    2015-01-01

    Many studies have examined attention mechanisms involved in specific behavioral tasks (e.g., search, tracking, distractor inhibition). However, relatively little is known about the relationships among those attention mechanisms. Is there a fundamental attention faculty that makes a person superior or inferior at most types of attention tasks, or do relatively independent processes mediate different attention skills? We focused on individual differences in voluntary visual-attention abilities using a battery of eleven representative tasks. An application of parallel analysis, hierarchical-cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling to the inter-task correlation matrix revealed four functional clusters, representing spatiotemporal attention, global attention, transient attention, and sustained attention, organized along two dimensions, one contrasting spatiotemporal and global attention and the other contrasting transient and sustained attention. Comparison with the neuroscience literature suggests that the spatiotemporal-global dimension corresponds to the dorsal frontoparietal circuit and the transient-sustained dimension corresponds to the ventral frontoparietal circuit, with distinct sub-regions mediating the separate clusters within each dimension. We also obtained highly specific patterns of gender difference, and of deficits for college students with elevated ADHD traits. These group differences suggest that different mechanisms of voluntary visual attention can be selectively strengthened or weakened based on genetic, experiential, and/or pathological factors. PMID:25867505

  17. A locus coeruleus-norepinephrine account of individual differences in working memory capacity and attention control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unsworth, Nash; Robison, Matthew K

    2017-08-01

    Studies examining individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) have suggested that low WMC individuals have particular deficits in attention control processes compared to high WMC individuals. In the current article we suggest that part of the WMC-attention control relation is due to variation in the functioning of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system (LC-NE). Specifically, we suggest that because of dysregulation of LC-NE functioning, the fronto-parietal control network for low WMC individuals is only weakly activated, resulting in greater default-mode network activity (and greater mind-wandering) for low WMC individuals compared to high WMC individuals. This results in disrupted attention control and overall more erratic performance (more lapses of attention) for low WMC individuals than for high WMC individuals. This framework is used to examine previous studies of individual differences in WMC and attention control, and new evidence is examined on the basis of predictions of the framework to pupillary responses as an indirect marker of LC-NE functioning.

  18. Early Magnetic Resonance Detection of Natalizumab-Related Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy in a Patient with Multiple Sclerosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guglielmo Manenti

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is usually based on the clinical presentation, on the demonstration of the brain lesions at the magnetic resonance imaging examination, and on the detection of the JC virus DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid with high sensitive polymerase chain reaction. The role of magnetic resonance imaging specifically in natalizumab-associated progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is strengthening, and it is gaining importance not only as an irreplaceable diagnostic tool but also as a surveillance and risk stratifying tool in treated patients. While other imaging techniques such as computed tomography lack sensitivity and specificity, magnetic resonance performed with morphological and functional sequences offers clinicians the possibility to early identify the stage of the disease and the emergence of an immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome after natalizumab blood removal plasmapheresis.

  19. Varieties of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-related intra-individual variability

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castellanos, F.X.; Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S.; Scheres, A.P.J.; Martino, A. Di; Hyde, C.; Walters, J.R.

    2005-01-01

    Intra-individual variability in behavior and functioning is ubiquitous among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but it has not been systematically examined or integrated within causal models. This article seeks to provide a conceptual, methodologic, and analytic framework

  20. What Produces Television Attention and Attention Style? Genre, Situation, and Individual Differences as Predictors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawkins, Robert P.; Pingree, Suzanne; Hitchon, Jacqueline; Radler, Barry; Gorham, Bradley W.; Kahlor, Leeann; Gilligan, Eileen; Serlin, Ronald C.; Schmidt, Toni; Kannaovakun, Prathana; Kolbeins, Gudbjorg Hildur

    2005-01-01

    Individual looks at television vary enormously in length, and this has previously indicated differences in ongoing cognitive processes. Furthermore, the relative frequency of looks of different lengths may indicate styles of attention to television. This article compares visual attention of 152 subjects across a variety of genres and examines…

  1. MULTIFOCAL CHOROIDITIS IN DISSEMINATED SPOROTRICHOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH HIV/AIDS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biancardi, Ana L; Freitas, Dayvison F S; Valviesse, Vitor R G de A; Andrade, Hugo B; de Oliveira, Manoel M E; do Valle, Antonio C F; Zancope-Oliveira, Rosely M; Galhardo, Maria C G; Curi, Andre L L

    2017-01-01

    In this article, the authors describe multifocal choroiditis related to disseminated sporotrichosis in patients with HIV/AIDS. We conducted a retrospective observational study of three patients infected with HIV who presented with disseminated sporotrichosis characterized by cutaneous lesions, multifocal choroiditis, and other manifestations, including osteomyelitis and involvement of the bone marrow, larynx, pharynx, and nasal and oral mucosa. Five eyes of three patients with HIV/AIDS showed multifocal choroiditis related to disseminated sporotrichosis. The CD4 counts ranged from 25 to 53 mm. All patients were asymptomatic visually. The ocular disease was bilateral in two patients. The lesion size ranged from 1/3 to 2 disc diameters. None of the patients had vitritis. Of the 12 lesions, 9 were localized in the posterior pole (Zone 1) and 3 were localized in the mild periphery (Zone 2). Multifocal choroiditis due to disseminated sporotrichosis can occur in profoundly immunosuppressed patients with HIV/AIDS.

  2. Multifocal fibrosclerosis and IgG4-related disease involving the cardiovascular system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishizaka, Nobukazu; Terasaki, Fumio; Sakamoto, Aiko; Imai, Yasushi; Nagai, Ryozo

    2012-01-01

    The cardiovascular system may be involved as a target organ of multifocal fibrosclerosis, which may manifest as idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis, inflammatory aortic aneurysm, inflammatory periarteritis, and inflammatory pericarditis. These pathological conditions can sometimes occur concomitantly. Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis and inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm are both characterized by the presence of fibro-inflammatory tissue around the abdominal aorta expanding into the surrounding retroperitoneal structures, and together they may be termed 'chronic periaortitis'. Cardiovascular fibrosclerosis has become non-uncommonly encountered condition since imaging modalities have made its diagnosis more feasible. In addition, recent studies have demonstrated that a certain fraction, but not all, of cardiovascular fibrosclerosis may have a link with immunoglobulin-G4 (IgG4)-related sclerosing disease (IgG4-SD). IgG4-SD is histologically characterized by dense fibrosclerosis and infiltration of lymphocytes and IgG4-positive plasma cells, and these histopathologic findings seem to be essentially similar regardless of the organs involved. In this mini review, we summarize what is known so far about multifocal fibrosclerosis of the cardiovascular system and its association with IgG4-SD, and what remains to be clarified in future investigations. (author)

  3. Disorder-specific predictive classification of adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD relative to autism using structural magnetic resonance imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lena Lim

    Full Text Available Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, but diagnosed by subjective clinical and rating measures. The study's aim was to apply Gaussian process classification (GPC to grey matter (GM volumetric data, to assess whether individual ADHD adolescents can be accurately differentiated from healthy controls based on objective, brain structure measures and whether this is disorder-specific relative to autism spectrum disorder (ASD.Twenty-nine adolescent ADHD boys and 29 age-matched healthy and 19 boys with ASD were scanned. GPC was applied to make disorder-specific predictions of ADHD diagnostic status based on individual brain structure patterns. In addition, voxel-based morphometry (VBM analysis tested for traditional univariate group level differences in GM.The pattern of GM correctly classified 75.9% of patients and 82.8% of controls, achieving an overall classification accuracy of 79.3%. Furthermore, classification was disorder-specific relative to ASD. The discriminating GM patterns showed higher classification weights for ADHD in earlier developing ventrolateral/premotor fronto-temporo-limbic and stronger classification weights for healthy controls in later developing dorsolateral fronto-striato-parieto-cerebellar networks. Several regions were also decreased in GM in ADHD relative to healthy controls in the univariate VBM analysis, suggesting they are GM deficit areas.The study provides evidence that pattern recognition analysis can provide significant individual diagnostic classification of ADHD patients and healthy controls based on distributed GM patterns with 79.3% accuracy and that this is disorder-specific relative to ASD. Findings are a promising first step towards finding an objective differential diagnostic tool based on brain imaging measures to aid with the subjective clinical diagnosis of ADHD.

  4. Worry or craving? A selective review of evidence for food-related attention biases in obese individuals, eating-disorder patients, restrained eaters and healthy samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werthmann, Jessica; Jansen, Anita; Roefs, Anne

    2015-05-01

    Living in an 'obesogenic' environment poses a serious challenge for weight maintenance. However, many people are able to maintain a healthy weight indicating that not everybody is equally susceptible to the temptations of this food environment. The way in which someone perceives and reacts to food cues, that is, cognitive processes, could underlie differences in susceptibility. An attention bias for food could be such a cognitive factor that contributes to overeating. However, an attention bias for food has also been implicated with restrained eating and eating-disorder symptomatology. The primary aim of the present review was to determine whether an attention bias for food is specifically related to obesity while also reviewing evidence for attention biases in eating-disorder patients, restrained eaters and healthy-weight individuals. Another aim was to systematically examine how selective attention for food relates (causally) to eating behaviour. Current empirical evidence on attention bias for food within obese samples, eating-disorder patients, and, even though to a lesser extent, in restrained eaters is contradictory. However, present experimental studies provide relatively consistent evidence that an attention bias for food contributes to subsequent food intake. This review highlights the need to distinguish not only between different (temporal) attention bias components, but also to take different motivations (craving v. worry) and their impact on attentional processing into account. Overall, the current state of research suggests that biased attention could be one important cognitive mechanism by which the food environment tempts us into overeating.

  5. Multifocal Congenital Hemangiopericytoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robl, Renata; Carvalho, Vânia Oliveira; Abagge, Kerstin Taniguchi; Uber, Marjorie; Lichtvan, Leniza Costa Lima; Werner, Betina; Mehrdad Nadji, Mehrdad

    2017-01-01

    Congenital hemangiopericytoma (HPC) is a rare mesenchymal tumor with less aggressive behavior and a more favorable prognosis than similar tumors in adults. Multifocal presentation is even less common than isolated HPC and hence its clinical and histologic recognition may be challenging. A newborn infant with multifocal congenital HPC causing severe deformity but with a favorable outcome after chemotherapy and surgical removal is reported. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Individual Differences in Temporal Selective Attention as Reflected in Pupil Dilation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte Willems

    Full Text Available Attention is restricted for the second of two targets when it is presented within 200-500 ms of the first target. This attentional blink (AB phenomenon allows one to study the dynamics of temporal selective attention by varying the interval between the two targets (T1 and T2. Whereas the AB has long been considered as a robust and universal cognitive limitation, several studies have demonstrated that AB task performance greatly differs between individuals, with some individuals showing no AB whatsoever.Here, we studied these individual differences in AB task performance in relation to differences in attentional timing. Furthermore, we investigated whether AB magnitude is predictive for the amount of attention allocated to T1. For both these purposes pupil dilation was measured, and analyzed with our recently developed deconvolution method. We found that the dynamics of temporal attention in small versus large blinkers differ in a number of ways. Individuals with a relatively small AB magnitude seem better able to preserve temporal order information. In addition, they are quicker to allocate attention to both T1 and T2 than large blinkers. Although a popular explanation of the AB is that it is caused by an unnecessary overinvestment of attention allocated to T1, a more complex picture emerged from our data, suggesting that this may depend on whether one is a small or a large blinker.The use of pupil dilation deconvolution seems to be a powerful approach to study the temporal dynamics of attention, bringing us a step closer to understanding the elusive nature of the AB. We conclude that the timing of attention to targets may be more important than the amount of allocated attention in accounting for individual differences.

  7. Individual Differences in Temporal Selective Attention as Reflected in Pupil Dilation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willems, Charlotte; Herdzin, Johannes; Martens, Sander

    2015-01-01

    Attention is restricted for the second of two targets when it is presented within 200-500 ms of the first target. This attentional blink (AB) phenomenon allows one to study the dynamics of temporal selective attention by varying the interval between the two targets (T1 and T2). Whereas the AB has long been considered as a robust and universal cognitive limitation, several studies have demonstrated that AB task performance greatly differs between individuals, with some individuals showing no AB whatsoever. Here, we studied these individual differences in AB task performance in relation to differences in attentional timing. Furthermore, we investigated whether AB magnitude is predictive for the amount of attention allocated to T1. For both these purposes pupil dilation was measured, and analyzed with our recently developed deconvolution method. We found that the dynamics of temporal attention in small versus large blinkers differ in a number of ways. Individuals with a relatively small AB magnitude seem better able to preserve temporal order information. In addition, they are quicker to allocate attention to both T1 and T2 than large blinkers. Although a popular explanation of the AB is that it is caused by an unnecessary overinvestment of attention allocated to T1, a more complex picture emerged from our data, suggesting that this may depend on whether one is a small or a large blinker. The use of pupil dilation deconvolution seems to be a powerful approach to study the temporal dynamics of attention, bringing us a step closer to understanding the elusive nature of the AB. We conclude that the timing of attention to targets may be more important than the amount of allocated attention in accounting for individual differences.

  8. Multifocal versus monofocal intraocular lenses after cataract extraction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Calladine

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Good unaided distance visual acuity is now a realistic expectation following cataract surgery and intraocular lens (IOL implantation. Near vision, however, still requires additional refractive power, usually in the form of reading glasses. Multiple optic (multifocal IOLs are available which claim to allow good vision at a range of distances. It is unclear whether this benefit outweighs the optical compromises inherent in multifocal IOLs. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review was to assess the effects of multifocal IOLs, including effects on visual acuity, subjective visual satisfaction, spectacle dependence, glare and contrast sensitivity, compared to standard monofocal lenses in people undergoing cataract surgery. METHODS: Search methods: We searched CENTRAL (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register, The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 2, MEDLINE (January 1946 to March 2012, EMBASE (January 1980 to March 2012, the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT (www.controlled-trials.com, ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en. We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. The electronic databases were last searched on 6 March 2012. We searched the reference lists of relevant articles and contacted investigators of included studies and manufacturers of multifocal IOLs for information about additional published and unpublished studies. Selection criteria: All randomised controlled trials comparing a multifocal IOL of any type with a monofocal IOL as control were included. Both unilateral and bilateral implantation trials were included. Data collection and analysis: Two authors collected data and assessed trial quality. Where possible, we pooled data from the individual studies using a random-effects model, otherwise we tabulated data. MAIN RESULTS: Sixteen completed trials

  9. Lente intra-ocular multifocal difrativa apodizada: resultados Diffractive apodized multifocal intraocular lens: results

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    Virgilio Centurion

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Mostrar os resultados visuais e refracionais com lente intra-ocular multifocal difrativa apodizada. MÉTODOS: Estudo de 100 olhos de 50 pacientes com catarata, submetidos à facoemulsificação com implante bilateral de lente intra-ocular (LIO multifocal difrativa apodizada. Foi avaliada a acuidade visual binocular sem e com correção para longe e perto, a previsibilidade refracional e a freqüência de uso de óculos. RESULTADOS: A acuidade visual sem correção para longe foi de e " 20/30 em 97,56% dos olhos operados e e" J2 em 100%, sendo que 82% dos pacientes nunca usam óculos e 16% usam de forma esporádica. CONCLUSÃO: A LIO multifocal difrativa apodizada mostrou ser uma opção previsível, reproduzível e segura na correção dos vícios de refração para longe e perto durante a cirurgia da catarata, permitindo elevado índice de independência ao uso de óculos.OBJECTIVE: To show visual and refraction results using multifocal diffractive apodized intraocular lens. METHODS: The study of 100 eyes of 50 patients with cataract, submitted to phacoemulsification with bilateral implant of multifocal diffractive apodized intraocular lens (IOL. Binocular visual acuity was evaluated with and without correction for near and distance, and refraction previsibility and frequency of wearing glasses. RESULTS: Visual acuity without correction for distance was e" 20/30 in 97.56% of eyes operated on and e" J2 in 100%, of these 82% of patients never wear glasses and 16% wear glasses sporadically. CONCLUSION: Multifocal diffractive apodized IOL proved to be a foreseeable option, reproducible and safe in the correction of refraction errors for distance and near during cataract surgery, enabling a high rate of independence from the use of glasses.

  10. Attentional bias and anxiety in individuals with coronary heart disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ginting, H.; Näring, G.W.B.; Becker, E.S.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined whether in an emotional Stroop task, individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD) would show greater attention towards the threatening words related to their disease than healthy persons, and if such an attentional bias is associated with anxiety. An emotional Stroop task with

  11. [Incremental cost effectiveness of multifocal cataract surgery].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagel, N; Dick, H B; Krummenauer, F

    2007-02-01

    Supplementation of cataract patients with multifocal intraocular lenses involves an additional financial investment when compared to the corresponding monofocal supplementation, which usually is not funded by German health care insurers. In the context of recent resource allocation discussions, however, the cost effectiveness of multifocal cataract surgery could become an important rationale. Therefore an evidence-based estimation of its cost effectiveness was carried out. Three independent meta-analyses were implemented to estimate the gain in uncorrected near visual acuity and best corrected visual acuity (vision lines) as well as the predictability (fraction of patients without need for reading aids) of multifocal supplementation. Study reports published between 1995 and 2004 (English or German language) were screened for appropriate key words. Meta effects in visual gain and predictability were estimated by means and standard deviations of the reported effect measures. Cost data were estimated by German DRG rates and individual lens costs; the cost effectiveness of multifocal cataract surgery was then computed in terms of its marginal cost effectiveness ratio (MCER) for each clinical benefit endpoint; the incremental costs of multifocal versus monofocal cataract surgery were further estimated by means of their respective incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). An independent meta-analysis estimated the complication profiles to be expected after monofocal and multifocal cataract surgery in order to evaluate expectable complication-associated additional costs of both procedures; the marginal and incremental cost effectiveness estimates were adjusted accordingly. A sensitivity analysis comprised cost variations of +/- 10 % and utility variations alongside the meta effect estimate's 95 % confidence intervals. Total direct costs from the health care insurer's perspective were estimated 3363 euro, associated with a visual meta benefit in best corrected visual

  12. Attentional bias in high math-anxious individuals: evidence from an emotional Stroop task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez-Pellicioni, Macarena; Núñez-Peña, Maria Isabel; Colomé, Àngels

    2015-01-01

    Attentional bias toward threatening or emotional information is considered a cognitive marker of anxiety, and it has been described in various clinical and subclinical populations. This study used an emotional Stroop task to investigate whether math anxiety is characterized by an attentional bias toward math-related words. Two previous studies failed to observe such an effect in math-anxious individuals, although the authors acknowledged certain methodological limitations that the present study seeks to avoid. Twenty high math-anxious (HMA) and 20 low math-anxious (LMA) individuals were presented with an emotional Stroop task including math-related and neutral words. Participants in the two groups did not differ in trait anxiety or depression. We found that the HMA group showed slower response times to math-related words than to neutral words, as well as a greater attentional bias (math-related – neutral difference score) than the LMA one, which constitutes the first demonstration of an attentional bias toward math-related words in HMA individuals. PMID:26539137

  13. Attentional bias in high math-anxious individuals: evidence from an emotional Stroop task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MACARENA eSUÁREZ PELLICIONI

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Attentional bias towards threatening or emotional information is considered a cognitive marker of anxiety, and it has been described in various clinical and subclinical populations. This study used an emotional Stroop task to investigate whether math anxiety is characterized by an attentional bias towards math-related words. Two previous studies failed to observe such an effect in math-anxious individuals, although the authors acknowledged certain methodological limitations that the present study seeks to avoid. Twenty high math-anxious (HMA and 20 low math-anxious (LMA individuals were presented with an emotional Stroop task including math-related and neutral words. Participants in the two groups did not differ in trait anxiety or depression. We found that the HMA group showed slower response times to math-related words than to neutral words, as well as a greater attentional bias (math-related – neutral difference score than the LMA one, which constitutes the first demonstration of an attentional bias towards math-related words in HMA individuals.

  14. Selective attention to imagined facial ugliness is specific to body dysmorphic disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grocholewski, Anja; Kliem, Sören; Heinrichs, Nina

    2012-03-01

    Cognitive-behavioral models postulate that biases in selective attention are key factors contributing to susceptibility to and maintenance of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Visual attention in particular toward the imagined defect in appearance may be a crucial element. The present study therefore examined whether individuals with BDD showed increased visual attention to flaws in their own and in unfamiliar faces. Twenty individuals with BDD, 20 individuals with social phobia, and 20 mentally healthy individuals participated in an eye-tracking experiment. Participants were instructed to gaze at the photographs of 15 pictures of themselves and several unfamiliar faces. Only patients with BDD showed heightened selective visual attention to the imagined defect in their own face, as well to corresponding regions in other, unfamiliar faces. The results support the assumption that there is a specific attentional bias in BDD. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. A Rare Case of Multifocal Prostatic Blue Nevus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elias J. Farran

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Prostatic blue nevus is a rare benign pathologic diagnosis most commonly diagnosed incidentally on many different types of prostate specimens. Blue nevus is the deposition of stromal melanin characterized by spindle cells within the fibromuscular stroma which stains positive for melanin-specific stains Fontana-Masson and S100 and stains negative for CD68, HMB45, and iron stains. We report the case of a multifocal and bilateral blue nevus in a 52-year-old Hispanic male who presented with an elevated prostate-specific antigen of 4.3 and mild obstructive lower urinary tract symptoms, found by transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate needle biopsy. The biopsy also revealed benign prostatic tissue with postatrophic hyperplasia and chronic inflammation. This is the 35th reported case of prostatic blue nevus and the third to show multifocal blue nevus.

  16. Low-level visual attention and its relation to joint attention in autism spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaworski, Jessica L Bean; Eigsti, Inge-Marie

    2017-04-01

    Visual attention is integral to social interaction and is a critical building block for development in other domains (e.g., language). Furthermore, atypical attention (especially joint attention) is one of the earliest markers of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study assesses low-level visual attention and its relation to social attentional processing in youth with ASD and typically developing (TD) youth, aged 7 to 18 years. The findings indicate difficulty overriding incorrect attentional cues in ASD, particularly with non-social (arrow) cues relative to social (face) cues. The findings also show reduced competition in ASD from cues that remain on-screen. Furthermore, social attention, autism severity, and age were all predictors of competing cue processing. The results suggest that individuals with ASD may be biased towards speeded rather than accurate responding, and further, that reduced engagement with visual information may impede responses to visual attentional cues. Once attention is engaged, individuals with ASD appear to interpret directional cues as meaningful. These findings from a controlled, experimental paradigm were mirrored in results from an ecologically valid measure of social attention. Attentional difficulties may be exacerbated during the complex and dynamic experience of actual social interaction. Implications for intervention are discussed.

  17. Attentional control activation relates to working memory in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgess, Gregory C; Depue, Brendan E; Ruzic, Luka; Willcutt, Erik G; Du, Yiping P; Banich, Marie T

    2010-04-01

    Attentional control difficulties in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might reflect poor working memory (WM) ability, especially because WM ability and attentional control rely on similar brain regions. The current study examined whether WM ability might explain group differences in brain activation between adults with ADHD and normal control subjects during attentional demand. Participants were 20 adults with ADHD combined subtype with no comorbid psychiatric or learning disorders and 23 control subjects similar in age, IQ, and gender. The WM measures were obtained from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. Brain activation was assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a Color-Word Stroop task. Group differences in WM ability explained a portion of the activation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which has been related to the creation and maintenance of an attentional set for task-relevant information. In addition, greater WM ability predicted increased activation of brain regions related to stimulus-driven attention and response selection processes in the ADHD group but not in the control group. The inability to maintain an appropriate task set in young adults with combined type ADHD, associated with decreased activity in left DLPFC, might in part be due to poor WM ability. Furthermore, in individuals with ADHD, higher WM ability might relate to increased recruitment of stimulus-driven attention and response selection processes, perhaps as a compensatory strategy. Copyright 2010 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Individualized laparoscopic B-ultrasound-guided microwave ablation for multifocal primary liver cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zhifeng; Yang, Zhangwei; Pan, Jianghua; Hu, Yiren

    2018-03-01

    Liver cancer is one of the most common malignancies of the digestive system. Minimally invasive ablation procedures have become one of the major means for treating unresectable multifocal liver cancer and have been extensively applied in primary and metastatic liver cancer treatment. Laparoscopic B-ultrasound-guided microwave ablation is an example of the progress made in this field. To analyze and summarize the results of and experience with laparoscopic B-ultrasound-guided microwave ablation for multifocal primary liver cancer; moreover, the ablation effects were compared between tumors of different sizes. Laparoscope-guided needle ablation was conducted on 84 lesions from 32 patients with primary liver cancer based on tumor size, quantity, and location. Moreover, the perioperative data, ablation effects according to tumor size, and long-term follow-up results were analyzed. Among the 84 nodules treated via microwave ablation, tumors measuring ≤ 3 cm demonstrated complete ablation upon imaging analysis conducted 1 month after surgery. Moreover, 5 of the tumors measuring > 3 cm demonstrated incomplete ablation. In these cases, a second procedure was performed, until imaging studies confirmed that complete ablation was achieved. Laparoscopic microwave ablation allows for precise puncture positioning, an effective ablation range, and safe and feasible surgery, which is especially suitable for liver tumors located in sites difficult to access.

  19. Disgust-specific modulation of early attention processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Hooff, Johanna C; van Buuringen, Melanie; El M'rabet, Ihsane; de Gier, Margot; van Zalingen, Lilian

    2014-10-01

    Although threatening images are known to attract and keep our attention, little is known about the existence of emotion-specific attention effects. In this study (N=46), characteristics of an anticipated, disgust-specific effect were investigated by means of a covert orienting paradigm incorporating pictures that were either disgust-evoking, fear-evoking, happiness-evoking or neutral. Attention adhesion to these pictures was measured by the time necessary to identify a peripheral target, presented 100, 200, 500, or 800 ms after picture onset. Main results showed that reaction times were delayed for targets following the disgust-evoking pictures by 100 and 200 ms, suggesting that only these pictures temporarily grabbed hold of participants' attention. These delays were similar for ignore- and attend-instructions, and they were not affected by the participants' anxiety levels or disgust sensitivity. The disgust-specific influence on early attention processes thus appeared very robust, occurring in the majority of participants and without contribution of voluntary- and strategic-attention processes. In contrast, a smaller and less reliable effect of all emotional (arousing) pictures was present in the form of delayed responding in the 100 ms cue-target interval. This effect was more transitory and apparent only in participants with relatively high state-anxiety scores. Practical and theoretical consequences of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Primary multifocal osseous lymphoma in a child

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sato, Takashi S.P. [University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA (United States); Ferguson, Polly J. [University of Iowa, Department of Pediatrics, Iowa City, IA (United States); Khanna, Geetika [Washington University, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St Louis, MO (United States)

    2008-12-15

    We report a case of primary multifocal osseous lymphoma in a 6-year-old girl presenting with multifocal osteolytic lesions without systemic symptoms or identifiable non-osseous primary tumor. The differential diagnoses for such a presentation include histiocytosis X, chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, metastatic disease, and primary bone lymphoma. Although non-Hodgkin lymphoma is common in the pediatric population, its presentation as a primary bone tumor, especially with multifocal disease, is extremely rare and is frequently misdiagnosed. We hope that awareness of this entity will help radiologists achieve timely diagnosis and intervention. (orig.)

  1. The specificity of attentional biases by type of gambling: An eye-tracking study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel S McGrath

    Full Text Available A growing body of research indicates that gamblers develop an attentional bias for gambling-related stimuli. Compared to research on substance use, however, few studies have examined attentional biases in gamblers using eye-gaze tracking, which has many advantages over other measures of attention. In addition, previous studies of attentional biases in gamblers have not directly matched type of gambler with personally-relevant gambling cues. The present study investigated the specificity of attentional biases for individual types of gambling using an eye-gaze tracking paradigm. Three groups of participants (poker players, video lottery terminal/slot machine players, and non-gambling controls took part in one test session in which they viewed 25 sets of four images (poker, VLTs/slot machines, bingo, and board games. Participants' eye fixations were recorded throughout each 8-second presentation of the four images. The results indicated that, as predicted, the two gambling groups preferentially attended to their primary form of gambling, whereas control participants attended to board games more than gambling images. The findings have clinical implications for the treatment of individuals with gambling disorder. Understanding the importance of personally-salient gambling cues will inform the development of effective attentional bias modification treatments for problem gamblers.

  2. The specificity of attentional biases by type of gambling: An eye-tracking study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGrath, Daniel S; Meitner, Amadeus; Sears, Christopher R

    2018-01-01

    A growing body of research indicates that gamblers develop an attentional bias for gambling-related stimuli. Compared to research on substance use, however, few studies have examined attentional biases in gamblers using eye-gaze tracking, which has many advantages over other measures of attention. In addition, previous studies of attentional biases in gamblers have not directly matched type of gambler with personally-relevant gambling cues. The present study investigated the specificity of attentional biases for individual types of gambling using an eye-gaze tracking paradigm. Three groups of participants (poker players, video lottery terminal/slot machine players, and non-gambling controls) took part in one test session in which they viewed 25 sets of four images (poker, VLTs/slot machines, bingo, and board games). Participants' eye fixations were recorded throughout each 8-second presentation of the four images. The results indicated that, as predicted, the two gambling groups preferentially attended to their primary form of gambling, whereas control participants attended to board games more than gambling images. The findings have clinical implications for the treatment of individuals with gambling disorder. Understanding the importance of personally-salient gambling cues will inform the development of effective attentional bias modification treatments for problem gamblers.

  3. Primate social attention: Species differences and effects of individual experience in humans, great apes, and macaques.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fumihiro Kano

    Full Text Available When viewing social scenes, humans and nonhuman primates focus on particular features, such as the models' eyes, mouth, and action targets. Previous studies reported that such viewing patterns vary significantly across individuals in humans, and also across closely-related primate species. However, the nature of these individual and species differences remains unclear, particularly among nonhuman primates. In large samples of human and nonhuman primates, we examined species differences and the effects of experience on patterns of gaze toward social movies. Experiment 1 examined the species differences across rhesus macaques, nonhuman apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, and orangutans, and humans while they viewed movies of various animals' species-typical behaviors. We found that each species had distinct viewing patterns of the models' faces, eyes, mouths, and action targets. Experiment 2 tested the effect of individuals' experience on chimpanzee and human viewing patterns. We presented movies depicting natural behaviors of chimpanzees to three groups of chimpanzees (individuals from a zoo, a sanctuary, and a research institute differing in their early social and physical experiences. We also presented the same movies to human adults and children differing in their expertise with chimpanzees (experts vs. novices or movie-viewing generally (adults vs. preschoolers. Individuals varied within each species in their patterns of gaze toward models' faces, eyes, mouths, and action targets depending on their unique individual experiences. We thus found that the viewing patterns for social stimuli are both individual- and species-specific in these closely-related primates. Such individual/species-specificities are likely related to both individual experience and species-typical temperament, suggesting that primate individuals acquire their unique attentional biases through both ontogeny and evolution. Such unique attentional biases may help them learn

  4. Primate social attention: Species differences and effects of individual experience in humans, great apes, and macaques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kano, Fumihiro; Shepherd, Stephen V; Hirata, Satoshi; Call, Josep

    2018-01-01

    When viewing social scenes, humans and nonhuman primates focus on particular features, such as the models' eyes, mouth, and action targets. Previous studies reported that such viewing patterns vary significantly across individuals in humans, and also across closely-related primate species. However, the nature of these individual and species differences remains unclear, particularly among nonhuman primates. In large samples of human and nonhuman primates, we examined species differences and the effects of experience on patterns of gaze toward social movies. Experiment 1 examined the species differences across rhesus macaques, nonhuman apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, and orangutans), and humans while they viewed movies of various animals' species-typical behaviors. We found that each species had distinct viewing patterns of the models' faces, eyes, mouths, and action targets. Experiment 2 tested the effect of individuals' experience on chimpanzee and human viewing patterns. We presented movies depicting natural behaviors of chimpanzees to three groups of chimpanzees (individuals from a zoo, a sanctuary, and a research institute) differing in their early social and physical experiences. We also presented the same movies to human adults and children differing in their expertise with chimpanzees (experts vs. novices) or movie-viewing generally (adults vs. preschoolers). Individuals varied within each species in their patterns of gaze toward models' faces, eyes, mouths, and action targets depending on their unique individual experiences. We thus found that the viewing patterns for social stimuli are both individual- and species-specific in these closely-related primates. Such individual/species-specificities are likely related to both individual experience and species-typical temperament, suggesting that primate individuals acquire their unique attentional biases through both ontogeny and evolution. Such unique attentional biases may help them learn efficiently about their

  5. Content specificity of attention bias to threat in anxiety disorders: a meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pergamin-Hight, Lee; Naim, Reut; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; Bar-Haim, Yair

    2015-02-01

    Despite the established evidence for threat-related attention bias in anxiety, the mechanisms underlying this bias remain unclear. One important unresolved question is whether disorder-congruent threats capture attention to a greater extent than do more general or disorder-incongruent threat stimuli. Evidence for attention bias specificity in anxiety would implicate involvement of previous learning and memory processes in threat-related attention bias, whereas lack of content specificity would point to perturbations in more generic attention processes. Enhanced clarity of mechanism could have clinical implications for the stimuli types used in Attention Bias Modification Treatments (ABMT). Content specificity of threat-related attention bias in anxiety and potential moderators of this effect were investigated. A systematic search identified 37 samples from 29 articles (N=866). Relevant data were extracted based on specific coding rules, and Cohen's d effect size was used to estimate bias specificity effects. The results indicate greater attention bias toward disorder-congruent relative to disorder-incongruent threat stimuli (d=0.28, pattention tasks, or type of disorder-incongruent stimuli. No evidence of publication bias was observed. Implications for threat bias in anxiety and ABMT are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Using eye tracking to test for individual differences in attention to attractive faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valuch, Christian; Pflüger, Lena S; Wallner, Bernard; Laeng, Bruno; Ansorge, Ulrich

    2015-01-01

    We assessed individual differences in visual attention toward faces in relation to their attractiveness via saccadic reaction times. Motivated by the aim to understand individual differences in attention to faces, we tested three hypotheses: (a) Attractive faces hold or capture attention more effectively than less attractive faces; (b) men show a stronger bias toward attractive opposite-sex faces than women; and (c) blue-eyed men show a stronger bias toward blue-eyed than brown-eyed feminine faces. The latter test was included because prior research suggested a high effect size. Our data supported hypotheses (a) and (b) but not (c). By conducting separate tests for disengagement of attention and attention capture, we found that individual differences exist at distinct stages of attentional processing but these differences are of varying robustness and importance. In our conclusion, we also advocate the use of linear mixed effects models as the most appropriate statistical approach for studying inter-individual differences in visual attention with naturalistic stimuli.

  7. Using eye tracking to test for individual differences in attention to attractive faces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian eValuch

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available We assessed individual differences in visual attention toward faces in relation to their attractiveness via saccadic reaction times (SRTs. Motivated by the aim to understand individual differences in attention to faces, we tested three hypotheses: (a Attractive faces hold or capture attention more effectively than less attractive faces; (b men show a stronger bias toward attractive opposite-sex faces than women; and (c blue-eyed men show a stronger bias toward blue-eyed than brown-eyed feminine faces. The latter test was included because prior research suggested a high effect size. Our data supported hypotheses (a and (b but not (c. By conducting separate tests for disengagement of attention and attention capture, we found that individual differences exist at distinct stages of attentional processing but these differences are of varying robustness and importance. In our conclusion, we also advocate the use of linear mixed effects models as the most appropriate statistical approach toward studying inter-individual differences in visual attention with naturalistic stimuli.

  8. Early auditory evoked potential is modulated by selective attention and related to individual differences in visual working memory capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuliano, Ryan J; Karns, Christina M; Neville, Helen J; Hillyard, Steven A

    2014-12-01

    A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual's capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70-90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals.

  9. Fixation stability and implication for multifocal electroretinography in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration after anti-VEGF treatment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Karen Bjerg; Sjølie, Anne Katrin; Vestergaard, Anders Højslet

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: To quantify fixation stability in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) at baseline, 3 and 6 months after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment and furthermore asses the implications of an unsteady fixation for multifocal...

  10. Retreatments after multifocal intraocular lens implantation: an analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gundersen KG

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Kjell Gunnar Gundersen,1 Sarah Makari,2 Steffen Ostenstad,1 Rick Potvin2 1Ifocus Eye Clinic, Haugesund, Norway; 2Science in Vision, Akron, NY, USA Purpose: To determine the incidence and etiology of required retreatment after multifocal intraocular lens (IOL implantation and to evaluate the methods and clinical outcomes of retreatment.Patients and methods: A retrospective chart review of 416 eyes of 209 patients from one site that underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery with multifocal IOL implantation. Biometry, the IOL, and refractive data were recorded after the original implantation, with the same data recorded after retreatment. Comments related to vision were obtained both before and after retreatment for retreated patients.Results: The multifocal retreatment rate was 10.8% (45/416 eyes. The eyes that required retreatment had significantly higher residual refractive astigmatism compared with those who did not require retreatment (1.21±0.51 D vs 0.51±0.39 D, P<0.01. The retreatment rate for the two most commonly implanted primary IOLs, blended bifocal (10.5%, 16/152 and bilateral trifocal (6.9%, 14/202 IOLs, was not statistically significantly different (P=0.12. In those requiring retreatment, refractive-related complaints were most common. Retreatment with refractive corneal surgery, in 11% of the eyes, and piggyback IOLs, in 89% of the eyes, was similarly successful, improving patient complaints 78% of the time.Conclusion: Complaints related to ametropia were the main reasons for retreatment. Residual astigmatism appears to be an important determinant of retreatment rate after multifocal IOL implantation. Retreatment can improve symptoms for a high percentage of patients; a piggyback IOL is a viable retreatment option. Keywords: piggyback IOL, Sulcoflex, toric, STAAR, symptoms, astigmatism

  11. Heterogeneity of DNA methylation in multifocal prostate cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serenaite, Inga; Daniunaite, Kristina; Jankevicius, Feliksas; Laurinavicius, Arvydas; Petroska, Donatas; Lazutka, Juozas R; Jarmalaite, Sonata

    2015-01-01

    Most prostate cancer (PCa) cases are multifocal, and separate foci display histological and molecular heterogeneity. DNA hypermethylation is a frequent alteration in PCa, but interfocal heterogeneity of these changes has not been extensively investigated. Ten pairs of foci from multifocal PCa and 15 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) samples were obtained from prostatectomy specimens, resulting altogether in 35 samples. Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) was used to evaluate methylation status of nine tumor suppressor genes (TSGs), and a set of selected TSGs was quantitatively analyzed for methylation intensity by pyrosequencing. Promoter sequences of the RASSF1 and ESR1 genes were methylated in all paired PCa foci, and frequent (≥75 %) DNA methylation was detected in RARB, GSTP1, and ABCB1 genes. MSP revealed different methylation status of at least one gene in separate foci in 8 out of 10 multifocal tumors. The mean methylation level of ESR1, GSTP1, RASSF1, and RARB differed between the paired foci of all PCa cases. The intensity of DNA methylation in these TSGs was significantly higher in PCa cases than in BPH (p epigenetic profile of recurrent tumors can be inferred from our data.

  12. Effect of Psychostimulants on Distinct Attentional Parameters in Attentional Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JAVIER LÓPEZ

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Although there is extensive literature about the effects of stimulants on sustained attention tasks in attentional deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, little is known about the effect of these drugs on other attentional tasks involving different neural systems. In this study we measured the effect of stimulants on ADHD children, both in the electroencephalographic (EEG activity during sustained attentional tasks and in psychometric performance during selective attentional tasks. These tasks are known to rely on different cortical networks. Our results in children medicated with 10 mg of d-amphetamine administered 60 min before the study indicate (i a significant increase in amplitude but not latency of the P300 component of the event-related potential (ERP during the sustained attentional task and (ii a significant improvement in the reaction times and correct responses in the selective attentional task. In addition to supporting the use of stimulants in children with attentional deficit/hyperactivity disorder, these results show a multifocal activity improvement of cortical structures linked to dopamine, and interestingly, to attention. All these analyses are framed in a wider study of diverse attentional functions in this syndrome.

  13. Pre- and postprandial variation in implicit attention to food images reflects appetite and sensory-specific satiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidson, Graeme R; Giesbrecht, Timo; Thomas, Anna M; Kirkham, Tim C

    2018-06-01

    Implicit attentional processes are biased toward food-related stimuli, with the extent of that bias reflecting relative motivation to eat. These interactions have typically been investigated by comparisons between fasted and sated individuals. In this study, temporal changes in implicit attention to food were assessed in relation to natural, spontaneous changes in appetite occurring before and after an anticipated midday meal. Non-fasted adults performed an emotional blink of attention (EBA) task at intervals, before and after consuming preferred, pre-selected sandwiches to satiety. Participants were required to detect targets within a rapid visual stream, presented after task-irrelevant food (preferred or non-preferred sandwiches, or desserts) or non-food distractor images. All categories of food distractor preferentially captured attention even when appetite levels were low, but became more distracting as appetite increased preprandially, reducing task accuracy maximally as hunger peaked before lunch. Postprandially, attentional capture was markedly reduced for images of the specific sandwich type consumed and, to a lesser extent, for images of other sandwich types that had not been eaten. Attentional capture by images of desserts was unaffected by satiation. These findings support an important role of selective visual attention in the guidance of motivated behaviour. Naturalistic, meal-related changes in appetite are accompanied by changes in implicit attention to visual food stimuli that are easily detected using the EBA paradigm. Preprandial enhancement of attention capture by food cues likely reflects increases in the incentive motivational value of all food stimuli, perhaps providing an implicit index of wanting. Postprandial EBA responses confirm that satiation on a particular food results in relative inattention to that food, supporting an important attentional component in the operation of sensory-specific satiety. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published

  14. Modality-specificity of Selective Attention Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Hannah J; Amitay, Sygal

    2015-01-01

    To establish the modality specificity and generality of selective attention networks. Forty-eight young adults completed a battery of four auditory and visual selective attention tests based upon the Attention Network framework: the visual and auditory Attention Network Tests (vANT, aANT), the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), and the Test of Attention in Listening (TAiL). These provided independent measures for auditory and visual alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution networks. The measures were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis to assess underlying attention constructs. The analysis yielded a four-component solution. The first component comprised of a range of measures from the TEA and was labeled "general attention." The third component was labeled "auditory attention," as it only contained measures from the TAiL using pitch as the attended stimulus feature. The second and fourth components were labeled as "spatial orienting" and "spatial conflict," respectively-they were comprised of orienting and conflict resolution measures from the vANT, aANT, and TAiL attend-location task-all tasks based upon spatial judgments (e.g., the direction of a target arrow or sound location). These results do not support our a-priori hypothesis that attention networks are either modality specific or supramodal. Auditory attention separated into selectively attending to spatial and non-spatial features, with the auditory spatial attention loading onto the same factor as visual spatial attention, suggesting spatial attention is supramodal. However, since our study did not include a non-spatial measure of visual attention, further research will be required to ascertain whether non-spatial attention is modality-specific.

  15. Individual differences in attention strategies during detection, fine discrimination, and coarse discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecker, Elizabeth A.; Serences, John T.; Srinivasan, Ramesh

    2013-01-01

    Interacting with the environment requires the ability to flexibly direct attention to relevant features. We examined the degree to which individuals attend to visual features within and across Detection, Fine Discrimination, and Coarse Discrimination tasks. Electroencephalographic (EEG) responses were measured to an unattended peripheral flickering (4 or 6 Hz) grating while individuals (n = 33) attended to orientations that were offset by 0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, and 90° from the orientation of the unattended flicker. These unattended responses may be sensitive to attentional gain at the attended spatial location, since attention to features enhances early visual responses throughout the visual field. We found no significant differences in tuning curves across the three tasks in part due to individual differences in strategies. We sought to characterize individual attention strategies using hierarchical Bayesian modeling, which grouped individuals into families of curves that reflect attention to the physical target orientation (“on-channel”) or away from the target orientation (“off-channel”) or a uniform distribution of attention. The different curves were related to behavioral performance; individuals with “on-channel” curves had lower thresholds than individuals with uniform curves. Individuals with “off-channel” curves during Fine Discrimination additionally had lower thresholds than those assigned to uniform curves, highlighting the perceptual benefits of attending away from the physical target orientation during fine discriminations. Finally, we showed that a subset of individuals with optimal curves (“on-channel”) during Detection also demonstrated optimal curves (“off-channel”) during Fine Discrimination, indicating that a subset of individuals can modulate tuning optimally for detection and discrimination. PMID:23678013

  16. Seeing People, Seeing Things: Individual Differences in Selective Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIntyre, Miranda M; Graziano, William G

    2016-09-01

    Individuals differ in how they deploy attention to their physical and social environments. These differences have been recognized in various forms as orientations, interests, and preferences, but empirical work examining these differences at a cognitive level is scarce. To address this gap, we conducted two studies to explore the links among attentional processes and interests in people and things. The first study measured selective visual attention toward person- and thing-related image content. In the second study, participants were randomly assigned to describe visually presented scenes using either an observational or narrative story format. Linguistic analyses were conducted to assess attentional bias toward interest-congruent content. Outcomes from both studies suggest that attention and motivational processes are linked to differential interests in physical and social environments. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

  17. Everyday Attention Failures: An Individual Differences Investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unsworth, Nash; McMillan, Brittany D.; Brewer, Gene A.; Spillers, Gregory J.

    2012-01-01

    The present study examined individual differences in everyday attention failures. Undergraduate students completed various cognitive ability measures in the laboratory and recorded everyday attention failures in a diary over the course of a week. The majority of attention failures were failures of distraction or mind wandering in educational…

  18. Multifocal osteogenic sarcoma in Paget's disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vuillemin-Bodaghi, V.; Parlier-Cuau, C.; Laredo, J.D.; Cywiner-Golenzer, C.; Quillard, A.; Kaplan, G.

    2000-01-01

    The most serious complication of Paget's disease is sarcomatous degeneration of pagetic bone. Multifocal sarcomatous degeneration occurs mainly in polyostotic Paget's disease. Multifocal Paget's sarcoma is uncommon and can arise in any site. We report two cases of synchronous multifocal sarcomatous degeneration. The two patients were elderly women (aged 77 and 86 years, respectively) who developed sarcomatous lesions concomitantly, in the first case report in left ilium, left tibia, and first lumbar vertebra and in the second case report in the skull, right ilium, and sacrum. Whether these cases are due to the simultaneous development of several primaries or to metastases from a single primary remains unclear. (orig.)

  19. Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... SEARCH Definition Treatment Prognosis Clinical Trials Organizations Publications Definition Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a disease of the white matter of the brain, caused by a virus infection ...

  20. Atomoxetine effects on attentional bias to drug-related cues in cocaine dependent individuals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Passamonti, L. (Luca); M. Luijten (Maartje); Ziauddeen, H.; I. Coyle-Gilchrist (Ian); Rittman, T.; Brain, S.A.E.; Regenthal, R.; I.H.A. Franken (Ingmar); Sahakian, B.J.; Bullmore, E.T.; Robbins, T.W.; Ersche, K.D.

    2017-01-01

    textabstractRationale: Biased attention towards drug-related cues and reduced inhibitory control over the regulation of drug-intake characterize drug addiction. The noradrenaline system has been critically implicated in both attentional and response inhibitory processes and is directly affected by

  1. Compelled attention: the effects of viewing trauma-related stimuli on concurrent task performance in posttraumatic stress disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chemtob, C M; Roitblat, H L; Hamada, R S; Muraoka, M Y; Carlson, J G; Bauer, G B

    1999-04-01

    We examined the ability of Vietnam veterans with PTSD to focus attention on a primary digit detection task while concurrently viewing neutral or Vietnam-related picture and word distractors. Controlling for combat exposure, military service, and psychopathology, veterans with PTSD took longer to detect the target when Vietnam-related pictures were distractors. There were no reaction time differences when word stimuli were distractors. The latency effect was specific to trials with trauma-related pictures and did not spread to neutral trials interleaved within a mixed block of trauma and neutral pictures. Individuals with PTSD recalled proportionally more Vietnam-related words than other groups, implying differential attention to Vietnam-related words. Attending to trauma-related pictures interferes with performance of a concurrent task by individuals with PTSD.

  2. Attentional bias for craving-related (chocolate) food cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemps, Eva; Tiggemann, Marika

    2009-12-01

    In this study, we investigated attentional biases for craving-related food cues. A pictorial dot probe task was used to assess selective attentional processing of one particular highly desired food, namely chocolate, relative to that of other highly desired foods. In Experiment 1, we examined biased processing of chocolate cues in habitual (trait) chocolate cravers, whereas in Experiment 2 we investigated the effect of experimentally induced (state) chocolate cravings on such processing. As predicted, habitual chocolate cravers (Experiment 1) and individuals in whom a craving for chocolate was temporarily induced (Experiment 2) showed speeded detection of probes replacing chocolate-related pictures, demonstrating an attentional bias for chocolate cues. Subsequent examination indicated that in both experiments the observed attentional biases stemmed from difficulty in disengaging attention from chocolate cues rather than from a shift of attention toward such cues. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications.

  3. Light distribution in diffractive multifocal optics and its optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portney, Valdemar

    2011-11-01

    To expand a geometrical model of diffraction efficiency and its interpretation to the multifocal optic and to introduce formulas for analysis of far and near light distribution and their application to multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) and to diffraction efficiency optimization. Medical device consulting firm, Newport Coast, California, USA. Experimental study. Application of a geometrical model to the kinoform (single focus diffractive optical element) was expanded to a multifocal optic to produce analytical definitions of light split between far and near images and light loss to other diffraction orders. The geometrical model gave a simple interpretation of light split in a diffractive multifocal IOL. An analytical definition of light split between far, near, and light loss was introduced as curve fitting formulas. Several examples of application to common multifocal diffractive IOLs were developed; for example, to light-split change with wavelength. The analytical definition of diffraction efficiency may assist in optimization of multifocal diffractive optics that minimize light loss. Formulas for analysis of light split between different foci of multifocal diffractive IOLs are useful in interpreting diffraction efficiency dependence on physical characteristics, such as blaze heights of the diffractive grooves and wavelength of light, as well as for optimizing multifocal diffractive optics. Disclosure is found in the footnotes. Copyright © 2011 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Early Auditory Evoked Potential Is Modulated by Selective Attention and Related to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuliano, Ryan J.; Karns, Christina M.; Neville, Helen J.; Hillyard, Steven A.

    2015-01-01

    A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual’s capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70–90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals. PMID:25000526

  5. Attention and Working Memory-Related EEG Markers of Subtle Cognitive Deterioration in Healthy Elderly Individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deiber, Marie-Pierre; Meziane, Hadj Boumediene; Hasler, Roland; Rodriguez, Cristelle; Toma, Simona; Ackermann, Marine; Herrmann, François; Giannakopoulos, Panteleimon

    2015-01-01

    Future treatments of Alzheimer's disease need the identification of cases at high risk at the preclinical stage of the disease before the development of irreversible structural damage. We investigated here whether subtle cognitive deterioration in a population of healthy elderly individuals could be predicted by EEG signals at baseline under cognitive activation. Continuous EEG was recorded in 97 elderly control subjects and 45 age-matched mild cognitive impairment (MCI) cases during a simple attentional and a 2-back working memory task. Upon 18-month neuropsychological follow-up, the final sample included 55 stable (sCON) and 42 deteriorated (dCON) controls. We examined the P1, N1, P3, and PNwm event-related components as well as the oscillatory activities in the theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), and beta (14-25 Hz) frequency ranges (ERD/ERS: event-related desynchronization/synchronization, and ITC: inter-trial coherence). Behavioral performance, P1, and N1 components were comparable in all groups. The P3, PNwm, and all oscillatory activity indices were altered in MCI cases compared to controls. Only three EEG indices distinguished the two control groups: alpha and beta ERD (dCON >  sCON) and beta ITC (dCON memory processes but mostly affects attention, resulting in an enhanced recruitment of attentional resources. In addition, cognitive decline alters neural firing synchronization at high frequencies (14-25 Hz) at early stages, and possibly affects lower frequencies (4-13 Hz) only at more severe stages.

  6. Attentional and motor impulsivity interactively predict 'food addiction' in obese individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meule, Adrian; de Zwaan, Martina; Müller, Astrid

    2017-01-01

    Impulsivity is a multifaceted construct and constitutes a common risk factor for a range of behaviors associated with poor self-control (e.g., substance use or binge eating). The short form of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-15) measures impulsive behaviors related to attentional (inability to focus attention or concentrate), motor (acting without thinking), and non-planning (lack of future orientation or forethought) impulsivity. Eating-related measures appear to be particularly related to attentional and motor impulsivity and recent findings suggest that interactive effects between these two facets may play a role in eating- and weight-regulation. One-hundred thirty-three obese individuals presenting for bariatric surgery (77.4% female) completed the BIS-15 and the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) 2.0, which measures addiction-like eating based on the eleven symptoms of substance use disorder outlined in the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Sixty-three participants (47.4%) were classified as being 'food addicted'. Scores on attentional and motor impulsivity interactively predicted 'food addiction' status: higher attentional impulsivity was associated with a higher likelihood of receiving a YFAS 2.0 diagnosis only at high (+1 SD), but not at low (-1 SD) levels of motor impulsivity. Results support previous findings showing that non-planning impulsivity does not appear to play a role in eating-related self-regulation. Furthermore, this is the first study that shows interactive effects between different impulsivity facets when predicting 'food addiction' in obese individuals. Self-regulatory failure in eating-regulation (e.g., addiction-like overeating) may particularly emerge when both attentional and motor impulsivity levels are elevated. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Modality-specificity of selective attention networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah Jamieson Stewart

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To establish the modality specificity and generality of selective attention networks. Method: Forty-eight young adults completed a battery of four auditory and visual selective attention tests based upon the Attention Network framework: the visual and auditory Attention Network Tests (vANT, aANT, the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA, and the Test of Attention in Listening (TAiL. These provided independent measures for auditory and visual alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution networks. The measures were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis to assess underlying attention constructs. Results: The analysis yielded a four-component solution. The first component comprised of a range of measures from the TEA and was labeled ‘general attention’. The third component was labeled ‘auditory attention’, as it only contained measures from the TAiL using pitch as the attended stimulus feature. The second and fourth components were labeled as ‘spatial orienting’ and ‘spatial conflict’, respectively – they were comprised of orienting and conflict resolution measures from the vANT, aANT and TAiL attend-location task – all tasks based upon spatial judgments (e.g., the direction of a target arrow or sound location. Conclusions: These results do not support our a-priori hypothesis that attention networks are either modality specific or supramodal. Auditory attention separated into selectively attending to spatial and non-spatial features, with the auditory spatial attention loading onto the same factor as visual spatial attention, suggesting spatial attention is supramodal. However, since our study did not include a non-spatial measure of visual attention, further research will be required to ascertain whether non-spatial attention is modality-specific.

  8. Contactin-1 and Neurofascin-155/-186 Are Not Targets of Auto-Antibodies in Multifocal Motor Neuropathy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathrin Doppler

    Full Text Available Multifocal motor neuropathy is an immune mediated disease presenting with multifocal muscle weakness and conduction block. IgM auto-antibodies against the ganglioside GM1 are detectable in about 50% of the patients. Auto-antibodies against the paranodal proteins contactin-1 and neurofascin-155 and the nodal protein neurofascin-186 have been detected in subgroups of patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. Recently, auto-antibodies against neurofascin-186 and gliomedin were described in more than 60% of patients with multifocal motor neuropathy. In the current study, we aimed to validate this finding, using a combination of different assays for auto-antibody detection. In addition we intended to detect further auto-antibodies against paranodal proteins, specifically contactin-1 and neurofascin-155 in multifocal motor neuropathy patients' sera. We analyzed sera of 33 patients with well-characterized multifocal motor neuropathy for IgM or IgG anti-contactin-1, anti-neurofascin-155 or -186 antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, binding assays with transfected human embryonic kidney 293 cells and murine teased fibers. We did not detect any IgM or IgG auto-antibodies against contactin-1, neurofascin-155 or -186 in any of our multifocal motor neuropathy patients. We conclude that auto-antibodies against contactin-1, neurofascin-155 and -186 do not play a relevant role in the pathogenesis in this cohort with multifocal motor neuropathy.

  9. Drug-induced progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vermeer, N S; Straus, S M J M; Mantel-Teeuwisse, A K

    2015-01-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) has been identified as a serious adverse drug reaction (ADR) of several immunomodulatory biologicals. In this study, we contrasted the reporting patterns of PML for two biologicals for which the risk was identified at different points in their life......Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) has been identified as a serious adverse drug reaction (ADR) of several immunomodulatory biologicals. In this study, we contrasted the reporting patterns of PML for two biologicals for which the risk was identified at different points...

  10. Modality-specificity of Selective Attention Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Stewart, Hannah J.; Amitay, Sygal

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To establish the modality specificity and generality of selective attention networks. Method: Forty-eight young adults completed a battery of four auditory and visual selective attention tests based upon the Attention Network framework: the visual and auditory Attention Network Tests (vANT, aANT), the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), and the Test of Attention in Listening (TAiL). These provided independent measures for auditory and visual alerting, orienting, and conflict resoluti...

  11. Attentional processing of food pictures in individuals with anorexia nervosa--an eye-tracking study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giel, Katrin E; Friederich, Hans-Christoph; Teufel, Martin; Hautzinger, Martin; Enck, Paul; Zipfel, Stephan

    2011-04-01

    Etiologic models of anorexia nervosa (AN) suggest that cognitive factors play a crucial role in the disorder's psychopathology. Attentional aspects of food processing in AN remain largely unknown. Both an early attentional bias (vigilance) and inattentiveness (avoidance) to food pictures have been reported in patients with eating disorders. The study's aim was to examine the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis concerning food information processing by unraveling the time course of attention deployment in individuals with AN. We used eye-tracking to examine continuous attention deployment in 19 individuals with AN during free visual exploration of food pictures versus nonfood pictures compared with 18 fasted and 20 nonfasted healthy control subjects. Compared with healthy control subjects, AN patients allocated overall less attention to food pictures but showed no early attentional bias toward food pictures. Attentional engagement for food pictures was most pronounced in fasted healthy control subjects. The extent of attention deployment in AN patients was associated with indicators of the disorder's severity. Gaze data suggest that individuals with AN show no early vigilance but later avoidance when confronted with food information. This suggests that initially, AN patients perceive incentive salience from food information because they process food pictures in the same way healthy control subjects do. The time course of attention deployment suggests that it is only after a first phase of stimulus encoding and labeling as food that individuals with AN avoid food pictures. This pattern of attention deployment is probably mediated by disorder-specific dysfunctional cognitions. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Comparison of the visual and intraocular optical performance of a refractive multifocal IOL with rotational asymmetry and an apodized diffractive multifocal IOL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alió, Jorge L; Plaza-Puche, Ana B; Javaloy, Jaime; Ayala, María José

    2012-02-01

    To compare the visual outcomes and intraocular optical quality observed postoperatively in patients implanted with a rotationally asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) and an apodized diffractive multifocal IOL. Seventy-four consecutive eyes of 40 cataract patients (age range: 36 to 79 years) were divided into two groups: zonal refractive group, 39 eyes implanted with a rotationally asymmetric multifocal IOL (Lentis Mplus LS-312 IOL, Oculentis GmbH); and diffractive group, 35 eyes implanted with an apodized diffractive multifocal IOL (ReSTOR SN6AD3, Alcon Laboratories Inc). Distance and near visual acuity outcomes, contrast sensitivity, intraocular optical quality, and defocus curves were evaluated during 3-month follow-up. Calculation of the intraocular aberrations was performed by subtracting corneal aberrations from total ocular aberrations. Uncorrected near visual acuity and distance-corrected near visual acuity were better in the diffractive group than in the zonal refractive group (P=.01), whereas intermediate visual acuity (defocus +1.00 and +1.50 diopters) was better in the zonal refractive group. Photopic contrast sensitivity was significantly better in the zonal refractive group (P=.04). Wavefront aberrations (total, higher order, tilt, primary coma) were significantly higher in the zonal refractive group than in the diffractive group (P=.02). Both multifocal IOLs are able to successfully restore visual function after cataract surgery. The zonal refractive multifocal IOL provides better results in contrast sensitivity and intermediate vision, whereas the diffractive multifocal IOL provides better near vision at a closer distance. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

  13. Chimeric immune receptors (CIRs) specific to JC virus for immunotherapy in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    W. Yang; E.L. Beaudoin; L. Lu; R.A. Du Pasquier (Renaud); M.J. Kuroda; R.A. Willemsen (Ralph); I.J. Koralnik; R.P. Junghans

    2007-01-01

    textabstractProgressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a deadly brain disease caused by the polyomavirus JC (JCV). The aim of this study is to develop 'designer T cells' armed with anti-JCV TCR-based chimeric immune receptors (CIRs) by gene modification for PML immunotherapy. Two T cell

  14. The Clinical and Molecular Characteristics of Adenocarcinoma Presented 
by Multi-focal GGO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang SONG

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Due to emphasis on early screening for lung cancer, the detection rate of multiple ground glass opacities (GGOs on computed tomography (CT image increases in recent years, and research on multifocal adenocarcinomas presented by GGOs has been thriving. It is more common in women and non-smokers and has excellent prognosis both in patients with natural history and after surgery. These clinical features suggest that it is likely to be a distinct disease entity. From the perspective of molecular genetics, lesions in the same individual are likely to have distinct clonal features. Therefore, genetic heterogeneity is the most prominent feature of multifocal pulmonary adenocarcinomas with GGOs. The genetic heterogeneity is expected to assist the diagnosis of multifocal pulmonary adenocarcinoma and intrapulmonary metastasis, and also suggests that genetic testing of the GGO lesions is of great therapeutic significance. Some GGO lesions may harvest the similar clonal feature, which provide new evidence for the theory of spread through air spaces (STAS.

  15. [The Clinical and Molecular Characteristics of Adenocarcinoma Presented 
by Multi-focal GGO].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yang; Liang, Naixin; Li, Shanqing

    2018-03-20

    Due to emphasis on early screening for lung cancer, the detection rate of multiple ground glass opacities (GGOs) on computed tomography (CT) image increases in recent years, and research on multifocal adenocarcinomas presented by GGOs has been thriving. It is more common in women and non-smokers and has excellent prognosis both in patients with natural history and after surgery. These clinical features suggest that it is likely to be a distinct disease entity. From the perspective of molecular genetics, lesions in the same individual are likely to have distinct clonal features. Therefore, genetic heterogeneity is the most prominent feature of multifocal pulmonary adenocarcinomas with GGOs. The genetic heterogeneity is expected to assist the diagnosis of multifocal pulmonary adenocarcinoma and intrapulmonary metastasis, and also suggests that genetic testing of the GGO lesions is of great therapeutic significance. Some GGO lesions may harvest the similar clonal feature, which provide new evidence for the theory of spread through air spaces (STAS).
.

  16. Sustained Splits of Attention within versus across Visual Hemifields Produce Distinct Spatial Gain Profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walter, Sabrina; Keitel, Christian; Müller, Matthias M

    2016-01-01

    Visual attention can be focused concurrently on two stimuli at noncontiguous locations while intermediate stimuli remain ignored. Nevertheless, behavioral performance in multifocal attention tasks falters when attended stimuli fall within one visual hemifield as opposed to when they are distributed across left and right hemifields. This "different-hemifield advantage" has been ascribed to largely independent processing capacities of each cerebral hemisphere in early visual cortices. Here, we investigated how this advantage influences the sustained division of spatial attention. We presented six isoeccentric light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the lower visual field, each flickering at a different frequency. Participants attended to two LEDs that were spatially separated by an intermediate LED and responded to synchronous events at to-be-attended LEDs. Task-relevant pairs of LEDs were either located in the same hemifield ("within-hemifield" conditions) or separated by the vertical meridian ("across-hemifield" conditions). Flicker-driven brain oscillations, steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs), indexed the allocation of attention to individual LEDs. Both behavioral performance and SSVEPs indicated enhanced processing of attended LED pairs during "across-hemifield" relative to "within-hemifield" conditions. Moreover, SSVEPs demonstrated effective filtering of intermediate stimuli in "across-hemifield" condition only. Thus, despite identical physical distances between LEDs of attended pairs, the spatial profiles of gain effects differed profoundly between "across-hemifield" and "within-hemifield" conditions. These findings corroborate that early cortical visual processing stages rely on hemisphere-specific processing capacities and highlight their limiting role in the concurrent allocation of visual attention to multiple locations.

  17. Modulation of attentional networks by food-related disinhibition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hege, Maike A; Stingl, Krunoslav T; Veit, Ralf; Preissl, Hubert

    2017-07-01

    The risk of weight gain is especially related to disinhibition, which indicates the responsiveness to external food stimuli with associated disruptions in eating control. We adapted a food-related version of the attention network task and used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the effects of disinhibition on attentional networks in 19 normal-weight participants. High disinhibition scores were associated with a rapid reorienting response to food pictures after invalid cueing and with an enhanced alerting effect of a warning cue signalizing the upcoming appearance of a food picture. Imaging data revealed activation of a right-lateralized ventral attention network during reorienting. The faster the reorienting and the higher the disinhibition score, the less activation of this network was observed. The alerting contrast showed activation in visual, temporo-parietal and anterior sites. These modulations of attentional networks by food-related disinhibition might be related to an attentional bias to energy dense and palatable food and increased intake of food in disinhibited individuals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Multi-focal Vision and Gaze Control Improve Navigation Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kolja Kuehnlenz

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Multi-focal vision systems comprise cameras with various fields of view and measurement accuracies. This article presents a multi-focal approach to localization and mapping of mobile robots with active vision. An implementation of the novel concept is done considering a humanoid robot navigation scenario where the robot is visually guided through a structured environment with several landmarks. Various embodiments of multi-focal vision systems are investigated and the impact on navigation performance is evaluated in comparison to a conventional mono-focal stereo set-up. The comparative studies clearly show the benefits of multi-focal vision for mobile robot navigation: flexibility to assign the different available sensors optimally in each situation, enhancement of the visible field, higher localization accuracy, and, thus, better task performance, i.e. path following behavior of the mobile robot. It is shown that multi-focal vision may strongly improve navigation performance.

  19. Research advances on multifocal electroretinogram in primary open angle glaucoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feng-Fei Mo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Primary open angle glaucoma is a chronic and progressive optic neuropathy. It can lead to serious damage of visual impairment, and it is an important eye disease of blindness. Multifocal electroretinogram is a new way to measure visual electrophysiology. It can measure electroretinogram of the whole visual field of many small parts in a relatively short period of time, and it can reflect the function of regional retina. It has an extremely important value for early diagnosis of primary open angle glaucoma. The research advances on multifocal electroretinogram in diagnosing primary open angle glaucoma were summarized in this paper.

  20. Riedel's thyroiditis and multifocal fibrosclerosis are part of the IgG4-related systemic disease spectrum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlgren, Mollie; Khosroshahi, Arezou; Nielsen, G Petur; Deshpande, Vikram; Stone, John H

    2010-09-01

    Riedel's thyroiditis is a chronic fibrosing disorder of unknown etiology often associated with "multifocal fibrosclerosis." IgG4-related systemic disease is characterized by IgG4+ plasma cell infiltration and fibrosis throughout many organs. We hypothesized that Riedel's thyroiditis is part of the IgG4-related systemic disease spectrum. We searched our institution's pathology database using the terms "Riedel's," "struma," "thyroid," and "fibrosis," and identified 3 cases of Riedel's thyroiditis. Riedel's thyroiditis was diagnosed if there was a fibroinflammatory process involving all or a portion of the thyroid gland, with evidence of extension of the process into surrounding tissues. Immunohistochemical stains for IgG4 and IgG were performed. The histopathologic and immunohistochemical features of each involved organ were evaluated. The clinical features of one patient with multiple organ system disease were described. All 3 thyroidectomy samples stained positively for IgG4-bearing plasma cells. One patient had extensive extrathyroidal involvement diagnostic of IgG4-related systemic disease, including cholangitis, pseudotumors of both the lung and lacrimal gland, and a lymph node contiguous to the thyroid that stained intensely for IgG4+ plasma cells. The histologic features of all organs involved were consistent with IgG4-related systemic disease. Patient 3 had 10 IgG4+ plasma cells per high-power field initially, but rebiopsy 2 years later demonstrated no IgG4+ plasma cells. That patient's second biopsy, characterized by fibrosis and minimal residual inflammation, further solidifies the link between IgG4-bearing plasma cells in tissue and the histologic evolution to Riedel's thyroiditis. Riedel's thyroiditis is part of the IgG4-related systemic disease spectrum. In many cases, multifocal fibrosclerosis and IgG4-related systemic disease are probably the same entity.

  1. Bilateral implantation of +2.5 D multifocal intraocular lens and contralateral implantation of +2.5 D and +3.0 D multifocal intraocular lenses: Clinical outcomes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nuijts, Rudy M. M. A.; Jonker, Soraya M. R.; Kaufer, Robert A.; Lapid-Gortzak, Ruth; Mendicute, Javier; Martinez, Cristina Peris; Schmickler, Stefanie; Kohnen, Thomas

    2016-01-01

    To assess the clinical visual outcomes of bilateral implantation of Restor +2.5 diopter (D) multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) and contralateral implantation of a Restor +2.5 D multifocal IOL in the dominant eye and Restor +3.0 D multifocal IOL in the fellow eye. Multicenter study at 8

  2. Attention Bias of Avoidant Individuals to Attachment Emotion Pictures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ying; Ding, Yi; Lu, Luluzi; Chen, Xu

    2017-01-27

    How attachment style affects emotion processing is tightly connected with individuals' attention bias. This experiment explored avoidant individuals' attentional engagement and attentional disengagement using a cue-target paradigm in fMRI. The experimental group consisted of 17 avoidant participants, while the control group consisted of 16 secure participants; these were identified by the Experiences in Close Relationships inventory and the Relationship Questionnaire. Each reacted to pictures of positive parent-child attachment, negative parent-child attachment, positive romantic attachment, negative romantic attachment, and neutral non-attachment. Behaviorally, avoidant individuals were slower than secure individuals in responding to emotions and their attentional disengagement effect for negative parent-child emotions was stronger than positive ones. fMRI results showed that avoidant compared to secure individuals activated more strongly in the right superior temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and the left medial frontal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, supplementary motor area, and cingulate gyrus. They also showed stronger activation in disengaging from positive than negative emotions in the bilateral fusiform and middle occipital gyri. In conclusion, avoidant individuals could detect emotions as effective as secure individuals in attentioal engaging stages. They can disengage from positive emotions with effective cognitive resources and were harder to get rid of negative emotions with insufficient resource.

  3. Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Default Local Processing in Individuals with High Autistic Traits Does Not Come at the Expense of Global Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenson, Ryan A; Sun, Sol Z; Hazlett, Naomi; Cant, Jonathan S; Barense, Morgan D; Ferber, Susanne

    2018-04-01

    Atypical sensory perception is one of the most ubiquitous symptoms of autism, including a tendency towards a local-processing bias. We investigated whether local-processing biases were associated with global-processing impairments on a global/local attentional-scope paradigm in conjunction with a composite-face task. Behavioural results were related to individuals' levels of autistic traits, specifically the Attention to Detail subscale of the Autism Quotient, and the Sensory Profile Questionnaire. Individuals showing high rates of Attention to Detail were more susceptible to global attentional-scope manipulations, suggesting that local-processing biases associated with Attention to Detail do not come at the cost of a global-processing deficit, but reflect a difference in default global versus local bias. This relationship operated at the attentional/perceptual level, but not response criterion.

  4. Power profiles of single vision and multifocal soft contact lenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, Sandra; Conrad, Fabian; Bakaraju, Ravi C; Fedtke, Cathleen; Ehrmann, Klaus; Holden, Brien A

    2015-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the optical zone power profile of the most commonly prescribed soft contact lenses to assess their potential impact on peripheral refractive error and hence myopia progression. The optical power profiles of six single vision and ten multifocal contact lenses of five manufacturers in the powers -1.00 D, -3.00 D, and -6.00 D were measured using the SHSOphthalmic (Optocraft GmbH, Erlangen, Germany). Instrument repeatability was also investigated. Instrument repeatability was dependent on the distance from the optical centre, manifesting unreliable data for the central 1mm of the optic zone. Single vision contact lens measurements of -6.00 D lenses revealed omafilcon A having the most negative spherical aberration, lotrafilcon A having the least. Somofilcon A had the highest minus power and lotrafilcon A the biggest deviation in positive direction, relative to their respective labelled powers. Negative spherical aberration occurred for almost all of the multifocal contact lenses, including the centre-distance designs etafilcon A bifocal and omafilcon A multifocal. Lotrafilcon B and balafilcon A seem to rely predominantly on the spherical aberration component to provide multifocality. Power profiles of single vision soft contact lenses varied greatly, many having a negative spherical aberration profile that would exacerbate myopia. Some lens types and powers are affected by large intra-batch variability or power offsets of more than 0.25 dioptres. Evaluation of power profiles of multifocal lenses was derived that provides helpful information for prescribing lenses for presbyopes and progressing myopes. Copyright © 2014 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Comparison of outcomes with multifocal intraocular lenses: a meta-analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Béatrice Cochener

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Béatrice Cochener1, Antoine Lafuma2, Babak Khoshnood2, Laurène Courouve2, Gilles Berdeaux3,41Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Brest, Brest, France; 2Cemka Eval, Bourg la Reine, France; 3Alcon France, Rueil-Malmaison, France; 4Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, FrancePurpose: To compare the clinical outcome of different multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs based on information reported in the international literature.Methods: All comparative clinical trials that involved implanting at least one multifocal IOL in patients with cataract or presbyopia were extracted from the literature. Clinical outcomes included uncorrected near visual acuity, uncorrected distance visual acuity, visual acuity, spectacle independence, and halos. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted to compare outcomes for the different IOL types.Results: Twenty papers were identified describing 11 monofocal IOLs and 35 multifocal IOLs (19 diffractive, including 12 ReSTOR®, 14 refractive, and two accommodative patient cohorts. Multifocal and monofocal uncorrected distance visual acuity was 0.165 (0.090–0.240 and 0.093 (0.088–0.098, respectively. Compared with monofocal IOLs, multifocal IOLs produced better uncorrected near visual acuity (0.470 [0.322–0.618] versus 0.141 [0.131–0.152]; P < 0.0001, resulting in higher spectacle independence (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 3.62 [2.90–4.52]; P < 0.0001. Compared with refractive multifocal IOLs, diffractive multifocal IOLs produced a similar uncorrected distance visual acuity (0.105 [0.098–0.111] versus 0.085 [0.029–0.140]; P ≤ 0.78, not significant and better uncorrected near visual acuity (0.217 [0.118–0.317] versus 0.082 [0.067–0.098]; P < 0.0001 resulting in higher spectacle independence (IRR 1.75 [1.24–2.48]; P < 0.001. Compared with other multifocal IOLs, ReSTOR produced a better uncorrected distance visual acuity (0.067 [0.059–0.076] versus 0.093 [0.088–0.098]; P < 0.0001 and better

  6. Disgust-specific modulation of early attention processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hooff, J.C.; van Buuringen, M.; El M’rabet, L.; de Gier, M.; van Zalingen, L.

    2014-01-01

    Although threatening images are known to attract and keep our attention, little is known about the existence of emotion-specific attention effects. In this study (N. = 46), characteristics of an anticipated, disgust-specific effect were investigated by means of a covert orienting paradigm

  7. The Contribution of Attentional Lapses to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

    OpenAIRE

    Adam, Kirsten C. S.; Mance, Irida; Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K.

    2015-01-01

    Attentional control and working memory capacity are important cognitive abilities that substantially vary between individuals. Although much is known about how attentional control and working memory capacity relate to each other and to constructs like fluid intelligence, little is known about how trial-by-trial fluctuations in attentional engagement impact trial-by-trial working memory performance. Here, we employ a novel whole-report memory task that allowed us to distinguish between varying...

  8. The Effect of Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy on Fear-Related Capture of Attention in Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor: A Comparison to Healthy Individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camalier, Corrie R; McHugo, Maureen; Zald, David H; Neimat, Joseph S

    2018-01-01

    In addition to motor symptoms, Parkinson's disease (PD) involves significant non-motor sequelae, including disruptions in cognitive and emotional processing. Fear recognition appears to be affected both by the course of the disease and by a common interventional therapy, deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS). Here, we examined if these effects extend to other aspects of emotional processing, such as attentional capture by negative emotional stimuli. Performance on an emotional attentional blink (EAB) paradigm, a common paradigm used to study emotional capture of attention, was examined in a cohort of individuals with PD, both on and off STN-DBS therapy (n=20). To contrast effects of healthy aging and other movement disorder and DBS targets, we also examined performance in a healthy elderly (n=20) and young (n=18) sample on the same task, and a sample diagnosed with Essential Tremor (ET) undergoing therapeutic deep brain stimulation of the ventral-intermediate nucleus (VIM-DBS, n=18). All four groups showed a robust attentional capture of emotional stimuli, irrespective of aging processes, movement disorder diagnosis, or stimulation. PD patients on average had overall worse performance, but this decrement in performance was not related to the emotional capture of attention. PD patients exhibited a robust EAB, indicating that the ability of emotion to direct attention remains intact in PD. Congruent with other recent data, these findings suggest that fear recognition deficits in PD may instead reflect a highly specific problem in recognition, rather than a general deficit in emotional processing of fearful stimuli.

  9. Contributions of Sensory Coding and Attentional Control to Individual Differences in Performance in Spatial Auditory Selective Attention Tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Lengshi; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G

    2016-01-01

    Listeners with normal hearing thresholds (NHTs) differ in their ability to steer attention to whatever sound source is important. This ability depends on top-down executive control, which modulates the sensory representation of sound in the cortex. Yet, this sensory representation also depends on the coding fidelity of the peripheral auditory system. Both of these factors may thus contribute to the individual differences in performance. We designed a selective auditory attention paradigm in which we could simultaneously measure envelope following responses (EFRs, reflecting peripheral coding), onset event-related potentials (ERPs) from the scalp (reflecting cortical responses to sound) and behavioral scores. We performed two experiments that varied stimulus conditions to alter the degree to which performance might be limited due to fine stimulus details vs. due to control of attentional focus. Consistent with past work, in both experiments we find that attention strongly modulates cortical ERPs. Importantly, in Experiment I, where coding fidelity limits the task, individual behavioral performance correlates with subcortical coding strength (derived by computing how the EFR is degraded for fully masked tones compared to partially masked tones); however, in this experiment, the effects of attention on cortical ERPs were unrelated to individual subject performance. In contrast, in Experiment II, where sensory cues for segregation are robust (and thus less of a limiting factor on task performance), inter-subject behavioral differences correlate with subcortical coding strength. In addition, after factoring out the influence of subcortical coding strength, behavioral differences are also correlated with the strength of attentional modulation of ERPs. These results support the hypothesis that behavioral abilities amongst listeners with NHTs can arise due to both subcortical coding differences and differences in attentional control, depending on stimulus characteristics

  10. Contributions of sensory coding and attentional control to individual differences in performance in spatial auditory selective attention tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lengshi Dai

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Listeners with normal hearing thresholds differ in their ability to steer attention to whatever sound source is important. This ability depends on top-down executive control, which modulates the sensory representation of sound in cortex. Yet, this sensory representation also depends on the coding fidelity of the peripheral auditory system. Both of these factors may thus contribute to the individual differences in performance. We designed a selective auditory attention paradigm in which we could simultaneously measure envelope following responses (EFRs, reflecting peripheral coding, onset event-related potentials from the scalp (ERPs, reflecting cortical responses to sound, and behavioral scores. We performed two experiments that varied stimulus conditions to alter the degree to which performance might be limited due to fine stimulus details vs. due to control of attentional focus. Consistent with past work, in both experiments we find that attention strongly modulates cortical ERPs. Importantly, in Experiment I, where coding fidelity limits the task, individual behavioral performance correlates with subcortical coding strength (derived by computing how the EFR is degraded for fully masked tones compared to partially masked tones; however, in this experiment, the effects of attention on cortical ERPs were unrelated to individual subject performance. In contrast, in Experiment II, where sensory cues for segregation are robust (and thus less of a limiting factor on task performance, inter-subject behavioral differences correlate with subcortical coding strength. In addition, after factoring out the influence of subcortical coding strength, behavioral differences are also correlated with the strength of attentional modulation of ERPs. These results support the hypothesis that behavioral abilities amongst listeners with normal hearing thresholds can arise due to both subcortical coding differences and differences in attentional control, depending on

  11. Neural Correlates of Expert Behavior During a Domain-Specific Attentional Cueing Task in Badminton Players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chun-Hao; Tu, Kuo-Cheng

    2017-06-01

    The present study aimed to investigate the neural correlates associated with sports expertise during a domain-specific task in badminton players. We compared event-related potentials activity from collegiate male badminton players and a set of matched athletic controls when they performed a badminton-specific attentional cueing task in which the uncertainty and validity were manipulated. The data showed that, regardless of cue type, the badminton players had faster responses along with greater P3 amplitudes than the athletic controls on the task. Specifically, the contingent negative variation amplitude was smaller for the players than for the controls in the condition involving higher uncertainty. Such an effect, however, was absent in the condition with lower uncertainty. We conclude that expertise in sports is associated with proficient modulation of brain activity during cognitive and motor preparation, as well as response execution, when performing a task related to an individual's specific sport domain.

  12. Attention allocation: Relationships to general working memory or specific language processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archibald, Lisa M D; Levee, Tyler; Olino, Thomas

    2015-11-01

    Attention allocation, updating working memory, and language processing are interdependent cognitive tasks related to the focused direction of limited resources, refreshing and substituting information in the current focus of attention, and receiving/sending verbal communication, respectively. The current study systematically examined the relationship among executive attention, working memory executive skills, and language abilities while adjusting for individual differences in short-term memory. School-age children completed a selective attention task requiring them to recall whether a presented shape was in the same place as a previous target shape shown in an array imposing a low or high working memory load. Results revealed a selective attention cost when working above but not within memory span capacity. Measures of general working memory were positively related to overall task performance, whereas language abilities were related to response time. In particular, higher language skills were associated with faster responses under low load conditions. These findings suggest that attentional control and storage demands have an additive impact on working memory resources but provide only limited evidence for a domain-general mechanism in language learning. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Auditory Selective Attention in Cerebral-Palsied Individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laraway, Lee Ann

    1985-01-01

    To examine differences between auditory selective attention abilities of normal and cerebral-palsied individuals, 23 cerebral-palsied and 23 normal subjects (5-21) were asked to repeat a series of 30 items in presence of intermittent white noise. Results indicated that cerebral-palsied individuals perform significantly more poorly when the…

  14. Individual differences in approach motivation, resting-state frontal cortical activity and attentional scope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boksem, M.A.S.; Kostermans, E.; Tops, M.; de Cremer, D.

    2012-01-01

    Recent research has demonstrated that individual differences in approach motivation modulate attentional scope. In turn, approach and inhibition have been related to different neural systems that are associated with asymmetries in relative frontal activity (RFA). Here, we investigated whether such

  15. Domain-Specific Control of Selective Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Szu-Hung; Yeh, Yei-Yu

    2014-01-01

    Previous research has shown that loading information on working memory affects selective attention. However, whether the load effect on selective attention is domain-general or domain-specific remains unresolved. The domain-general effect refers to the findings that load in one content (e.g. phonological) domain in working memory influences processing in another content (e.g., visuospatial) domain. Attentional control supervises selection regardless of information domain. The domain-specific effect refers to the constraint of influence only when maintenance and processing operate in the same domain. Selective attention operates in a specific content domain. This study is designed to resolve this controversy. Across three experiments, we manipulated the type of representation maintained in working memory and the type of representation upon which the participants must exert control to resolve conflict and select a target into the focus of attention. In Experiments 1a and 1b, participants maintained digits and nonverbalized objects, respectively, in working memory while selecting a target in a letter array. In Experiment 2, we presented auditory digits with a letter flanker task to exclude the involvement of resource competition within the same input modality. In Experiments 3a and 3b, we replaced the letter flanker task with an object flanker task while manipulating the memory load on object and digit representation, respectively. The results consistently showed that memory load modulated distractibility only when the stimuli of the two tasks were represented in the same domain. The magnitude of distractor interference was larger under high load than under low load, reflecting a lower efficacy of information prioritization. When the stimuli of the two tasks were represented in different domains, memory load did not modulate distractibility. Control of processing priority in selective attention demands domain-specific resources. PMID:24866977

  16. Increased attention and memory for beloved-related information during infatuation: behavioral and electrophysiological data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langeslag, Sandra J E; Olivier, Jamie R; Köhlen, Martine E; Nijs, Ilse M; Van Strien, Jan W

    2015-01-01

    Emotionally salient information is well attended and remembered. It has been shown that infatuated individuals have increased attention for their beloved. It is unknown whether this attention bias generalizes to information related to the beloved. Moreover, infatuated individuals report to remember trivial things about their beloved, but this has not yet been tested empirically. In two studies, we tested whether infatuated individuals have increased attention and memory for beloved-related information. In a passive viewing task (Study 1), the late positive potential, an event-related potential (ERP) component reflecting motivated attention, was enhanced for beloved-related vs friend-related words/phrases. In a recognition task (Study 2), memory performance and the frontal and parietal ERP old/new effects, reflecting familiarity and recollection, respectively, were not enhanced for beloved-related compared with friend-related words/phrases. In free recall tasks in both studies, memory was better for beloved-related than friend-related words/phrases. This research reveals that attention and memory are enhanced for beloved-related information. These attention and memory biases for beloved-related information were not due to valence, semantic relatedness, or experience, but to arousal. To conclude, romantic love has profound effects on cognition that play a clear role in daily life. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Activation of Brain Attention Systems in Individuals with Symptoms of ADHD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Dennis Rodriguez

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Previous research investigating attention and impulse control in individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD has largely ignored the symptomatic differences among the three subtypes of ADHD: ADHD-Inattentive Type, ADHD-Hyperactive/Impulsive Type, and ADHD-Combined Type. The present study examined attention and impulse control by focusing on these subtypes. Based on their self-reported symptoms of ADHD, participants belonged to one of four groups: ADHD-Inattentive, ADHD-Hyperactive/Impulsive, ADHD-Combined, and control. Cortical activity was recorded from participants during performance of a Go/NoGo task. The event-related potentials (ERP measured at frontal and posterior sites discriminated between the control group and participants with symptoms of ADHD. The control group consistently exhibited a higher P3 amplitude than all the ADHD groups. The main difference occurred at the frontal site, indicating that individuals with ADHD symptoms have deficits in the anterior attentional system, which mediates signal detection. Behavioral measures of signal sensitivity revealed that the ADHD-Inattentive and the ADHD-Hyperactive/Impulsive groups had more difficulty with the attention-demanding Go/NoGo respond-to-target task, while behavioral measures of response bias indicated that the ADHD-Hyperactive/Impulsive and the ADHD-Combined groups responded more liberally in the inhibition-demanding Go/NoGo suppress-to-target task.

  18. Individual differences in working memory capacity predict visual attention allocation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bleckley, M Kathryn; Durso, Francis T; Crutchfield, Jerry M; Engle, Randall W; Khanna, Maya M

    2003-12-01

    To the extent that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) reflect differences in attention (Baddeley, 1993; Engle, Kane, & Tuholski, 1999), differences in WMC should predict performance on visual attention tasks. Individuals who scored in the upper and lower quartiles on the OSPAN working memory test performed a modification of Egly and Homa's (1984) selective attention task. In this task, the participants identified a central letter and localized a displaced letter flashed somewhere on one of three concentric rings. When the displaced letter occurred closer to fixation than the cue implied, high-WMC, but not low-WMC, individuals showed a cost in the letter localization task. This suggests that low-WMC participants allocated attention as a spotlight, whereas those with high WMC showed flexible allocation.

  19. Humorous Relations: Attentiveness, Pleasure and Risk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayo, Cris

    2014-01-01

    This article focuses on the structures of humor and joke telling that require particular kinds of attentiveness and particular relationships between speaker and audience, or more specifically, between classmates. First, I will analyze the pedagogical and relational preconditions that are necessary for humor to work. If humor is to work well, the…

  20. Attentional Bias towards Positive Emotion Predicts Stress Resilience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoern, Hanna A; Grueschow, Marcus; Ehlert, Ulrike; Ruff, Christian C; Kleim, Birgit

    2016-01-01

    There is extensive evidence for an association between an attentional bias towards emotionally negative stimuli and vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology. Less is known about whether selective attention towards emotionally positive stimuli relates to mental health and stress resilience. The current study used a modified Dot Probe task to investigate if individual differences in attentional biases towards either happy or angry emotional stimuli, or an interaction between these biases, are related to self-reported trait stress resilience. In a nonclinical sample (N = 43), we indexed attentional biases as individual differences in reaction time for stimuli preceded by either happy or angry (compared to neutral) face stimuli. Participants with greater attentional bias towards happy faces (but not angry faces) reported higher trait resilience. However, an attentional bias towards angry stimuli moderated this effect: The attentional bias towards happy faces was only predictive for resilience in those individuals who also endorsed an attentional bias towards angry stimuli. An attentional bias towards positive emotional stimuli may thus be a protective factor contributing to stress resilience, specifically in those individuals who also endorse an attentional bias towards negative emotional stimuli. Our findings therefore suggest a novel target for prevention and treatment interventions addressing stress-related psychopathology.

  1. Emotion and attention: event-related brain potential studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schupp, Harald T; Flaisch, Tobias; Stockburger, Jessica; Junghöfer, Markus

    2006-01-01

    Emotional pictures guide selective visual attention. A series of event-related brain potential (ERP) studies is reviewed demonstrating the consistent and robust modulation of specific ERP components by emotional images. Specifically, pictures depicting natural pleasant and unpleasant scenes are associated with an increased early posterior negativity, late positive potential, and sustained positive slow wave compared with neutral contents. These modulations are considered to index different stages of stimulus processing including perceptual encoding, stimulus representation in working memory, and elaborate stimulus evaluation. Furthermore, the review includes a discussion of studies exploring the interaction of motivated attention with passive and active forms of attentional control. Recent research is reviewed exploring the selective processing of emotional cues as a function of stimulus novelty, emotional prime pictures, learned stimulus significance, and in the context of explicit attention tasks. It is concluded that ERP measures are useful to assess the emotion-attention interface at the level of distinct processing stages. Results are discussed within the context of two-stage models of stimulus perception brought out by studies of attention, orienting, and learning.

  2. Neural correlates of age-related decline and compensation in visual attention capacity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wiegand, Iris; Töllner, Thomas; Dyrholm, Mads

    2014-01-01

    -individual differences in K. Moreover, both parameters were selectively related to two further ERP waves in older age: The anterior N1 was reduced for older participants with lower processing speed, indicating that age-related loss of attentional resources slows encoding. An enhanced right-central positivity (RCP......We identified neural correlates of declined and preserved basic visual attention functions in aging individuals based on Bundesen’s ‘Theory of Visual Attention’ (TVA). In an inter-individual difference approach, we contrasted electrophysiology of higher- and lower-performing younger and older......) was found only for older participants with high storage capacity, suggesting compensatory recruitment for retaining vSTM performance. Together, our results demonstrate that attentional capacity in older age depends on both preservation and successful reorganization of the underlying brain circuits...

  3. Predictability of uncontrollable multifocal seizures - towards new treatment options

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehnertz, Klaus; Dickten, Henning; Porz, Stephan; Helmstaedter, Christoph; Elger, Christian E.

    2016-04-01

    Drug-resistant, multifocal, non-resectable epilepsies are among the most difficult epileptic disorders to manage. An approach to control previously uncontrollable seizures in epilepsy patients would consist of identifying seizure precursors in critical brain areas combined with delivering a counteracting influence to prevent seizure generation. Predictability of seizures with acceptable levels of sensitivity and specificity, even in an ambulatory setting, has been repeatedly shown, however, in patients with a single seizure focus only. We did a study to assess feasibility of state-of-the-art, electroencephalogram-based seizure-prediction techniques in patients with uncontrollable multifocal seizures. We obtained significant predictive information about upcoming seizures in more than two thirds of patients. Unexpectedly, the emergence of seizure precursors was confined to non-affected brain areas. Our findings clearly indicate that epileptic networks, spanning lobes and hemispheres, underlie generation of seizures. Our proof-of-concept study is an important milestone towards new therapeutic strategies based on seizure-prediction techniques for clinical practice.

  4. Depression, not PTSD, is associated with attentional biases for emotional visual cues in early traumatized individuals with PTSD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte Elisabeth Wittekind

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Using variants of the emotional Stroop task (EST, a large number of studies demonstrated attentional biases in individuals with PTSD across different types of trauma. However, the specificity and robustness of the emotional Stroop effect in PTSD were questioned recently. In particular, the paradigm cannot disentangle underlying cognitive mechanisms. Transgenerational studies provide evidence that consequences of trauma are not limited to the traumatized people, but extend to close relatives, especially the children. To further investigate attentional biases in PTSD and to shed light on the underlying cognitive mechanism(s, a spatial-cueing paradigm with pictures of different emotional valence (neutral, anxiety, depression, trauma was administered to individuals displaced as children during World War II with (n = 22 and without PTSD (n = 26 as well as to nontraumatized controls (n = 22. To assess whether parental PTSD is associated with biased information processing in children, each one adult offspring was also included in the study. PTSD was not associated with attentional biases for trauma-related stimuli. There was no evidence for a transgenerational transmission of biased information processing. However, when samples were regrouped based on current depression, a reduced inhibition of return (IOR effect emerged for depression-related cues. IOR refers to the phenomenon that with longer intervals between cue and target the validity effect is reversed: uncued locations are associated with shorter and cued locations with longer RTs. The results diverge from EST studies and demonstrate that findings on attentional biases yield equivocal results across different paradigms. Attentional biases for trauma-related material may only appear for verbal but not for visual stimuli in an elderly population with childhood trauma with PTSD. Future studies should more closely investigate whether findings from younger trauma populations also manifest in older

  5. Divided attention enhances explicit but not implicit conceptual memory: an item-specific account of the attentional boost effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spataro, Pietro; Mulligan, Neil W; Bechi Gabrielli, Giulia; Rossi-Arnaud, Clelia

    2017-02-01

    The Attentional Boost Effect (ABE) refers to the counterintuitive finding that words encoded with to-be-responded targets in a divided-attention condition are remembered better than words encoded with distractors. Previous studies suggested that the ABE-related enhancement of verbal memory depends upon the activation of abstract lexical representations. In the present study, we extend this hypothesis by embedding it in the context of a broader perspective, which proposes that divided attention in the ABE paradigm affects item-specific, but not relational, processing. To this purpose, we examined the ABE in the matched tasks of category-cued recall (CCRT: explicit memory) and category exemplar generation (CEGT: implicit memory). In addition, study time was varied (500, 1500 or 4000 ms), to further determine whether the attentional boost manipulation could influence late-phase elaborative processing. In agreement with the predictions of the item-specific account, the results showed that exemplars encoded with targets were recalled better than exemplars encoded with distractors in the CCRT, but not in the CEGT. Moreover, performance in the CCRT increased with study time, whereas the size of the ABE-related enhancement tended to decrease, further confirming that this effect hinges upon early phase encoding processes.

  6. Does multifocal papillary micro-carcinoma require radioiodine ablation?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Punda, A.; Markovic, V.; Eterovic, D.

    2015-01-01

    Full text of publication follows. Background: the thyroid carcinomas smaller than 1 cm (micro-carcinomas) comprise a significant fraction of papillary carcinomas. Excluding clinical micro-carcinomas, which present as metastatic disease, the micro-carcinomas diagnosed by ultrasound/FNAC or incidentally have very good prognosis. However, whether or not these papillary micro-carcinomas require post-surgical radioiodine ablation remains a matter of debate. Hypothesis: multi-focality is present in majority of clinical papillary micro-carcinomas and this characteristic can be used to identify the subset of non-clinical micro-carcinomas with greater malignant potential. Methods: the data on types of differentiated thyroid carcinomas diagnosed in the period 2008-2011 in the University Hospital Split were collected. Results: there were 359 patients with thyroid carcinoma, 329 (92%) of which had papillary carcinoma. About 61% (202/329) of papillary carcinomas were micro-carcinomas; most of them were diagnosed by ultrasound/FNAC (134/202= 66%), the rest were incidentalomas (48/202=24%) and clinical micro carcinomas (20/202=10%). Sixty percent (12/20) of patients with clinical micro-carcinoma and 23 patients with non-clinical micro-carcinoma (23/182=13%) had multifocal disease. Conclusion: multifocal disease is a frequent characteristic of clinical papillary thyroid micro-carcinomas, suggesting that multi-focality presents an early stage of non-clinical micro-carcinomas with more aggressive behaviour. Thus multifocal, but not uni-focal papillary micro-carcinomas may require radioiodine ablation. (authors)

  7. Multifocal ERG wavelet packet decomposition applied to glaucoma diagnosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodríguez-Ascariz José M

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Glaucoma is the second-leading cause of blindness worldwide and early diagnosis is essential to its treatment. Current clinical methods based on multifocal electroretinography (mfERG essentially involve measurement of amplitudes and latencies and assume standard signal morphology. This paper presents a new method based on wavelet packet analysis of global-flash multifocal electroretinogram signals. Methods This study comprised twenty-five patients diagnosed with OAG and twenty-five control subjects. Their mfERG recordings data were used to develop the algorithm method based on wavelet packet analysis. By reconstructing the third wavelet packet contained in the fourth decomposition level (ADAA4 of the mfERG recording, it is possible to obtain a signal from which to extract a marker in the 60-80 ms time interval. Results The marker found comprises oscillatory potentials with a negative-slope basal line in the case of glaucomatous recordings and a positive-slope basal line in the case of normal signals. Application of the optimal threshold calculated in the validation cases showed that the technique proposed achieved a sensitivity of 0.81 and validation specificity of 0.73. Conclusions This new method based on mfERG analysis may be reliable enough to detect functional deficits that are not apparent using current automated perimetry tests. As new stimulation and analysis protocols develop, mfERG has the potential to become a useful tool in early detection of glaucoma-related functional deficits.

  8. Sustained attention in language production: an individual differences investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jongman, Suzanne R; Roelofs, Ardi; Meyer, Antje S

    2015-01-01

    Whereas it has long been assumed that most linguistic processes underlying language production happen automatically, accumulating evidence suggests that these processes do require some form of attention. Here we investigated the contribution of sustained attention: the ability to maintain alertness over time. In Experiment 1, participants' sustained attention ability was measured using auditory and visual continuous performance tasks. Subsequently, employing a dual-task procedure, participants described pictures using simple noun phrases and performed an arrow-discrimination task while their vocal and manual response times (RTs) and the durations of their gazes to the pictures were measured. Earlier research has demonstrated that gaze duration reflects language planning processes up to and including phonological encoding. The speakers' sustained attention ability correlated with the magnitude of the tail of the vocal RT distribution, reflecting the proportion of very slow responses, but not with individual differences in gaze duration. This suggests that sustained attention was most important after phonological encoding. Experiment 2 showed that the involvement of sustained attention was significantly stronger in a dual-task situation (picture naming and arrow discrimination) than in simple naming. Thus, individual differences in maintaining attention on the production processes become especially apparent when a simultaneous second task also requires attentional resources.

  9. Attention-dependent sound offset-related brain potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horváth, János

    2016-05-01

    When performing sensory tasks, knowing the potentially occurring goal-relevant and irrelevant stimulus events allows the establishment of selective attention sets, which result in enhanced sensory processing of goal-relevant events. In the auditory modality, such enhancements are reflected in the increased amplitude of the N1 ERP elicited by the onsets of task-relevant sounds. It has been recently suggested that ERPs to task-relevant sound offsets are similarly enhanced in a tone-focused state in comparison to a distracted one. The goal of the present study was to explore the influence of attention on ERPs elicited by sound offsets. ERPs elicited by tones in a duration-discrimination task were compared to ERPs elicited by the same tones in not-tone-focused attentional setting. Tone offsets elicited a consistent, attention-dependent biphasic (positive-negative--P1-N1) ERP waveform for tone durations ranging from 150 to 450 ms. The evidence, however, did not support the notion that the offset-related ERPs reflected an offset-specific attention set: The offset-related ERPs elicited in a duration-discrimination condition (in which offsets were task relevant) did not significantly differ from those elicited in a pitch-discrimination condition (in which the offsets were task irrelevant). Although an N2 reflecting the processing of offsets in task-related terms contributed to the observed waveform, this contribution was separable from the offset-related P1 and N1. The results demonstrate that when tones are attended, offset-related ERPs may substantially overlap endogenous ERP activity in the postoffset interval irrespective of tone duration, and attention differences may cause ERP differences in such postoffset intervals. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  10. A few of my favorite things: circumscribed interests in autism are not accompanied by increased attentional salience on a personalized selective attention task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parsons, Owen E; Bayliss, Andrew P; Remington, Anna

    2017-01-01

    Autistic individuals commonly show circumscribed or "special" interests: areas of obsessive interest in a specific category. The present study investigated what impact these interests have on attention, an aspect of autistic cognition often reported as altered. In neurotypical individuals, interest and expertise have been shown to result in an automatic attentional priority for related items. Here, we examine whether this change in salience is also seen in autism. Adolescents and young adults with and without autism performed a personalized selective attention task assessing the level of attentional priority afforded to images related to the participant's specific interests. In addition, participants performed a similar task with generic images in order to isolate any effects of interest and expertise. Crucially, all autistic and non-autistic individuals recruited for this study held a strong passion or interest. As such, any differences in attention could not be solely attributed to differing prevalence of interests in the two groups. In both tasks, participants were asked to perform a central target-detection task while ignoring irrelevant distractors (related or unrelated to their interests). The level of distractor interference under various task conditions was taken as an indication of attentional priority. Neurotypical individuals showed the predicted attentional priority for the circumscribed interest images but not generic items, reflecting the impact of their interest and expertise. Contrary to predictions, autistic individuals did not show this priority: processing the interest-related stimuli only when task demands were low. Attention to images unrelated to circumscribed interests was equivalent in the two groups. These results suggest that despite autistic individuals holding an intense interest in a particular class of stimuli, there may be a reduced impact of this prior experience and expertise on attentional processing. The implications of this

  11. Bilateral implantation of +2.5 D multifocal intraocular lens and contralateral implantation of +2.5 D and +3.0 D multifocal intraocular lenses: Clinical outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuijts, Rudy M M A; Jonker, Soraya M R; Kaufer, Robert A; Lapid-Gortzak, Ruth; Mendicute, Javier; Martinez, Cristina Peris; Schmickler, Stefanie; Kohnen, Thomas

    2016-02-01

    To assess the clinical visual outcomes of bilateral implantation of Restor +2.5 diopter (D) multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) and contralateral implantation of a Restor +2.5 D multifocal IOL in the dominant eye and Restor +3.0 D multifocal IOL in the fellow eye. Multicenter study at 8 investigative sites. Prospective randomized parallel-group patient-masked 2-arm study. This study comprised adults requiring bilateral cataract extraction followed by multifocal IOL implantation. The primary endpoint was corrected intermediate visual acuity (CIVA) at 60 cm, and the secondary endpoint was corrected near visual acuity (CNVA) at 40 cm. Both endpoints were measured 3 months after implantation with a noninferiority margin of Δ = 0.1 logMAR. In total, 103 patients completed the study (53 bilateral, 50 contralateral). At 3 months, the mean CIVA at 60 cm was 0.13 logMAR and 0.10 logMAR in the bilateral group and contralateral group, respectively (difference 0.04 logMAR), achieving noninferiority. Noninferiority was not attained for CNVA at 40 cm; mean values at 3 months for bilateral and contralateral implantation were 0.26 logMAR and 0.11 logMAR, respectively (difference 0.15 logMAR). Binocular defocus curves suggested similar performance in distance vision between the 2 groups. Treatment-emergent ocular adverse events rates were similar between the groups. Bilateral implantation of the +2.5 D multifocal IOL resulted in similar distance as contralateral implantation of the +2.5 D multifocal IOL and +3.0 D multifocal IOL for intermediate vision (60 cm), while noninferiority was not achieved for near distances (40 cm). Copyright © 2016 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Attentional Bias to Threat-Related Information Among Individuals With Dental Complaints: The Role of Pain Expectancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dehghani, Mohsen; Mohammadi, Somayyeh; Sharpe, Louise; Khatibi, Ali

    2018-01-01

    Expecting pain can be perceived as a threat may involve recruitment of cognitive strategies (such as attentional avoidance) which might help the person to reduce distress. The ecological validity of the paradigms aiming to study the attentional biases toward or away from threatening stimuli by manipulating the perception of threat in experimental settings has been questioned. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the attentional bias toward or away from the threat when a confrontation with a real threatening and painful condition would be expected (i.e., dental treatment). One hundred and twenty-seven patients referred to three dentistry clinics for a dental treatment (experiment participants) and 30 individuals with no dental complaints (control participants) completed this study. Patients were randomly allocated to a high pain expectancy (HPE: n = 65) or a low pain expectancy (LPE: n = 62) expectancy condition. All participants completed questionnaires of distress, fear of pain, and fear of dental pain. Furthermore, they participated in a dot-probe task that assessed their attention to painful faces, dental pictures, and happy faces. In addition, before the treatment, participants reported their anticipated pain intensity and after the treatment, they reported the pain intensity that they perceived during the treatment using two separate visual analog scales. Patients in the HPE group showed a bias away from dental pictures compared to LPE and control group participants. HPE group patients also reported greater pain intensity during the treatment compared to LPE patients. Greater attentional bias away from dental pictures among HPE patients was associated with higher levels of fear of pain, fear of dental pain, and stress. Avoidance of highly salient threatening images can be seen as an unhelpful emotion-regulation strategy that individuals use to manage their fears. However, in this study, avoidance was associated with poorer outcomes.

  13. Attentional Bias to Threat-Related Information Among Individuals With Dental Complaints: The Role of Pain Expectancy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Dehghani

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Expecting pain can be perceived as a threat may involve recruitment of cognitive strategies (such as attentional avoidance which might help the person to reduce distress. The ecological validity of the paradigms aiming to study the attentional biases toward or away from threatening stimuli by manipulating the perception of threat in experimental settings has been questioned. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the attentional bias toward or away from the threat when a confrontation with a real threatening and painful condition would be expected (i.e., dental treatment. One hundred and twenty-seven patients referred to three dentistry clinics for a dental treatment (experiment participants and 30 individuals with no dental complaints (control participants completed this study. Patients were randomly allocated to a high pain expectancy (HPE: n = 65 or a low pain expectancy (LPE: n = 62 expectancy condition. All participants completed questionnaires of distress, fear of pain, and fear of dental pain. Furthermore, they participated in a dot-probe task that assessed their attention to painful faces, dental pictures, and happy faces. In addition, before the treatment, participants reported their anticipated pain intensity and after the treatment, they reported the pain intensity that they perceived during the treatment using two separate visual analog scales. Patients in the HPE group showed a bias away from dental pictures compared to LPE and control group participants. HPE group patients also reported greater pain intensity during the treatment compared to LPE patients. Greater attentional bias away from dental pictures among HPE patients was associated with higher levels of fear of pain, fear of dental pain, and stress. Avoidance of highly salient threatening images can be seen as an unhelpful emotion-regulation strategy that individuals use to manage their fears. However, in this study, avoidance was associated with poorer outcomes.

  14. The effects of attention on age-related relational memory deficits: Evidence from a novel attentional manipulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, So-Yeon; Giovanello, Kelly S.

    2011-01-01

    Healthy aging is often accompanied by episodic memory decline. Prior studies have consistently demonstrated that older adults show disproportionate deficits in relational memory (RM) relative to item memory (IM). Despite rich evidence of an age-related RM deficit, the source of this deficit remains unspecified. One of the most widely investigated factors of age-related RM impairment is a reduction in attentional resources. However, no prior studies have demonstrated that reduced attentional resources are the critical source of age-related RM deficits. Here, we utilized qualitatively different attention tasks, and tested whether reduced attention for relational processing underlies the RM deficit observed in aging. In Experiment 1, we imposed either item-detection or relation-detection attention tasks on young adults during episodic memory encoding, and found that only the concurrent attention task involving relational processing disproportionately impaired RM performance in young adults. Moreover, by ruling out the possible confound of task-difficulty on the disproportionate RM impairment, we further demonstrated that reduced relational attention is a key factor for the age-related RM deficit. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results from Experiment 1 using different materials of stimuli and found that the effect of relational attention on RM is material-general. The results of Experiment 2 also showed that reducing attentional resources for relational processing in young adults strikingly equated their RM performance to that of older adults. Thus, the current study documents the first evidence that reduced attentional resources for relational processing are a critical factor for the relational memory impairment observed in aging. PMID:21707178

  15. Prefrontal control of attention to threat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Polly V Peers

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Attentional control refers to the regulatory processes that ensure that our actions are in accordance with our goals. Dual-system accounts view temperament as consisting of both individual variation in emotionality (e.g. trait anxiety and variation in regulatory attentional mechanisms that act to modulate emotionality. Increasing evidence links trait variation in attentional control to clinical mood and anxiety disorder symptoms, independent of trait emotionality. Attentional biases to threat have been robustly linked to mood and anxiety disorders. However, the role of variation in attentional control in influencing such biases, and the neural underpinnings of trait variation in attentional control, are unknown. Here, we show, that individual differences in trait attentional control, even when accounting for trait and state anxiety, are related to the magnitude of an attentional blink following threat-related targets. Moreover, we demonstrate that activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is observed specifically in relation to control of attention over threatening stimuli, in line with neural theories of attentional control, such as guided activation theory. These results have key implications for neurocognitive theories of attentional bias and emotional resilience.

  16. An Interactive Attention Board: Improving the Attention of Individuals with Autism and Mental Retardation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahin, Yasar Guneri; Cimen, Fatih Mehmet

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a tool named "Interactive Attention Board" (IAB) and an associated software named "Interactive Attention Boards Software" (IABS) for individuals with Mental Retardation and Autism. The proposed system is based on several theories such as perception and learning theories, and it is intended to improve hand-eye coordination and…

  17. Attentional bias in high math-anxious individuals: evidence from an emotional Stroop task

    OpenAIRE

    Su?rez-Pellicioni, Macarena; N??ez-Pe?a, Maria Isabel; Colom?, ?ngels

    2015-01-01

    Attentional bias towards threatening or emotional information is considered a cognitive marker of anxiety, and it has been described in various clinical and subclinical populations. This study used an emotional Stroop task to investigate whether math anxiety is characterized by an attentional bias towards math-related words. Two previous studies failed to observe such an effect in math-anxious individuals, although the authors acknowledged certain methodological limitations that the present s...

  18. Arousal and attention re-orienting in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from auditory event-related potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena V Orekhova

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The extended phenotype of autism spectrum disorders (ASD includes a combination of arousal regulation problems, sensory modulation difficulties, and attention re-orienting deficit. A slow and inefficient re-orienting to stimuli that appear outside of the attended sensory stream is thought to be especially detrimental for social functioning. Event-related potentials (ERPs and magnetic fields (ERFs may help to reveal which processing stages underlying brain response to unattended but salient sensory event are affected in individuals with ASD. Previous research focusing on two sequential stages of the brain response - automatic detection of physical changes in auditory stream, indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN, and evaluation of stimulus novelty, indexed by P3a component, - found in individuals with ASD either increased, decreased or normal processing of deviance and novelty. The review examines these apparently conflicting results, notes gaps in previous findings, and suggests a potentially unifying hypothesis relating the dampened responses to unattended sensory events to the deficit in rapid arousal process. Specifically, ‘sensory gating’ studies focused on pre-attentive arousal consistently demonstrated that brain response to unattended and temporally novel sound in ASD is already affected at around 100 ms after stimulus onset. We hypothesize that abnormalities in nicotinic cholinergic arousal pathways, previously reported in individuals with ASD, may contribute to these ERP/ERF aberrations and result in attention re-orienting deficit. Such cholinergic dysfunction may be present in individuals with ASD early in life and can influence both sensory processing and attention re-orienting behavior. Identification of early neurophysiological biomarkers for cholinergic deficit would help to detect infants at risk who can potentially benefit from particular types of therapies or interventions.

  19. Individual Alpha Peak Frequency Predicts 10 Hz Flicker Effects on Selective Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulbinaite, Rasa; van Viegen, Tara; Wieling, Martijn; Cohen, Michael X; VanRullen, Rufin

    2017-10-18

    Rhythmic visual stimulation ("flicker") is primarily used to "tag" processing of low-level visual and high-level cognitive phenomena. However, preliminary evidence suggests that flicker may also entrain endogenous brain oscillations, thereby modulating cognitive processes supported by those brain rhythms. Here we tested the interaction between 10 Hz flicker and endogenous alpha-band (∼10 Hz) oscillations during a selective visuospatial attention task. We recorded EEG from human participants (both genders) while they performed a modified Eriksen flanker task in which distractors and targets flickered within (10 Hz) or outside (7.5 or 15 Hz) the alpha band. By using a combination of EEG source separation, time-frequency, and single-trial linear mixed-effects modeling, we demonstrate that 10 Hz flicker interfered with stimulus processing more on incongruent than congruent trials (high vs low selective attention demands). Crucially, the effect of 10 Hz flicker on task performance was predicted by the distance between 10 Hz and individual alpha peak frequency (estimated during the task). Finally, the flicker effect on task performance was more strongly predicted by EEG flicker responses during stimulus processing than during preparation for the upcoming stimulus, suggesting that 10 Hz flicker interfered more with reactive than proactive selective attention. These findings are consistent with our hypothesis that visual flicker entrained endogenous alpha-band networks, which in turn impaired task performance. Our findings also provide novel evidence for frequency-dependent exogenous modulation of cognition that is determined by the correspondence between the exogenous flicker frequency and the endogenous brain rhythms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here we provide novel evidence that the interaction between exogenous rhythmic visual stimulation and endogenous brain rhythms can have frequency-specific behavioral effects. We show that alpha-band (10 Hz) flicker impairs stimulus

  20. Osteoblastomatosis of bone. A benign, multifocal osteoblastic lesion, distinct from osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma, radiologically simulating a vascular tumor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kyriakos, Michael; El-Khoury, Georges Y.; McDonald, Douglas J.; Buckwalter, Joseph A.; Sundaram, Murali; DeYoung, Barry; O'Brien, Michael P.

    2007-01-01

    Two adult patients are described with multifocal osteolytic lesions radiologically simulating a vascular tumor. One patient had multiple bones involved. Histologically, the individual lesions had the features of the nidus of osteoid osteoma/osteoblastoma. A review of the English language medical literature yielded only one other reported case with similar features. The process is designated as osteoblastomatosis to indicate its bone-forming character, prominent osteoblast proliferation, and multiplicity. The cases are distinguished from multifocal/multicentric osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma, and from benign and malignant vascular tumors. (orig.)

  1. Early Auditory Evoked Potential Is Modulated by Selective Attention and Related to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

    OpenAIRE

    Giuliano, Ryan J.; Karns, Christina M.; Neville, Helen J.; Hillyard, Steven A.

    2014-01-01

    A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and...

  2. Threat-related selective attention predicts treatment success in childhood anxiety disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Legerstee, Jeroen S; Tulen, Joke H M; Kallen, Victor L; Dieleman, Gwen C; Treffers, Philip D A; Verhulst, Frank C; Utens, Elisabeth M W J

    2009-02-01

    The present study examined whether threat-related selective attention was predictive of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders and whether age moderated this association. Specific components of selective attention were examined in treatment responders and nonresponders. Participants consisted of 131 children with anxiety disorders (aged 8-16 years), who received standardized cognitive-behavioral therapy. At pretreatment, a pictorial dot-probe task was administered to assess selective attention. Both at pretreatment and posttreatment, diagnostic status of the children was evaluated with a semistructured clinical interview (the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children). Selective attention for severely threatening pictures at pretreatment assessment was predictive of treatment success. Examination of the specific components of selective attention revealed that nonresponders showed difficulties to disengage their attention away from severe threat. Treatment responders showed a tendency not to engage their attention toward severe threat. Age was not associated with selective attention and treatment success. Threat-related selective attention is a significant predictor of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders. Clinically anxious children with difficulties disengaging their attention away from severe threat profit less from cognitive-behavioral therapy. For these children, additional training focused on learning to disengage attention away from anxiety-arousing stimuli may be beneficial.

  3. Multifocal Epithelial Hyperplasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agnew, Caitlin; Alexander, Sherene; Prabhu, Neeta

    2017-01-15

    Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia is a rare disease associated with human papilloma virus types 13 and 32. Diagnosis is based on clinical and histopathological findings, and most lesions are asymptomatic and regress spontaneously with time. The purpose of this paper is to describe a five-year-old girl who presented with multiple intraoral lesions on the buccal mucosa and tongue, which regressed spontaneously in 15 months.

  4. The specificity of attentional biases by type of gambling: An eye-tracking study

    OpenAIRE

    McGrath, Daniel S.; Meitner, Amadeus; Sears, Christopher R.

    2018-01-01

    A growing body of research indicates that gamblers develop an attentional bias for gambling-related stimuli. Compared to research on substance use, however, few studies have examined attentional biases in gamblers using eye-gaze tracking, which has many advantages over other measures of attention. In addition, previous studies of attentional biases in gamblers have not directly matched type of gambler with personally-relevant gambling cues. The present study investigated the specificity of at...

  5. The contribution of attentional lapses to individual differences in visual working memory capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adam, Kirsten C S; Mance, Irida; Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K

    2015-08-01

    Attentional control and working memory capacity are important cognitive abilities that substantially vary between individuals. Although much is known about how attentional control and working memory capacity relate to each other and to constructs like fluid intelligence, little is known about how trial-by-trial fluctuations in attentional engagement impact trial-by-trial working memory performance. Here, we employ a novel whole-report memory task that allowed us to distinguish between varying levels of attentional engagement in humans performing a working memory task. By characterizing low-performance trials, we can distinguish between models in which working memory performance failures are caused by either (1) complete lapses of attention or (2) variations in attentional control. We found that performance failures increase with set-size and strongly predict working memory capacity. Performance variability was best modeled by an attentional control model of attention, not a lapse model. We examined neural signatures of performance failures by measuring EEG activity while participants performed the whole-report task. The number of items correctly recalled in the memory task was predicted by frontal theta power, with decreased frontal theta power associated with poor performance on the task. In addition, we found that poor performance was not explained by failures of sensory encoding; the P1/N1 response and ocular artifact rates were equivalent for high- and low-performance trials. In all, we propose that attentional lapses alone cannot explain individual differences in working memory performance. Instead, we find that graded fluctuations in attentional control better explain the trial-by-trial differences in working memory that we observe.

  6. Attention deficits predict phenotypic outcomes in syndrome-specific and domain-specific ways

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim eCornish

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Attentional difficulties, both at home and in the classroom, are reported across a number of neurodevelopmental disorders. However, exactly how attention influences early socio-cognitive learning remains unclear. We addressed this question both concurrently and longitudinally in a cross-syndrome design, with respect to the communicative domain of vocabulary and to the cognitive domain of early literacy, and then extended the analysis to social behavior. Participants were young children (aged 4 to 9 years at Time 1 with either Williams syndrome (WS, N=26 or Down syndrome (DS, N=26 and typically developing controls (N=103. Children with WS displayed significantly greater attentional deficits (as indexed by teacher report of behavior typical of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD than children with DS, but both groups had greater attentional problems than the controls. Despite their attention differences, children with DS and those with WS were equivalent in their cognitive abilities of reading single words, both at Time 1 and 12 months later, at Time 2, although they differed in their early communicative abilities in terms of vocabulary. Greater ADHD-like behaviors predicted poorer subsequent literacy for children with DS, but not for children with WS, pointing to syndrome-specific attentional constraints on specific aspects of early development. Overall, our findings highlight the need to investigate more precisely whether and, if so, how, syndrome-specific profiles of behavioral difficulties constrain learning and socio-cognitive outcomes across different domains.

  7. Shared and disorder-specific task-positive and default mode network dysfunctions during sustained attention in paediatric Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and obsessive/compulsive disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luke J. Norman

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD and obsessive/compulsive disorder (OCD share problems with sustained attention, and are proposed to share deficits in switching between default mode and task positive networks. The aim of this study was to investigate shared and disorder-specific brain activation abnormalities during sustained attention in the two disorders. Twenty boys with ADHD, 20 boys with OCD and 20 age-matched healthy controls aged between 12 and 18 years completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI version of a parametrically modulated sustained attention task with a progressively increasing sustained attention load. Performance and brain activation were compared between groups. Only ADHD patients were impaired in performance. Group by sustained attention load interaction effects showed that OCD patients had disorder-specific middle anterior cingulate underactivation relative to controls and ADHD patients, while ADHD patients showed disorder-specific underactivation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (IFG. ADHD and OCD patients shared left insula/ventral IFG underactivation and increased activation in posterior default mode network relative to controls, but had disorder-specific overactivation in anterior default mode regions, in dorsal anterior cingulate for ADHD and in anterior ventromedial prefrontal cortex for OCD. In sum, ADHD and OCD patients showed mostly disorder-specific patterns of brain abnormalities in both task positive salience/ventral attention networks with lateral frontal deficits in ADHD and middle ACC deficits in OCD, as well as in their deactivation patterns in medial frontal DMN regions. The findings suggest that attention performance in the two disorders is underpinned by disorder-specific activation patterns.

  8. Multifocal dystonia, Clinical feature of Hallervorden-Spatz

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghelichkhani H

    1998-09-01

    Full Text Available Hallervorden-spatz disease is an inherited metabolic disorder with autosomal recessive trait. Onset is in late childhood or early adolescence. Clinical manifestation is variable but pyramidal and extrapyramidal signs are often prominent. Many of patients show progressive dementia and extrapyramidal symptoms. Ataxia or myoclonus is reported in the course of the disease in individual cases. Focal dystonias including tongue, eyelids (blepharospasm and optic atrophy, retinitis pigmentosa, rarely familial parkinsonism are also reported. Pathologically pigmentary degeneration of globus pallidus, substantia nigra (pars reticular and red nucleus is characteristic. In our case the main clinical feature was multifocal dystonia without obvious pyramidal or other extrapyramidal symptoms, and diagnosis was based on clinical and MRI findings.

  9. Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia: A potentially precancerous disease? (Review)

    Science.gov (United States)

    BASCONES-MARTÍNEZ, A.; COK, S.; BASCONES-ILUNDÁIN, C.; ARIAS-HERRERA, S.; GOMEZ-FONT, R.; BASCONES-ILUNDÁIN, J.

    2012-01-01

    Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia (MEH), also known as Heck’s disease, manifests as a papulonodular lesion in the oral mucosa and has been associated with the human papillomavirus, a virus related to various precancerous diseases in the oral cavity. It has a predisposition for the female gender and for children. Although the majority of reported cases have been among American Indians and Eskimos, it has been described in multiple ethnic groups in various geographical locations. The objective of this review was to report on the clinical characteristics and epidemiology of MEH and its possible correlation with oral cancer. It is based on a search of articles in international journals published prior to April 2011, using the PubMed database and selecting articles related to the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of MEH. The review revealed a higher number of cases in individuals of American Indian origin and a predilection of the disease for the female gender and for patients between the 1st and 2nd decades of life. The most frequent lesion site was the lower lip. The disease has been associated with socio-economic and genetic factors, among others. No cases of malignant transformation have been reported. PMID:22740890

  10. Attention bias towards personally relevant stimuli: the individual emotional Stroop task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wingenfeld, Katja; Bullig, Renate; Mensebach, Christoph; Hartje, Wolfgang; Driessen, Martin; Beblo, Thomas

    2006-12-01

    The emotional Stroop task is a widely used method for investigating attentional bias towards stimuli due to mood or affect. In general, standardized stimuli are used, which might not be appropriate when investigating individual contextual frameworks. It was investigated whether words chosen to be related to individuals' personal life events would produce more pronounced Stroop interference (as an indicator of attentional bias) than stimuli without any personal relevance. Twenty-six nonclinical subjects, 20 female and 6 male, participated in the study. Mean age was 36.1 yr. (SD = 18.1). All were recruited by means of local advertising. Stimulus material consisted of four word types: personal words related to negative life events with and without current personal relevance, and negative and neutral words without any personal relevance. Words were presented in three blocks. Analysis of variance showed main effects for word type and blocks, with slower reactions in the personally relevant conditions than in the negative, or neutral conditions, and in response to the first blocks as opposed to the last. These findings indicate that regardless of the word valence, personally relevant stimuli evoke more pronounced Stroop interference than do stimuli without personal relevance.

  11. Threat-Related Selective Attention Predicts Treatment Success in Childhood Anxiety Disorders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.S. Legerstee (Jeroen); J.H.M. Tulen (Joke); V.L. Kallen (Victor); G.C. Dieleman (Gwen); P.D.A. Treffers (Philip); F.C. Verhulst (Frank); E.M.W.J. Utens (Elisabeth)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractAbstract OBJECTIVE: The present study examined whether threat-related selective attention was predictive of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders and whether age moderated this association. Specific components of selective attention were examined in treatment responders

  12. Threat-related selective attention predicts treatment success in childhood anxiety disorders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Legerstee, Jeroen S.; Tulen, Joke H. M.; Kallen, Victor L.; Dieleman, Gwen C.; Treffers, Philip D. A.; Verhulst, Frank C.; Utens, Elisabeth M. W. J.

    2009-01-01

    The present study examined whether threat-related selective attention was predictive of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders and whether age moderated this association. Specific components of selective attention were examined in treatment responders and nonresponders. Participants

  13. Attention and memory biases as stable abnormalities among currently depressed and currently remitted individuals with Unipolar Depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rashmi eGupta

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundIn the present study, we explored the possibility of the stability of attention bias and memory bias in currently remitted individuals with unipolar depression compared to currently depressed individuals with unipolar depression and never-depressed individuals. MethodsThe Emotional Stroop and autobiographical memory task were administered on 10 participants, who were currently depressed, currently remitted with unipolar depression, or never-depressed. In the emotional Stroop task (EST, the respondent’s task was to indicate the color of the ink of the positive, negative, and neutral words by selecting one of a series of colored blocks. In the autobiographical memory task (AMT, participants were presented with positive, negative, and neutral cue words. For each word, they were asked to report specific events from their life. ResultsBoth the attention bias and memory bias exist in both the clinical groups. In EST, both currently depressed and currently remitted groups were slower to respond to negative words compared to neutral words. Unlike EST, in AMT both currently depressed and currently remitted groups were slower to respond to positive words compared to neutral words. Interestingly, the capacity to generate specific events for negative events was higher in both currently depressed and currently remitted groups. They were over-general in their memories of positive events. Importantly, the never-depressed group was specific in their memories of both positive and negative events of their life. ConclusionsOur findings provide evidence for the stable existence of attention and memory bias in currently remitted individuals. This study has implications for the cognitive behavior therapy for depression to include modules to resolve the attention and memory bias toward negative thought and content, and to build strategies to overcome such biases.

  14. Effect of Unifocal versus Multifocal Lenses on Cervical Spine Posture in Patients with Presbyopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, Rami L; Houri, Mohamad T; Rayyan, Mohammad M; Hamada, Hamada Ahmad; Saab, Ibtissam M

    2018-04-04

    There are many environmental considerations which may or may not lead to the development of faulty cervical mechanics. The design of near vision lenses could contribute to the development of such cervical dysfunction and consequently neck pain. Decision making regarding proper type of lens prescription seems important for presbyopic individuals. To investigate the effect of unifocal and multifocal lenses on cervical posture. Thirty subjects (18 females and 12 males) participated in the study with an age range from 40 to 64 years. Each subject wore consequently both unifocal and multifocal lenses randomly while reading. Then lateral cervical spine X-ray films were taken for each subject during each lens wearing. X-ray films were analyzed with digital software (Autocad software, 2 D) to measure segmental angles of the cervical vertebrae (Occiput/C1, C1/C2, C2/C3, C3/C4, C4/C5, C5/C6, C6/C7, C3/C7, C0/C3, and occiput/C7). Higher significant extension angle in the segments C0/C7, C1/C2, C5/C6, C6/C7, and C3/C7 (p<0.05) during multifocal lenses wearing were observed in contrast with higher flexion angle between C3/C4 and C4/C5 (p<0.05) with unifocal lenses wear. Multifocal lens spectacles produces increased extension in the cervical vertebrae angles when compared with the use of unifocal lenses.

  15. Altered white matter tract property related to impaired focused attention, sustained attention, cognitive impulsivity and vigilance in attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Huey-Ling; Chen, Yu-Jen; Lo, Yu-Chun; Tseng, Wen-Yih I; Gau, Susan S

    2015-09-01

    The neural substrate for clinical symptoms and neuropsychological performance in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has rarely been studied and has yielded inconsistent results. We sought to compare the microstructural property of fibre tracts associated with the prefrontal cortex and its association with ADHD symptoms and a wide range of attention performance in youth with ADHD and healthy controls. We assessed youths with ADHD and age-, sex-, handedness-, coil- and intelligence-matched controls using the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CCPT) for attention performance and MRI. The 10 target tracts, including the bilateral frontostriatal tracts (caudate to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and cingulum bundle were reconstructed using diffusion spectrum imaging tractography. We computed generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) values to indicate tract-specific microstructural property. We included 50 youths with ADHD and 50 healthy controls in our study. Youths with ADHD had lower GFA in the left frontostriatal tracts, bilateral SLF and right cingulum bundle and performed worse in the CCPT than controls. Furthermore, alteration of the right SLF GFA was most significantly associated with the clinical symptom of inattention in youths with ADHD. Finally, youths with ADHD had differential association patterns of the 10 fibre tract GFA values with attention performance compared with controls. Ten of the youths with ADHD were treated with methylphenidate, which may have long-term effects on microstructural property. Our study highlights the importance of the SLF, cingulum bundle and frontostriatal tracts for clinical symptoms and attention performance in youths with ADHD and demonstrates the involvement of different fibre tracts in attention performance in these individuals.

  16. Refractive outcomes after multifocal intraocular lens exchange.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eric J; Sajjad, Ahmar; Montes de Oca, Ildamaris; Koch, Douglas D; Wang, Li; Weikert, Mitchell P; Al-Mohtaseb, Zaina N

    2017-06-01

    To evaluate the refractive outcomes after multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) exchange. Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Retrospective case series. Patients had multifocal IOL explantation followed by IOL implantation. Outcome measures included type of IOL, surgical indication, corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), and refractive prediction error. The study comprised 29 patients (35 eyes). The types of IOLs implanted after multifocal IOL explantation included in-the-bag IOLs (74%), iris-sutured IOLs (6%), sulcus-fixated IOLs with optic capture (9%), sulcus-fixated IOLs without optic capture (9%), and anterior chamber IOLs (3%). The surgical indication for exchange included blurred vision (60%), photic phenomena (57%), photophobia (9%), loss of contrast sensitivity (3%), and multiple complaints (29%). The CDVA was 20/40 or better in 94% of eyes before the exchange and 100% of eyes after the exchange (P = .12). The mean refractive prediction error significantly decreased from 0.22 ± 0.81 diopter (D) before the exchange to -0.09 ± 0.53 D after the exchange (P exchange to 0.23 D after the exchange (P exchange can be performed safely with good visual outcomes using different types of IOLs. A lower refractive prediction error and a higher likelihood of 20/40 or better vision can be achieved with the implantation of the second IOL compared with the original multifocal IOL, regardless of the final IOL position. Copyright © 2017 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Comparison between OPD-Scan results and visual outcomes of monofocal and multifocal intraocular lenses Comparação dos resultados do OPD-Scan e performance visual das lentes intraoculares monofocal e multifocal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilson Takashi Hida

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: To compare the visual outcome, contrast sensitivity and wavefront analysis of patients that underwent cataract surgery and implantation of AcrySof SN60D3 multifocal intraocular lens with those who received the AcrySof SN60AT monofocal IOL. METHODS: This was a prospective clinical trial of forty eyes that received the multifocal IOL and thirty-two eyes that received the monofocal IOL after phacoemulsification. RESULTS: Values for total and spherical aberrations in the multifocal group were statistically lower than in the monofocal group. In the monofocal group, 75% achieved uncorrected intermediate visual acuities between Jaeger 1 and 6. In the multifocal group, 75% of the eyes achieved more than Jaeger 6. At least 87.5% of the multifocal group and 6.3% of the monofocal group achieved monocular uncorrected near acuity of 20/30 (J2, N5 or better. And 90.0% of the eyes in the multifocal group and 37.5% in the monofocal group achieved an uncorrected near acuity of 20/40 (J3, N6 or better. The mean spherical error was 0.11 D in the multifocal group and -0.18 D in the monofocal group (p=0.0379. The SN60D3 group compared to SN60AT group had low contrast sensitivity (log units with statistically significant differences in 6.0 cpd in photopic conditions (p=0.014 and the SN60D3 group compared to SN60AT group had higher contrast sensitivity (log units under mesopic conditions (p=0.044. CONCLUSION: The multifocal IOLs induced less spherical aberration than monofocal IOLs and predictably good uncorrected distance and uncorrected near acuities. However, contrast sensitivity was lower in the multifocal group.OBJETIVO: Comparar a performance visual, sensibilidade ao contraste e de wavefront com OPD-Scan em pacientes submetidos a cirurgia de facoemulsificação com implante de lente intraocular AcrySof SN60D3 multifocal e AcrySof SA60AT monofocal. MÉTODOS: Quarenta olhos com a lente intraocular multifocal e trinta e dois olhos com a lente intraocular

  18. Emotion and attention : Event-related brain potential studies

    OpenAIRE

    Schupp, Harald Thomas; Flaisch, Tobias; Stockburger, Jessica; Junghöfer, Markus

    2006-01-01

    Emotional pictures guide selective visual attention. A series of event-related brain potential (ERP) studies is reviewed demonstrating the consistent and robust modulation of specific ERP components by emotional images. Specifically, pictures depicting natural pleasant and unpleasant scenes are associated with an increased early posterior negativity, late positive potential, and sustained positive slow wave compared with neutral contents. These modulations are considered to index different st...

  19. Renal Function Outcomes for Multifocal Renal Neoplasms Managed by Radiofrequency Ablation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gupta, Pushpender, E-mail: pugupta@wakehealth.edu; Allen, Brian C., E-mail: bcallen2@wakehealth.edu; Chen, Michael Y., E-mail: mchen@wakehealth.edu; Childs, David D., E-mail: dchilds@wakehealth.edu; Kota, Gopi, E-mail: gkota@wakehealth.edu; Zagoria, Ronald J., E-mail: rzagoria@wakehealth.edu [Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology (United States)

    2013-10-15

    Purpose: To evaluate renal function changes related to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of multifocal renal neoplasms. Methods: This is an institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant retrospective study of all patients treated with computed tomography guided RFA for multifocal renal neoplasms at one institution. Fifty-seven subjects, mean age 70 (range 37-88) years, underwent RFA of 169 renal neoplasms (average size 2.0 cm). Subjects had between 2 and 8 (mean 2.96) neoplasms ablated. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was measured before and after RFA. Complications related to RFA were recorded. Results: eGFR decreased on average of 4.4 % per tumor treated and 6.7 % per ablation session (average 1.76 tumors treated per session). For subjects with the largest neoplasm measuring >3 cm, eGFR decreased an average of 14.5 % during the course of their treatment. If the largest neoplasm measured 2-3 cm, eGFR decreased an average of 7.7 %, and if the largest neoplasm measured <2 cm, eGFR decreased an average of 3.8 %. Subjects with reduced baseline renal function were more likely to have a greater decline in eGFR after RFA. There was a minor complication rate of 6.3 % (6 of 96 sessions), none of which required treatment, and a major complication rate of 4.2 % (4 of 96 sessions). Conclusion: RFA for the treatment of multifocal renal neoplasms results in mild decline of renal function.

  20. Individual Differences in Temporal Selective Attention as Reflected in Pupil Dilation

    OpenAIRE

    Willems, Charlotte; Herdzin, Johannes; Martens, Sander

    2015-01-01

    Background Attention is restricted for the second of two targets when it is presented within 200-500 ms of the first target. This attentional blink (AB) phenomenon allows one to study the dynamics of temporal selective attention by varying the interval between the two targets (T1 and T2). Whereas the AB has long been considered as a robust and universal cognitive limitation, several studies have demonstrated that AB task performance greatly differs between individuals, with some individuals s...

  1. Multifocal choroiditis following simultaneous hepatitis A, typhoid, and yellow fever vaccination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Escott S

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Sarah Escott, Ahmad B Tarabishy, Frederick H DavidorfHavener Eye Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USAAbstract: The paper describes the first reported case of multifocal choroiditis following simultaneous hepatitis-A, typhoid, and yellow fever vaccinations. A 33-year-old male developed sudden onset of flashing lights and floaters in his right eye 3 weeks following hepatitis A, typhoid, and yellow fever vaccinations. Fundus examination and angiography confirmed the presence of multiple peripheral chorioretinal lesions. These lesions demonstrated characteristic morphologic changes over a period of 8 weeks which were consistent with a diagnosis of self-resolving multifocal choroiditis. Vaccine-induced intraocular inflammation has been described infrequently. We demonstrate the first case of self-resolving multifocal choroiditis following simultaneous administration of hepatitis A, yellow fever, and typhoid immunizations.Keywords: multifocal choroiditis, vaccination, hepatitis A, typhoid, yellow fever

  2. Content specificity of attentional bias to threat in post-traumatic stress disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zinchenko, A; Al-Amin, M M; Alam, M M; Mahmud, W; Kabir, N; Reza, H M; Burne, T H J

    2017-08-01

    Attentional bias to affective information and reduced cognitive control may maintain the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and impair cognitive functioning. However, the role of content specificity of affective stimuli (e.g., trauma-related, emotional trauma-unrelated) in the observed attentional bias and cognitive control is less clear, as this has not been tested simultaneously before. Therefore, we examined the content specificity of attentional bias to threat in PTSD. PTSD participants (survivors of a multistory factory collapse, n=30) and matched controls (n=30) performed an Eriksen Flanker task. They identified the direction of a centrally presented target arrow, which was flanked by several task-irrelevant distractor arrows pointed to the same (congruent) or opposite direction (incongruent). Additionally, participants were presented with a picture of a face (neutral, emotional) or building (neutral=normal, emotional=collapsed multistory factory) as a task-irrelevant background image. We found that PTSD participants produced overall larger conflict effects and longer reaction times (RT) to emotional than to neutral stimuli relative to their healthy counterparts. Moreover, PTSD, but not healthy participants showed a stimulus specific dissociation in processing emotional stimuli. Emotional faces elicited longer RTs compared to neutral faces, while emotional buildings elicited faster responses, compared to neutral buildings. PTSD patients show a content-sensitive attentional bias to emotional information and impaired cognitive control. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. The specific relation of visual attention span with reading and spelling in Dutch

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Den Boer, Madelon; Van Bergen, Elsje; de Jong, Peter F.

    2015-01-01

    Visual attention span, the number of orthographic units that can be processed at a glance, has been shown to predict reading performance in orthographically opaque languages (i.e., French and English), independent from phonological awareness. Whether this relation is also found in Dutch, a more

  4. Chronic multifocal non-bacterial osteomyelitis in hypophosphatasia mimicking malignancy

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    Warmuth-Metz Monika

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hypophosphatasia (HP is characterized by a genetic defect in the tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP gene and predominantly an autosomal recessive trait. HP patients suffer from reduced bone mineralization. Biochemically, elevated concentrations of substrates of TNSALP, including pyridoxal-5'-phosphate and inorganic pyrophosphate occur in serum, tissues and urine. The latter has been associated with chronic inflammation and hyperprostaglandinism. Case presentation We report on 2 affected children presenting with multifocal inflammatory bone lesions mimicking malignancy: A 6 years old girl with short stature had been treated with human growth hormone since 6 months. Then she started to complain about a painful swelling of her left cheek. MRI suggested a malignant bone lesion. Bone biopsy, however, revealed chronic inflammation. A bone scan showed a second rib lesion. Since biopsy was sterile, the descriptive diagnosis of chronic non-bacterial osteomyelitis (CNO was established. The diagnostic tests related to growth failure were repeated and subsequent analyses demonstrated a molecular defect in the TNSALP gene. The second girl (10 years old complained about back pain after she had fallen from her bike. X rays of her spine revealed compressions of 2 thoracic vertebrae. At first these were considered trauma related, however a bone scan did show an additional lesion in the right 4th rib. A biopsy of this rib revealed a sterile lympho- plasmocytoid osteomyelitis suggesting multifocal CNO. Further analyses did show a decreased TNSALP in leukocytes and elevated pyridoxal phosphate in plasma, suggesting a heterozygous carrier status of HP. Conclusion Chronic bone oedema in adult HP and chronic hyper-prostaglandinism in childhood HP do suggest that in some HP patients bone inflammation is present in conjunction with the metabolic defect. Sterile multifocal osteomyelitis could be demonstrated. Non-steroidal anti

  5. Autorefraction versus subjective refraction in a radially asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Linden, Jan Willem; Vrijman, Violette; Al-Saady, Rana; El-Saady, Rana; van der Meulen, Ivanka J.; Mourits, Maarten P.; Lapid-Gortzak, Ruth

    2014-01-01

    To evaluate whether the automated refraction (AR) correlates with subjective manifest (MR) refraction in eyes implanted with radially asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens (IOLs). This retrospective study evaluated 52 eyes (52 patients) implanted with a radially asymmetric multifocal IOL (LS-312

  6. Multifocal hyperfunctioning thyroid carcinoma without metastases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishida, Akiko T; Hirano, Shigeru; Asato, Ryo; Tanaka, Shinzo; Kitani, Yoshiharu; Honda, Nobumitsu; Fujiki, Nobuya; Miyata, Kouji; Fukushima, Hideyuki; Ito, Juichi

    2008-09-01

    Hyperthyroidism due to thyroid carcinoma is rare, and most cases are caused by hyperfunctioning metastatic thyroid carcinoma rather than primary carcinoma. Among primary hyperfunctioning thyroid carcinoma, multifocal thyroid carcinoma is exceedingly rare, with the only one case being reported in the literature. Here, we describe the case of a 62-year-old woman with multifocal functioning thyroid carcinoma. Technetium-99m (99m Tc) scintigraphic imaging showed four hot areas in the thyroid gland. Histopathological examination of all four nodules revealed papillary carcinoma, corresponding to hot areas in the 99m Tc scintigram. DNA sequencing of the thyrotropin receptor (TSH-R) gene from all nodules revealed no mutation, indicating that activation of TSH-R was unlikely in the pathophysiogenesis of hyperfunctioning thyroid carcinoma in the present case.

  7. Brain Connectivity and Visual Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parks, Emily L.

    2013-01-01

    Abstract Emerging hypotheses suggest that efficient cognitive functioning requires the integration of separate, but interconnected cortical networks in the brain. Although task-related measures of brain activity suggest that a frontoparietal network is associated with the control of attention, little is known regarding how components within this distributed network act together or with other networks to achieve various attentional functions. This review considers both functional and structural studies of brain connectivity, as complemented by behavioral and task-related neuroimaging data. These studies show converging results: The frontal and parietal cortical regions are active together, over time, and identifiable frontoparietal networks are active in relation to specific task demands. However, the spontaneous, low-frequency fluctuations of brain activity that occur in the resting state, without specific task demands, also exhibit patterns of connectivity that closely resemble the task-related, frontoparietal attention networks. Both task-related and resting-state networks exhibit consistent relations to behavioral measures of attention. Further, anatomical structure, particularly white matter pathways as defined by diffusion tensor imaging, places constraints on intrinsic functional connectivity. Lastly, connectivity analyses applied to investigate cognitive differences across individuals in both healthy and diseased states suggest that disconnection of attentional networks is linked to deficits in cognitive functioning, and in extreme cases, to disorders of attention. Thus, comprehensive theories of visual attention and their clinical translation depend on the continued integration of behavioral, task-related neuroimaging, and brain connectivity measures. PMID:23597177

  8. Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: new concepts

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    Marco A. Lima

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML is a demyelinating disease of the CNS caused by reactivation of JC virus (JCV in a setting of cellular immunosuppression. Originally, PML was observed in patients with advanced HIV infection, lymphoproliferative disorders and transplant recipients. However, the widespread use of HIV antiretroviral drugs and the new selective immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive medications, such as Rituximab and Natalizumab, has recently modified the epidemiology, clinical presentation and prognosis of PML. Herein, we discuss the new concepts on PML, emphasizing the recent modification in the epidemiology; the impact of new immunomodulatory treatments in the disease, PML-IRIS (Immune reconstitution inflammatory síndrome, new treatment strategies and other JCV related CNS diseases.

  9. Multifocal osteosarcoma as second tumor after childhood retinoblastoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Potepan, P.; Laffranchi, A.; Danesini, G.M.; Spagnoli, I.; Luksch, R.; Sozzi, G.; Testi, A.; Parafioriti, A.; Giardini, R.

    1999-01-01

    We present a case of multifocal osteosarcoma (MFOS) arising 11.5 years after successful treatment of bilateral retinoblastoma. The clinical, imaging and pathological findings at onset, after therapy, and during follow-up are described. Fluorescent in situ hybridization did not reveal a deletion of the RB-1 retinoblastoma gene, although the presence of an inactivating mutation invisible to this method cannot be ruled out. The MFOS may have been a second multifocal tumor associated with the original retinoblastoma or a post-irradiation sarcoma with extensive metastases. (orig.)

  10. Disentangling the Attention Network Test: Behavioral, Event Related Potentials and neural source analyses.

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    Alejandro eGalvao-Carmona

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Background. The study of the attentional system remains a challenge for current neuroscience. The Attention Network Test (ANT was designed to study simultaneously three different attentional networks (alerting, orienting and executive based in subtraction of different experimental conditions. However, some studies recommend caution with these calculations due to the interactions between the attentional networks. In particular, it is highly relevant that several interpretations about attentional impairment have arisen from these calculations in diverse pathologies. Event Related Potentials (ERPs and neural source analysis can be applied to disentangle the relationships between these attentional networks not specifically shown by behavioural measures. Results. This study shows that there is a basic level of alerting (tonic alerting in the no cue condition, represented by a slow negative trend in the ERP trace prior to the onset of the target stimuli. A progressive increase in the CNV amplitude related to the amount of information provided by the cue conditions is also shown. Neural source analysis reveals specific modulations of the CNV related to a task-related expectancy presented in the no cue condition; a late modulation triggered by the central cue condition and probably representing a generic motor preparation; and an early and late modulation for spatial cue condition suggesting specific motor and sensory preactivation. Finally, the first component in the information processing of the target stimuli modulated by the interaction between orienting network and the executive system can be represented by N1. Conclusions. The ANT is useful as a paradigm to study specific attentional mechanisms and their interactions. However, calculation of network effects is based in subtractions with non-comparable experimental conditions, as evidenced by the present data, which can induce misinterpretations in the study of the attentional capacity in human

  11. Individual differences in working memory capacity predict learned control over attentional capture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robison, Matthew K; Unsworth, Nash

    2017-11-01

    Although individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) typically predict susceptibility to attentional capture in various paradigms (e.g., Stroop, antisaccade, flankers), it sometimes fails to correlate with the magnitude of attentional capture effects in visual search (e.g., Stokes, 2016), which is 1 of the most frequently studied tasks to study capture (Theeuwes, 2010). But some studies have shown that search modes can mitigate the effects of attentional capture (Leber & Egeth, 2006). Therefore, the present study examined whether or not the relationship between WMC and attentional capture changes as a function of the search modes available. In Experiment 1, WMC was unrelated to attentional capture, but only 1 search mode (singleton-detection) could be employed. In Experiment 2, greater WMC predicted smaller attentional capture effects, but only when multiple search modes (feature-search and singleton-detection) could be employed. Importantly this relationship was entirely independent of variation in attention control, which suggests that this effect is driven by WMC-related long-term memory differences (Cosman & Vecera, 2013a, 2013b). The present set of findings help to further our understanding of the nuanced ways in which memory and attention interact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Structural Variability within Frontoparietal Networks and Individual Differences in Attentional Functions: An Approach Using the Theory of Visual Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chechlacz, Magdalena; Gillebert, Celine R; Vangkilde, Signe A; Petersen, Anders; Humphreys, Glyn W

    2015-07-29

    Visuospatial attention allows us to select and act upon a subset of behaviorally relevant visual stimuli while ignoring distraction. Bundesen's theory of visual attention (TVA) (Bundesen, 1990) offers a quantitative analysis of the different facets of attention within a unitary model and provides a powerful analytic framework for understanding individual differences in attentional functions. Visuospatial attention is contingent upon large networks, distributed across both hemispheres, consisting of several cortical areas interconnected by long-association frontoparietal pathways, including three branches of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF I-III) and the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF). Here we examine whether structural variability within human frontoparietal networks mediates differences in attention abilities as assessed by the TVA. Structural measures were based on spherical deconvolution and tractography-derived indices of tract volume and hindrance-modulated orientational anisotropy (HMOA). Individual differences in visual short-term memory (VSTM) were linked to variability in the microstructure (HMOA) of SLF II, SLF III, and IFOF within the right hemisphere. Moreover, VSTM and speed of information processing were linked to hemispheric lateralization within the IFOF. Differences in spatial bias were mediated by both variability in microstructure and volume of the right SLF II. Our data indicate that the microstructural and macrostrucutral organization of white matter pathways differentially contributes to both the anatomical lateralization of frontoparietal attentional networks and to individual differences in attentional functions. We conclude that individual differences in VSTM capacity, processing speed, and spatial bias, as assessed by TVA, link to variability in structural organization within frontoparietal pathways. Copyright © 2015 Chechlacz et al.

  13. Feature-based attention is functionally distinct from relation-based attention: The double dissociation between color-based capture and color-relation-based capture of attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Feng; Jiao, Jun

    2016-04-01

    The present study used a spatial blink task and a cuing task to examine the boundary between feature-based capture and relation-based capture. Feature-based capture occurs when distractors match the target feature such as target color. The occurrence of relation-based capture is contingent upon the feature relation between target and distractor (e.g., color relation). The results show that color distractors that match the target-nontarget color relation do not consistently capture attention when they appear outside of the attentional window, but distractors appearing outside the attentional window that match the target color consistently capture attention. In contrast, color distractors that best match the target-nontarget color relation but not the target color, are more likely to capture attention when they appear within the attentional window. Consistently, color cues that match the target-nontarget color relation produce a cuing effect when they appear within the attentional window, while target-color matched cues do not. Such a double dissociation between color-based capture and color-relation-based capture indicates functionally distinct mechanisms for these 2 types of attentional selection. This also indicates that the spatial blink task and the uninformative cuing task are measuring distinctive aspects of involuntary attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  14. Scleral fixation of a single-piece multifocal intraocular lens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Can, Ertugrul; Basaran, M Resat; Gül, Adem

    2013-01-01

    We describe an ab interno technique for injector implantation of a one-piece multifocal intraocular lens (IOL). Transscleral fixation of multifocal posterior chamber IOL implantation using an injector with ab interno technique was performed in an eye of a 9-year-old girl who had undergone pars plana lensectomy 2 years before for bilateral lens subluxation with unknown etiology. No major complications were encountered during a 3-month follow-up of the patient and excellent centration was observed during the follow-up period. Her preoperative best spectacle-corrected distance visual acuity of 20/32 improved to uncorrected distance visual acuity of 20/25. Closed-loop design of IOL served the function of eyelets and position of the IOL was provided using only a 2-point fixation. Intraoperative position adjustment of the IOL provided an excellent centralization of multifocal IOL.

  15. A multifocal collimator with circularly distributed focal points for SPECT imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guillemaud, R.; Grangeat, P.

    1994-01-01

    The authors propose a new circular multifocal collimator which has multiple axial focal points distributed on a transverse circle. This distribution provides a strong focusing at the center of the detector like a cone-beam collimator, with a good sensitivity, and a weak transverse focusing at the periphery, to ensure acquisition of sufficient data, in order to prevent truncation artifacts. For a circular acquisition trajectory, each projection set of the multifocal geometry is equivalent to a virtual cone-beam projection set with a larger detector. Due to this equivalence, the authors derive a first solution for an analytical multifocal reconstruction algorithm: to rebin the projection set from multifocal to cone-beam geometry, then to use a 3D cone-beam reconstruction algorithm. The authors propose to use the Grangeat algorithm in order to deal with a large cone-beam aperture. Finally, the authors present results on simulated data for heart phantom, for a Defrise phantom and for a MTF study. The conclusion is that, from a multifocal projection set, objects are reconstructed without truncation artifacts, with a good precision at their center and with a loss of resolution at the periphery. In addition, the 3D cone-beam artifacts are reduced with the use of the Grangeat algorithm for the reconstruction step

  16. Specificity of executive function and theory of mind performance in relation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms in autism spectrum disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lukito, Steve; Jones, Catherine R G; Pickles, Andrew; Baird, Gillian; Happé, Francesca; Charman, Tony; Simonoff, Emily

    2017-01-01

    Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently demonstrate symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous findings in children with ASD have suggested that these symptoms are associated with an impairment in executive function (EF) abilities. However, studies rarely considered this association within a single framework that controls for other related factors such as Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities and ASD symptoms. We used structural equation modeling to explore the relations among EF, ToM, and symptoms of ASD and ADHD, using data from a population-based sample of 100 adolescents with ASD and full-scale IQ ≥ 50 (the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP) cohort). The study used a multi-measure and multi-informant approach, where performance of inhibition, planning, switching, and working memory tasks indexed EF and performance on tasks involving mentalizing indexed ToM. Measures of ASD and ADHD symptoms included parent and teacher reports and direct observation of the children. Shared source of symptom reporting was accounted for with a parental rating latent factor indexed by symptom measures reported by parents. Impairments in EF abilities were specifically associated with ADHD symptoms while impaired ToM was specifically associated with ASD symptoms, when accounting for the associations of each cognitive domain with the other factors. ASD and ADHD symptom latent factors were also correlated, but this association became nonsignificant once the shared source of reporting from parents was accounted for and within a model that also controlled for the correlated pathway between EF and ToM factors. The specific relations between the cognitive domains and behavioral symptoms remained even after controlling for IQ. In this ASD sample, symptoms of ADHD and ASD are underpinned by separate cognitive domains. The association between EF and ToM impairments is a likely partial explanation for the co-occurrence of ADHD symptoms in ASD

  17. The relation between procrastination and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in undergraduate students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niermann, Hannah C M; Scheres, Anouk

    2014-12-01

    Procrastination is defined as the tendency to delay activities that have to be completed before a deadline. It is often part of psychotherapies for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, procrastination is officially not acknowledged as an ADHD-related symptom. Therefore, little is known about the role of procrastination in ADHD. We investigated the relation between procrastination and ADHD-related symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in 54 students with varying levels of self-reported ADHD-related behaviours. Various measures of procrastination were used, including questionnaires of academic, general procrastination and susceptibility to temptation as well as direct observation of academic procrastination while solving math problems. We expected a positive relation between severity of ADHD-related behaviours and procrastination, specifically for impulsivity. However, partial correlations (corrected for the other symptom domain of ADHD) indicated that only inattention was correlated with general procrastination. This specific and preliminary finding can stimulate future research in individuals diagnosed with ADHD. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. Fatores técnicos intervenientes na realização do exame de eletrorretinograma multifocal (ERGmf Technical factors that influence multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG recording

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Kiyoko Oyamada

    2007-08-01

    adequada da amplitude e do tempo implícito dos picos N1 e P1, fundamentais para a corroboração diagnóstica de lesões ou afecções retinianas.PURPOSE: To describe the main intervening factors observed during the acquisition and analysis of multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG, that could affect the recorded signal, the obtained responses and their analysis. METHODS: The error factors observed during the acquisition of 100 sequential multifocal electroretinogram tests, in the period of May to July, 2005 were analyzed. The examinations of multifocal electroretinogram were carried out in agreement with international guideline recommendations, taking into account the established parameters of equipment, with 61 elements, and visual angle of 30º. All patients had been submitted to complete ophthalmologic examination, excluding those with inadequate transparency of ways, flat corneas and those incapable to visualize a central fixation target. RESULTS: The intervening factors, that could cause artifacts and errors in the interpretation of the obtained results, observed and corrected during the acquisition of multifocal electroretinogram were: eccentric or poor fixation, eye movements, orbicular contraction, cervical muscle contraction, inadequate transparency of the corneal electrode, electrode displacement, lens support decentralization, inadequate viewing distance in patients with high refractive errors, eye height inadequacy in relation to the center of the screen, electrical noise in 60 HZ frequency and electromagnetic field and high impedances. Excessive use of filters in wave processing for noise and artifact removal can interfere with the analysis of the obtained results. CONCLUSION: Simple observational cares during signal acquisition are of significant importance to ensure accuracy of the topographical electroretinogram information, good waveform morphology and low noise level register. Through their ready correction, the correct and adjusted analysis of the

  19. An Unusual Case of Unilateral Multifocal Choroiditis in a Young Male

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Multifocal choroiditis is a vision‑threatening disease causing inflammation at the level of retinal pigment epithelium and outer retina. We present a unique case of unilateral multifocal choroiditis in a young nonmyopic male and its subsequent course. The patient developed visual loss due to the sub‑retinal neovascular ...

  20. ATTENTION IN ADVERTISERS BRAND PROCESSING: An analysis of explicit and implicit memories of individuals receptors in the light of directed attention level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taís Pasquotto Andreoli

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The most of exposure of individuals to brand ads happens on mere exposure condition, when the stimuli are available in the context, but aren´t necessarily actively processed, but yet unconsiously, at the preattentive level. Despite the lack of individual intention and conscious, it emphasizes the ability of preattentive processing on influencing memory and judgement on stimuli receiving. In the light of the above, the study has with aim to analize the influency diferences in the individual receiver according with the level of attention used on the brand ad processing. To that, the study adopted a concepctual base with the attention process under a complex perspective, subdivided into preattention and attention, and the influency of attention in the memory of individual receiver. Using a hipothteical-dedutivo method, the explicit and implicit memory and the brand valuation were analysed and compared between three different attention levels (preattention, divided attention and drived attention. As contribution, the study support three of the four traced hypotheses: implicit memory independent of the level of attention; explicit memory in larger levels of attention; brand valuation on preattetinve processing higher than those expected by chance, but without diferences between the three attention levels.

  1. Multifocal fibrosing thyroiditis: report of 55 cases of a poorly recognized entity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fellegara, Giovanni; Rosai, Juan

    2015-03-01

    During the course of our consultation activity, we have recognized a peculiar form of thyroiditis in which multiple foci of fibrosis, most of which were associated with reactive atypia of the surrounding follicles, are present. We have referred to this condition, both in our consultation reports and in the third series of A.F.I.P. Fascicle on Tumors of the Thyroid Gland, as "multifocal fibrosing thyroiditis" or (less frequently) "multifocal sclerosing thyroiditis," which are descriptive terms that highlight the benign/inflammatory nature of the process, its multiplicity, and its unknown pathogenesis. The aim of this study is to better define the morphologic features of this process and correlate it with some clinical data. With this purpose, the consultation files of one of the authors (J.R.) were searched for cases coded as multifocal fibrosing thyroiditis or multifocal sclerosing thyroiditis in a 20-year period ranging from January 1989 to December 2009. A total of 55 cases were identified that displayed the above-listed features. There were 51 (93%) female and 4 (7%) male patients (F/M=12.75), with ages ranging between 15 and 71 years (mean age, 47.03 y; median age, 44.5 y). Microscopically, multiple foci of fibrosis were identified in all cases, their number ranging from 2 to 51 per case (mean number, 16), with a mean diameter of 3 mm (range: 0.36 to 15.1 mm). Although heterogenous in shape and size, the individual foci were rather similar to each other in composition, being characterized by a fibrotic poorly cellular center that merged with a cellular peripheral zone. Some of the follicular structures present at the periphery of the scar and-to a lesser extent-those entrapped inside it underwent complex reactive and regenerative (atypical) changes that simulated malignancy. We discuss the differential diagnosis with other benign and malignant thyroid conditions and speculate about its pathogenesis and possible relationship with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma.

  2. Keeping your distance: attentional withdrawal in individuals who show physiological signs of social discomfort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szpak, Ancret; Loetscher, Tobias; Churches, Owen; Thomas, Nicole A; Spence, Charles J; Nicholls, Michael E R

    2015-04-01

    Being in close social proximity to a stranger is generally perceived to be an uncomfortable experience, which most people seek to avoid. In circumstances where crowding is unavoidable, however, people may seek to withdraw their attention from the other person. This study examined whether social discomfort, as indexed by electrodermal activity, is related to a withdrawal of attention in 28 (m=8, f=20) university students. Students performed a radial line bisection task while alone or together with a stranger facing them. Physiological arousal was indexed by a wrist monitor, which recorded electrodermal activity. Correlational analyses showed that individuals who displayed physiological discomfort when together showed a withdrawal of the perceived midpoint of the line towards them (and away from the stranger). Conversely, individuals who showed no discomfort exhibited an expansion of the perceived midpoint away from them. We propose that participants shift their attention away from the stranger to increase interpersonal distance and reduce anxiety/arousal. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. [Multifocal Electroretinography in Patients with Poppers Maculopathy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pahlitzsch, Milena; Salchow, Daniel; Rossel, Mirjam; Bergholz, Richard

    2017-10-12

    Background Maculopathy is a potential side effect of amyl nitrite or "poppers" abuse. It is characterized by a sudden, painless decrease in visual acuity. While the funduscopic changes are subtle, optical coherence tomography shows alterations of the outer retinal layers in the fovea. However, the extent of retinal dysfunction remains poorly understood. Materials/Methods We compared the multifocal electroretinogram of 6 patients with poppers maculopathy to that of a control group consisting of 6 healthy subjects. Response densities and implicit times of N1 and P1 were analyzed. Results Response densities and implicit times of both N1 and P1 were lower in the patients with poppers maculopathy than in the control group, particularly in ring 1 and rings 4 and 5. The only statistically significant finding, however, was a reduced N1 response density of one hexagon in the patient group. No significant differences were found considering the sum response or the averaged rings 1 to 5. Conclusion Compared to a healthy control group, the multifocal electroretinogram of patients with poppers maculopathy shows no relevant impairment. This contrasts the marked effect of the disease on visual acuity. In clinical practice, poppers maculopathy cannot be diagnosed by multifocal electroretinography. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  4. Multifocal, chronic osteomyelitis of unknown etiology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kozlowski, K.; Beluffi, G.; Feltham, C.; James, M.; Nespoli, L.; Tamaela, L.; Pavia Univ.; Municipal Hospital, Nelson; Medical School, Jakarta

    1985-01-01

    Four cases of multifocal osteomyelitis of unknown origin in childhood are reported. The variable clinical and radiographic appearances of the disease are illustrated and the diagnostic difficulties in the early stages of the disease are stressed. (orig.) [de

  5. Individual differences in attention influence perceptual decision making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Dawson Nunez

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Sequential sampling decision-making models have been successful in accounting for reactiontime (RT and accuracy data in two-alternative forced choice tasks. These models have beenused to describe the behavior of populations of participants, and explanatory structures havebeen proposed to account for between individual variability in model parameters. In this studywe show that individual differences in behavior from a novel perceptual decision making taskcan be attributed to 1 differences in evidence accumulation rates, 2 differences in variability ofevidence accumulation within trials, and 3 differences in non-decision times across individuals.Using electroencephalography (EEG, we demonstrate that these differences in cognitivevariables, in turn, can be explained by attentional differences as measured by phase-lockingof steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP responses to the signal and noise componentsof the visual stimulus. Parameters of a cognitive model (a diffusion model were obtained fromaccuracy and RT distributions and related to phase-locking indices (PLIs of SSVEPs with asingle step in a hierarchical Bayesian framework. Participants who were able to suppress theSSVEP response to visual noise in high frequency bands were able to accumulate correctevidence faster and had shorter non-decision times (preprocessing or motor response times,leading to more accurate responses and faster response times. We show that the combinationof cognitive modeling and neural data in a hierarchical Bayesian framework relates physiologicalprocesses to the cognitive processes of participants, and that a model with a new (out-of-sample participant’s neural data can predict that participant’s behavior more accurately thanmodels without physiological data.

  6. Modulation of early cortical processing during divided attention to non-contiguous locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frey, Hans-Peter; Schmid, Anita M; Murphy, Jeremy W; Molholm, Sophie; Lalor, Edmund C; Foxe, John J

    2014-05-01

    We often face the challenge of simultaneously attending to multiple non-contiguous regions of space. There is ongoing debate as to how spatial attention is divided under these situations. Whereas, for several years, the predominant view was that humans could divide the attentional spotlight, several recent studies argue in favor of a unitary spotlight that rhythmically samples relevant locations. Here, this issue was addressed by the use of high-density electrophysiology in concert with the multifocal m-sequence technique to examine visual evoked responses to multiple simultaneous streams of stimulation. Concurrently, we assayed the topographic distribution of alpha-band oscillatory mechanisms, a measure of attentional suppression. Participants performed a difficult detection task that required simultaneous attention to two stimuli in contiguous (undivided) or non-contiguous parts of space. In the undivided condition, the classic pattern of attentional modulation was observed, with increased amplitude of the early visual evoked response and increased alpha amplitude ipsilateral to the attended hemifield. For the divided condition, early visual responses to attended stimuli were also enhanced, and the observed multifocal topographic distribution of alpha suppression was in line with the divided attention hypothesis. These results support the existence of divided attentional spotlights, providing evidence that the corresponding modulation occurs during initial sensory processing time-frames in hierarchically early visual regions, and that suppressive mechanisms of visual attention selectively target distracter locations during divided spatial attention. © 2014 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in transplant recipients

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mateen, Farrah J.; Muralidharan, RajaNandini; Carone, Marco; van de Beek, Diederik; Harrison, Daniel M.; Aksamit, Allen J.; Gould, Mary S.; Clifford, David B.; Nath, Avindra

    2011-01-01

    Transplant recipients are at risk of developing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare demyelinating disorder caused by oligodendrocyte destruction by JC virus. Reports of PML following transplantation were found using PubMed Entrez (1958-July 2010). A multicenter, retrospective

  8. Graded Neuronal Modulations Related to Visual Spatial Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maunsell, John H. R.

    2016-01-01

    cued blocks of trials. Behavioral performance and neuronal responses during neutral cueing were intermediate to those of the cued and uncued conditions. We found no signatures of a single mechanism of attention that switches between stimulus locations. Thus, attention-related changes in neuronal activity are largely hemisphere-specific and graded according to task demands. PMID:27170131

  9. Graded Neuronal Modulations Related to Visual Spatial Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayo, J Patrick; Maunsell, John H R

    2016-05-11

    performance and neuronal responses during neutral cueing were intermediate to those of the cued and uncued conditions. We found no signatures of a single mechanism of attention that switches between stimulus locations. Thus, attention-related changes in neuronal activity are largely hemisphere-specific and graded according to task demands. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/365353-09$15.00/0.

  10. Endogenous attention modulates early selective attention in psychopathy: An ERP investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krusemark, Elizabeth A; Kiehl, Kent A; Newman, Joseph P

    2016-10-01

    Psychopathic individuals are prone to act on urges without adequate consideration of future consequences or the rights of other individuals. One interpretation of this behavior is that it reflects abnormal selective attention (i.e., a failure to process information that is incongruent with their primary focus of attention; Hiatt, Schmitt, & Newman, Neuropsychology, 18, 50-59, 2004). Unfortunately, it is unclear whether this selective attention abnormality reflects top-down endogenous influences, such as the strength or specificity of attention focus (i.e., top-down set) apart from other, more exogenous (bottom-up), effects on attention. To explore this question, we used an early visual event-related potential (N2pc) in combination with a modified visual search task designed to assess the effect of early endogenous (i.e., top-down) attention on the processing of set-congruent information. The task was administered to a sample of 70 incarcerated adult males, who were assigned to high, intermediate, and low psychopathy groups using Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003). Based on the assumption that their failure to process set-incongruent information reflects the exaggerated effects of endogenous attention, we predicted that participants with high psychopathy scores would show an exaggerated N2pc response to set-congruent information. The results supported the hypothesis and provide novel electrophysiological evidence that psychopathy is associated with exaggerated endogenous attention effects during early stages of processing. Further research is needed to examine the implications of this finding for the well-established failure of psychopathic individuals to process set-incongruent information and inhibit inappropriate responses.

  11. Power Profiles of Commercial Multifocal Soft Contact Lenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eon; Bakaraju, Ravi C; Ehrmann, Klaus

    2017-02-01

    To evaluate the optical power profiles of commercially available soft multifocal contact lenses and compare their optical designs. The power profiles of 38 types of multifocal contact lenses-three lenses each-were measured in powers +6D, +3D, +1D, -1D, -3D, and -6D using NIMO TR1504 (Lambda-X, Belgium). All lenses were measured in phosphate buffered saline across 8 mm optic zone diameter. Refractive index of each lens material was measured using CLR 12-70 (Index Instruments, UK), which was used for converting measured power in the medium to in-air radial power profiles. Three basic types of power profiles were identified: center-near, center-distance, and concentric-zone ring-type designs. For most of the lens types, the relative plus with respect to prescription power was lower than the corresponding spectacle add. For some lens types, the measured power profiles were shifted by up to 1D across the power range relative to their labeled power. Most of the lenses were designed with noticeable amounts of spherical aberration. The sign and magnitude of spherical aberration can either be power dependent or consistent across the power range. Power profiles can vary widely between the different lens types; however, certain similarities were also observed between some of the center-near designs. For the more recently released lens types, there seems to be a trend emerging to reduce the relative plus with respect to prescription power, include negative spherical aberration, and keep the power profiles consistent across the power range.

  12. Attention in spina bifida myelomeningocele: Relations with brain volume and integrity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulina A. Kulesz

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the relations of tectal volume and superior parietal cortex, as well as alterations in tectocortical white matter connectivity, with the orienting and executive control attention networks in individuals with spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM. Probabilistic diffusion tractography and quantification of tectal and superior parietal cortical volume were performed on 74 individuals aged 8–29 with SBM and a history of hydrocephalus. Behavioral assessments measured posterior (covert orienting and anterior (conflict resolution, attentional control attention network functions. Reduced tectal volume was associated with slower covert orienting; reduced superior parietal cortical volume was associated with slower conflict resolution; and increased axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity along both frontal and parietal tectocortical pathways were associated with reduced attentional control. Results suggest that components of both the orienting and executive control attention networks are impaired in SBM. Neuroanatomical disruption to the orienting network appears more robust and a direct consequence of characteristic midbrain dysmorphology; whereas, executive control difficulties may emerge from parietal cortical anomalies and reduced frontal and parietal cortical–subcortical white matter pathways susceptible to the pathophysiological effects of congenital hydrocephalus.

  13. Optical design of soft multifocal contact lens with uniform optical power in center-distance zone with optimized NURBS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vu, Lien T; Chen, Chao-Chang A; Yu, Chia-Wei

    2018-02-05

    This study aims to develop a new optical design method of soft multifocal contact lens (CLs) to obtain uniform optical power in large center-distance zone with optimized Non-Uniform Rational B-spline (NURBS). For the anterior surface profiles of CLs, the NURBS design curves are optimized to match given optical power distributions. Then, the NURBS in the center-distance zones are fitted in the corresponding spherical/aspheric curves for both data points and their centers of curvature to achieve the uniform power. Four cases of soft CLs have been manufactured by casting in shell molds by injection molding and then measured to verify the design specifications. Results of power profiles of these CLs are concord with the given clinical requirements of uniform powers in larger center-distance zone. The developed optical design method has been verified for multifocal CLs design and can be further applied for production of soft multifocal CLs.

  14. Application of diffractive aspheric multifocal intraocular lens in the Uighur in phacoemulsification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuersimanguli·Mijiti

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available AIM:To research the efficacy and safety of diffractive aspheric multifocal intraocular lens(MIOLin the Uighur in phacoemulsification to provide guidance for the clinical treatment of cataracts patients in Xinjiang region. METHODS:Two hundred and twenty-eight Uygur patients(280 eyesreceived phacoemulsification from April 2012 to March 2013 were randomly divided into multifocal group(106 cases with 146 eyesand monofocal group(122 cases with 134 eyes. Patients were followed up for 3mo. The intraocular pressure(IOP, uncorrected distance visual acuity, uncorrected near vision, best-corrected distance visual acuity and best corrected near vision were measured. The delensed rate, visual quality, and satisfaction for lenses in the form of questionnaires were compared. RESULTS:Multifocal group was better on the uncorrected near vision than monofocal group(PP>0.05. The contrast sensitivity of multifocal group under scotopia at spatial frequency 3c/d was lower than that of monofocal group(PP>0.05. Delensed rate of multifocal group was higher than that of monofocal group(PP>0.05.CONCLUSION:MIOL with phacoemulsification can provide patient good full range vision, especially on good near vision. The patients with MIOL implanted have a higher delensed rate, less postoperative adverse symptoms, quicker recovery and satisfaction.

  15. Visual Attention in Posterior Stroke and Relations to Alexia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Anders; Vangkilde, Signe; Fabricius, Charlotte

    2016-01-01

    that reduced visual speed and span may explain pure alexia. Eight patients with unilateral PCA strokes (four left hemisphere, four right hemisphere) were selected on the basis of lesion location, rather than the presence of any visual symptoms. Visual attention was characterized by a whole report paradigm......Impaired visual attention is common following strokes in the territory of the middle cerebral artery, particularly in the right hemisphere, while attentional effects of more posterior lesions are less clear. Commonly, such deficits are investigated in relation to specific syndromes like visual...... agnosia or pure alexia. The aim of this study was to characterize visual processing speed and apprehension span following posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke. In addition, the relationship between these attentional parameters and single word reading is investigated, as previous studies have suggested...

  16. Reward sensitivity predicts ice cream-related attentional bias assessed by inattentional blindness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiaoming; Tao, Qian; Fang, Ya; Cheng, Chen; Hao, Yangyang; Qi, Jianjun; Li, Yu; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Ying; Zhang, Xiaochu

    2015-06-01

    The cognitive mechanism underlying the association between individual differences in reward sensitivity and food craving is unknown. The present study explored the mechanism by examining the role of reward sensitivity in attentional bias toward ice cream cues. Forty-nine college students who displayed high level of ice cream craving (HICs) and 46 who displayed low level of ice cream craving (LICs) performed an inattentional blindness (IB) task which was used to assess attentional bias for ice cream. In addition, reward sensitivity and coping style were assessed by the Behavior Inhibition System/Behavior Activation System Scales and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. Results showed significant higher identification rate of the critical stimulus in the HICs than LICs, suggesting greater attentional bias for ice cream in the HICs. It was indicated that attentional bias for food cues persisted even under inattentional condition. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between the attentional bias and reward sensitivity after controlling for coping style, and reward sensitivity predicted attentional bias for food cues. The mediation analyses showed that attentional bias mediated the relationship between reward sensitivity and food craving. Those findings suggest that the association between individual differences in reward sensitivity and food craving may be attributed to attentional bias for food-related cues. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Self-control predicts attentional bias assessed by online shopping-related Stroop in high online shopping addiction tendency college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Zhaocai; Zhao, Xiuxin; Li, Cancan

    2017-05-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the relationships of personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and online shopping addiction (OSA) behavior and to investigate whether high-OSA tendency individuals display attentional biases toward online shopping-related (OS-related) stimuli as well as the links between attentional bias and personality types. The study included 98 college students divided into three groups (i.e., high-, medium- and low-OSA) according to their OSA behavior. The personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and OSA behavior were investigated by questionnaires. The attentional bias was evaluated by the OS-related Stroop and dot-probe task (DPT) paradigms. OSA was positively predicted by time spent on online shopping per day and average consumption for online shopping monthly, and negatively by self-control. High-OSA individuals displayed significant attentional biases toward OS-related stimuli in the Stroop, but not DPT paradigm. Moreover, the attentional bias toward OSA-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals was negatively correlated with self-control. These findings demonstrated the critical role of self-control in OSA behavior and attentional bias to OS-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals, indicating that more importance should be attached to self-control for the clinical intervention of online shopping addiction in future studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Bioptics in sutureless intrascleral multifocal posterior chamber intraocular lens fixation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlidis, Mitrofanis; de Ortueta, Diego; Scharioth, Gabor B

    2011-05-01

    To present a technique for sutureless fixation of a three-piece, multifocal, posterior chamber intraocular lens (IOL) in the ciliary sulcus. A 24-year-old woman presented with bilateral subluxation of the crystalline lens. Two straight sclerotomies were prepared with a 24-gauge cannula 2.0 mm from the limbus 180° apart from each other. The cannula was used to create a 2.0- to 3.0-mm tunnel parallel to the limbus starting from the sclerotomies. The leading haptic of the multifocal IOL was grasped at its tip with end-gripping, 25-gauge forceps and pulled through the sclerotomy. The forceps was used to introduce the IOL haptic into the scleral tunnel parallel to the limbus. Multifocal posterior chamber IOLs were stable and well centered. No postoperative complications occurred in the 16-month follow-up period. Preoperative astigmatism was corrected after IOL implantation with corneal wavefront-guided laser epithelial keratomileusis. Sutureless fixation of multifocal posterior chamber IOL haptics in a scleral tunnel parallel to the limbus can be successful, resulting in long-term centration and three-dimensional axial stability for optimal refractive results. If necessary, postoperative wavefront-guided refractive correction can be performed to optimize final refraction. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

  19. Taxonomy of multi-focal nematode image stacks by a CNN based image fusion approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Min; Wang, Xueping; Zhang, Hongzhong

    2018-03-01

    In the biomedical field, digital multi-focal images are very important for documentation and communication of specimen data, because the morphological information for a transparent specimen can be captured in form of a stack of high-quality images. Given biomedical image stacks containing multi-focal images, how to efficiently extract effective features from all layers to classify the image stacks is still an open question. We present to use a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) image fusion based multilinear approach for the taxonomy of multi-focal image stacks. A deep CNN based image fusion technique is used to combine relevant information of multi-focal images within a given image stack into a single image, which is more informative and complete than any single image in the given stack. Besides, multi-focal images within a stack are fused along 3 orthogonal directions, and multiple features extracted from the fused images along different directions are combined by canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Because multi-focal image stacks represent the effect of different factors - texture, shape, different instances within the same class and different classes of objects, we embed the deep CNN based image fusion method within a multilinear framework to propose an image fusion based multilinear classifier. The experimental results on nematode multi-focal image stacks demonstrated that the deep CNN image fusion based multilinear classifier can reach a higher classification rate (95.7%) than that by the previous multilinear based approach (88.7%), even we only use the texture feature instead of the combination of texture and shape features as in the previous work. The proposed deep CNN image fusion based multilinear approach shows great potential in building an automated nematode taxonomy system for nematologists. It is effective to classify multi-focal image stacks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. The Effects of Hashimoto Thyroiditis on Lymph Node Metastases in Unifocal and Multifocal Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Feng; Shen, Yi Bin; Li, Fu Qiang; Fang, Yun; Hu, Liang; Wu, Yi Jun

    2016-01-01

    Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors for central and lateral neck lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma (MPTC), particularly when associated with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT). A retrospective analysis of 763 consecutive patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with bilateral central neck dissection in the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University between October 2011 and October 2014 was conducted. All patients had formal histological diagnoses of HT. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors of neck lymph node metastases. Our study identified 277 PTC patients with HT and showed comparatively low rates of central lymph node metastases (CLNM) compared with the PTC patients without HT (37.2% versus 54.7%, P thyroid peroxidase antibody >140 IU/mL was established as the most sensitive and specific level for the prediction of MPTC based on receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. Thyroid peroxidase antibody, age, tumor size, and multifocality exhibited the ability to predict CLNM in PTC with HT patients with an area under the curve of 81.1% based on a multivariate model. Hashimoto thyroiditis was associated with increased prevalences of multifocality and capsular invasion. In contrast, HT was associated with a reduced risk of CLNM in PTC and MPTC patients, which indicated a potential protective effect. We found that the prognostic prediction model was applicable for predicting multifocality and CLNM in PTC patients with HT. PMID:26871795

  1. Negative Affect during a Collective (but Not an Individual Task Is Associated with Holistic Attention in East Asian Cultural Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hitoshi Tominaga

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have suggested that individuals from East Asian cultures are more likely to show holistic attention—a pattern of attention that incorporates contextual information into focal stimuli—than individuals from North American cultures. Holistic attention is also prevalent in communities that require close cooperation. However, it is not yet known how cooperation is related to holistic attention. We theorized that holistic attention increases when people experience negative affect (e.g., worry, sadness, and frustration during collective tasks (but not during individual tasks because negative affect in social contexts signals the existence of potential threats to social harmony, thus indicating a need to restore social harmony. To examine this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted in which participants performed a musical duet either with another participant (a collective task requiring cooperation, or individually with a computer (an individual task. After the musical task, the Framed Line Task (FLT was administered to examine their holistic attention. Participants also reported their emotional states both before and after the music task. Results suggested that negative affect in the collective task—but not the individual task—was positively correlated with a holistic pattern of attention. The function of negative affect in social contexts as motivation to restore relationships and how this enhances holistic attention is discussed. The moderating effect of social context on the link between negative affect and cognition is also discussed.

  2. Whole body MRI in the diagnosis of chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Kennedy, M T

    2012-06-01

    Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a diagnosis of exclusion primarily in children and adolescents. As part of the essential criteria for the diagnosis of CRMO, multifocal lesions must be identified. We present the case of an 11-year-old boy with CRMO, whose diagnosis was facilitated by the use of whole body magnetic resonance imaging (WBMR), but not isotope bone scanning.

  3. Multifocal necrotizing fasciitis following Hirshsprung's disease ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Multifocal necrotizing fasciitis following Hirshsprung's disease surgery away from the surgical wound site. Ahmed A. Haseeb, Shadi Okasha and Atef Elbarawi. Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a life-threatening infection with rapidly progressive necrosis. Escherichia coli is rarely reported as causative agent of type 2 NF.

  4. The interplay of attention and emotion: top-down attention modulates amygdala activation in psychopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Christine L; Baskin-Sommers, Arielle R; Stout, Daniel M; Balderston, Nicholas L; Curtin, John J; Schultz, Douglas H; Kiehl, Kent A; Newman, Joseph P

    2013-12-01

    Psychopathic behavior has long been attributed to a fundamental deficit in fear that arises from impaired amygdala function. Growing evidence has demonstrated that fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and other psychopathy-related deficits are moderated by focus of attention, but to date, no work on adult psychopathy has examined attentional modulation of the amygdala or concomitant recruitment of relevant attention-related circuitry. Consistent with previous FPS findings, here we report that psychopathy-related differences in amygdala activation appear and disappear as a function of goal-directed attention. Specifically, decreased amygdala activity was observed in psychopathic offenders only when attention was engaged in an alternative goal-relevant task prior to presenting threat-relevant information. Under this condition, psychopaths also exhibited greater activation in selective-attention regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) than did nonpsychopaths, and this increased LPFC activation mediated psychopathy's association with decreased amygdala activation. In contrast, when explicitly attending to threat, amygdala activation did not differ in psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. This pattern of amygdala activation highlights the potential role of LPFC in mediating the failure of psychopathic individuals to process fear and other important information when it is peripheral to the primary focus of goal-directed attention.

  5. Individual differences in attention influence perceptual decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunez, Michael D; Srinivasan, Ramesh; Vandekerckhove, Joachim

    2015-01-01

    Sequential sampling decision-making models have been successful in accounting for reaction time (RT) and accuracy data in two-alternative forced choice tasks. These models have been used to describe the behavior of populations of participants, and explanatory structures have been proposed to account for between individual variability in model parameters. In this study we show that individual differences in behavior from a novel perceptual decision making task can be attributed to (1) differences in evidence accumulation rates, (2) differences in variability of evidence accumulation within trials, and (3) differences in non-decision times across individuals. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we demonstrate that these differences in cognitive variables, in turn, can be explained by attentional differences as measured by phase-locking of steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) responses to the signal and noise components of the visual stimulus. Parameters of a cognitive model (a diffusion model) were obtained from accuracy and RT distributions and related to phase-locking indices (PLIs) of SSVEPs with a single step in a hierarchical Bayesian framework. Participants who were able to suppress the SSVEP response to visual noise in high frequency bands were able to accumulate correct evidence faster and had shorter non-decision times (preprocessing or motor response times), leading to more accurate responses and faster response times. We show that the combination of cognitive modeling and neural data in a hierarchical Bayesian framework relates physiological processes to the cognitive processes of participants, and that a model with a new (out-of-sample) participant's neural data can predict that participant's behavior more accurately than models without physiological data.

  6. Children's attention to task-relevant information accounts for relations between language and spatial cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Hilary E; Simmering, Vanessa R

    2018-08-01

    Children's spatial language reliably predicts their spatial skills, but the nature of this relation is a source of debate. This investigation examined whether the mechanisms accounting for such relations are specific to language use or reflect a domain-general mechanism of selective attention. Experiment 1 examined whether 4-year-olds' spatial skills were predicted by their selective attention or their adaptive language use. Children completed (a) an attention task assessing attention to task-relevant color, size, and location cues; (b) a description task assessing adaptive language use to describe scenes varying in color, size, and location; and (c) three spatial tasks. There was correspondence between the cue types that children attended to and produced across description and attention tasks. Adaptive language use was predicted by both children's attention and task-related language production, suggesting that selective attention underlies skills in using language adaptively. After controlling for age, gender, receptive vocabulary, and adaptive language use, spatial skills were predicted by children's selective attention. The attention score predicted variance in spatial performance previously accounted for by adaptive language use. Experiment 2 followed up on the attention task (Experiment 2a) and description task (Experiment 2b) from Experiment 1 to assess whether performance in the tasks related to selective attention or task-specific demands. Performance in Experiments 2a and 2b paralleled that in Experiment 1, suggesting that the effects in Experiment 1 reflected children's selective attention skills. These findings show that selective attention is a central factor supporting spatial skill development that could account for many effects previously attributed to children's language use. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Stay tuned: Inter-individual neural synchronization during mutual gaze and joint attention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daisuke N Saito

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Eye contact provides a communicative link between humans, prompting joint attention. As spontaneous brain activity may have an important role in coordination of neuronal processing within the brain, their inter-subject synchronization may occur during eye contact. To test this, we conducted simultaneous functional MRI in pairs of adults. Eye contact was maintained at baseline while the subjects engaged in real-time gaze exchange in a joint attention task. Averted gaze activated the bilateral occipital pole extending to the right posterior superior temporal sulcus, the dorso-medial prefrontal cortex, and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus. Following a partner’s gaze towards an object activated the left intraparietal sulcus. After all task-related effects were modeled out, inter-individual correlation analysis of residual time-courses was performed. Paired subjects showed more prominent correlations than non-paired subjects in the right inferior frontal gyrus, suggesting that this region is involved in sharing intention during eye contact that provides the context for joint attention.

  8. [Multifocal phakic intraocular lens implant to correct presbyopia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baikoff, G; Matach, G; Fontaine, A; Ferraz, C; Spera, C

    2005-03-01

    Presbyopic surgery is considered as the new frontier in refractive surgery. Different solutions are proposed: myopization of one eye, insertion of an accommodative crystalline lens, scleral surgery, the effects of which are still unknown, and finally multifocal phakic implants. We therefore decided to undertake a prospective study under the Huriet law to determine its efficacy and specify the conditions required for an anterior chamber multifocal phakic implant. Fifty-five eyes of 33 patients received an anterior chamber foldable multifocal phakic implant. Twenty-one females and 12 males underwent surgery. Initial refraction was between -5D and +5D. The implant's single addition was +2.50. Recuperating a distant uncorrected visual acuity of 0.6 or better and near uncorrected vision of Parinaud 3 or better can be considered a very good postoperative result. Average follow-up was 42.6+/-18 weeks. Mean postoperative refraction was -0.12+/-0.51 D. Mean postoperative uncorrected visual acuity was 0.78+/-0.20. Postoperative uncorrected visual acuity was Parinaud 2.3+/-0.6. Eighty-four percent of eyes operated on recuperated 0.6 or better without correction and Parinaud 3 or better without correction. Lenses in four eyes were explanted for different reasons, essentially optical, and no severe anatomical complications were observed. Placing an anterior chamber multifocal phakic implant to correct presbyopia is an effective technique with good predictability and has the advantage of being reversible in case of intolerance, optical parasite effects or undesired complications. Considering the particularity of this surgery, it is imperative to respect very strict inclusion criteria: anterior chamber depth equal to or above 3.1 mm, open angle, endothelial cell count equal to or above 2000 cells/mm2, absence of an incipient cataract or the slightest evidence of macular alteration.

  9. Attentional bias to food-related visual cues: is there a role in obesity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doolan, K J; Breslin, G; Hanna, D; Gallagher, A M

    2015-02-01

    The incentive sensitisation model of obesity suggests that modification of the dopaminergic associated reward systems in the brain may result in increased awareness of food-related visual cues present in the current food environment. Having a heightened awareness of these visual food cues may impact on food choices and eating behaviours with those being most aware of or demonstrating greater attention to food-related stimuli potentially being at greater risk of overeating and subsequent weight gain. To date, research related to attentional responses to visual food cues has been both limited and conflicting. Such inconsistent findings may in part be explained by the use of different methodological approaches to measure attentional bias and the impact of other factors such as hunger levels, energy density of visual food cues and individual eating style traits that may influence visual attention to food-related cues outside of weight status alone. This review examines the various methodologies employed to measure attentional bias with a particular focus on the role that attentional processing of food-related visual cues may have in obesity. Based on the findings of this review, it appears that it may be too early to clarify the role visual attention to food-related cues may have in obesity. Results however highlight the importance of considering the most appropriate methodology to use when measuring attentional bias and the characteristics of the study populations targeted while interpreting results to date and in designing future studies.

  10. Threat-Related Selective Attention Predicts Treatment Success in Childhood Anxiety Disorders

    OpenAIRE

    Legerstee, Jeroen; Tulen, Joke; Kallen, Victor; Dieleman, Gwen; Treffers, Philip; Verhulst, Frank; Utens, Elisabeth

    2009-01-01

    textabstractAbstract OBJECTIVE: The present study examined whether threat-related selective attention was predictive of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders and whether age moderated this association. Specific components of selective attention were examined in treatment responders and nonresponders. METHOD: Participants consisted of 131 children with anxiety disorders (aged 8-16 years), who received standardized cognitive-behavioral therapy. At pretreatment, a pictorial dot-pr...

  11. Is trait resilience characterized by specific patterns of attentional bias to emotional stimuli and attentional control?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schäfer, Judith; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich; Höfler, Michael; Heinrich, Anke; Zimmermann, Peter; Siegel, Stefan; Schönfeld, Sabine

    2015-09-01

    Attentional processes have been suggested to play a crucial role in resilience defined as positive adaptation facing adversity. However, research is lacking on associations between attentional biases to positive and threat-related stimuli, attentional control and trait resilience. Data stem from the follow-up assessment of a longitudinal study investigating mental health and related factors among German soldiers. Trait resilience was assessed with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and attentional control with the Attentional Control Scale. A subset of n = 198 soldiers also completed a dot probe task with happy, neutral and threatening faces. Attentional control was positively related to trait resilience. Results revealed no associations between both attentional biases and trait resilience. However, there was a negative association between attentional bias to threat and trait resilience when attentional control was low and a positive association between attentional bias to threat and trait resilience when attentional control was high. No such associations were found for attentional bias to positive stimuli. Generalizability to other populations may be limited since we exclusively focused on male soldiers. Also, the cross-sectional design does not allow for causal conclusions. Findings suggest that attentional processing may promote trait resilience. Future research on preventive interventions should consider these findings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Avoidance of Bereavement-Related Stimuli in Chinese Individuals Experiencing Prolonged Grief: Evidence from a Dot-Probe Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meng Yu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Attentional bias refers to a preference for (e.g., vigilance or a shifting away (e.g., avoidance of one’s focus with respect to specific stimuli. Accumulating evidence suggests that an attentional bias toward death/threat-related stimuli exists in bereaved individuals experiencing prolonged grief (PG. Measuring for different processing may reflect different cognitive characteristics. Therefore, this study sought to compare information-processing biases in Chinese individuals with high versus low levels of PG symptomatology at supraliminal and subliminal levels, respectively.Method: A 2 (grief level × 2 (consciousness level × 2 (word type three-factor mixed design with supraliminal and subliminal tasks was utilized in the current study. Based on their Prolonged Grief Questionnaire-13 (PG-13 scores, 38 participants were included in the low-PG group, and 34 individuals were included in the high-PG group. All the participants completed a dot-probe task in which they were primed with death-related and life-related words paired with neutral stimuli.Results: High-PG individuals were slower in reacting to the death-related information in both supraliminal and subliminal tasks. After controlling for other symptoms in the backward deletion regression, PG-13 scores significantly predicted the avoidance tendency to death-related words in the supraliminal task, while anxiety was the best predictor of turning one’s vision away from death-related stimuli in the subliminal trials.Conclusion: The results suggested that high PG is associated with a tendency to avoid death-related words. Future research is needed to explore interventions that address the avoidance of death-related stimuli among individuals with elevated, or diagnosable, levels of PG.

  13. Attentional Mechanisms in Sports via Brain-Electrical Event-Related Potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hack, Johannes; Memmert, Daniel; Rup, Andre

    2009-01-01

    In this study, we examined attention processes in complex, sport-specific decision-making tasks without interdependencies from anticipation. Psychophysiological and performance data recorded from advanced and intermediate level basketball referees were compared. Event-related potentials obtained while judging game situations in foul recognition…

  14. Negative attentional bias for positive recovery-related words as a predictor of treatment success among individuals with an alcohol use disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rettie, Hannah C; Hogan, Lee M; Cox, W Miles

    2018-09-01

    This study assessed relationships between clients' attentional bias (AB) for different types of stimuli and their treatment outcomes. Alcohol AB during detoxification has previously been shown to predict relapse, but further research was needed to clarify this relationship. The current study determined whether AB for recovery-related words would also predict treatment outcome. Participants were 45 clients undergoing alcohol detoxification, and a control group of 36 staff members. They rated words for personal relevance in four categories (alcohol-related, neutral, positive change-related, and negative change-related). Participants completed an individualized Stroop task containing their chosen words. They were also assessed on readiness-to-change, difficulties with emotion regulation, drinking problems, anxiety, and depression. Clients were interviewed at a three-month follow-up to determine their treatment outcome. As predicted, questionnaire measures did not predict clients' treatment outcome (p > .05). A logistic regression model indicated that the best predictor of treatment outcome was AB for positive change-related words (p = .048), with successful individuals having less AB for these words than for the other word categories. Although this finding was unexpected, it was supported by significant relationships between positive change-related interference scores and continuous measures of drinking at follow-up [i.e. number of units drunk (p = .039) and number of drinking days (p = .018)]. The results suggest that positive change-related words are a better predictor of treatment outcome than are either alcohol-related words or negative change-related words. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Frequency-specific attentional modulation in human primary auditory cortex and midbrain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riecke, Lars; Peters, Judith C; Valente, Giancarlo; Poser, Benedikt A; Kemper, Valentin G; Formisano, Elia; Sorger, Bettina

    2018-07-01

    Paying selective attention to an audio frequency selectively enhances activity within primary auditory cortex (PAC) at the tonotopic site (frequency channel) representing that frequency. Animal PAC neurons achieve this 'frequency-specific attentional spotlight' by adapting their frequency tuning, yet comparable evidence in humans is scarce. Moreover, whether the spotlight operates in human midbrain is unknown. To address these issues, we studied the spectral tuning of frequency channels in human PAC and inferior colliculus (IC), using 7-T functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) and frequency mapping, while participants focused on different frequency-specific sounds. We found that shifts in frequency-specific attention alter the response gain, but not tuning profile, of PAC frequency channels. The gain modulation was strongest in low-frequency channels and varied near-monotonically across the tonotopic axis, giving rise to the attentional spotlight. We observed less prominent, non-tonotopic spatial patterns of attentional modulation in IC. These results indicate that the frequency-specific attentional spotlight in human PAC as measured with FMRI arises primarily from tonotopic gain modulation, rather than adapted frequency tuning. Moreover, frequency-specific attentional modulation of afferent sound processing in human IC seems to be considerably weaker, suggesting that the spotlight diminishes toward this lower-order processing stage. Our study sheds light on how the human auditory pathway adapts to the different demands of selective hearing. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Attention bias modification in specific fears: Spiders versus snakes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Xijia; Ikani, Nessa; Barth, Anja; Rengers, Lea; Becker, Eni; Rinck, Mike

    2015-12-01

    Attention Bias Modification (ABM) is used to manipulate attention biases in anxiety disorders. It has been successful in reducing attention biases and anxious symptoms in social anxiety and generalized anxiety, but not yet in specific fears and phobias. We designed a new version of the dot-probe training task, aiming to train fearful participants' attention away from or towards pictures of threatening stimuli. Moreover, we studied whether the training also affected participants' avoidance behavior and their physical arousal upon being confronted with a real threat object. In Experiment 1, students with fear of spiders were trained. We found that the attention manipulation was successful, but the training failed to affect behavior or arousal. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was used on snake-fearful students. Again, attention was trained in the expected directions. Moreover, participants whose attention had been trained away from snakes showed lower physiological arousal upon being confronted with a real snake. The study involved healthy students with normal distribution of the fear of spider/snake. Future research with clinical sample could help with determining the generalizability of the current findings. The effect of ABM on specific phobia is still in question. The finding in the present study suggested the possibility to alter attentional bias with a dot-probe task with general positive stimuli and this training could even affect the behavior while encountering a real threat. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Increased psychophysiological parameters of attention in non-psychotic individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Lutterveld, Remko; Oranje, Bob; Abramovic, Lucija

    2010-01-01

    with an auditory oddball paradigm in 18 non-psychotic individuals with AVH and 18 controls. RESULTS: P300 amplitude was increased in the AVH group as compared to controls, reflecting superior effortful attention. A trend in the same direction was found for processing negativity. No significant differences were...... found for mismatch negativity. CONCLUSION: Contrary to our expectations, non-psychotic individuals with AVH show increased rather than decreased psychophysiological measures of effortful attention compared to healthy controls, refuting a pivotal role of decreased effortful attention...

  18. Experimental Effects and Individual Differences in Linear Mixed Models: Estimating the Relationship between Spatial, Object, and Attraction Effects in Visual Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kliegl, Reinhold; Wei, Ping; Dambacher, Michael; Yan, Ming; Zhou, Xiaolin

    2011-01-01

    Linear mixed models (LMMs) provide a still underused methodological perspective on combining experimental and individual-differences research. Here we illustrate this approach with two-rectangle cueing in visual attention (Egly et al., 1994). We replicated previous experimental cue-validity effects relating to a spatial shift of attention within an object (spatial effect), to attention switch between objects (object effect), and to the attraction of attention toward the display centroid (attraction effect), also taking into account the design-inherent imbalance of valid and other trials. We simultaneously estimated variance/covariance components of subject-related random effects for these spatial, object, and attraction effects in addition to their mean reaction times (RTs). The spatial effect showed a strong positive correlation with mean RT and a strong negative correlation with the attraction effect. The analysis of individual differences suggests that slow subjects engage attention more strongly at the cued location than fast subjects. We compare this joint LMM analysis of experimental effects and associated subject-related variances and correlations with two frequently used alternative statistical procedures. PMID:21833292

  19. Effect of multizone refractive multifocal contact lenses on standard automated perimetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madrid-Costa, David; Ruiz-Alcocer, Javier; García-Lázaro, Santiago; Albarrán-Diego, César; Ferrer-Blasco, Teresa

    2012-09-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the creation of 2 foci (distance and near) provided by multizone refractive multifocal contact lenses (CLs) for presbyopia correction affects the measurements on Humphreys 24-2 Swedish interactive threshold algorithm (SITA) standard automated perimetry (SAP). In this crossover study, 30 subjects were fitted in random order with either a multifocal CL or a monofocal CL. After 1 month, a Humphrey 24-2 SITA standard strategy was performed. The visual field global indices (the mean deviation [MD] and pattern standard deviation [PSD]), reliability indices, test duration, and number of depressed points deviating at P0.5% on pattern deviation probability plots were determined and compared between multifocal and monofocal CLs. Thirty eyes of 30 subjects were included in this study. There were no statistically significant differences in reliability indices or test duration. There was a statistically significant reduction in the MD with the multifocal CL compared with monfocal CL (P=0.001). Differences were not found in PSD nor in the number of depressed points deviating at P0.5% in the pattern deviation probability maps studied. The results of this study suggest that the multizone refractive lens produces a generalized depression in threshold sensitivity as measured by the Humphreys 24-2 SITA SAP.

  20. Outcomes of excimer laser enhancements in pseudophakic patients with multifocal intraocular lens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schallhorn SC

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Steven C Schallhorn,1–3 Jan A Venter,2 David Teenan,2 Julie M Schallhorn,3 Keith A Hettinger,2 Stephen J Hannan,2 Martina Pelouskova2 1Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; 2Optical Express, Glasgow, UK; 3Department of Ophthalmology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess visual and refractive outcomes of laser vision correction (LVC to correct residual refraction after multifocal intraocular lens (IOL implantation. Patients and methods: In this retrospective study, 782 eyes that underwent LVC to correct unintended ametropia after multifocal IOL implantation were evaluated. Of all multifocal lenses implanted during primary procedure, 98.7% were refractive and 1.3% had a diffractive design. All eyes were treated with VISX STAR S4 IR excimer laser using a convectional ablation profile. Refractive outcomes, visual acuities, patient satisfaction, and quality of life were evaluated at the last available visit. Results: The mean time between enhancement and last visit was 6.3±4.4 months. Manifest spherical equivalent changed from -0.02±0.83 D (-3.38 D to +2.25 D pre-enhancement to 0.00±0.34 D (-1.38 D to +1.25 D post-enhancement. At the last follow-up, the percentage of eyes within 0.50 D and 1.00 D of emmetropia was 90.4% and 99.5%, respectively. Of all eyes, 74.9% achieved monocular uncorrected distance visual acuity 20/20 or better. The mean corrected distance visual acuity remained the same before (-0.04±0.06 logMAR [logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution] and after LVC procedure (-0.04±0.07 logMAR; P=0.70. There was a slight improvement in visual phenomena (starburst, halo, glare, ghosting/double vision following the enhancement. No sight-threatening complications related to LVC occurred in this study. Conclusion: LVC in pseudophakic patients with multifocal IOL was safe, effective, and predictable in a large cohort of

  1. Youth sport experiences of individuals with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Homan; Causgrove Dunn, Janice; Holt, Nicholas L

    2014-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore youth sport experiences of individuals with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were 6 males (mean age=22.7 yr) with ADHD who had played 3 or more seasons in team sports during adolescence. Following interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology, each participant completed 2 semistructured interviews. Findings showed that symptoms of ADHD hampered participants' experiences and led to negative interpersonal and performance-related consequences. On the other hand, participants reported social and stress/energy-release benefits arising from their experiences in sport. Their experiences were therefore complex, and some findings relating to social interactions appeared contradictory (e.g., negative interpersonal experiences vs. social benefits). Supportive coaches, understanding teammates, and personal coping strategies were key factors that enabled participants to realize benefits and, to some degree, mitigate negative consequences associated with their participation in sport.

  2. Objective perimetry using a four-channel multifocal VEP system: correlation with conventional perimetry and thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horn, Folkert K; Kaltwasser, Christoph; Jünemann, Anselm G; Kremers, Jan; Tornow, Ralf P

    2012-04-01

    There is evidence that multifocal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) can be used as an objective tool to detect visual field loss. The aim of this study was to correlate multifocal VEP amplitudes with standard perimetry data and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness. Multifocal VEP recordings were performed with a four-channel electrode array using 58 stimulus fields (pattern reversal dartboard). For each field, the recording from the channel with maximal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was retained, resulting in an SNR optimised virtual recording. Correlation with RNFL thickness, measured with spectral domain optical coherence tomography and with standard perimetry, was performed for nerve fibre bundle related areas. The mean amplitudes in nerve fibre related areas were smaller in glaucoma patients than in normal subjects. The differences between both groups were most significant in mid-peripheral areas. Amplitudes in these areas were significantly correlated with corresponding RNFL thickness (Spearman R=0.76) and with standard perimetry (R=0.71). The multifocal VEP amplitude was correlated with perimetric visual field data and the RNFL thickness of the corresponding regions. This method of SNR optimisation is useful for extracting data from recordings and may be appropriate for objective assessment of visual function at different locations. This study has been registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00494923).

  3. Peripheral refraction with dominant design multifocal contact lenses in young myopes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Lopes-Ferreira

    2013-04-01

    Conclusion: It is possible to induce significant changes in the pattern of relative peripheral refraction in the myopic direction with commercially available dominant design multifocal contact lenses. The higher add (+3.00 D induced an significantly higher effect than the +2.00 D add lens, although an increase of 1 D in add power does not correspond to the same amount of increase in RPRE.

  4. Reading ability with pseudophakic monovision and with refractive multifocal intraocular lenses: comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Misae; Shimizu, Kimiya

    2009-09-01

    To the compare the reading ability after bilateral cataract surgery in patients who had pseudophakic monovision achieved by monofocal intraocular lens (IOL) implantation and patients who had refractive multifocal IOL implantation. Department of Ophthalmology, Kitasato University Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan. This study evaluated patients who had bilateral cataract surgery using the monovision method with monofocal IOL implantation to correct presbyopia (monovision group) or who had bilateral cataract surgery with refractive multifocal IOL implantation (multifocal group). In the monovision group, the dominant eye was corrected for distance vision and the nondominant eye for near vision. The maximum reading speed, critical character size, and reading acuity were measured binocularly without refractive correction using MNREAD-J acuity charts. The monovision group comprised 38 patients and the multifocal group, 22 patients. The mean maximum reading speed was 350.5 characters per minute (cpm) +/- 62.3 (SD) in the monovision group and 355.0 +/- 53.3 cpm in the multifocal group; the difference was not statistically significant. The mean critical character size was 0.24 +/- 0.12 logMAR and 0.40 +/- 0.16 logMAR, respectively (P<.05). The mean reading acuity was 0.05 +/- 0.12 logMAR and 0.19 +/- 0.11 logMAR, respectively (P<.01). The monovision group had better critical character size and reading acuity results. The monovision method group had better reading ability; however, careful patient selection is essential.

  5. Individual differences in selective attention predict speech identification at a cocktail party.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberfeld, Daniel; Klöckner-Nowotny, Felicitas

    2016-08-31

    Listeners with normal hearing show considerable individual differences in speech understanding when competing speakers are present, as in a crowded restaurant. Here, we show that one source of this variance are individual differences in the ability to focus selective attention on a target stimulus in the presence of distractors. In 50 young normal-hearing listeners, the performance in tasks measuring auditory and visual selective attention was associated with sentence identification in the presence of spatially separated competing speakers. Together, the measures of selective attention explained a similar proportion of variance as the binaural sensitivity for the acoustic temporal fine structure. Working memory span, age, and audiometric thresholds showed no significant association with speech understanding. These results suggest that a reduced ability to focus attention on a target is one reason why some listeners with normal hearing sensitivity have difficulty communicating in situations with background noise.

  6. Multifocal tenosynovial giant cell tumors in a child with Noonan syndrome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meyers, Arthur B. [Children' s Hospital of Wisconsin, Department of Radiology, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Nemours Children' s Health System/Nemours Children' s Hospital, Department of Radiology, Orlando, FL (United States); Awomolo, Agboola O. [Children' s Hospital of Wisconsin, Department of Radiology, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Szabo, Sara [Medical College of Wisconsin and Children' s Hospital of Wisconsin, Department of Pathology, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Cincinnati Children' s Hospital Medical Center, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cincinnati, OH (United States)

    2017-03-15

    Noonan syndrome is a genetic disorder with variable expression of distinctive facial features, webbed neck, chest deformity, short stature, cryptorchidism and congenital heart disease. The association of Noonan syndrome and giant cell granulomas of the mandible is widely reported. However, Noonan syndrome may also be associated with single or multifocal tenosynovial giant cell tumors, also referred to as pigmented villonodular synovitis. We report a child with Noonan syndrome, giant cell granulomas of the mandible and synovial and tenosynovial giant cell tumors involving multiple joints and tendon sheaths who was initially misdiagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. It is important for radiologists to be aware of the association of Noonan syndrome and multifocal giant cell lesions, which can range from the more commonly described giant cell granulomas of the mandible to isolated or multifocal intra- or extra-articular tenosynovial giant cell tumors or a combination of all of these lesions. (orig.)

  7. Multifocal tenosynovial giant cell tumors in a child with Noonan syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyers, Arthur B; Awomolo, Agboola O; Szabo, Sara

    2017-03-01

    Noonan syndrome is a genetic disorder with variable expression of distinctive facial features, webbed neck, chest deformity, short stature, cryptorchidism and congenital heart disease. The association of Noonan syndrome and giant cell granulomas of the mandible is widely reported. However, Noonan syndrome may also be associated with single or multifocal tenosynovial giant cell tumors, also referred to as pigmented villonodular synovitis. We report a child with Noonan syndrome, giant cell granulomas of the mandible and synovial and tenosynovial giant cell tumors involving multiple joints and tendon sheaths who was initially misdiagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. It is important for radiologists to be aware of the association of Noonan syndrome and multifocal giant cell lesions, which can range from the more commonly described giant cell granulomas of the mandible to isolated or multifocal intra- or extra-articular tenosynovial giant cell tumors or a combination of all of these lesions.

  8. Multifocal tenosynovial giant cell tumors in a child with Noonan syndrome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyers, Arthur B.; Awomolo, Agboola O.; Szabo, Sara

    2017-01-01

    Noonan syndrome is a genetic disorder with variable expression of distinctive facial features, webbed neck, chest deformity, short stature, cryptorchidism and congenital heart disease. The association of Noonan syndrome and giant cell granulomas of the mandible is widely reported. However, Noonan syndrome may also be associated with single or multifocal tenosynovial giant cell tumors, also referred to as pigmented villonodular synovitis. We report a child with Noonan syndrome, giant cell granulomas of the mandible and synovial and tenosynovial giant cell tumors involving multiple joints and tendon sheaths who was initially misdiagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. It is important for radiologists to be aware of the association of Noonan syndrome and multifocal giant cell lesions, which can range from the more commonly described giant cell granulomas of the mandible to isolated or multifocal intra- or extra-articular tenosynovial giant cell tumors or a combination of all of these lesions. (orig.)

  9. Emergence of auditory-visual relations from a visual-visual baseline with auditory-specific consequences in individuals with autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varella, André A B; de Souza, Deisy G

    2014-07-01

    Empirical studies have demonstrated that class-specific contingencies may engender stimulus-reinforcer relations. In these studies, crossmodal relations emerged when crossmodal relations comprised the baseline, and intramodal relations emerged when intramodal relations were taught during baseline. This study investigated whether auditory-visual relations (crossmodal) would emerge after participants learned a visual-visual baseline (intramodal) with auditory stimuli presented as specific consequences. Four individuals with autism learned AB and CD relations with class-specific reinforcers. When A1 and C1 were presented as samples, the selections of B1 and D1, respectively, were followed by an edible (R1) and a sound (S1). Selections of B2 and D2 under the control of A2 and C2, respectively, were followed by R2 and S2. Probe trials tested for visual-visual AC, CA, AD, DA, BC, CB, BD, and DB emergent relations and auditory-visual SA, SB, SC, and SD emergent relations. All of the participants demonstrated the emergence of all auditory-visual relations, and three of four participants showed emergence of all visual-visual relations. Thus, the emergence of auditory-visual relations from specific auditory consequences suggests that these relations do not depend on crossmodal baseline training. The procedure has great potential for applied technology to generate auditory-visual discriminations and stimulus classes in the context of behavior-analytic interventions for autism. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  10. Multifocal chronic osteomyelitis of unknown etiology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kozlowski, K.; Masel, J.; Harbison, S.; Yu, J.; Royal Brisbane Children Hospital; Regional Hospital Bowral

    1983-01-01

    Five cases of chronic, inflammatory, multifocal bone lesions of unknown etiology are reported. Although bone biopsy confirmed osteomyelitis in each case in none of them were organisms found inspite of an extensive work up. Different clinical course of the disease reflects different aetiology in respective cases. These cases present changing aspects of osteomyelitis emerging since introduction of antibiotics. (orig.)

  11. Sustained Spatial Attention in Touch: Modality-Specific and Multimodal Mechanisms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiara F. Sambo

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustained attention to a body location results in enhanced processing of tactile stimuli presented at that location compared to another unattended location. In this paper, we review studies investigating the neural correlates of sustained spatial attention in touch. These studies consistently show that activity within modality-specific somatosensory areas (SI and SII is modulated by sustained tactile-spatial attention. Recent evidence suggests that these somatosensory areas may be recruited as part of a larger cortical network,also including higher-level multimodal regions involved in spatial selection across modalities. We discuss, in turn, the following multimodal effects in sustained tactile-spatial attention tasks. First, cross-modal attentional links between touch and vision, reflected in enhanced processing of task-irrelevant visual stimuli at tactuallyattended locations, are mediated by common (multimodal representations of external space. Second, vision of the body modulates activity underlying sustained tactile-spatial attention, facilitating attentional modulation of tactile processing in between-hand (when hands are sufficiently far apart and impairing attentional modulation in within-hand selection tasks. Finally, body posture influences mechanisms of sustained tactile-spatial attention, relying, at least partly, on remapping of tactile stimuli in external, visuallydefined, spatial coordinates. Taken together, the findings reviewed in this paper indicate that sustained spatial attention in touch is subserved by both modality-specific and multimodal mechanisms. The interplay between these mechanisms allows flexible and efficient spatial selection within and across sensory modalities.

  12. Progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy in a patient with idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Moloney, F

    2012-03-01

    Progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML) is an opportunistic, demyelinating neurological disease caused by reactivation of the JC polyomavirus. PML occurs almost exclusively in immunosuppressed individuals, with only isolated case reports of PML occurring in patients without apparent immunosuppression. Idiopathic CD4+ lymohocytopenia (ICL) is a syndrome defined by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention as a CD4+ count <300 cells\\/uL or <20% of total T cell count on >1 occasion, with no evidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and the absence of other known immunodeficiency or therapy associated with lymphocytopenia. We describe a case of PML occurring in a patient with idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia.

  13. Individual Differences in Asymmetric Resting-State Frontal Cortical Activity Modulate ERPs and Performance in a Global-Local Attention Task

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boksem, Maarten A. S.; Kostermans, Evelien; Tops, Mattie; De Cremer, David

    2012-01-01

    Recent research has demonstrated that individual differences in approach motivation modulate attentional scope. In turn, approach and inhibition have been related to different neural systems that are associated with asymmetries in relative frontal activity (RFA). Here, we investigated whether such

  14. Learning disability subtypes and the role of attention during the naming of pictures and words: an event-related potential analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenham, Stephanie L; Stelmack, Robert M; van der Vlugt, Harry

    2003-01-01

    The role of attention in the processing of pictures and words was investigated for a group of normally achieving children and for groups of learning disability sub-types that were defined by deficient performance on tests of reading and spelling (Group RS) and of arithmetic (Group A). An event-related potential (ERP) recording paradigm was employed in which the children were required to attend to and name either pictures or words that were presented individually or in superimposed picture-word arrays that varied in degree of semantic relation. For Group RS, the ERP waves to words, both presented individually or attended in the superimposed array, exhibited reduced N450 amplitude relative to controls, whereas their ERP waves to pictures were normal. This suggests that the word-naming deficiency for Group RS is not a selective attention deficit but rather a specific linguistic deficit that develops at a later stage of processing. In contrast to Group RS and controls, Group A did not exhibit reliable early frontal negative waves (N280) to the super-imposed pictures and words, an effect that may reflect a selective attention deficit for these children that develops at an early stage of visuo-spatial processing. These early processing differences were also evident in smaller amplitude N450 waves for Group A when naming either pictures or words in the superimposed arrays.

  15. Individual differences in selective attention predict speech identification at a cocktail party

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberfeld, Daniel; Klöckner-Nowotny, Felicitas

    2016-01-01

    Listeners with normal hearing show considerable individual differences in speech understanding when competing speakers are present, as in a crowded restaurant. Here, we show that one source of this variance are individual differences in the ability to focus selective attention on a target stimulus in the presence of distractors. In 50 young normal-hearing listeners, the performance in tasks measuring auditory and visual selective attention was associated with sentence identification in the presence of spatially separated competing speakers. Together, the measures of selective attention explained a similar proportion of variance as the binaural sensitivity for the acoustic temporal fine structure. Working memory span, age, and audiometric thresholds showed no significant association with speech understanding. These results suggest that a reduced ability to focus attention on a target is one reason why some listeners with normal hearing sensitivity have difficulty communicating in situations with background noise. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16747.001 PMID:27580272

  16. Cortical and Sensory Causes of Individual Differences in Selective Attention Ability Among Listeners With Normal Hearing Thresholds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara

    2017-10-17

    This review provides clinicians with an overview of recent findings relevant to understanding why listeners with normal hearing thresholds (NHTs) sometimes suffer from communication difficulties in noisy settings. The results from neuroscience and psychoacoustics are reviewed. In noisy settings, listeners focus their attention by engaging cortical brain networks to suppress unimportant sounds; they then can analyze and understand an important sound, such as speech, amidst competing sounds. Differences in the efficacy of top-down control of attention can affect communication abilities. In addition, subclinical deficits in sensory fidelity can disrupt the ability to perceptually segregate sound sources, interfering with selective attention, even in listeners with NHTs. Studies of variability in control of attention and in sensory coding fidelity may help to isolate and identify some of the causes of communication disorders in individuals presenting at the clinic with "normal hearing." How well an individual with NHTs can understand speech amidst competing sounds depends not only on the sound being audible but also on the integrity of cortical control networks and the fidelity of the representation of suprathreshold sound. Understanding the root cause of difficulties experienced by listeners with NHTs ultimately can lead to new, targeted interventions that address specific deficits affecting communication in noise. http://cred.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2601617.

  17. A circular multifocal collimator for 3D SPECT imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guillemaud, R.; Grangeat, P.

    1993-01-01

    In order to improve sensitivity of 3D Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPECT) image, a cone-beam collimator can be used. A new circular multifocal collimator is proposed. The multiple focal points are distributed on a transaxial circle which is the trajectory of the focal points during the circular acquisition. This distribution provides a strong focusing at the center of the detector like a cone-beam collimator, with a good sensitivity, and a weak transaxial focusing at the periphery. A solution for an analytical multifocal reconstruction algorithm has been derived. Grangeat algorithm is proposed to use for this purpose in order to reconstruct with a good sensitivity the region of interest. (R.P.) 3 refs

  18. Multifocal epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the phalanges of the hand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruegel, Melanie; Waldt, Simone; Woertler, Klaus; Rummeny, Ernst J.; Weirich, Gregor

    2006-01-01

    Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EH) of bone is a rare vascular neoplasm characterized by epithelioid endothelial cells and a variable biologic behaviour. The principal sites of occurrence of this osteolytic tumor are the lower extremity and the axial skeleton. Approximately half of the cases present with multifocal disease. The latter feature can be helpful in suggesting the diagnosis of a vascular tumor; on the other hand, it strengthens the need for a skeletal survey or whole-body MRI/CT. We report on the clinical, histologic and radiologic features - including CT and MRI findings - of EH in a case of multifocal disease of the phalanges of the hand, a very uncommon anatomic site of affliction. (orig.)

  19. Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia in a community in the Mayan area of Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Losa, Maria R; Suarez-Allén, Rosa E; Canul-Canche, Jaqueline; Conde-Ferráez, Laura; Eljure-Lopez, Nixma

    2011-03-01

    Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia is a pathology of the oral mucosa which has been reported in diverse ethnic groups. Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 13 and 32 DNA has been detected in these lesions. The aims of this paper are to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of an outbreak in a rural community in the Mayan area of Mexico and to identify a possible route of transmission through saliva. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chemax (Yucatan, Mexico). Clinical and epidemiological data were obtained through direct interviews. Samples of oral cells and saliva were taken. HPV 13 and 32 were identified by polymerase chain reaction using specific primers. A total of 57 patients were studied, of whom 79.1% were aged jugal mucosa, and more frequently, the tongue. HPV 13 was found in all the patients and HPV 32 in none. A total of 42 saliva samples were positive for HPV 13. Human papillomavirus type 13 is involved in multifocal epithelial hyperplasia among the Mexican Mayan population. The presence of HPV 13 in cells from saliva, combined with poor hygiene behaviors, may explain the familial distribution of the pathology. © 2011 The International Society of Dermatology.

  20. Attentional bias to moving spiders in spider fearful individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vrijsen, Janna N; Fleurkens, Pascal; Nieuwboer, Wieteke; Rinck, Mike

    2009-05-01

    We investigated if an attentional bias for spiders in spider fearful individuals (SFs) can also be found for moving spiders, rather than static images. In Study 1, 28 SFs and 33 non-anxious controls (NACs) participated in a modified version of the dot probe paradigm: they had to react to a probe that appeared either in the next, previous, or side position of a spider's or a wheel's path. 24 SFs and 29 NACs participated in Study 2, in which a fourth, highly predictable, probe position was added. We expected that moving spiders would capture the attention of SFs. In addition, we tested whether SFs try to predict the movement of the spider to make it less threatening. As expected, SFs showed an attentional bias towards moving spiders. However, both groups reacted fastest to unpredictable movements, indicating that SFs and NACs alike anticipate unpredictable spider movements.

  1. Visual attention in posterior stroke and relations to alexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, A; Vangkilde, S; Fabricius, C; Iversen, H K; Delfi, T S; Starrfelt, R

    2016-11-01

    Impaired visual attention is common following strokes in the territory of the middle cerebral artery, particularly in the right hemisphere, while attentional effects of more posterior lesions are less clear. Commonly, such deficits are investigated in relation to specific syndromes like visual agnosia or pure alexia. The aim of this study was to characterize visual processing speed and apprehension span following posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke. In addition, the relationship between these attentional parameters and single word reading is investigated, as previous studies have suggested that reduced visual speed and span may explain pure alexia. Eight patients with unilateral PCA strokes (four left hemisphere, four right hemisphere) were selected on the basis of lesion location, rather than the presence of any visual symptoms. Visual attention was characterized by a whole report paradigm allowing for hemifield-specific measurements of processing speed and apprehension span. All patients showed reductions in visual span contralateral to the lesion site, and four patients showed bilateral reductions in visual span despite unilateral lesions (2L; 2R). Six patients showed selective deficits in visual span, though processing speed was unaffected in the same field (ipsi- or contralesionally). Only patients with right hemifield reductions in visual span were impaired in reading, and this could follow either right or left lateralized stroke and was irrespective of visual field impairments. In conclusion, visual span may be affected bilaterally by unilateral PCA-lesions. Reductions in visual span may also be confined to one hemifield, and may be affected in spite of preserved visual processing speed. Furthermore, reduced span in the right visual field seems to be related to reading impairment in this group, regardless of lesion lateralization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Multifocal fibrosclerosis: a new case report and review of the literature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oguz, Kader Karli; Oguz, Oguzhan; Cila, Aysenur; Oto, Aytekin [Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara (Turkey); Kiratli, Hayyam [Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara (Turkey); Gokoz, Aytac [Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara (Turkey)

    2002-05-01

    A case of multifocal fibrosclerosis is presented with MR images. Bilateral sclerosing orbital pseudotumor invading cavernous sinuses were the presenting disorder. Magnetic resonance imaging showed involvement of paranasal sinuses bilaterally and multiple supratentorial dural masses. Retroperitoneal fibrosis was associated with the condition. Multifocal involvement should be considered in patients with sclerosing orbital pseudotumor and an imaging approach should be performed on the appropriate clinical condition to document possible coexistence of other disorders including retroperitoneal fibrosis, mediastinal fibrosis, sclerosing cholangitis, and Riedel's thyroiditis (orig.)

  3. Attention Training in Individuals with Generalized Social Phobia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amir, Nader; Beard, Courtney; Taylor, Charles T.; Klumpp, Heide; Elias, Jason; Burns, Michelle; Chen, Xi

    2009-01-01

    The authors conducted a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial to examine the efficacy of an attention training procedure in reducing symptoms of social anxiety in 44 individuals diagnosed with generalized social phobia (GSP). Attention training comprised a probe detection task in which pictures of faces with either a threatening or…

  4. Attention bias for sleep-related stimuli in primary insomnia and delayed sleep phase syndrome using the dot-probe task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacMahon, Kenneth M A; Broomfield, Niall M; Espie, Colin A

    2006-11-01

    Cognitive models of primary insomnia (PI) suggest attention bias as a maintaining process. This study used a hallmark measure of attention bias, the dot-probe task, to determine whether attention bias to sleep-related stimuli is present in individuals with PI. Control groups of good sleepers (GS) and individuals with delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), a sleep disorder with no presumed cognitive pathway and, hence, no predicted association with attention bias, were included. A between-groups (PI, DSPS, GS) design was employed. Participants completed a dot-probe task with stimuli comprising sleep-related and neutral words, balanced for length and frequency of usage. It was predicted a priori that PI would show greater attention bias to sleep stimuli compared with GS and DSPS groups. No difference between GS and DSPS was predicted. Sixty-three individuals completed the study (PI = 21; DSPS = 22; GS = 20), with those in PI and DSPS classified by International Classification of Sleep Disorders criteria according to self-report sleep diaries and actigraphy. GS scored Sleep Quality Index, reported being good sleepers, and met no criteria for a current or previous sleep disorder. N/A. As predicted, PI showed increased vigilance for sleep-related stimuli relative to GS and DSPS. No differences between GS and those with DSPS were found. The PI group showed shorter response latencies relative to the GS and DSPS groups. Results support an association between attention bias and PI. Further work must determine whether or not attention bias is a causal factor. Speeded responses in the PI group suggest heightened arousal, indicating that physiologic factors may play a related role.

  5. Multifocality as a prognostic factor in breast cancer patients registered in Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) 1996-2001

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Joergensen, L.E.; Gunnarsdottir, K.A.; Lanng, C.

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic influence of multifocality in breast cancer patients. In a cohort of 7196 patients there were 945 patients with multifocality. We found no prognostic influence of multifocality on overall survival when controlling for known prognostic......, Gunnarsdottir KA, Rasmussen BB, Moeller S, Lanng C. The prognostic influence of multifocality in breast cancer patients. Breast 2004;13:188-193]....... factors. We found a small but significant influence on disease-free survival (HR=1.16 [1.03-1.31]) and a strong correlation between multifocality and known prognostic factors. This was in accordance with an earlier study done on a smaller population and in a different period of time [Pedersen L...

  6. MULTIFOCAL RETINAL INFILTRATES WITH PHLEBITIS AND OPTIC NEUROPATHY IN AN HIV-POSITIVE PEDIATRIC PATIENT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasi, Sundeep K; Vora, Robin A; Martin, Taliva; Cunningham, Emmett T

    2015-01-01

    To describe an unusual presentation of bilateral HIV-associated multifocal retinal infiltrates with phlebitis and optic neuropathy in a pediatric patient from Zimbabwe, Africa. Retrospective case report of a 15-year-old boy from Zimbabwe, Africa. The patient was found to have bilateral vitritis, multifocal retinitis with phlebitis, and optic neuropathy in the setting of previously unrecognized HIV infection. Vision improved and the clinical findings resolved after treatment with intravenous corticosteroids and highly active retroviral therapy (HAART). The authors describe the occurrence and treatment of bilateral, HIV-associated multifocal retinal infiltrates with phlebitis and HIV-associated optic neuropathy in a pediatric patient from Zimbabwe, Africa.

  7. Can ratio of the biggest tumor diameter to total tumor diameter be a new parameter in the differential diagnosis of agressive and favorable multifocal papillary thyroid microcarcinoma?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tam, Abbas Ali; Özdemir, Didem; Çuhacı, Neslihan; Başer, Hüsniye; Dirikoç, Ahmet; Aydın, Cevdet; Yazgan, Aylin Kılıç; Ersoy, Reyhan; Çakır, Bekir

    2017-02-01

    In this study, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of a new parameter -ratio of the biggest tumor diameter to total tumor diameter- for the differentiation of agressive and favorable papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMC). The diameter of the biggest tumor focus was taken as the primary tumor diameter. Total tumor diameter was calculated as the sum of the maximal diameter of each lesion. Ratio of primary tumor diameter to total tumor diameter was defined as tumor diameter ratio (TDR). Positive and negative predictive value, sensitivity and specificity of TDR to predict capsular invasion, extrathyroidal extension (ETE) and lymph node metastasis (LNM) were determined. Mean TDR was significantly lower in multifocal PTMC patients with capsular invasion, ETE, lymphovascular invasion and LNM compared to patients without these features. The sensitivities of TDR for the detection of LNM, ETE and capsular invasion were 100%, 100% and 94.2%, respectively. Specificity of TDR was 86.2% for LNM, 88% for ETE and 94.7% for capsular invasion. Best cut off values of TDR that can predict capsular invasion, ETE and LNM in multifocal PTMC were 0.62, 0.57 and 0.56, respectively. Multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma patients with capsular invasion, ETE and LNM had significantly lower mean TDR when compared to ones without these features. Decreased TDR was associated with capsular invasion, ETE and LNM in patients with multifocal PTMC and PTC. This new parameter might be particularly helpful for the detection of aggressive behavior in multifocal PTMCs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Long-Term Visual Prognosis of Peripheral Multifocal Chorioretinitis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ossewaarde-van Norel, J; ten Dam-van Loon, NH; de Boer, JH; Rothova, A.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose To report on the clinical manifestations, complications, and long-term visual prognosis of patients with peripheral multifocal chorioretinitis and to search for predictors for a lower visual outcome. Design Retrospective consecutive observational case series. Methods setting: Institutional.

  9. Relations among student attention behaviors, teacher practices, and beginning word reading skill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sáez, Leilani; Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Schatschneider, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    The role of student attention for predicting kindergarten word reading was investigated among 432 students. Using Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale behavior rating scores, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, which yielded three distinct factors that reflected selective attention. In this study, the authors focused on the role of one of these factors, which they labeled attention-memory, for predicting reading performance. Teacher ratings of attention-memory predicted word reading above and beyond the contribution of phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the relations between four teacher practices and attention ratings for predicting reading performance were examined. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors found significant interactions between student attention and teacher practices observed during literacy instruction. In general, as ratings of attention improved, better kindergarten word reading performance was associated with high levels of classroom behavior management. However, better word reading performance was not associated with high levels of teacher task orienting. A significant three-way interaction was also found among attention, individualized instruction, and teacher task redirections. The role of regulating kindergarten student attention to support beginning word reading skill development is discussed.

  10. Attentional network task in schizophrenic patients and theirs unaffected first degree relatives: a potential endofenotype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López, S Guerra; Fuster, J Iglesias; Reyes, M Martín; Collazo, T M Bravo; Quiñones, R Mendoza; Berazain, A Reyes; Rodríguez, M A Pedroso; Días de Villarvilla, T; Bobés, M Antonieta; Valdés-Sosa, M

    2011-01-01

    In recent years, reports of attentional deficits in schizophrenic patients and in their biological relatives have rapidly increased, including an important effort to search for the endophenotypes in order to link specific genes to this illness. Posner et al. developed a test, the Attention Network Test (ANT), to study the neural networks. This test provides a separate measure for each one of the three anatomically-defined attention networks (alerting, orienting and executive control). In this paper, we investigate the attentional performance in 32 schizophrenic patients, 29 unaffected first degree relatives and 29 healthy controls using the ANT through a study of family association. We have studied the efficiency of the segregated executive control, alerting and orienting networks by measuring how response latencies (reaction time) were modified by the cue position and the flanking stimuli. We also studied the familial association of these attentional alterations. The ANOVA revealed main effects of flanker and cue condition and a significant interaction effect between flanker and groups studied. The schizophrenic patients and their relatives had a longer median reaction time than the control group. The probands and their relatives significantly differed from the healthy controls in terms of their conflict resolution; however, the alerting network appeared to be conserved. Our results support the thesis of a specific attentional deficit in schizophrenia and show the segregation of the three attentional networks. The family association of these reported alterations supports the idea of a potential endophenotype in schizophrenia.

  11. Sleep-related attentional bias in poor versus good sleepers is independent of affective valence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barclay, Nicola L; Ellis, Jason G

    2013-08-01

    Contradictory evidence exists relating to the presence of an attention bias to sleep-related stimuli in poor sleepers/insomnia using the emotional Stroop task (EST). These inconsistencies may be due to methodological issues related to the affective valence of the sleep-related stimuli. Thus, individuals may attend differentially to sleep-related stimuli not because of their 'sleep' properties, but their negativity. The current study addresses this by controlling the affective valence of sleep-related words. A total of 107 participants [mean age = 33.22 years, standard deviation (SD) = 12.31 years; 61.7% female] were recruited during an evening event at the Newcastle Science Festival. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a computerized EST containing 20 non-affective sleep-related, 20 neutral and 20 negatively valenced threat words. Good and poor sleepers were categorized using the PSQI. There were no significant differences between groups on response latency to sleep-related words (t(105) = -0.30, P = 0.76). However, the interaction between good versus poor sleepers and word-type on response latency was significant (F(2,210) = 3.06, P sleep-related words (mean = 723.35, SD = 172.55) compared to threat words (mean = 694.63, SD = 162.17) than good sleepers (mean = 713.20, SD = 166.32; and mean = 716.65, SD = 181.14). The results demonstrate the presence of an attention bias towards sleep-related stimuli compared to threat stimuli in poor sleepers. Accordingly, poor sleepers may be consumed by stimuli relevant to their specific difficulties, as well as being more highly attuned to negative cues that signal anxious states. Thus, the present research suggests that there are two opposing forces at play: one which facilitates performance (non-specific threats) and one which hinders performance (personally relevant threats). © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

  12. Relational Motives Reduce Attentional Adhesion to Attractive Alternatives in Heterosexual University Students in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qiuli; Maner, Jon K; Xu, Yin; Zheng, Yong

    2017-02-01

    In heterosexual individuals, attention is automatically captured by physically attractive members of the opposite sex. Although helpful for selecting new mates, attention to attractive relationship alternatives can threaten satisfaction with and commitment to an existing romantic relationship. The current study tested the hypothesis that although a mating prime would increase selective attention to attractive opposite-sex targets (relative to less attractive targets) among single participants, this effect would be reduced among people already committed to a long-term romantic partner. Consistent with hypotheses, whereas single participants responded to a mating prime with greater attentional adhesion to physically attractive opposite-sex targets (relative to less attractive targets), participants in a committed romantic relationship showed no such effect. These findings extend previous research suggesting the presence of relationship maintenance mechanisms that operate at early stages of social cognition.

  13. [Follow-up on MEWDS by fundus perimetry and multifocal ERG with the SLO].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bültmann, S; Martin, M; Rohrschneider, K

    2002-09-01

    Most conventional techniques for examination such as perimetry or ERG may not be sensitive enough to detect functional alterations due to MEWDS precisely. We report on a follow-up performed by fundus perimetry and the new technique of multifocal ERG using the scanning laser ophthalmoscope. A 24-year-old female patient (VA 0.2/0.8) was followed up for 7 weeks with these techniques as well as Octopus perimetry, fluorescence angiography, Ganzfeld ERG and biomicroscopy. Multifocal ERG stimulation (mfERG, Retiscan) was performed with the SLO. Visual acuity improved from 0.2 to 0.8 and the central relative scotoma disappeared while a relevant increase of P1-wave amplitudes in mfERG could be observed. Combining objective measurements from the fundus controlled SLO-mfERG and results from fundus perimetry enable good correlation of morphology and results, even for minor alterations of the macula only accessible by few established clinical examinations.

  14. Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: evidence from accuracy and eye movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mall, Jonathan T; Morey, Candice C; Wolff, Michael J; Lehnert, Franziska

    2014-10-01

    Selective attention and working memory capacity (WMC) are related constructs, but debate about the manner in which they are related remains active. One elegant explanation of variance in WMC is that the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information is the crucial determining factor, rather than differences in capacity per se. We examined this hypothesis by relating WMC (as measured by complex span tasks) to accuracy and eye movements during visual change detection tasks with different degrees of attentional filtering and allocation requirements. Our results did not indicate strong filtering differences between high- and low-WMC groups, and where differences were observed, they were counter to those predicted by the strongest attentional filtering hypothesis. Bayes factors indicated evidence favoring positive or null relationships between WMC and correct responses to unemphasized information, as well as between WMC and the time spent looking at unemphasized information. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that individual differences in storage capacity, not only filtering efficiency, underlie individual differences in working memory.

  15. Relating lab to life: Decrements in attention over time predict math productivity among children with ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fosco, Whitney D; Hawk, Larry W

    2017-02-01

    A child's ability to sustain attention over time (AOT) is critical in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), yet no prior work has examined the extent to which a child's decrement in AOT on laboratory tasks relates to clinically-relevant behavior. The goal of this study is to provide initial evidence for the criterion validity of laboratory assessments of AOT. A total of 20 children with ADHD (7-12 years of age) who were enrolled in a summer treatment program completed two lab attention tasks (a continuous performance task and a self-paced choice discrimination task) and math seatwork. Analyses focused on relations between attention task parameters and math productivity. Individual differences in overall attention (OA) measures (averaged across time) accounted for 23% of the variance in math productivity, supporting the criterion validity of lab measures of attention. The criterion validity was enhanced by consideration of changes in AOT. Performance on all laboratory attention measures deteriorated as time-on-task increased, and individual differences in the decrement in AOT accounted for 40% of the variance in math productivity. The only variable to uniquely predict math productivity was from the self-paced choice discrimination task. This study suggests that attention tasks in the lab do predict a clinically-relevant target behavior in children with ADHD, supporting their use as a means to study attention processes in a controlled environment. Furthermore, this prediction is improved when attention is examined as a function of time-on-task and when the attentional demands are consistent between lab and life contexts.

  16. A RELATIONAL FAIRNESS PERSPECTIVE ON INDIVIDUALITY AND INDIVIDUALIZATION IN CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO COMPENSATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Martin Lund

    The primary concern of this thesis is to explore the relations between contemporary compensation systems based on individualization and individuality, the constitution of the fair claim, the causality of blame and the causality of rewarding, and the need to belong and it relation with human...... motivation. More specifically, the primary research question on which this thesis is based is: How is the fair claim constituted in, respec-tively, a compensation system based on individualization and individuality, a social relational perspective; and in which ways might potential differences influence...

  17. Attentional control constrains visual short-term memory: Insights from developmental and individual differences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astle, D.E.; Nobre, A.C.; Scerif, G.

    2014-01-01

    The mechanisms by which attentional control biases mnemonic representations have attracted much interest but remain poorly understood. As attention and memory develop gradually over childhood and variably across individuals, assessing how participants of different ages and ability attend to mnemonic contents can elucidate their interplay. In Experiment 1, 7-, 10-year-olds and adults were asked to report whether a probe item had been part of a previously presented four-item array. The initial array could either be uncued, preceded (“pre-cued”) or followed (“retro-cued”) by a spatial cue orienting attention to one of the potential item locations. Performance across groups was significantly improved by both cue types and individual differences in children’s retrospective attentional control predicted their visual short-term and working memory span, whereas their basic ability to remember in the absence of cues did not. Experiment 2 imposed a variable delay between the array and the subsequent orienting cue. Cueing benefits were greater in adults compared to 10-year-olds, but they persisted even when cues followed the array by nearly 3 seconds, suggesting that orienting operated on durable short-term representations for both age groups. The findings indicate that there are substantial developmental and individual differences in the ability to control attention to memory and that in turn these differences constrain visual short-term memory capacity. PMID:20680889

  18. Examining age-related differences in auditory attention control using a task-switching procedure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawo, Vera; Koch, Iring

    2014-03-01

    Using a novel task-switching variant of dichotic selective listening, we examined age-related differences in the ability to intentionally switch auditory attention between 2 speakers defined by their sex. In our task, young (M age = 23.2 years) and older adults (M age = 66.6 years) performed a numerical size categorization on spoken number words. The task-relevant speaker was indicated by a cue prior to auditory stimulus onset. The cuing interval was either short or long and varied randomly trial by trial. We found clear performance costs with instructed attention switches. These auditory attention switch costs decreased with prolonged cue-stimulus interval. Older adults were generally much slower (but not more error prone) than young adults, but switching-related effects did not differ across age groups. These data suggest that the ability to intentionally switch auditory attention in a selective listening task is not compromised in healthy aging. We discuss the role of modality-specific factors in age-related differences.

  19. The influence of psychological resilience on the relation between automatic stimulus evaluation and attentional breadth for surprised faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grol, Maud; De Raedt, Rudi

    2015-01-01

    The broaden-and-build theory relates positive emotions to resilience and cognitive broadening. The theory proposes that the broadening effects underly the relation between positive emotions and resilience, suggesting that resilient people can benefit more from positive emotions at the level of cognitive functioning. Research has investigated the influence of positive emotions on attentional broadening, but the stimulus in the target of attention may also influence attentional breadth, depending on affective stimulus evaluation. Surprised faces are particularly interesting as they are valence ambiguous, therefore, we investigated the relation between affective evaluation--using an affective priming task--and attentional breadth for surprised faces, and how this relation is influenced by resilience. Results show that more positive evaluations are related to more attentional broadening at high levels of resilience, while this relation is reversed at low levels. This indicates that resilient individuals can benefit more from attending to positively evaluated stimuli at the level of attentional broadening.

  20. Sex-related differences in attention and memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rima Solianik

    2016-01-01

    Conclusions: Current study showed no sex differences in the mean values of cognition, whereas higher intra-individual variability of short-term memory and attention switching was identified in women, indicating that their performance was lower on these cognitive abilities.

  1. The Role of Sustained Attention in the Production of Conjoined Noun Phrases: An Individual Differences Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jongman, Suzanne R; Meyer, Antje S; Roelofs, Ardi

    2015-01-01

    It has previously been shown that language production, performed simultaneously with a nonlinguistic task, involves sustained attention. Sustained attention concerns the ability to maintain alertness over time. Here, we aimed to replicate the previous finding by showing that individuals call upon sustained attention when they plan single noun phrases (e.g., "the carrot") and perform a manual arrow categorization task. In addition, we investigated whether speakers also recruit sustained attention when they produce conjoined noun phrases (e.g., "the carrot and the bucket") describing two pictures, that is, when both the first and second task are linguistic. We found that sustained attention correlated with the proportion of abnormally slow phrase-production responses. Individuals with poor sustained attention displayed a greater number of very slow responses than individuals with better sustained attention. Importantly, this relationship was obtained both for the production of single phrases while performing a nonlinguistic manual task, and the production of noun phrase conjunctions in referring to two spatially separated objects. Inhibition and updating abilities were also measured. These scores did not correlate with our measure of sustained attention, suggesting that sustained attention and executive control are distinct. Overall, the results suggest that planning conjoined noun phrases involves sustained attention, and that language production happens less automatically than has often been assumed.

  2. Right ventricular lipomatous mass and biventricular multifocal fat in a young woman: A case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Bo Rahm; Park, Jae Hyeong; Ahn, Kye Taek; Kim, Song Soo; Jeong, Jin Ok; Choi, Si Wan; Jin, Seon Ah; Lee, Jae Hwan

    2015-01-01

    Cardiac lipoma is a rare neoplasm of encapsulated mature adult adipose tissue. It is usually asymptomatic, but it may be related to hemodynamic obstruction depending on its location. We report a typical case of right ventricular lipomatous mass and multifocal fat infiltration of both ventricles, which were detected incidentally in a young woman.

  3. Individualism-collectivism and interpersonal memory guidance of attention

    OpenAIRE

    He, Xun; Sebanz, N.; Sui, J.; Humphreys, G. W.

    2014-01-01

    Recently it has been shown that the allocation of attention by a participant in a visual search task can be affected by memory items that have to be maintained by a co-actor, when similar tasks are jointly engaged by dyads (He, Lever, & Humphreys, 2011). In the present study we examined the contribution of individualism-collectivism to this ‘interpersonal memory guidance’ effect. Actors performed visual search while a preview image was either held by the critical participant, held by a co-act...

  4. Violence: heightened brain attentional network response is selectively muted in Down syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Jeffrey S; Treiman, Scott M; Ferguson, Michael A; Nielsen, Jared A; Edgin, Jamie O; Dai, Li; Gerig, Guido; Korenberg, Julie R

    2015-01-01

    The ability to recognize and respond appropriately to threat is critical to survival, and the neural substrates subserving attention to threat may be probed using depictions of media violence. Whether neural responses to potential threat differ in Down syndrome is not known. We performed functional MRI scans of 15 adolescent and adult Down syndrome and 14 typically developing individuals, group matched by age and gender, during 50 min of passive cartoon viewing. Brain activation to auditory and visual features, violence, and presence of the protagonist and antagonist were compared across cartoon segments. fMRI signal from the brain's dorsal attention network was compared to thematic and violent events within the cartoons between Down syndrome and control samples. We found that in typical development, the brain's dorsal attention network was most active during violent scenes in the cartoons and that this was significantly and specifically reduced in Down syndrome. When the antagonist was on screen, there was significantly less activation in the left medial temporal lobe of individuals with Down syndrome. As scenes represented greater relative threat, the disparity between attentional brain activation in Down syndrome and control individuals increased. There was a reduction in the temporal autocorrelation of the dorsal attention network, consistent with a shortened attention span in Down syndrome. Individuals with Down syndrome exhibited significantly reduced activation in primary sensory cortices, and such perceptual impairments may constrain their ability to respond to more complex social cues such as violence. These findings may indicate a relative deficit in emotive perception of violence in Down syndrome, possibly mediated by impaired sensory perception and hypoactivation of medial temporal structures in response to threats, with relative preservation of activity in pro-social brain regions. These findings indicate that specific genetic differences associated

  5. The influence of caffeine on spatial-selective attention: an event-related potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruijter, J; de Ruiter, M B; Snel, J; Lorist, M M

    2000-12-01

    Following the indications of previous studies that caffeine might have a specific effect on the processing of spatial information compared with other types of information, the present study investigated the influence of caffeine on an often used spatial-selective attention task. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 11 participants under conditions of caffeine (250 mg) and placebo. Spatial-selective attention effects were reflected in the ERPs as more positive going occipital P1 and broadly distributed P2 components, and more negative going occipital-temporal N1 and broadly distributed N2 components. A treatment effect was found as a more positive going frontal P2 component in the caffeine condition, whereas interactions between treatment and attention were observed for P2 and N2 components, but not for P1 and N1 components. This pattern of results suggests that caffeine has no specific influence on spatial-selective attention, but rather, has a more general facilitating effect on perceptual processing, as well as a possible effect on the frontal control mechanisms, i.e. focusing attention and increasing selectivity.

  6. Attentional fluctuations in preschoolers: Direct and indirect relations with task accuracy, academic readiness, and school performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isbell, Elif; Calkins, Susan D; Swingler, Margaret M; Leerkes, Esther M

    2018-03-01

    Attentional control fluctuates in the presence of internal and external distractors, wandering on and off a given task. The current study investigated individual differences in attentional fluctuations in 250 preschoolers. Attentional fluctuations were assessed via intra-individual variability in response time in a Go/No-Go task. Greater fluctuations in attentional control were linked to lower task accuracy. In addition, greater attentional fluctuations predicted lower performance in a task of cognitive flexibility, the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Attentional fluctuations were also associated with laboratory measures of academic readiness in preschool, as assessed by the Applied Problems and Letter-Word Identification subscales of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement, which in turn predicted teacher reports of academic performance in first grade. Attentional fluctuations also had indirect associations with emergent math skills in preschool, via cognitive flexibility, as well as indirect associations with first-grade teacher reports of academic performance, via the relations between cognitive flexibility and emergent math skills in preschool. These results suggest that consistency is an important aspect of attentional control during early childhood. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF MULTIFOCAL STOCHASTIC SCANNING SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LIXIN LIU

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Multifocal multiphoton microscopy (MMM has greatly improved the utilization of excitation light and imaging speed due to parallel multiphoton excitation of the samples and simultaneous detection of the signals, which allows it to perform three-dimensional fast fluorescence imaging. Stochastic scanning can provide continuous, uniform and high-speed excitation of the sample, which makes it a suitable scanning scheme for MMM. In this paper, the graphical programming language — LabVIEW is used to achieve stochastic scanning of the two-dimensional galvo scanners by using white noise signals to control the x and y mirrors independently. Moreover, the stochastic scanning process is simulated by using Monte Carlo method. Our results show that MMM can avoid oversampling or subsampling in the scanning area and meet the requirements of uniform sampling by stochastically scanning the individual units of the N × N foci array. Therefore, continuous and uniform scanning in the whole field of view is implemented.

  8. Multifocal bone and bone marrow lesions in children - MRI findings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Raissaki, Maria; Demetriou, Stelios; Spanakis, Konstantinos; Skiadas, Christos; Karantanas, Apostolos H. [University of Crete, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion, Crete (Greece); Katzilakis, Nikolaos; Stiakaki, Eftichia [University of Crete, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion, Crete (Greece); Velivassakis, Emmanouil G. [University Hospital of Heraklion, Orthopedic Clinic, Heraklion, Crete (Greece)

    2017-03-15

    Polyostotic bone and bone marrow lesions in children may be due to various disorders. Radiographically, lytic lesions may become apparent after loss of more than 50% of the bone mineral content. Scintigraphy requires osteoblastic activity and is not specific. MRI may significantly contribute to the correct diagnosis and management. Accurate interpretation of MRI examinations requires understanding of the normal conversion pattern of bone marrow in childhood and of the appearances of red marrow rests and hyperplasia. Differential diagnosis is wide: Malignancies include metastases, multifocal primary sarcomas and hematological diseases. Benign entities include benign tumors and tumor-like lesions, histiocytosis, infectious and inflammatory diseases, multiple stress fractures/reactions and bone infarcts/ischemia. (orig.)

  9. Frequency-specific attentional modulation in human primary auditory cortex and midbrain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Riecke, Lars; Peters, Judith C; Valente, Giancarlo; Poser, Benedikt A; Kemper, Valentin G; Formisano, Elia; Sorger, Bettina

    2018-01-01

    Paying selective attention to an audio frequency selectively enhances activity within primary auditory cortex (PAC) at the tonotopic site (frequency channel) representing that frequency. Animal PAC neurons achieve this 'frequency-specific attentional spotlight' by adapting their frequency tuning,

  10. Gender-Specificity of Initial and Controlled Visual Attention to Sexual Stimuli in Androphilic Women and Gynephilic Men.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samantha J Dawson

    Full Text Available Research across groups and methods consistently finds a gender difference in patterns of specificity of genital response; however, empirically supported mechanisms to explain this difference are lacking. The information-processing model of sexual arousal posits that automatic and controlled cognitive processes are requisite for the generation of sexual responses. Androphilic women's gender-nonspecific response patterns may be the result of sexually-relevant cues that are common to both preferred and nonpreferred genders capturing attention and initiating an automatic sexual response, whereas men's attentional system may be biased towards the detection and response to sexually-preferred cues only. In the present study, we used eye tracking to assess visual attention to sexually-preferred and nonpreferred cues in a sample of androphilic women and gynephilic men. Results support predictions from the information-processing model regarding gendered processing of sexual stimuli in men and women. Men's initial attention patterns were gender-specific, whereas women's were nonspecific. In contrast, both men and women exhibited gender-specific patterns of controlled attention, although this effect was stronger among men. Finally, measures of attention and self-reported attraction were positively related in both men and women. These findings are discussed in the context of the information-processing model and evolutionary mechanisms that may have evolved to promote gendered attentional systems.

  11. Gender-Specificity of Initial and Controlled Visual Attention to Sexual Stimuli in Androphilic Women and Gynephilic Men

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, Samantha J.; Chivers, Meredith L.

    2016-01-01

    Research across groups and methods consistently finds a gender difference in patterns of specificity of genital response; however, empirically supported mechanisms to explain this difference are lacking. The information-processing model of sexual arousal posits that automatic and controlled cognitive processes are requisite for the generation of sexual responses. Androphilic women’s gender-nonspecific response patterns may be the result of sexually-relevant cues that are common to both preferred and nonpreferred genders capturing attention and initiating an automatic sexual response, whereas men’s attentional system may be biased towards the detection and response to sexually-preferred cues only. In the present study, we used eye tracking to assess visual attention to sexually-preferred and nonpreferred cues in a sample of androphilic women and gynephilic men. Results support predictions from the information-processing model regarding gendered processing of sexual stimuli in men and women. Men’s initial attention patterns were gender-specific, whereas women’s were nonspecific. In contrast, both men and women exhibited gender-specific patterns of controlled attention, although this effect was stronger among men. Finally, measures of attention and self-reported attraction were positively related in both men and women. These findings are discussed in the context of the information-processing model and evolutionary mechanisms that may have evolved to promote gendered attentional systems. PMID:27088358

  12. Evaluation of refractive correction for standard automated perimetry in eyes wearing multifocal contact lenses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazunori Hirasawa

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To evaluate the refractive correction for standard automated perimetry (SAP in eyes with refractive multifocal contact lenses (CL in healthy young participants. METHODS: Twenty-nine eyes of 29 participants were included. Accommodation was paralyzed in all participants with 1% cyclopentolate hydrochloride. SAP was performed using the Humphrey SITA-standard 24-2 and 10-2 protocol under three refractive conditions: monofocal CL corrected for near distance (baseline; multifocal CL corrected for distance (mCL-D; and mCL-D corrected for near vision using a spectacle lens (mCL-N. Primary outcome measures were the foveal threshold, mean deviation (MD, and pattern standard deviation (PSD. RESULTS: The foveal threshold of mCL-N with both the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols significantly decreased by 2.2-2.5 dB CONCLUSION: Despite the induced mydriasis and the optical design of the multifocal lens used in this study, our results indicated that, when the dome-shaped visual field test is performed with eyes with large pupils and wearing refractive multifocal CLs, distance correction without additional near correction is to be recommended.

  13. Mechanisms of attentional selection bias for threatening emotions of anger and disgust in individuals with high-trait anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Luyao; Cui, Lixia; Zhang, Qin; Dong, Xiaofei; Shi, Guangyuan

    2018-03-07

    There are still some controversies that attentional bias to negative emotions in individuals with high-trait anxiety (HTA), as compare with those with low-trait anxiety (LTA), occurs in the engagement or disengagement facet of attentional selectivity and whether this attentional bias is affected by negative emotional types. In this study, we explored the different attentional selectivity mechanisms for threatening emotions of anger and disgust between individuals with HTA and LTA using the variant attentional-probe paradigm. The results showed that under the engagement condition, the HTA group's attentional bias index of the anger mood was negative and was significantly less than the disgusting mood (positive) and that the P1 was smaller with angry faces as compared with neutral faces, which was separate from the results of the disgusted faces, having a significant difference with neutral faces on P1 component. In the LTA group, under the disengagement condition, the attentional bias index of the disgusting mood was significantly bigger than the attentional bias index of the anger mood. Moreover, the P1 of the disgusted faces was significantly bigger than the P1 of the angry faces. The topographical maps were also made to reveal the different neural underpinnings. The results suggested that there were different mechanisms of selective attentional bias for threatening emotions of anger and disgust in individuals with HTA. HTA individuals were characterized by facilitated attentional engagement with angry faces and impaired attentional engagement with disgusted faces. LTA individuals had different neural underpinnings and had impaired attentional disengagement with disgusted faces.

  14. Evaluation of rotation and visual outcomes after implantation of monofocal and multifocal toric intraocular lenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garzón, Nuria; Poyales, Francisco; de Zárate, Begoña Ortíz; Ruiz-García, Jose Luis; Quiroga, Juan Antonio

    2015-02-01

    To evaluate rotational stability and its influence on postoperative visual acuity of different monofocal and multifocal toric intraocular lenses (IOLs). A prospective interventional study was designed. Ninety-one patients with a mean age of 71.65 ± 11.82 years were implanted with toric IOLs after phacoemulsification. Three monofocal toric IOLs (the Lentis LT [Oculentis, Berlin, Germany], enVista [Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY], and AcrySof IQ [Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Fort Worth, TX]) and one multifocal toric IOL (AcrySof IQ ReSTOR; Alcon Laboratories, Inc.) were implanted. Preoperative and postoperative images were taken to calculate the misalignment due to the marking method. To evaluate rotation in the different follow-up visits, another photograph was taken 1 hour and 1, 7 and 30 days postoperatively. Refraction, uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), and corrected distance visual acuity were measured 30 days postoperatively. Postoperative UDVA was 0.1 logMAR or better in 64.6% of eyes implanted with monofocal IOLs and 46.4% of eyes implanted with multifocal IOLs. The enVista toric IOL showed the best UDVA compared to the other monofocal IOLs, with 81% of eyes with 0.1 logMAR or better. The mean misalignment in the total group studied was 0.07° ± 0.60°; 69.6% of monofocal IOLs and 67.9% of multifocal IOLs showed less than 5° of rotation. A correlation was found between postoperative UDVA and rotation in the monofocal and multifocal IOLs implanted (r = 0.439 [P < .011] and = 0.787 [P = .001], respectively). At 1 month postoperatively, UDVA was slightly more affected by IOL rotation in multifocal than monofocal toric IOLs. The marking method was also effective. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

  15. Phonological Memory, Attention Control, and Musical Ability: Effects of Individual Differences on Rater Judgments of Second Language Speech

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaacs, Talia; Trofimovich, Pavel

    2011-01-01

    This study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners' phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were…

  16. Distant supervision for neural relation extraction integrated with word attention and property features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qu, Jianfeng; Ouyang, Dantong; Hua, Wen; Ye, Yuxin; Li, Ximing

    2018-04-01

    Distant supervision for neural relation extraction is an efficient approach to extracting massive relations with reference to plain texts. However, the existing neural methods fail to capture the critical words in sentence encoding and meanwhile lack useful sentence information for some positive training instances. To address the above issues, we propose a novel neural relation extraction model. First, we develop a word-level attention mechanism to distinguish the importance of each individual word in a sentence, increasing the attention weights for those critical words. Second, we investigate the semantic information from word embeddings of target entities, which can be developed as a supplementary feature for the extractor. Experimental results show that our model outperforms previous state-of-the-art baselines. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Influence of attention alternation on movement-related cortical potentials in healthy individuals and stroke patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aliakbaryhosseinabadi, Susan; Kostic, Vladimir; Pavlovic, Aleksandra

    2017-01-01

    Objective In this study, we analyzed the influence of artificially imposed attention variations using the auditory oddball paradigm on the cortical activity associated to motor preparation/execution. Methods EEG signals from Cz and its surrounding channels were recorded during three sets of ankle...... and accuracy deteriorated with attention diversion. Conclusion Attention diversion has a significant influence on MRCP features and detection parameters, although these changes were counteracted by the application of the laplacian method. Significance Brain–computer interfaces for neuromodulation that use...... the MRCP as the control signal are robust to changes in attention. However, attention must be monitored since it plays a key role in plasticity induction. Here we demonstrate that this can be achieved using the single channel Cz....

  18. Body image concern and selective attention to disgusting and non-self appearance-related stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Onden-Lim, Melissa; Wu, Ray; Grisham, Jessica R

    2012-09-01

    Although selective attention to one's own appearance has been widely documented in studies of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), little is known about attentional bias toward non-self appearance-related stimuli in BDD. Furthermore, despite reports of heightened experience of disgust in BDD, it is unknown whether these individuals differentially attend to disgusting stimuli and whether disgust is important in processing of unattractive stimuli. We used a dot probe procedure to investigate the relationship between dysmorphic concern, a defining feature of BDD, and selective attention to faces, attractive, unattractive and disgusting images in a female heterosexual student population (N=92). At the long stimulus presentation (1000 ms), dysmorphic concern was positively associated with attention to faces in general and attractive appearance-related images. In contrast, at the short stimulus presentation (200 ms), there was a positive association between dysmorphic concern and disgusting images. Implications for theoretical models of BDD are discussed. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  19. Specificity and generalization of attentional bias in sexual trauma victims suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fleurkens, P.F.T.; Rinck, M.; Minnen, A. van

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated specificity of attentional biases for trauma-related stimuli using an Emotional Stroop Task. Participants were 14 women suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who had experienced a sexual trauma and 24 healthy non-traumatized women. They were asked to name

  20. The Effects of Hashimoto Thyroiditis on Lymph Node Metastases in Unifocal and Multifocal Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Retrospective Chinese Cohort Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Feng; Shen, Yi Bin; Li, Fu Qiang; Fang, Yun; Hu, Liang; Wu, Yi Jun

    2016-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors for central and lateral neck lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma (MPTC), particularly when associated with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT).A retrospective analysis of 763 consecutive patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with bilateral central neck dissection in the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University between October 2011 and October 2014 was conducted. All patients had formal histological diagnoses of HT. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors of neck lymph node metastases.Our study identified 277 PTC patients with HT and showed comparatively low rates of central lymph node metastases (CLNM) compared with the PTC patients without HT (37.2% versus 54.7%, P thyroid peroxidase antibody >140 IU/mL was established as the most sensitive and specific level for the prediction of MPTC based on receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. Thyroid peroxidase antibody, age, tumor size, and multifocality exhibited the ability to predict CLNM in PTC with HT patients with an area under the curve of 81.1% based on a multivariate model.Hashimoto thyroiditis was associated with increased prevalences of multifocality and capsular invasion. In contrast, HT was associated with a reduced risk of CLNM in PTC and MPTC patients, which indicated a potential protective effect. We found that the prognostic prediction model was applicable for predicting multifocality and CLNM in PTC patients with HT.

  1. Validity of automated refraction after segmented refractive multifocal intraocular lens implantation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albarrán-Diego, César; Muñoz, Gonzalo; Rohrweck, Stephanie; García-Lázaro, Santiago; Albero, José Ricardo

    2017-01-01

    To evaluate the clinical utility of automated refraction (AR) and keratometry (KR) compared with subjective or manifest refraction (MR) after cataract or refractive lens exchange surgery with implantation of Lentis Mplus X (Oculentis GmbH) refractive multifocal intraocular lens (IOL). Eighty-six eyes implanted with the Lentis Mplus X multifocal IOL were included. MR was performed in all patients followed by three consecutive AR measurements using the Topcon KR-8000 autorefractor. Assessment of repeatability of consecutive AR before and after dilation with phenylephrine 10%, and comparison of the AR and KR with MR using vector analysis were performed at 3mo follow-up. Analysis showed excellent repeatability of the AR measurements. Linear regression of AR versus MR showed good correlation for sphere and spherical equivalent, whereas the correlation for astigmatism was low. The mean difference AR-MR was -1.28±0.29 diopters (D) for sphere. Astigmatism showed better correlation between KR and MR. We suggest AR sphere plus 1.25 D and the KR cylinder as the starting point for MR in eyes with a Lentis Mplus X multifocal IOL. If AR measurements are equal to MR, decentration of the IOL should be suspected.

  2. Neural mechanisms underlying ecstasy-related attentional bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Gloria M P; Garavan, Hugh

    2013-08-30

    Conditioned responses to cues associated with drug taking play a pivotal role in a number of theories of drug addiction. This study examined whether attentional biases towards drug-related cues exist in recreational drug users who predominantly used ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine). Experiment 1 compared 30 ecstasy users, 25 cannabis users, and 30 controls in an attentional distraction task in which neutral, evocative, and ecstasy-related pictures were presented within a coloured border, requiring participants to respond as quickly as possible to the border colour. Experiment 2 employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the attentional distraction task and tested 20 ecstasy users and 20 controls. Experiment 1 revealed significant response speed interference by the ecstasy-related pictures in the ecstasy users only. Experiment 2 revealed increased prefrontal and occipital activity in ecstasy users in all conditions. Activations in response to the ecstasy stimuli in these regions showed an apparent antagonism whereby ecstasy users, relative to controls, showed increased occipital but decreased right prefrontal activation. These results are interpreted to reflect increased visual processing of, and decreased prefrontal control over, the irrelevant but salient ecstasy-related stimuli. These results suggest that right inferior frontal cortex may play an important role in controlling drug-related attentional biases and may thus play an important role in mediating control over drug usage. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. An individual differences approach to multiple-target visual search errors: How search errors relate to different characteristics of attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamo, Stephen H; Cain, Matthew S; Mitroff, Stephen R

    2017-12-01

    A persistent problem in visual search is that searchers are more likely to miss a target if they have already found another in the same display. This phenomenon, the Subsequent Search Miss (SSM) effect, has remained despite being a known issue for decades. Increasingly, evidence supports a resource depletion account of SSM errors-a previously detected target consumes attentional resources leaving fewer resources available for the processing of a second target. However, "attention" is broadly defined and is composed of many different characteristics, leaving considerable uncertainty about how attention affects second-target detection. The goal of the current study was to identify which attentional characteristics (i.e., selection, limited capacity, modulation, and vigilance) related to second-target misses. The current study compared second-target misses to an attentional blink task and a vigilance task, which both have established measures that were used to operationally define each of four attentional characteristics. Second-target misses in the multiple-target search were correlated with (1) a measure of the time it took for the second target to recovery from the blink in the attentional blink task (i.e., modulation), and (2) target sensitivity (d') in the vigilance task (i.e., vigilance). Participants with longer recovery and poorer vigilance had more second-target misses in the multiple-target visual search task. The results add further support to a resource depletion account of SSM errors and highlight that worse modulation and poor vigilance reflect a deficit in attentional resources that can account for SSM errors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Multifocal peritoneal splenosis in Tc-99m-labeled heat-denatured red blood cell scintigraphy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoon, Min Ki; Hwang, Kyung Hoon; Choe, Won Sick [Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon (Korea, Republic of)

    2006-06-15

    A 44-year-old man with a past medical history of splenectomy came to hospital because of epigastric pain abdominopelvic computed tomography(CT) showed a soft tissue mass and multifocal variable-sized nodules as well as finding suggestive of cholecystitis. Subsequently, he underwent Tc-99m-labeled heat- denatured red blood cell(RBC) scintigraphy to evaluate the mass and nodules. The scintigraphy confirmed multifocal peritoneal splenosis in the abdominopelvic cavity.

  5. Can(not) take my eyes off it: attention bias for food in overweight participants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werthmann, Jessica; Roefs, Anne; Nederkoorn, Chantal; Mogg, Karin; Bradley, Brendan P; Jansen, Anita

    2011-09-01

    The aim of the current study was to investigate attention biases for food cues, craving, and overeating in overweight and healthy-weight participants. Specifically, it was tested whether attention allocation processes toward high-fat foods differ between overweight and normal weight individuals and whether selective attention biases for food cues are related to craving and food intake. Eye movements were recorded as a direct index of attention allocation in a sample of 22 overweight/obese and 29 healthy-weight female students during a visual probe task with food pictures. In addition, self-reported craving and actual food intake during a bogus "taste-test" were assessed. Overweight participants showed an approach-avoidance pattern of attention allocation toward high-fat food. Overweight participants directed their first gaze more often toward food pictures than healthy-weight individuals, but subsequently showed reduced maintenance of attention on these pictures. For overweight participants, craving was related to initial orientation toward food. Moreover, overweight participants consumed significantly more snack food than healthy-weight participants. Results emphasize the importance of identifying different attention bias components in overweight individuals with regard to craving and subsequent overeating.

  6. The brain triuno and the ethical intelligence: fundamental counterfoil of the multifocal intelligence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Seijo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This study has for aim offer an analysis as for the brain triuno and the ethical intelligence: fundamental Counterfoil of the multifocal intelligence, taking in tells one of the theories that it sustains her like they are the different types of multiple intelligences established by Beauport and Cury (2004. The theoretical sustenance, it is based on the contents of Martin (2005, Belohlavek (2007, Galicians (2002, Beauport and Cury (2004, between others, being realized under a symbolic interpretive approach, across a qualitative methodology, type descriptive and not experimental design, by means of a documentary analysis. In this regard, it is found that the ethical intelligence is a mental mechanism that constructs the structural preconceptos and the rules of game with which an individual approaches the reality, that is to say, it is the capacity of the general formation, predicting the behavior for the achievement of aims organizacionales. As for the final considerations they focused in obtaining the most wide knowledge inside the organizations, allowing to reflect before the weaknesses that they present thinking about the brain triuno applying the multifocal intelligence, fundamental counterfoil of the ethical intelligence and of what way the rationing visualizes the strengths, nevertheless of the weaknesses that they present. 

  7. Phasic alerting increases visual attention capacity in younger but not in older individuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wiegand, Iris Michaela; Petersen, Anders; Bundesen, Claus

    2017-01-01

    In the present study, we investigated effects of phasic alerting on visual attention in younger and older adults. We modelled parameters of visual attention based on the computational Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) and measured event-related lateralizations (ERLs) in a partial report task, in w...... and attention, which governs the responsiveness to external cues and is critical for general cognitive functioning in aging.......In the present study, we investigated effects of phasic alerting on visual attention in younger and older adults. We modelled parameters of visual attention based on the computational Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) and measured event-related lateralizations (ERLs) in a partial report task...

  8. Automatic Mechanisms for Social Attention Are Culturally Penetrable.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Adam S; Sasaki, Joni Y; German, Tamsin C; Kim, Heejung S

    2017-01-01

    Are mechanisms for social attention influenced by culture? Evidence that social attention is triggered automatically by bottom-up gaze cues and is uninfluenced by top-down verbal instructions may suggest it operates in the same way everywhere. Yet considerations from evolutionary and cultural psychology suggest that specific aspects of one's cultural background may have consequence for the way mechanisms for social attention develop and operate. In more interdependent cultures, the scope of social attention may be broader, focusing on more individuals and relations between those individuals. We administered a multi-gaze cueing task requiring participants to fixate a foreground face flanked by background faces and measured shifts in attention using eye tracking. For European Americans, gaze cueing did not depend on the direction of background gaze cues, suggesting foreground gaze alone drives automatic attention shifting; for East Asians, cueing patterns differed depending on whether the foreground cue matched or mismatched background cues, suggesting foreground and background gaze information were integrated. These results demonstrate that cultural background influences the social attention system by shifting it into a narrow or broad mode of operation and, importantly, provides evidence challenging the assumption that mechanisms underlying automatic social attention are necessarily rigid and impenetrable to culture. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  9. Delinquency, aggression, and attention-related problem behaviors differentially predict adolescent substance use in individuals diagnosed with ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harty, Seth C; Galanopoulos, Stavroula; Newcorn, Jeffrey H; Halperin, Jeffrey M

    2013-01-01

    To measure the degree to which childhood and adolescent ratings of aggression, attention, and delinquency are related to adolescent substance use outcomes in youth diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Childhood externalizing disorders have been shown to predict adolescent maladaptive substance use, but few studies have examined the differential predictive utility of two distinct dimensions of externalizing behavior: aggression and delinquency. Ninety-seven clinically referred children with ADHD initially took part in this research protocol when they were on average 9.05 years of age, and were seen again on average 9.30 years later. Participants' parents were administered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at baseline and follow-up, and youth completed the Youth Self Report (YSR) in adolescence. At follow-up, substance use severity and diagnosis were assessed using semi-structured psychiatric interviews administered separately to parents and adolescents. Linear and binary logistic regressions were used to determine the association of CBCL- and YSR-rated attention problems, aggression, and delinquency to adolescent substance use. Childhood and adolescent delinquency, but not aggression, as rated by parents and youths, predicted adolescent substance use disorders and substance use severity (all p delinquency and aggression with adolescent substance use, ratings of attention problems in childhood and adolescence were negatively associated with substance use outcome. Children with ADHD who exhibit high rates of delinquency are at risk for later substance use and may require targeted prevention, intervention, and follow-up services. Copyright © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

  10. Determining the origin of synchronous multifocal bladder cancer by exome sequencing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acar, Ömer; Özkurt, Ezgi; Demir, Gulfem; Saraç, Hilal; Alkan, Can; Esen, Tarık; Somel, Mehmet; Lack, Nathan A.

    2015-01-01

    Synchronous multifocal tumours are commonly observed in urothelial carcinomas of the bladder. The origin of these physically independent tumours has been proposed to occur by either intraluminal migration (clonal) or spontaneous transformation of multiple cells by carcinogens (field effect). It is unclear which model is correct, with several studies supporting both hypotheses. A potential cause of this uncertainty may be the small number of genetic mutations previously used to quantify the relationship between these tumours. To better understand the genetic lineage of these tumours we conducted exome sequencing of synchronous multifocal pTa urothelial bladder cancers at a high depth, using multiple samples from three patients. Phylogenetic analysis of high confidence single nucleotide variants (SNV) demonstrated that the sequenced multifocal bladder cancers arose from a clonal origin in all three patients (bootstrap value 100 %). Interestingly, in two patients the most common type of tumour-associated SNVs were cytosine mutations of TpC* dinucleotides (Fisher’s exact test p < 10 −41 ), likely caused by APOBEC-mediated deamination. Incorporating these results into our clonal model, we found that TpC* type mutations occurred 2-5× more often among SNVs on the ancestral branches than in the more recent private branches (p < 10 −4 ) suggesting that TpC* mutations largely occurred early in the development of the tumour. These results demonstrate that synchronous multifocal bladder cancers frequently arise from a clonal origin. Our data also suggests that APOBEC-mediated mutations occur early in the development of the tumour and may be a driver of tumourigenesis in non-muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancer. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1859-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

  11. Attention bias in earthquake-exposed survivors: an event-related potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yan; Kong, Fanchang; Han, Li; Najam Ul Hasan, Abbasi; Chen, Hong

    2014-12-01

    The Chinese Wenchuan earthquake, which happened on the 28th of May in 2008, may leave deep invisible scars in individuals. China has a large number of children and adolescents, who tend to be most vulnerable because they are in an early stage of human development and possible post-traumatic psychological distress may have a life-long consequence. Trauma survivors without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have received little attention in previous studies, especially in event-related potential (ERP) studies. We compared the attention bias to threat stimuli between the earthquake-exposed group and the control group in a masked version of the dot probe task. The target probe presented at the same space location consistent with earthquake-related words was the congruent trial, while in the space location of neutral words was the incongruent trial. Thirteen earthquake-exposed middle school students without PTSD and 13 matched controls were included in this investigation. The earthquake-exposed group showed significantly faster RTs to congruent trials than to incongruent trials. The earthquake-exposed group produced significantly shorter C1 and P1 latencies and larger C1, P1 and P2 amplitudes than the control group. In particular, enhanced P1 amplitude to threat stimuli was observed in the earthquake-exposed group. These findings are in agreement with the prediction that earthquake-exposed survivors have an attention bias to threat stimuli. The traumatic event had a much greater effect on earthquake-exposed survivors even if they showed no PTSD symptoms than individuals in the controls. These results will provide neurobiological evidences for effective intervention and prevention to post-traumatic mental problems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Offenders with antisocial personality disorder show attentional bias for violence-related stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domes, Gregor; Mense, Julia; Vohs, Knut; Habermeyer, Elmar

    2013-08-30

    Offenders with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) may be characterized by a lack in emotional functioning that manifests in irritability and a lack of remorse. The proposed link between ASPD and negative emotionality led to the question of emotional processing anomalies in ASPD. Furthermore, the effect of childhood maltreatment/abuse on emotional processing was tested in the present study. Violent and sexual offenders with ASPD (n=35), without ASPD (n=34), and healthy non-criminal controls (n=24) were compared in an Emotional Stroop Task (EST) using neutral, negative, and violence-related words. Secondary analyses focused on the effect of psychopathic traits and childhood maltreatment. Offenders with ASPD showed a stronger attentional bias to violence-related and negative words as compared to controls. Comparable results were obtained when grouping offenders to high, medium, and low psychopathic subgroups. Offenders with childhood maltreatment specifically showed stronger violence-related attentional bias than non-maltreated offenders. The data suggest that enhanced attention to violence-related stimuli in adult criminal offenders is associated with adverse developmental experiences and delinquency but to a lesser extent with antisocial or psychopathic traits. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Unusually high incidence of multifocal epithelial hyperplasia in children of the Nahuatl population of Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ledesma-Montes, Constantino; Mendez-Mendoza, Amilcar

    2017-01-01

    Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia is an uncommon disease of the oral mucosa caused by the human papilloma virus. To study the clinical and pathological findings of multifocal epithelial hyperplasia detected during an oral examination of 343 Mexican Nahuatl children from a single primary school in El Paso de Cupilco, Mexico. A thorough oral examination was performed in all children and clinical data (age, gender, location and number of lesions) were documented and analyzed. Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia was diagnosed in 110 of the 343 children (32.3%). The ages of the children varied from 5 to 15 years, and of these, 56.3% were girls. The lesions were asymptomatic, 0.2 to 3.0 cm in diameter, soft, round to oval, smooth surfaced, sessile papulonodules, similar in colour to that of the surrounding mucosa. The lesions were commonly seen on the buccal mucosa and tongue, and most affected children (85%) had less than 5 lesions. Children in the 7 to 10 years age group were most often affected. Human papillomavirus typing was not done owing to a lack of facilities. There is a high incidence of multifocal epithelial hyperplasia in Nahuatl children with a predilection for females.

  14. Basic characterization of normal multifocal electroretinogram

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandez Cherkasova, Lilia; Rojas Rondon, Irene; Castro Perez, Pedro Daniel; Lopez Felipe, Daniel; Santiesteban Freixas, Rosaralis; Mendoza Santiesteban, Carlos E

    2008-01-01

    A scientific literature review was made on the novel multifocal electroretinogram technique, the involved cell mechanisms and some of the factors modifying its results together with the form of presentation. The basic characteristics of this electrophysiological record obtained from several regions of the retina of normal subjects is important in order to create at a small scale a comparative database to evaluate pathological eye tracing. All this will greatly help in early less invasive electrodiagnosis of localized retinal lesions. (Author)

  15. Visual attentional engagement deficits in children with specific language impairment and their role in real-time language processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dispaldro, Marco; Leonard, Laurence B; Corradi, Nicola; Ruffino, Milena; Bronte, Tiziana; Facoetti, Andrea

    2013-09-01

    In order to become a proficient user of language, infants must detect temporal cues embedded within the noisy acoustic spectra of ongoing speech by efficient attentional engagement. According to the neuro-constructivist approach, a multi-sensory dysfunction of attentional engagement - hampering the temporal sampling of stimuli - might be responsible for language deficits typically shown in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). In the present study, the efficiency of visual attentional engagement was investigated in 22 children with SLI and 22 typically developing (TD) children by measuring attentional masking (AM). AM refers to impaired identification of the first of two sequentially presented masked objects (O1 and O2) in which the O1-O2 interval was manipulated. Lexical and grammatical comprehension abilities were also tested in both groups. Children with SLI showed a sluggish engagement of temporal attention, and individual differences in AM accounted for a significant percentage of unique variance in grammatical performance. Our results suggest that an attentional engagement deficit - probably linked to a dysfunction of the right fronto-parietal attentional network - might be a contributing factor in these children's language impairments. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Optical implementation of multifocal programmable lens with single and multiple axes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Romero, Lenny A; Millan, Maria S; Perez-Cabre, Elisabet, E-mail: lenny.alexandra.romero@upc.edu [Optics and Optometry Dep. Technical University of Catalonia Violinista Vellsola 37, 08222 Terrassa (Spain)

    2011-01-01

    In this work we analyse the generation of a diffractive optical element (DOE) consisting of a multifocal Fresnel lens by means of an LCoS (liquid cristal on silicon) spatial light modulator (SLM). The multifocal lens is composed of a set of lenses of different focal length that share a common optical axis (coaxial combination) or have different axes in parallel (multi-axis combination). For both configurations, we present several ways to combine the phase distributions for three lenses with different focal lengths (f1, f2, f3), into a single-phase distribution addressed to the SLM. Numerical simulations were carried out along with the experimental analysis to corroborate the results.

  17. Gender-specific effects of prenatal and adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke on auditory and visual attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobsen, Leslie K; Slotkin, Theodore A; Mencl, W Einar; Frost, Stephen J; Pugh, Kenneth R

    2007-12-01

    Prenatal exposure to active maternal tobacco smoking elevates risk of cognitive and auditory processing deficits, and of smoking in offspring. Recent preclinical work has demonstrated a sex-specific pattern of reduction in cortical cholinergic markers following prenatal, adolescent, or combined prenatal and adolescent exposure to nicotine, the primary psychoactive component of tobacco smoke. Given the importance of cortical cholinergic neurotransmission to attentional function, we examined auditory and visual selective and divided attention in 181 male and female adolescent smokers and nonsmokers with and without prenatal exposure to maternal smoking. Groups did not differ in age, educational attainment, symptoms of inattention, or years of parent education. A subset of 63 subjects also underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an auditory and visual selective and divided attention task. Among females, exposure to tobacco smoke during prenatal or adolescent development was associated with reductions in auditory and visual attention performance accuracy that were greatest in female smokers with prenatal exposure (combined exposure). Among males, combined exposure was associated with marked deficits in auditory attention, suggesting greater vulnerability of neurocircuitry supporting auditory attention to insult stemming from developmental exposure to tobacco smoke in males. Activation of brain regions that support auditory attention was greater in adolescents with prenatal or adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke relative to adolescents with neither prenatal nor adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke. These findings extend earlier preclinical work and suggest that, in humans, prenatal and adolescent exposure to nicotine exerts gender-specific deleterious effects on auditory and visual attention, with concomitant alterations in the efficiency of neurocircuitry supporting auditory attention.

  18. Multifocal demyelinating motor neuropathy and hamartoma syndrome associated with a de novo PTEN mutation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bansagi, Boglarka; Phan, Vietxuan; Baker, Mark R; O'Sullivan, Julia; Jennings, Matthew J; Whittaker, Roger G; Müller, Juliane S; Duff, Jennifer; Griffin, Helen; Miller, James A L; Gorman, Grainne S; Lochmüller, Hanns; Chinnery, Patrick F; Roos, Andreas; Swan, Laura E; Horvath, Rita

    2018-05-22

    To describe a patient with a multifocal demyelinating motor neuropathy with onset in childhood and a mutation in phosphatase and tensin homolog ( PTEN ), a tumor suppressor gene associated with inherited tumor susceptibility conditions, macrocephaly, autism, ataxia, tremor, and epilepsy. Functional implications of this protein have been investigated in Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases. We performed whole-exome sequencing in the patient's genomic DNA validated by Sanger sequencing. Immunoblotting, in vitro enzymatic assay, and label-free shotgun proteomic profiling were performed in the patient's fibroblasts. The predominant clinical presentation of the patient was a childhood onset, asymmetric progressive multifocal motor neuropathy. In addition, he presented with macrocephaly, autism spectrum disorder, and skin hamartomas, considered as clinical criteria for PTEN-related hamartoma tumor syndrome. Extensive tumor screening did not detect any malignancies. We detected a novel de novo heterozygous c.269T>C, p.(Phe90Ser) PTEN variant, which was absent in both parents. The pathogenicity of the variant is supported by altered expression of several PTEN-associated proteins involved in tumorigenesis. Moreover, fibroblasts showed a defect in catalytic activity of PTEN against the secondary substrate, phosphatidylinositol 3,4-trisphosphate. In support of our findings, focal hypermyelination leading to peripheral neuropathy has been reported in PTEN-deficient mice. We describe a novel phenotype, PTEN-associated multifocal demyelinating motor neuropathy with a skin hamartoma syndrome. A similar mechanism may potentially underlie other forms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease with involvement of the phosphatidylinositol pathway. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

  19. Clinical and patient-reported outcomes of bilateral implantation of a +2.5 diopter multifocal intraocular lens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maxwell, Andrew; Holland, Edward; Cibik, Lisa; Fakadej, Anna; Foster, Gary; Grosinger, Les; Moyes, Andrew; Nielsen, Stephen; Silverstein, Steven; Toyos, Melissa; Weinstein, Arthur; Hartzell, Scott

    2017-01-01

    To assess the effectiveness and safety of a multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) with +2.5 diopter (D) additional power compared with a monofocal IOL. Fifteen sites in the United States. Prospective randomized patient- and observer-masked clinical trial. Randomized patients received multifocal or monofocal IOLs bilaterally. Visual acuity (33 cm, 40 cm, 53 cm, 60 cm, 4 m) was measured; safety was assessed through adverse event rates. Patient-reported visual outcomes were evaluated using the Visual Tasks questionnaire. The frequency and severity of visual disturbances were evaluated using the Assessment of Photic Phenomena and Lens EffectS questionnaire. The multifocal IOL (n = 155) provided better corrected distance visual acuity at 53 cm than the monofocal IOL (n = 165) (0.322 versus 0.512 logMAR; between-group difference, -0.190 logMAR; P < .0001) and 40 cm but not at 4 m. Ocular adverse event rates were less than 3.84% in both groups. Serious adverse event rates were comparable between the 2 IOL types. Patients with multifocal IOLs reported less difficulty with near tasks (with and without correction) and intermediate tasks (without correction). Difficulty with extended-intermediate and distance tasks was similar between groups. The most frequently reported self-rated severe phenomena were halos, starbursts, and glare. Most patients (monofocal ≥72%; multifocal ≥73%) reported never experiencing blurred, distorted, or double vision. The +2.5 D multifocal IOL provided better vision at 40 cm and 53 cm and similar vision at 4 m compared with the monofocal IOL. Safety profiles and visual phenomena were comparable between groups. Copyright © 2017 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Computer-Mediated Communication Preferences and Individual Differences in Neurocognitive Measures of Emotional Attention Capture, Reactivity and Regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babkirk, Sarah; Luehring-Jones, Peter; Dennis, Tracy A.

    2016-01-01

    The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to engage socially has become increasingly prevalent, yet few studies examined individual differences that may shed light on implications of CMC for adjustment. The current study examined neurocognitive individual differences associated with preferences to use technology in relation to social-emotional outcomes. In Study 1 (N =91), a self-report measure, the Social Media Communication Questionnaire (SMCQ), was evaluated as an assessment of preferences for communicating positive and negative emotions on a scale ranging from purely via CMC to purely face-to-face. In Study 2, SMCQ preferences were examined in relation to event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with early emotional attention capture and reactivity (the frontal N1) and later sustained emotional processing and regulation [the late positive potential (LPP)]. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded while 22 participants passively viewed emotional and neutral pictures and completed an emotion regulation task with instructions to increase, decrease or maintain their emotional responses. A greater preference for CMC was associated with reduced size of and satisfaction with social support, greater early (N1) attention capture by emotional stimuli, and reduced LPP amplitudes to unpleasant stimuli in the increase emotion regulatory task. These findings are discussed in the context of possible emotion- and social-regulatory functions of CMC. PMID:26613269

  1. A Rare Multifocal Pattern of Type 2 Autoimmune Pancreatitis with Negative IgG4: A Potential Diagnostic Pitfall That May Mimic Multifocal Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Partha Hota

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP is an increasingly recognized form of acute pancreatitis characterized by obstructive jaundice with a rapid and dramatic treatment response to steroid therapy. Recently, AIP has been divided into two distinct phenotypes: lymphoplasmocytic sclerosing pancreatitis AIP (type 1 and idiopathic duct-centric pancreatitis AIP (type 2; each of which have their own distinct demographics, diagnostic criteria, and histopathological features. We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of a multifocal pattern of type 2 AIP characterized with both CT and MR imaging. This rare imaging pattern of AIP may mimic the appearance of more worrisome malignant etiologies such as multifocal pancreatic adenocarcinoma or lymphoma, with overlapping imaging characteristics potentially complicating or delaying diagnosis. Therefore, recognition of this atypical pattern of AIP and avoidance of this potential diagnostic pitfall is crucial.

  2. Multifocal Langerhans cell sarcoma involving epidermis: a case report and review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Changsong

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Objective To study the clinico-pathological characteristics of Langerhans cell sarcoma (LCS which involving epidermis. Methods A case of primary multifocal LCS was analyzed in histopathology and immunophenotype. Results A 41-year-old man with multifocal cutaneous LCS involving the inguina and waist was reported. Clinical and pathology data were available. Neoplastic cells with markedly malignant cytological features were observed. Tumor cells exhibited irregular shape with abundant and eosinophilic red staining cytoplasm; large, irregular-shaped, showing lobulated or dented nucleus and some cells with a longitudinal nuclear groove and prominent nucleoli. The tumor cells expressed CD1a, Langerin (CD207, S-100 protein, CD68 and vimentin, and did not express pan-T or B cell markers and epithelial markers. The patient died less than 1 year after diagnosis due to local recurrence and metastasis to the lung, despite the administration of local radiation and chemotherapy. Conclusions LCS is a tumor with markedly malignant cytological features that originates from Langerhans cells. Primary multifocal neoplasms involving epidermis is even rare. Accurate diagnosis is based on the histopathological and immunohistochemical of the tumor cells. Virtual slide The virtual slide(s for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1182345104754765.

  3. Validity of automated refraction after segmented refractive multifocal intraocular lens implantation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    César Albarrán-Diego

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To evaluate the clinical utility of automated refraction (AR and keratometry (KR compared with subjective or manifest refraction (MR after cataract or refractive lens exchange surgery with implantation of Lentis Mplus X (Oculentis GmbH refractive multifocal intraocular lens (IOL. METHODS: Eighty-six eyes implanted with the Lentis Mplus X multifocal IOL were included. MR was performed in all patients followed by three consecutive AR measurements using the Topcon KR-8000 autorefractor. Assessment of repeatability of consecutive AR before and after dilation with phenylephrine 10%, and comparison of the AR and KR with MR using vector analysis were performed at 3mo follow-up. RESULTS: Analysis showed excellent repeatability of the AR measurements. Linear regression of AR versus MR showed good correlation for sphere and spherical equivalent, whereas the correlation for astigmatism was low. The mean difference AR-MR was -1.28±0.29 diopters (D for sphere. Astigmatism showed better correlation between KR and MR. CONCLUSION: We suggest AR sphere plus 1.25 D and the KR cylinder as the starting point for MR in eyes with a Lentis Mplus X multifocal IOL. If AR measurements are equal to MR, decentration of the IOL should be suspected.

  4. Indocyanine Green Angiographic and Multifocal Electroretinographic Features in the Diffuse and Regional Form of Bietti′s Crystalline Retinopathy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Libin Jiang; Feng Wen; Lezheng Wu; Hong Yan; Shixing Hu

    2002-01-01

    Prpose: To observe different features of indocyanine green angiography(ICGA) andtifocal electroretinography (ERG) in the diffuse and regional type of Bieti′sc stalline retinopathy (BCR). Thods: ICGA and the multifocal ERG were performed in two cases of the diffuse andregional type of BCR respectively. These data were compared with fluoresceinangiography (FA), standard Ganzfeld ERG, and visual field testing. Results: In the regional case, ICGA revealed reduced perfusion of the choroidalcirculation in the early phase and multiple hypofluorescent spots in the posterior pole in the late phase, due to choriocapillaris filling defect; the extent of choroiocapillaris losswas shown in early phase of ICGA and there were multifocal hyperfluorescent dotssurrounding hypofluorescent spots in late phase in the diffuse case. The multifocal ERGshowed that the central responses were markedly depressed, corresponding to the visualfield defects, while the findings of Ganzfeld ERG were normal in the regional BCR;however, both the multifocal ERG and Ganzfeld ERG were severely subnormal in thediffuse case.Conclusions: The features of ICGA and multifocal ERG are different between the diffuseand regional BCR. In the meantime, the two tools are also useful to differentiate the typeand assess the extentof evolution in BCR.

  5. Event-related potentials during visual selective attention in children of alcoholics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Stelt, O; Gunning, W B; Snel, J; Kok, A

    1998-12-01

    Event-related potentials were recorded from 7- to 18-year-old children of alcoholics (COAs, n = 50) and age- and sex-matched control children (n = 50) while they performed a visual selective attention task. The task was to attend selectively to stimuli with a specified color (red or blue) in an attempt to detect the occurrence of target stimuli. COAs manifested a smaller P3b amplitude to attended-target stimuli over the parietal and occipital scalp than did the controls. A more specific analysis indicated that both the attentional relevance and the target properties of the eliciting stimulus determined the observed P3b amplitude differences between COAs and controls. In contrast, no significant group differences were observed in attention-related earlier occurring event-related potential components, referred to as frontal selection positivity, selection negativity, and N2b. These results represent neurophysiological evidence that COAs suffer from deficits at a late (semantic) level of visual selective information processing that are unlikely a consequence of deficits at earlier (sensory) levels of selective processing. The findings support the notion that a reduced visual P3b amplitude in COAs represents a high-level processing dysfunction indicating their increased vulnerability to alcoholism.

  6. Imaging manifestations of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shah, R.; Bag, A.K.; Chapman, P.R.; Cure, J.K.

    2010-01-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating disease caused by reactivation of JC virus in immunosuppressed patients. The diagnosis is usually suggested on imaging and confirmed by cerebrospinal fluid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for JC virus DNA. In this article, we review the imaging manifestations of PML on computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), MR spectroscopy, single photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron-emission tomography (PET), and outline the role of imaging in follow-up and prognostication.

  7. Is sleep quality related to cognition in individuals with heart failure?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Chooza; Phelan, Cynthia H; Lauver, Diane R; Bratzke, Lisa C

    2015-01-01

    To examine how self-reported sleep quality and daytime symptoms are associated with selected domains of cognitive function among individuals with heart failure (HF). HF patients suffer from poor sleep quality and cognitive decline. The relationship between sleep and cognition has not been well documented among individuals with HF. In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 68 individuals with HF (male: 63%, mean age = 72 years, SD = 11) completed sleep questionnaires and a neuropsychological battery. Participant had mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score of 5.04 (SD = 2.8). Regression analyses demonstrated neither sleep quality or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) were related to cognitive function, but daytime dysfunction was related to lower letter fluency and attention index. Contrary to some earlier reports, subjective sleep and EDS in this group of individuals was not associated with cognitive decline. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Differentiating emotional processing and attention in psychopathy with functional neuroimaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Nathaniel E; Steele, Vaughn R; Maurer, J Michael; Rao, Vikram; Koenigs, Michael R; Decety, Jean; Kosson, David S; Calhoun, Vince D; Kiehl, Kent A

    2017-06-01

    Individuals with psychopathy are often characterized by emotional processing deficits, and recent research has examined the specific contexts and cognitive mechanisms that underlie these abnormalities. Some evidence suggests that abnormal features of attention are fundamental to emotional deficits in persons with psychopathy, but few studies have demonstrated the neural underpinnings responsible for such effects. Here, we use functional neuroimaging to examine attention-emotion interactions among incarcerated individuals (n = 120) evaluated for psychopathic traits using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Using a task designed to manipulate attention to emotional features of visual stimuli, we demonstrate effects representing implicit emotional processing, explicit emotional processing, attention-facilitated emotional processing, and vigilance for emotional content. Results confirm the importance of considering mechanisms of attention when evaluating emotional processing differences related to psychopathic traits. The affective-interpersonal features of psychopathy (PCL-R Factor 1) were associated with relatively lower emotion-dependent augmentation of activity in visual processing areas during implicit emotional processing, while antisocial-lifestyle features (PCL-R Factor 2) were associated with elevated activity in the amygdala and related salience network regions. During explicit emotional processing, psychopathic traits were associated with upregulation in the medial prefrontal cortex, insula, and superior frontal regions. Isolating the impact of explicit attention to emotional content, only Factor 1 was related to upregulation of activity in the visual processing stream, which was accompanied by increased activity in the angular gyrus. These effects highlight some important mechanisms underlying abnormal features of attention and emotional processing that accompany psychopathic traits.

  9. [Clinical results after implantation of a new segmental refractive multifocal intraocular lens].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, B C; Auffarth, G U; Philips, R; Novák, J; Blazek, J; Adamkova, H; Rabsilber, T M

    2013-11-01

    The aim of the study was a clinical evaluation of an intraocular lens (IOL) with a segmental multifocal optic design and near addition of + 3.0 D as part of a CE approval study. In a multicenter study the LENTIS Mplus LS-312 MF IOL (Oculentis) was implanted in 134 eyes of 79 patients with a mean age of 68 ± 12 years. The multifocality is achieved by implementation of a distance part and a segmented near sector. Three months after surgery, uncorrected and best corrected distance visual acuity (UCDVA and BCDVA, respectively), near visual acuity (UCNVA and BCNVA, respectively), contrast vision and patient satisfaction (questionnaire) were evaluated. The IOLs were implanted uneventfully either unilaterally or bilaterally and 3 months postoperatively (n = 86 eyes) the following mean visual acuities were obtained (logMAR): UCDVA = 0.05, BCDVA = - 0.01, UCNVA = 0.09 and BCNVA = 0.02. Contrast sensitivity (n = 25 eyes) was within normal limits. Of the 66 questioned patients 10.6% spontaneously reported halos and 3% glare. This new innovative multifocal IOL concept showed very good functional results as well as high patient satisfaction.

  10. Specific Components of Pediatricians' Medication-Related Care Predict Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptom Improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, Jeffery N; Kelleher, Kelly J; Baum, Rebecca; Brinkman, William B; Peugh, James; Gardner, William; Lichtenstein, Phil; Langberg, Joshua M

    2017-06-01

    The development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) care quality measurements is a prerequisite to improving the quality of community-based pediatric care of children with ADHD. Unfortunately, the evidence base for existing ADHD care quality metrics is poor. The objective of this study was to identify which components of ADHD care best predict patient outcomes. Parents of 372 medication-naïve children in grades 1 to 5 presenting to their community-based pediatrician (N = 195) for an ADHD-related concern and who were subsequently prescribed ADHD medication were identified. Parents completed the Vanderbilt ADHD Parent Rating Scale (VAPRS) at the time ADHD was raised as a concern and then approximately 12 months after starting ADHD medication. Each patient's chart was reviewed to measure 12 different components of ADHD care. Across all children, the mean decrease in VAPRS total symptom score during the first year of treatment was 11.6 (standard deviation 10.1). Of the 12 components of ADHD care, shorter times to first contact and more teacher ratings collected in the first year of treatment significantly predicted greater decreases in patient total symptom scores. Notably, it was timeliness of contacts, defined as office visits, phone calls, or email communication, that predicted more ADHD symptom decreases. Office visits alone, in terms of number or timeliness, did not predict patient outcomes. The magnitude of ADHD symptom decrease that can be achieved with the use of ADHD medications was associated with specific components of ADHD care. Future development and modifications of ADHD quality care metrics should include these ADHD care components. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Chest wall resection for multifocal osseous haemangioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinandt, Marthe; Legras, Antoine; Mordant, Pierre; Le Pimpec Barthes, Françoise

    2016-02-01

    Intraosseous haemangioma is a rare and benign primary tumour of the bone. We report the case of a 76-year old woman who presented the exceptional condition of multifocal cavernous haemangiomas involving the spine and the ribs, requiring spinal and chest wall resections to confirm the diagnosis and treat the symptoms. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

  12. Age-related reduction of hemispheric lateralisation for spatial attention: An EEG study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Learmonth, Gemma; Benwell, Christopher S Y; Thut, Gregor; Harvey, Monika

    2017-06-01

    A group-level visuospatial attention bias towards the left side of space (pseudoneglect) is consistently observed in young adults, which is likely to be a consequence of right parieto-occipital dominance for spatial attention. Conversely, healthy older adults demonstrate a rightward shift of this behavioural bias, hinting that an age-related reduction of lateralised neural activity may occur within visuospatial attention networks. We compared young (aged 18-25) and older (aged 60-80) adults on a computerised line bisection (landmark) task whilst recording event-related potentials (ERPs). Full-scalp cluster mass permutation tests identified a larger right parieto-occipital response for long lines compared to short in young adults (confirming Benwell et al., 2014a) which was not present in the older group. To specifically investigate age-related differences in hemispheric lateralisation, cluster mass permutation tests were then performed on a lateralised EEG dataset (RH-LH electrodes). A period of right lateralisation was identified in response to long lines in young adults, which was not present for short lines. No lateralised clusters were present for either long or short lines in older adults. Additionally, a reduced P300 component amplitude was observed for older adults relative to young. We therefore report here, for the first time, an age-related and stimulus-driven reduction of right hemispheric control of spatial attention in older adults. Future studies will need to determine whether this is representative of the normal aging process or an early indicator of neurodegeneration. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids of Marine Origin and Multifocality in Human Breast Cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lobna Ouldamer

    Full Text Available The microenvironment of breast epithelial tissue may contribute to the clinical expression of breast cancer. Breast epithelial tissue, whether healthy or tumoral, is directly in contact with fat cells, which in turn could influence tumor multifocality. In this pilot study we investigated whether the fatty acid composition of breast adipose tissue differed according to breast cancer focality.Twenty-three consecutive women presenting with non-metastatic breast cancer underwent breast-imaging procedures including Magnetic Resonance Imaging prior to treatment. Breast adipose tissue specimens were collected during breast surgery. We established a biochemical profile of adipose tissue fatty acids by gas chromatography. We assessed whether there were differences according to breast cancer focality.We found that decreased levels in breast adipose tissue of docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acids, the two main polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids of marine origin, were associated with multifocality.These differences in lipid content may contribute to mechanisms through which peritumoral adipose tissue fuels breast cancer multifocality.

  14. N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids of Marine Origin and Multifocality in Human Breast Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ouldamer, Lobna; Goupille, Caroline; Vildé, Anne; Arbion, Flavie; Body, Gilles; Chevalier, Stephan; Cottier, Jean Philippe; Bougnoux, Philippe

    2016-01-01

    The microenvironment of breast epithelial tissue may contribute to the clinical expression of breast cancer. Breast epithelial tissue, whether healthy or tumoral, is directly in contact with fat cells, which in turn could influence tumor multifocality. In this pilot study we investigated whether the fatty acid composition of breast adipose tissue differed according to breast cancer focality. Twenty-three consecutive women presenting with non-metastatic breast cancer underwent breast-imaging procedures including Magnetic Resonance Imaging prior to treatment. Breast adipose tissue specimens were collected during breast surgery. We established a biochemical profile of adipose tissue fatty acids by gas chromatography. We assessed whether there were differences according to breast cancer focality. We found that decreased levels in breast adipose tissue of docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acids, the two main polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids of marine origin, were associated with multifocality. These differences in lipid content may contribute to mechanisms through which peritumoral adipose tissue fuels breast cancer multifocality.

  15. Social and leadership abilities in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: relation with cognitive-attentional capacities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández-Jaén, Alberto; Martín Fernández-Mayoralas, Daniel; López-Arribas, Sonia; Pardos-Véglia, Alexandra; Muñiz-Borrega, Blanca; García-Savaté, Carolina; Prados-Parra, Baldomero; Calleja-Pérez, Beatriz; Muñoz-Jareño, Nuria; Fernández-Perrone, Ana L

    2012-01-01

    We have analyzed social and leadership abilities in children with ADHD and their relationship with execution of tasks involving sustained attention and inhibitory control. A retrospective analysis of 170 patients with ADHD was performed. We evaluated leadership and social abilities, measured through the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) and their relations with the results of different neuropsychological tests, including Wechsler scale for children (WISC-IV) and Conners' continuous performance (CPT II). In the differential analysis between the IQ, results of the tests and their relation to BASC scores, a statistically significant relation was observed between attentional capacity expected according to the patient's intelligence and social skills scores (according to BASC filled out by mothers and teachers) and leadership (according to all informants) sections. Attentional difficulties are closely related to social competence in patients with ADHD, either by a direct cause-effect relationship or a shared dysexecutive substrate of this disorder.

  16. Nonsyndromic Synchronous Multifocal Central Giant Cell Granulomas of the Maxillofacial Region: Report of a Case.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anita Munde

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Central giant cell granuloma (CGCG is a benign proliferation of fibroblasts and multinucleated giant cells that almost exclusively occurs in the jaws. It commonly occurs in young adults showing a female predilection in the anterior mandible. Multifocal CGCGs in maxillofacial region are very rare and suggestive of systemic diseases such as hyperparathyroidism, an inherited syndrome such as Noonan-like multiple giant cell lesion syndrome or other disorders. Only 10 cases of multifocal CGCGs in the maxillofacial region without any concomitant systemic disease have been reported in the English literature. Here, we report an unusual case of 36 year-old female presented with non-syndromic synchronous, multifocal CGCGs in the left posterior mandible and left posterior maxilla without any concomitant systemic disease. Relevant literature is reviewed and the incidence, clinical features, radiological features, differential diagnosis and management of CGCGs are discussed.

  17. Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia: a forgotten condition in the elderly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamloo, Nafiseh; Mortazavi, Hamed; Taghavi, Nasim; Baharvand, Maryam

    2016-01-01

    Multifocal epithelial hyperplasia (MEH), also known as focal epithelial hyperplasia and Heck disease, is a relatively rare condition caused by the human papillomavirus. This case report describes a 92-year-old man who presented with multiple, asymptomatic, circumscribed, soft, flattened papules in different sizes on the retrocommissure of his lower lip. The lesions were of 2 months' duration and had the same coloration as the adjacent normal mucosa. Histopathologic examination showed orthokeratinized stratified squamous epithelium with acanthosis, some areas of club-shaped rete ridges, and a few superficial epithelial cells with koilocytic changes and a mitosoid-like appearance. A diagnosis of MEH was established. Although MEH tends to occur in the first 2 decades of life, it can be encountered in elderly patients as well.

  18. Personalized features for attention detection in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fahimi, Fatemeh; Guan, Cuntai; Wooi Boon Goh; Kai Keng Ang; Choon Guan Lim; Tih Shih Lee

    2017-07-01

    Measuring attention from electroencephalogram (EEG) has found applications in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It is of great interest to understand what features in EEG are most representative of attention. Intensive research has been done in the past and it has been proven that frequency band powers and their ratios are effective features in detecting attention. However, there are still unanswered questions, like, what features in EEG are most discriminative between attentive and non-attentive states? Are these features common among all subjects or are they subject-specific and must be optimized for each subject? Using Mutual Information (MI) to perform subject-specific feature selection on a large data set including 120 ADHD children, we found that besides theta beta ratio (TBR) which is commonly used in attention detection and neurofeedback, the relative beta power and theta/(alpha+beta) (TBAR) are also equally significant and informative for attention detection. Interestingly, we found that the relative theta power (which is also commonly used) may not have sufficient discriminative information itself (it is informative only for 3.26% of ADHD children). We have also demonstrated that although these features (relative beta power, TBR and TBAR) are the most important measures to detect attention on average, different subjects have different set of most discriminative features.

  19. Working-memory performance is related to spatial breadth of attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreitz, Carina; Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Simons, Daniel J

    2015-11-01

    Working memory and attention are closely related constructs. Models of working memory often incorporate an attention component, and some even equate working memory and attentional control. Although some attention-related processes, including inhibitory control of response conflict and interference resolution, are strongly associated with working memory, for other aspects of attention the link is less clear. We examined the association between working-memory performance and attentional breadth, the ability to spread attention spatially. If the link between attention and working memory is broader than inhibitory and interference resolution processes, then working-memory performance might also be associated with other attentional abilities, including attentional breadth. We tested 123 participants on a variety of working-memory and attentional-breadth measures, finding a strong correlation between performances on these two types of tasks. This finding demonstrates that the link between working memory and attention extends beyond inhibitory processes.

  20. Multifocal Synchronous Granular Cell Tumors of the Gastrointestinal Tract

    OpenAIRE

    Lipkin-Moore, Zachary; Thomas, Rebecca M.; Rothstein, Robin D.

    2014-01-01

    Granular cell tumors (GCT) are rare and unusual tumors, which are usually benign and asymptomatic. Only 5?10% of cases involve the gastrointestinal tract, most commonly as singular, non-cancerous lesions in the esophagus. We report a rare case of symptomatic, multifocal, synchronous GCT involving the esophagus, stomach, and cecum.

  1. Attentional Performance is Correlated with the Local Regional Efficiency of Intrinsic Brain Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junhai eXu

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Attention is a crucial brain function for human beings. Using neuropsychological paradigms and task-based functional brain imaging, previous studies have indicated that widely distributed brain regions are engaged in three distinct attention subsystems: alerting, orienting and executive control (EC. Here, we explored the potential contribution of spontaneous brain activity to attention by examining whether resting-state activity could account for individual differences of the attentional performance in normal individuals. The resting-state functional images and behavioral data from attention network test (ANT task were collected in 59 healthy subjects. Graph analysis was conducted to obtain the characteristics of functional brain networks and linear regression analyses were used to explore their relationships with behavioral performances of the three attentional components. We found that there was no significant relationship between the attentional performance and the global measures, while the attentional performance was associated with specific local regional efficiency. These regions related to the scores of alerting, orienting and EC largely overlapped with the regions activated in previous task-related functional imaging studies, and were consistent with the intrinsic dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN/VAN. In addition, the strong associations between the attentional performance and specific regional efficiency suggested that there was a possible relationship between the DAN/VAN and task performances in the ANT. We concluded that the intrinsic activity of the human brain could reflect the processing efficiency of the attention system. Our findings revealed a robust evidence for the functional significance of the efficiently organized intrinsic brain network for highly productive cognitions and the hypothesized role of the DAN/ VAN at rest.

  2. Social Attention in the Two Species of Pan: Bonobos Make More Eye Contact than Chimpanzees.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fumihiro Kano

    Full Text Available Humans' two closest primate living relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, differ behaviorally, cognitively, and emotionally in several ways despite their general similarities. While bonobos show more affiliative behaviors towards conspecifics, chimpanzees display more overt and severe aggression against conspecifics. From a cognitive standpoint, bonobos perform better in social coordination, gaze-following and food-related cooperation, while chimpanzees excel in tasks requiring extractive foraging skills. We hypothesized that attention and motivation play an important role in shaping the species differences in behavior, cognition, and emotion. Thus, we predicted that bonobos would pay more attention to the other individuals' face and eyes, as those are related to social affiliation and social coordination, while chimpanzees would pay more attention to the action target objects, as they are related to foraging. Using eye-tracking we examined the bonobos' and chimpanzees' spontaneous scanning of pictures that included eyes, mouth, face, genitals, and action target objects of conspecifics. Although bonobos and chimpanzees viewed those elements overall similarly, bonobos viewed the face and eyes longer than chimpanzees, whereas chimpanzees viewed the other elements, the mouth, action target objects and genitals, longer than bonobos. In a discriminant analysis, the individual variation in viewing patterns robustly predicted the species of individuals, thus clearly demonstrating species-specific viewing patterns. We suggest that such attentional and motivational differences between bonobos and chimpanzees could have partly contributed to shaping the species-specific behaviors, cognition, and emotion of these species, even in a relatively short period of evolutionary time.

  3. Greater efficiency in attentional processing related to mindfulness meditation.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hurk, P.A.M. van den; Giommi, F.; Gielen, S.C.A.M.; Speckens, A.E.M.; Barendregt, H.P.

    2010-01-01

    In this study, attentional processing in relation to mindfulness meditation was investigated. Since recent studies have suggested that mindfulness meditation may induce improvements in attentional processing, we have tested 20 expert mindfulness meditators in the attention network test. Their

  4. Attention network functioning in children with anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and non-clinical anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogg, K; Salum, G A; Bradley, B P; Gadelha, A; Pan, P; Alvarenga, P; Rohde, L A; Pine, D S; Manfro, G G

    2015-01-01

    Research with adults suggests that anxiety is associated with poor control of executive attention. However, in children, it is unclear (a) whether anxiety disorders and non-clinical anxiety are associated with deficits in executive attention, (b) whether such deficits are specific to anxiety versus other psychiatric disorders, and (c) whether there is heterogeneity among anxiety disorders (in particular, specific phobia versus other anxiety disorders). We examined executive attention in 860 children classified into three groups: anxiety disorders (n = 67), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 67) and no psychiatric disorder (n = 726). Anxiety disorders were subdivided into: anxiety disorders excluding specific phobia (n = 43) and specific phobia (n = 21). The Attention Network Task was used to assess executive attention, alerting and orienting. Findings indicated heterogeneity among anxiety disorders, as children with anxiety disorders (excluding specific phobia) showed impaired executive attention, compared with disorder-free children, whereas children with specific phobia showed no executive attention deficit. Among disorder-free children, executive attention was less efficient in those with high, relative to low, levels of anxiety. There were no anxiety-related deficits in orienting or alerting. Children with ADHD not only had poorer executive attention than disorder-free children, but also higher orienting scores, less accurate responses and more variable response times. Impaired executive attention in children (reflected by difficulty inhibiting processing of task-irrelevant information) was not fully explained by general psychopathology, but instead showed specific associations with anxiety disorders (other than specific phobia) and ADHD, as well as with high levels of anxiety symptoms in disorder-free children.

  5. The multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) in the pig

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Voss Kyhn, Maria; Kiilgaard, Jens Folke; Lopez, Ana Garcia

    2007-01-01

    To establish a method allowing multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) recording with simultaneous fundus monitoring on anaesthetized pigs. In addition we characterize the peaks of the porcine mfERG trace, and compare the visual streak area with the optic nerve head, a known non-response area....... Finally we illustrate the feasibility of the method by performing mfERG after an induced laser burn in the visual streak....

  6. A case of osseous scintigraphy showing focuses of multifocal tuberculosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faurous-Vanaud, R.; Faurous, P.; Kalfa, G.; Collet, H.; Couty, H.; Artus, J.C.

    1997-01-01

    Incidence of tuberculosis in developed countries presents in the last years a spectacular boost. However, the osteo-articular system is afflicted by tuberculosis only in a few percent of cases and the multifocal character represents less than 5% of osseous tuberculosis. It is presented here a case of multifocal osseous tuberculosis only to stress its rarity. A woman 28 years old from Djibouti presents since 8 months an asthenia and dorsal pains long thought as psychalgia. The examination has shown a major vertebral stiffness and limitation of right haunch. The radiographs showed a scoliosis centered on D8 with modifications. The biologic data are VS = 90, CRP = 124 and the hemogram is normal. The intradermal reaction (10 U of tuberculin) is phlyctenular. The TDM indicates lytic vertebral extension on D7 - D8, the osseous scintigraphy with MDP - 99 mTc indicates no anomaly in the vascular arrival time; a few minutes after injection: dorsal and upper and of right femur hyperactivity; 2 h after injection: hyper-fixation of D7 to D9 and of the upper end of right femur. The IRM indicates para-vertebral abscess of D7 to D9 with epidural abscess; abscess in the upper part of the loge of right adductors with osseous affliction of the femur's upper end; a bacillary infectious process was a priori evoked. The patient was then placed under quadruple antibiotic-therapy anti-tuberculous care. In case of anomalous multifocal osseous scintigraphy the tuberculous affliction is part of the differential diagnosis, particularly in the immigrant populations or in HIV+ persons

  7. Overt attention and context factors: the impact of repeated presentations, image type, and individual motivation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kai Kaspar

    Full Text Available The present study investigated the dynamic of the attention focus during observation of different categories of complex scenes and simultaneous consideration of individuals' memory and motivational state. We repeatedly presented four types of complex visual scenes in a pseudo-randomized order and recorded eye movements. Subjects were divided into groups according to their motivational disposition in terms of action orientation and individual rating of scene interest.Statistical analysis of eye-tracking data revealed that the attention focus successively became locally expressed by increasing fixation duration; decreasing saccade length, saccade frequency, and single subject's fixation distribution over images; and increasing inter-subject variance of fixation distributions. The validity of these results was supported by verbal reports. This general tendency was weaker for the group of subjects who rated the image set as interesting as compared to the other group. Additionally, effects were partly mediated by subjects' motivational disposition. Finally, we found a generally strong impact of image type on eye movement parameters. We conclude that motivational tendencies linked to personality as well as individual preferences significantly affected viewing behaviour. Hence, it is important and fruitful to consider inter-individual differences on the level of motivation and personality traits within investigations of attention processes. We demonstrate that future studies on memory's impact on overt attention have to deal appropriately with several aspects that had been out of the research focus until now.

  8. Multifocal Intraocular Lens Results in Correcting Presbyopia in Eyes After Radial Keratotomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Kyeong Hwan; Seok, Kyung-Won; Kim, Wan Soo

    2017-11-01

    To report results of multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in 2 patients with refractive error and presbyopia after previous radial keratotomy (RK). A refractive multifocal IOL with rotational asymmetry (LS313-MF30; Oculentis, Berlin, Germany) was implanted. The first patient was a 60-year-old man with myopia who underwent unilateral RK 20 years before. His uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) was 20/400, and his distance corrected near vision was J9 in both eyes. Six months after bilateral surgery, his binocular UDVA and uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA) improved to 20/20 and J1, respectively, although he experienced diurnal fluctuation. The second patient was a 55-year-old woman with hyperopia who underwent bilateral RK 18 years before. Uncorrected distance visual acuity was 20/25 in both eyes, but UNVA was between J9 and J10. Three months after unilateral surgery, UDVA and UNVA of the postsurgical eye improved to 20/20 and J1, respectively. Neither patient reported any significant photic phenomena, and both were satisfied with the results of treatment. The desirable clinical outcomes and levels of satisfaction expressed by these patients indicate that surgery using this particular multifocal IOL may benefit presbyopic patients with previous RK.

  9. Distractor inhibition predicts individual differences in recovery from the attentional blink.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heleen A Slagter

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The attentional blink (AB refers to an impairment in detecting the second of two target stimuli presented in close succession in a rapid stream of distractors. Recent studies indicate that the AB results, in part, from distractor suppression mechanisms, that may be mediated by striatal dopamine. Yet, it is currently unclear how distractor suppression ability may contribute to the AB. Here, we examined whether distractor suppression ability is predictive of an individual's AB depth and/or recovery. In addition, we investigated the relationship between individual spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR, a marker of striatal dopaminergic functioning, and AB performance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Subjects were presented with rapid streams of letters containing white distractors, a red T1 and a green T2. T2 was presented either at Lag2, Lag4 or Lag10, and preceded by a distractor that shared the same identity as T2 (T2 primed or not (T2 not primed. Replicating previous work [1], we found that slow AB recovery (poor T2 performance in Lag4 vs. Lag10 was associated with a failure to inhibit distractors, as indexed by greater positive priming. However, no relationship was observed between a subject's ability to suppress distractors and AB depth (Lag10 vs. Lag2. Moreover, no relationship between sEBR and AB performance was observed. RESULTS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results indicate that a failure to inhibit distracting information impairs AB recovery, possibly by interfering with target encoding in working memory - but does not affect AB magnitude. The absence of a relationship between individual sEBR and AB performance may be explained by task specifics.

  10. Prospect theory reflects selective allocation of attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pachur, Thorsten; Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Michael; Murphy, Ryan O; Hertwig, Ralph

    2018-02-01

    There is a disconnect in the literature between analyses of risky choice based on cumulative prospect theory (CPT) and work on predecisional information processing. One likely reason is that for expectation models (e.g., CPT), it is often assumed that people behaved only as if they conducted the computations leading to the predicted choice and that the models are thus mute regarding information processing. We suggest that key psychological constructs in CPT, such as loss aversion and outcome and probability sensitivity, can be interpreted in terms of attention allocation. In two experiments, we tested hypotheses about specific links between CPT parameters and attentional regularities. Experiment 1 used process tracing to monitor participants' predecisional attention allocation to outcome and probability information. As hypothesized, individual differences in CPT's loss-aversion, outcome-sensitivity, and probability-sensitivity parameters (estimated from participants' choices) were systematically associated with individual differences in attention allocation to outcome and probability information. For instance, loss aversion was associated with the relative attention allocated to loss and gain outcomes, and a more strongly curved weighting function was associated with less attention allocated to probabilities. Experiment 2 manipulated participants' attention to losses or gains, causing systematic differences in CPT's loss-aversion parameter. This result indicates that attention allocation can to some extent cause choice regularities that are captured by CPT. Our findings demonstrate an as-if model's capacity to reflect characteristics of information processing. We suggest that the observed CPT-attention links can be harnessed to inform the development of process models of risky choice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Case report: multifocal subchondral stress fractures of the femoral heads and tibial condyles in a young military recruit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Pil Whan; Yoo, Jeong Joon; Yoon, Kang Sup; Kim, Hee Joong

    2012-03-01

    Subchondral stress fractures of the femoral head may be either of the insufficiency-type with poor quality bone or the fatigue-type with normal quality bone but subject to high repetitive stresses. Unlike osteonecrosis, multiple site involvement rarely has been reported for subchondral stress fractures. We describe a case of multifocal subchondral stress fractures involving femoral heads and medial tibial condyles bilaterally within 2 weeks. A 27-year-old military recruit began having left knee pain after 2 weeks of basic training, without any injury. Subsequently, right knee, right hip, and left hip pain developed sequentially within 2 weeks. The diagnosis of multifocal subchondral stress fracture was confirmed by plain radiographs and MR images. Nonoperative treatment of the subchondral stress fractures of both medial tibial condyles and the left uncollapsed femoral head resulted in resolution of symptoms. The collapsed right femoral head was treated with a fibular strut allograft to restore congruity and healed without further collapse. There has been one case report in which an insufficiency-type subchondral stress fracture of the femoral head and medial femoral condyle occurred within a 2-year interval. Because the incidence of bilateral subchondral stress fractures of the femoral head is low and multifocal involvement has not been reported, multifocal subchondral stress fractures can be confused with multifocal osteonecrosis. Our case shows that subchondral stress fractures can occur in multiple sites almost simultaneously.

  12. Control of Auditory Attention in Children With Specific Language Impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Victorino, Kristen R; Schwartz, Richard G

    2015-08-01

    Children with specific language impairment (SLI) appear to demonstrate deficits in attention and its control. Selective attention involves the cognitive control of attention directed toward a relevant stimulus and simultaneous inhibition of attention toward irrelevant stimuli. The current study examined attention control during a cross-modal word recognition task. Twenty participants with SLI (ages 9-12 years) and 20 age-matched peers with typical language development (TLD) listened to words through headphones and were instructed to attend to the words in 1 ear while ignoring the words in the other ear. They were simultaneously presented with pictures and asked to make a lexical decision about whether the pictures and auditory words were the same or different. Accuracy and reaction time were measured in 5 conditions, in which the stimulus in the unattended channel was manipulated. The groups performed with similar accuracy. Compared with their peers with TLD, children with SLI had slower reaction times overall and different within-group patterns of performance by condition. Children with TLD showed efficient inhibitory control in conditions that required active suppression of competing stimuli. Participants with SLI had difficulty exerting control over their auditory attention in all conditions, with particular difficulty inhibiting distractors of all types.

  13. Unusual multifocal granulomatous disease caused by actinomycetous bacteria in a nestling Derbyan parrot (Psittacula derbiana).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, F J; Jaensch, S

    2009-01-01

    A nestling Derbyan parrot (Psittacula derbiana) was presented with unusual subcutaneous swellings of the thigh regions, and poor growth. Histological examination revealed actinomycetous bacteria associated with multifocal systemic granulomas. The clinical and pathological findings of the case are presented, and some relevant aspects of actinomycetous bacterial infections in mammals and birds are discussed. Although granulomatous disease is encountered at times in avian species, the actinomycetous bacteria (Nocardia and Actinomyces spp.) have rarely been reported in association with multifocal granulomatous disease in birds.

  14. Comparing the relative peripheral refraction effect of single vision and multifocal contact lenses measured using an autorefractor and an aberrometer: A pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakaraju, Ravi C; Fedtke, Cathleen; Ehrmann, Klaus; Ho, Arthur

    2015-01-01

    To compare the contributions of single vision (SVCL) and multifocal contact lenses (MFCL) to the relative peripheral refraction (RPR) profiles obtained via an autorefractor and an aberrometer in a pilot study. Two instruments, Shin-Nippon NVision K5001 (SN) and COAS-HD, were modified to permit open field PR measurements. Two myopic adults (CF, RB) were refracted (cycloplegia) under eight conditions: baseline (no CL); three SVCLs: Focus Dailies(®) (Alcon, USA), PureVision(®) (Bausch & Lomb, USA) and AirOptix(®) (Alcon, USA); and four MFCLs: AirOptix(®) (Alcon, USA), Proclear(®) Distant and Near (Cooper Vision, USA), and PureVision(®) (Bausch & Lomb, USA). CLs had a distance prescription of -2.00D and for MFCLs, a +2.50D Add was selected. Five independent measurements were performed at field angles from -40° to +40° in 10° increments with both instruments. The COAS-HD measures were analyzed at 3mm pupil diameter. Results are reported as a change in the relative PR profile, as refractive power vector components: M, J180, and J45. Overall, at baseline, M, J180 and J45 measures obtained with SN and COAS-HD were considerably different only for field angles ≥±30°, which agreed well with previous studies. With respect to M, this observation held true for most SVCLs with a few exceptions. The J180 measures obtained with COAS-HD were considerably greater in magnitude than those acquired with SN. For SVCLs, the greatest difference was found at -40° for AirOptix SV (ΔCF=3.20D, ΔRB=1.56D) and for MFCLs it was for Proclear Distance at -40° (ΔCF=2.58D, ΔRB=1.39D). The J45 measures obtained with SN were noticeably different to the respective measures with COAS-HD, both in magnitude and sign. The greatest difference was found with AirOptix Multifocal in subject RB at -40°, where the COAS-HD measurement was 1.50D more positive. In some cases, the difference in the RPR profiles observed between subjects appeared to be associated with CL decentration. For most test

  15. 49 CFR 179.301 - Individual specification requirements for multi-unit tank car tanks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...-unit tank car tanks. 179.301 Section 179.301 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to... MATERIALS REGULATIONS SPECIFICATIONS FOR TANK CARS Specifications for Multi-Unit Tank Car Tanks (Classes DOT-106A and 110AW) § 179.301 Individual specification requirements for multi-unit tank car tanks. (a) In...

  16. Distinctive Correspondence Between Separable Visual Attention Functions and Intrinsic Brain Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Rizzo, Adriana L; Neitzel, Julia; Müller, Hermann J; Sorg, Christian; Finke, Kathrin

    2018-01-01

    Separable visual attention functions are assumed to rely on distinct but interacting neural mechanisms. Bundesen's "theory of visual attention" (TVA) allows the mathematical estimation of independent parameters that characterize individuals' visual attentional capacity (i.e., visual processing speed and visual short-term memory storage capacity) and selectivity functions (i.e., top-down control and spatial laterality). However, it is unclear whether these parameters distinctively map onto different brain networks obtained from intrinsic functional connectivity, which organizes slowly fluctuating ongoing brain activity. In our study, 31 demographically homogeneous healthy young participants performed whole- and partial-report tasks and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Report accuracy was modeled using TVA to estimate, individually, the four TVA parameters. Networks encompassing cortical areas relevant for visual attention were derived from independent component analysis of rs-fMRI data: visual, executive control, right and left frontoparietal, and ventral and dorsal attention networks. Two TVA parameters were mapped on particular functional networks. First, participants with higher (vs. lower) visual processing speed showed lower functional connectivity within the ventral attention network. Second, participants with more (vs. less) efficient top-down control showed higher functional connectivity within the dorsal attention network and lower functional connectivity within the visual network. Additionally, higher performance was associated with higher functional connectivity between networks: specifically, between the ventral attention and right frontoparietal networks for visual processing speed, and between the visual and executive control networks for top-down control. The higher inter-network functional connectivity was related to lower intra-network connectivity. These results demonstrate that separable visual attention

  17. The Mathematical Theory of Multifocal Lenses

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Jacob RUBINSTEIN

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents the fundamental optical concepts of designing multifocal ophthalmic lenses and the mathematical methods associated with them.In particular,it is shown that the design methodology is heavily based on differential geometric ideas such as Willmore surfaces.A key role is played by Hamilton's eikonal functions.It is shown that these functions capture all the information on the local blur and distortion created by the lenses.Along the way,formulas for computing the eikonal functions are derived.Finally,the author lists a few intriguing mathematical problems and novel concepts in optics as future projects.

  18. Optimizing outcomes with multifocal intraocular lenses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gitansha Shreyas Sachdev

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Modern day cataract surgery is evolving from a visual restorative to a refractive procedure. The advent of multifocal intraocular lenses (MFIOLs allows greater spectacle independence and increased quality of life postoperatively. Since the inception in 1980s, MFIOLs have undergone various technical advancements including trifocal and extended depth of vision implants more recently. A thorough preoperative workup including the patients' visual needs and inherent ocular anatomy allows us to achieve superior outcomes. This review offers a comprehensive overview of the various types of MFIOLs and principles of optimizing outcomes through a comprehensive preoperative screening and management of postoperative complications.

  19. Sex differences in event-related potentials and attentional biases to emotional facial stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfabigan, Daniela M; Lamplmayr-Kragl, Elisabeth; Pintzinger, Nina M; Sailer, Uta; Tran, Ulrich S

    2014-01-01

    Attentional processes play an important role in the processing of emotional information. Previous research reported attentional biases during stimulus processing in anxiety and depression. However, sex differences in the processing of emotional stimuli and higher prevalence rates of anxiety disorders among women, compared to men, suggest that attentional biases may also differ between the two sexes. The present study used a modified version of the dot probe task with happy, angry, and neutral facial stimuli to investigate the time course of attentional biases in healthy volunteers. Moreover, associations of attentional biases with alexithymia were examined on the behavioral and physiological level. Event-related potentials were measured while 21 participants (11 women) performed the task, utilizing also for the first time a difference wave approach in the analysis to highlight emotion-specific aspects. Women showed overall enhanced probe P1 amplitudes compared to men, in particular after rewarding facial stimuli. Using the difference wave approach, probe P1 amplitudes appeared specifically enhanced with regard to congruently presented happy facial stimuli among women, compared to men. Both methods yielded enhanced probe P1 amplitudes after presentation of the emotional stimulus in the left compared to the right visual hemifield. Probe P1 amplitudes correlated negatively with self-reported alexithymia, most of these correlations were only observable in women. Our results suggest that women orient their attention to a greater extent to facial stimuli than men and corroborate that alexithymia is a correlate of reduced emotional reactivity on a neuronal level. We recommend using a difference wave approach when addressing attentional processes of orientation and disengagement also in future studies.

  20. Sex differences in event-related potentials and attentional biases to emotional facial stimuli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela M. Pfabigan

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Attentional processes play an important role in the processing of emotional information. Previous research reported attentional biases during stimulus processing in anxiety and depression. However, sex differences in the processing of emotional stimuli and higher prevalence rates of anxiety disorders among women, compared to men, suggest that attentional biases may also differ between the two sexes. The present study used a modified version of the dot probe task with happy, angry, and neutral facial stimuli to investigate the time course of attentional biases in healthy volunteers. Moreover, associations of attentional biases with alexithymia were examined on the behavioral and physiological level. Event-related potentials were measured while 21 participants (11 women performed the task, utilizing also for the first time a difference wave approach in the analysis to highlight emotion-specific aspects. Women showed overall enhanced probe P1 amplitudes compared to men, in particular after rewarding facial stimuli. Under the difference wave approach, probe P1 amplitudes appeared specifically enhanced with regard to congruently presented happy facial stimuli among women, compared to men. Both methods yielded enhanced probe P1 amplitudes after presentation of the emotional stimulus in the left compared to the right visual hemifield. Probe P1 amplitudes correlated negatively with self-reported alexithymia, most of these correlations were only observable in women. Our results suggest that women orient their attention to a greater extent to facial stimuli than men and corroborate that alexithymia is a correlate of reduced emotional reactivity on a neuronal level. We recommend using a difference wave approach when addressing attentional processes of orientation and disengagement also in future studies.

  1. Autorefraction versus subjective refraction in a radially asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Linden, J.W.M. van der; Vrijman, V.; El-Saady, R.; Meulen, I.J. van der; Mourits, M.P.; Lapid-Gortzak, R.

    2014-01-01

    PURPOSE: To evaluate whether the automated refraction (AR) correlates with subjective manifest (MR) refraction in eyes implanted with radially asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens (IOLs). METHODS: This retrospective study evaluated 52 eyes (52 patients) implanted with a radially asymmetric

  2. Cortical and Subcortical Coordination of Visual Spatial Attention Revealed by Simultaneous EEG-fMRI Recording.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Jessica J; Boehler, Carsten N; Roberts, Kenneth C; Chen, Ling-Chia; Krebs, Ruth M; Song, Allen W; Woldorff, Marty G

    2017-08-16

    Visual spatial attention has been studied in humans with both electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) individually. However, due to the intrinsic limitations of each of these methods used alone, our understanding of the systems-level mechanisms underlying attentional control remains limited. Here, we examined trial-to-trial covariations of concurrently recorded EEG and fMRI in a cued visual spatial attention task in humans, which allowed delineation of both the generators and modulators of the cue-triggered event-related oscillatory brain activity underlying attentional control function. The fMRI activity in visual cortical regions contralateral to the cued direction of attention covaried positively with occipital gamma-band EEG, consistent with activation of cortical regions representing attended locations in space. In contrast, fMRI activity in ipsilateral visual cortical regions covaried inversely with occipital alpha-band oscillations, consistent with attention-related suppression of the irrelevant hemispace. Moreover, the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus covaried with both of these spatially specific, attention-related, oscillatory EEG modulations. Because the pulvinar's neuroanatomical geometry makes it unlikely to be a direct generator of the scalp-recorded EEG, these covariational patterns appear to reflect the pulvinar's role as a regulatory control structure, sending spatially specific signals to modulate visual cortex excitability proactively. Together, these combined EEG/fMRI results illuminate the dynamically interacting cortical and subcortical processes underlying spatial attention, providing important insight not realizable using either method alone. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Noninvasive recordings of changes in the brain's blood flow using functional magnetic resonance imaging and electrical activity using electroencephalography in humans have individually shown that shifting attention to a location in space

  3. Neural Correlates of Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention and Recognition Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds, Greg D.; Guy, Maggie W.; Zhang, Dantong

    2011-01-01

    Past studies have identified individual differences in infant visual attention based upon peak look duration during initial exposure to a stimulus. Colombo and colleagues found that infants that demonstrate brief visual fixations (i.e., short lookers) during familiarization are more likely to demonstrate evidence of recognition memory during…

  4. The Role of Sustained Attention in the Production of Conjoined Noun Phrases: An Individual Differences Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongman, S.R.; Meyer, A.S.; Roelofs, A.P.A.

    2015-01-01

    It has previously been shown that language production, performed simultaneously with a nonlinguistic task, involves sustained attention. Sustained attention concerns the ability to maintain alertness over time. Here, we aimed to replicate the previous finding by showing that individuals call upon

  5. Impaired inhibition and working memory in response to internet-related words among adolescents with internet addiction: A comparison with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Jia; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Jia; Li, Wendi

    2016-02-28

    Impairments in response inhibition and working memory functions have been found to be closely associated with internet addiction (IA) symptoms and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. In this study, we examined response inhibition and working memory processes with two different materials (internet-related and internet-unrelated stimuli) among adolescents with IA, ADHD and co-morbid IA/ADHD. Twenty-four individuals with IA, 28 individuals with ADHD, 17 individuals with IA/ADHD, and 26 matched normal controls (NC) individuals were recruited. All participants were measured with a Stop-Signal Task and 2-Back Task under the same experimental conditions. In comparison to the NC group, subjects with IA, ADHD and IA/ADHD demonstrated impaired inhibition and working memory. In addition, in comparison to internet-unrelated conditions, IA and co-morbid subjects performed worse on the internet-related condition in the Stop trials during the stop-signal task, and they showed better working memory on the internet-related condition in the 2-Back Task. The findings of our study suggest individuals with IA and IA/ADHD may be impaired in inhibition and working memory functions that might be linked to poor inhibition specifically related to internet-related stimuli, which will advance our understanding of IA and contribute to prevention and intervention strategies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Premature epiphyseal fusion and degenerative arthritis in chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piddo, C.; Reed, M.H.; Black, G.B.

    2000-01-01

    A 9-year-old boy was diagnosed with chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis affecting multiple sites. During an 8-year follow-up he developed premature closure of a distal radial epiphysis and degenerative changes in the adjacent radiocarpal joint. (orig.)

  7. Correction of High Astigmatism after Penetrating Keratoplasty with Toric Multifocal Intraocular Lens Implantation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raffaele Nuzzi

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available After penetrating keratoplasty (PK, high astigmatism is often induced, being frequently about 4–6 dpt. According to the entity and typology of astigmatism, different methods of correction can be used. Selective suture removal, relaxing incisions, wedge resections, compression sutures, photorefractive keratectomy, and laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis can reduce corneal astigmatism and ametropia, but meanwhile they can cause a reduction in the corneal integrity and cause an over- or undercorrection. In case of moderate-to-high regular astigmatisms, the authors propose a toric multifocal intraocular lens (IOL implantation to preserve the corneal integrity (especially in PK after herpetic corneal leukoma keratitis. We evaluated a 45-year-old patient who at the age of 30 was subjected to PK in his left eye due to corneal leukoma herpetic keratitis, which led to high astigmatism (7.50 dpt cyl. 5°. The patient was subjected to phacoemulsification and customized toric multifocal IOL implantation in his left eye. The correction of PK-induced residual astigmatism with a toric IOL implantation is an excellent choice but has to be evaluated in relation to patient age, corneal integrity, longevity graft, and surgical risk. It seems to be a well-tolerated therapeutic choice and with good results.

  8. The Focus of Attention in Visual Working Memory: Protection of Focused Representations and Its Individual Variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heuer, Anna; Schubö, Anna

    2016-01-01

    Visual working memory can be modulated according to changes in the cued task relevance of maintained items. Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying this modulation. In particular, we studied the consequences of attentional selection for selected and unselected items, and the role of individual differences in the efficiency with which attention is deployed. To this end, performance in a visual working memory task as well as the CDA/SPCN and the N2pc, ERP components associated with visual working memory and attentional processes, were analysed. Selection during the maintenance stage was manipulated by means of two successively presented retrocues providing spatial information as to which items were most likely to be tested. Results show that attentional selection serves to robustly protect relevant representations in the focus of attention while unselected representations which may become relevant again still remain available. Individuals with larger retrocueing benefits showed higher efficiency of attentional selection, as indicated by the N2pc, and showed stronger maintenance-associated activity (CDA/SPCN). The findings add to converging evidence that focused representations are protected, and highlight the flexibility of visual working memory, in which information can be weighted according its relevance.

  9. Guanfacine enhances inhibitory control and attentional shifting in early abstinent cocaine-dependent individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, Helen; Sofuoglu, Mehmet; Sinha, Rajita

    2015-03-01

    Attenuation of adrenergic drive and cognitive enhancement, via stimulation of alpha2 pre- and post-synaptic receptors, may selectively enhance executive performance in early abstinent cocaine-dependent individuals. As these cognitive processes underpin important treatment-related behaviors, the alpha2 agonist, guanfacine HCl, may represent an effective pharmaco-therapeutic intervention. Twenty-five early abstinent cocaine-dependent individuals were administered a battery of neurocognitive tasks on entry into treatment (baseline) and again following 3 weeks of either placebo or guanfacine treatment (up to 3 mg). Tasks included: Stop Signal, Stroop, 3-Dimentional Intra-dimensional/Extra-dimensional (IDED) task, Spatial Working Memory (SWM), Paired Associates Learning (PAL), Verbal Fluency and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Compared with placebo, the guanfacine group demonstrated attenuated anxiety and negative affect as well as improved performance on selective executive tests. This included fewer directional errors on the stop signal task, fewer errors on the extra-dimensional shift component of the IDED task and better attentional switching during verbal fluency. Guanfacine did not improve strategic working memory or peripheral memory. Guanfacine improves selective cognitive processes which may underlie salient treatment-related regulatory behaviors. Alpha2 agonists may therefore represent important agents for cocaine dependence. © The Author(s) 2015.

  10. Multifocal gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the stomach in an 11-year-old girl

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jin; Rubinas, Tara C.; Fordham, Lynn A.; Phillips, J.D.

    2006-01-01

    A previously healthy 11-year-old girl presented with an 8-month history of anemia and left upper quadrant abdominal pain. US examination demonstrated a 9-cm cystic mass with a fluid-fluid level in the left upper quadrant with unclear organ of origin. Abdominal MR imaging demonstrated a complex cystic mass, likely arising from the stomach. Additional T2 hyperintense submucosal lesions were identified in the gastric wall. Surgical excision confirmed the diagnosis of multifocal gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). MR imaging was helpful in suggesting a gastric origin of the primary mass and in demonstrating multifocal disease within the stomach. (orig.)

  11. Sustained Selective Attention Skills of Preschool Children with Specific Language Impairment: Evidence for Separate Attentional Capacities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spaulding, Tammie J.; Plante, Elena; Vance, Rebecca

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The present study was designed to investigate the performance of preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers on sustained selective attention tasks. Method: This study included 23 children diagnosed with SLI and 23 TD children matched for age, gender, and maternal education level.…

  12. Race Guides Attention in Visual Search.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marte Otten

    Full Text Available It is known that faces are rapidly and even unconsciously categorized into social groups (black vs. white, male vs. female. Here, I test whether preferences for specific social groups guide attention, using a visual search paradigm. In Experiment 1 participants searched displays of neutral faces for an angry or frightened target face. Black target faces were detected more efficiently than white targets, indicating that black faces attracted more attention. Experiment 2 showed that attention differences between black and white faces were correlated with individual differences in automatic race preference. In Experiment 3, using happy target faces, the attentional preference for black over white faces was eliminated. Taken together, these results suggest that automatic preferences for social groups guide attention to individuals from negatively valenced groups, when people are searching for a negative emotion such as anger or fear.

  13. Auditory attention in childhood and adolescence: An event-related potential study of spatial selective attention to one of two simultaneous stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karns, Christina M.; Isbell, Elif; Giuliano, Ryan J.; Neville, Helen J.

    2015-01-01

    Auditory selective attention is a critical skill for goal-directed behavior, especially where noisy distractions may impede focusing attention. To better understand the developmental trajectory of auditory spatial selective attention in an acoustically complex environment, in the current study we measured auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in human children across five age groups: 3–5 years; 10 years; 13 years; 16 years; and young adults using a naturalistic dichotic listening paradigm, characterizing the ERP morphology for nonlinguistic and linguistic auditory probes embedded in attended and unattended stories. We documented robust maturational changes in auditory evoked potentials that were specific to the types of probes. Furthermore, we found a remarkable interplay between age and attention-modulation of auditory evoked potentials in terms of morphology and latency from the early years of childhood through young adulthood. The results are consistent with the view that attention can operate across age groups by modulating the amplitude of maturing auditory early-latency evoked potentials or by invoking later endogenous attention processes. Development of these processes is not uniform for probes with different acoustic properties within our acoustically dense speech-based dichotic listening task. In light of the developmental differences we demonstrate, researchers conducting future attention studies of children and adolescents should be wary of combining analyses across diverse ages. PMID:26002721

  14. Auditory attention in childhood and adolescence: An event-related potential study of spatial selective attention to one of two simultaneous stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karns, Christina M; Isbell, Elif; Giuliano, Ryan J; Neville, Helen J

    2015-06-01

    Auditory selective attention is a critical skill for goal-directed behavior, especially where noisy distractions may impede focusing attention. To better understand the developmental trajectory of auditory spatial selective attention in an acoustically complex environment, in the current study we measured auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) across five age groups: 3-5 years; 10 years; 13 years; 16 years; and young adults. Using a naturalistic dichotic listening paradigm, we characterized the ERP morphology for nonlinguistic and linguistic auditory probes embedded in attended and unattended stories. We documented robust maturational changes in auditory evoked potentials that were specific to the types of probes. Furthermore, we found a remarkable interplay between age and attention-modulation of auditory evoked potentials in terms of morphology and latency from the early years of childhood through young adulthood. The results are consistent with the view that attention can operate across age groups by modulating the amplitude of maturing auditory early-latency evoked potentials or by invoking later endogenous attention processes. Development of these processes is not uniform for probes with different acoustic properties within our acoustically dense speech-based dichotic listening task. In light of the developmental differences we demonstrate, researchers conducting future attention studies of children and adolescents should be wary of combining analyses across diverse ages. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  15. Relationship between self-focused attention, mindfulness and distress in individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Úbeda-Gómez, J; León-Palacios, M G; Escudero-Pérez, S; Barros-Albarrán, M D; López-Jiménez, A M; Perona-Garcelán, S

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among self-focused attention, mindfulness and distress caused by the voices in psychiatric patients. Fifty-one individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis participated in this study. The Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale (PSYRATS) emotional factor was applied to measure the distress caused by the voices, the Self-Absorption Scale (SAS) was given for measuring the levels of self-focused attention, and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) was used to measure mindfulness. The results showed that distress caused by the voices correlated positively with self-focused attention (private and public) and negatively with mindfulness. A negative correlation was also found between mindfulness and self-focused attention (private and public). Finally, multiple linear regression analysis showed that public self-focus was the only factor predicting distress caused by the voices. Intervention directed at diminishing public self-focused attention and increasing mindfulness could improve distress caused by the voices.

  16. Affective attention under cognitive load: reduced emotional biases but emergent anxiety-related costs to inhibitory control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berggren, Nick; Richards, Anne; Taylor, Joseph; Derakshan, Nazanin

    2013-01-01

    Trait anxiety is associated with deficits in attentional control, particularly in the ability to inhibit prepotent responses. Here, we investigated this effect while varying the level of cognitive load in a modified antisaccade task that employed emotional facial expressions (neutral, happy, and angry) as targets. Load was manipulated using a secondary auditory task requiring recognition of tones (low load), or recognition of specific tone pitch (high load). Results showed that load increased antisaccade latencies on trials where gaze toward face stimuli should be inhibited. This effect was exacerbated for high anxious individuals. Emotional expression also modulated task performance on antisaccade trials for both high and low anxious participants under low cognitive load, but did not influence performance under high load. Collectively, results (1) suggest that individuals reporting high levels of anxiety are particularly vulnerable to the effects of cognitive load on inhibition, and (2) support recent evidence that loading cognitive processes can reduce emotional influences on attention and cognition. PMID:23717273

  17. Distinctive Correspondence Between Separable Visual Attention Functions and Intrinsic Brain Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Rizzo, Adriana L.; Neitzel, Julia; Müller, Hermann J.; Sorg, Christian; Finke, Kathrin

    2018-01-01

    Separable visual attention functions are assumed to rely on distinct but interacting neural mechanisms. Bundesen's “theory of visual attention” (TVA) allows the mathematical estimation of independent parameters that characterize individuals' visual attentional capacity (i.e., visual processing speed and visual short-term memory storage capacity) and selectivity functions (i.e., top-down control and spatial laterality). However, it is unclear whether these parameters distinctively map onto different brain networks obtained from intrinsic functional connectivity, which organizes slowly fluctuating ongoing brain activity. In our study, 31 demographically homogeneous healthy young participants performed whole- and partial-report tasks and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Report accuracy was modeled using TVA to estimate, individually, the four TVA parameters. Networks encompassing cortical areas relevant for visual attention were derived from independent component analysis of rs-fMRI data: visual, executive control, right and left frontoparietal, and ventral and dorsal attention networks. Two TVA parameters were mapped on particular functional networks. First, participants with higher (vs. lower) visual processing speed showed lower functional connectivity within the ventral attention network. Second, participants with more (vs. less) efficient top-down control showed higher functional connectivity within the dorsal attention network and lower functional connectivity within the visual network. Additionally, higher performance was associated with higher functional connectivity between networks: specifically, between the ventral attention and right frontoparietal networks for visual processing speed, and between the visual and executive control networks for top-down control. The higher inter-network functional connectivity was related to lower intra-network connectivity. These results demonstrate that separable visual attention

  18. Distinctive Correspondence Between Separable Visual Attention Functions and Intrinsic Brain Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana L. Ruiz-Rizzo

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Separable visual attention functions are assumed to rely on distinct but interacting neural mechanisms. Bundesen's “theory of visual attention” (TVA allows the mathematical estimation of independent parameters that characterize individuals' visual attentional capacity (i.e., visual processing speed and visual short-term memory storage capacity and selectivity functions (i.e., top-down control and spatial laterality. However, it is unclear whether these parameters distinctively map onto different brain networks obtained from intrinsic functional connectivity, which organizes slowly fluctuating ongoing brain activity. In our study, 31 demographically homogeneous healthy young participants performed whole- and partial-report tasks and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI. Report accuracy was modeled using TVA to estimate, individually, the four TVA parameters. Networks encompassing cortical areas relevant for visual attention were derived from independent component analysis of rs-fMRI data: visual, executive control, right and left frontoparietal, and ventral and dorsal attention networks. Two TVA parameters were mapped on particular functional networks. First, participants with higher (vs. lower visual processing speed showed lower functional connectivity within the ventral attention network. Second, participants with more (vs. less efficient top-down control showed higher functional connectivity within the dorsal attention network and lower functional connectivity within the visual network. Additionally, higher performance was associated with higher functional connectivity between networks: specifically, between the ventral attention and right frontoparietal networks for visual processing speed, and between the visual and executive control networks for top-down control. The higher inter-network functional connectivity was related to lower intra-network connectivity. These results demonstrate that separable

  19. Neural correlates of attention biases, behavioral inhibition, and social anxiety in children: An ERP study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thai, Nhi; Taber-Thomas, Bradley C; Pérez-Edgar, Koraly E

    2016-06-01

    Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a biologically-based temperament characterized by vigilance toward threat. Over time, many children with BI increasingly fear social circumstances and display maladaptive social behavior. BI is also one of the strongest individual risk factors for developing social anxiety disorder. Although research has established a link between BI and anxiety, its causal mechanism remains unclear. Attention biases may underlie this relation. The current study examined neural markers of the BI-attention-anxiety link in children ages 9-12 years (N=99, Mean=9.97, SD=0.97). ERP measures were collected as children completed an attention-bias (dot-probe) task with neutral and angry faces. P2 and N2 amplitudes were associated with social anxiety and attention bias, respectively. Specifically, augmented P2 was related to decreased symptoms of social anxiety and moderated the relation between BI and social anxiety, suggesting that increasing attention mobilization may serve as a compensatory mechanism that attenuates social anxiety in individuals with high BI. The BI by N2 interaction found that larger N2 related to threat avoidance with increasing levels of BI, consistent with over-controlled socio-emotional functioning. Lastly, children without BI (BN) showed an augmented P1 to probes replacing angry faces, suggesting maintenance of attentional resources in threat-related contexts. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  20. Schizotypy and specificity of negative emotions on an emotional Stroop paradigm in the general population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaffe, Beril; Walder, Deborah J

    2016-05-30

    Attentional-interference using emotional Stroop tasks (ESTs) is greater among individuals in the general population with positive (versus negative) schizotypal traits; specifically in response to negatively (versus positively) valenced words, potentially capturing threat-sensitivity. Variability in attentional-interference as a function of subcategories of negatively valenced words (and in relation to schizotypal traits) remains underexplored in EST studies. We examined attentional-interference across negative word subcategories (fear/anger/sadness/disgust), and in relation to positive schizotypy, among non-clinical individuals in the general population reporting varying degrees of schizotypal traits. As hypothesized, performance differed across word subcategories, though the pattern varied from expectation. Attentional-interference was greater for fear and sadness compared to anger; and analogous for fear, disgust, and sadness. In the high schizotypy group, positive schizotypal traits were directly associated with attentional-interference to disgust. Attentional-interference was comparable between high- and low-positive schizotypy. Results suggest negative emotion subcategories may differentially reflect threat-sensitivity. Disgust-sensitivity may be particularly salient in (non-clinical) positive schizotypy. Findings have implications for understanding negative emotion specificity and variability in stimulus presentation modality when studying threat-related attentional-interference. Finally, disgust-related attentional-interference may serve as a cognitive correlate of (non-clinical) positive schizotypy. Expanding this research to prodromal populations will help explore disgust-related attentional-interference as a potential cognitive marker of positive symptoms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Exploring the methods of data analysis in multifocal visual evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malmqvist, Lasse; Santiago de Abreu, Lucimar; Fraser, C.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) provides a topographical assessment of visual function, which has already shown potential for use in patients with glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. However, the variability in mfVEP measurements has limited its broader application. The purpo...

  2. Are Categorical Spatial Relations Encoded by Shifting Visual Attention between Objects?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uttal, David; Franconeri, Steven

    2016-01-01

    Perceiving not just values, but relations between values, is critical to human cognition. We tested the predictions of a proposed mechanism for processing categorical spatial relations between two objects—the shift account of relation processing—which states that relations such as ‘above’ or ‘below’ are extracted by shifting visual attention upward or downward in space. If so, then shifts of attention should improve the representation of spatial relations, compared to a control condition of identity memory. Participants viewed a pair of briefly flashed objects and were then tested on either the relative spatial relation or identity of one of those objects. Using eye tracking to reveal participants’ voluntary shifts of attention over time, we found that when initial fixation was on neither object, relational memory showed an absolute advantage for the object following an attention shift, while identity memory showed no advantage for either object. This result is consistent with the shift account of relation processing. When initial fixation began on one of the objects, identity memory strongly benefited this fixated object, while relational memory only showed a relative benefit for objects following an attention shift. This result is also consistent, although not as uniquely, with the shift account of relation processing. Taken together, we suggest that the attention shift account provides a mechanistic explanation for the overall results. This account can potentially serve as the common mechanism underlying both linguistic and perceptual representations of spatial relations. PMID:27695104

  3. Additive gamma frailty models with applications to competing risks in related individuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Frank; Scheike, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Epidemiological studies of related individuals are often complicated by the fact that follow-up on the event type of interest is incomplete due to the occurrence of other events. We suggest a class of frailty models with cause-specific hazards for correlated competing events in related individual...

  4. Clinical Evaluation of Reading Performance Using the Salzburg Reading Desk With a Refractive Rotational Asymmetric Multifocal Intraocular Lens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linz, Katharina; Attia, Mary S A; Khoramnia, Ramin; Tandogan, Tamer; Kretz, Florian T; Auffarth, Gerd Uwe

    2016-08-01

    To evaluate functional results and reading performance using the Salzburg Reading Desk after implantation of a sector-shaped near-embedded, rotational asymmetrical multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) and a multifocal toric IOL with a +3.00 diopter (D) near addition. In a prospective study, the LentisMplus and Mplus toric IOLs (Oculentis GmbH, Berlin, Germany) were implanted in 34 eyes of 18 patients at the University Eye Hospital of Heidelberg. Uncorrected and corrected distance visual acuity (UDVA, CDVA) and uncorrected and corrected near visual acuity (UNVA, CNVA) were evaluated using standardized visual acuity charts (ETDRS). The Salzburg Reading Desk was used to analyze unilateral and bilateral uncorrected and corrected reading acuity, reading distance, reading speed, and the smallest log-scaled print size that could be read effectively at a set (40 cm/80 cm) and subjective chosen near and intermediate distance. Postoperatively, the median UDVA was 0.08 logMAR (20/25 Snellen) and the median CDVA was 0.01 logMAR (20/20 Snellen). The median UNVA was 0.12 logMAR (20/25 Snellen) and the median CNVA was 0.03 logMAR (20/20 Snellen). The median uncorrected reading acuity measured with the Salzburg Reading Desk for near distance at 40 cm was 0.18 logMAR (20/32 Snellen). The subjectively preferred near distance was 39 cm and revealed similar visual acuity results. The best reading acuity for intermediate distance with a median of 0.22 logMAR (20/32 Snellen) was achieved at a median distance of 62 cm. Reading performance of the multifocal IOL corresponded for near standardized and individual distance, whereas reading function was better at the patient's preferred intermediate distance. [J Refract Surg. 2016;32(8):526-532.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

  5. Dissociations between developmental dyslexias and attention deficits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lukov, Limor; Friedmann, Naama; Shalev, Lilach; Khentov-Kraus, Lilach; Shalev, Nir; Lorber, Rakefet; Guggenheim, Revital

    2014-01-01

    We examine whether attention deficits underlie developmental dyslexia, or certain types of dyslexia, by presenting double dissociations between the two. We took into account the existence of distinct types of dyslexia and of attention deficits, and focused on dyslexias that may be thought to have an attentional basis: letter position dyslexia (LPD), in which letters migrate within words, attentional dyslexia (AD), in which letters migrate between words, neglect dyslexia, in which letters on one side of the word are omitted or substituted, and surface dyslexia, in which words are read via the sublexical route. We tested 110 children and adults with developmental dyslexia and/or attention deficits, using extensive batteries of reading and attention. For each participant, the existence of dyslexia and the dyslexia type were tested using reading tests that included stimuli sensitive to the various dyslexia types. Attention deficit and its type was established through attention tasks assessing sustained, selective, orienting, and executive attention functioning. Using this procedure, we identified 55 participants who showed a double dissociation between reading and attention: 28 had dyslexia with normal attention and 27 had attention deficits with normal reading. Importantly, each dyslexia with suspected attentional basis dissociated from attention: we found 21 individuals with LPD, 13 AD, 2 neglect dyslexia, and 12 surface dyslexia without attention deficits. Other dyslexia types (vowel dyslexia, phonological dyslexia, visual dyslexia) also dissociated from attention deficits. Examination of 55 additional individuals with both a specific dyslexia and a certain attention deficit found no attention function that was consistently linked with any dyslexia type. Specifically, LPD and AD dissociated from selective attention, neglect dyslexia dissociated from orienting, and surface dyslexia dissociated from sustained and executive attention. These results indicate that

  6. Upper Extremity Multifocal Neuropathy in a 10-Year-Old Boy Associated With NS6S Disaccharide Antibodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edelman, Frederick; Naddaf, Elie; Waclawik, Andrew J

    2015-06-01

    We present a 10-year-old boy with a predominantly motor multifocal neuropathy with demyelinating and axonal changes with sensory involvement, affecting only one upper extremity. Laboratory studies revealed an elevated titer of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against the NS6S antigen. He responded to treatment with high dose intravenous immunoglobulins. Focal or multifocal immune-mediated neuropathies are not common in children and may be underdiagnosed. © The Author(s) 2014.

  7. Inhibition of Pain and Pain-Related Brain Activity by Heterotopic Noxious Counter-Stimulation and Selective Attention in Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladouceur, Alexandra; Rustamov, Nabi; Dubois, Jean-Daniel; Tessier, Jessica; Lehmann, Alexandre; Descarreaux, Martin; Rainville, Pierre; Piché, Mathieu

    2017-10-10

    The aim of the present study was to assess inhibition of pain and somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) by heterotopic noxious counter-stimulation (HNCS) and by selective attention in patients with chronic non-specific LBP. Seventeen patients and age/sex-matched controls were recruited (10 men, 7 women; mean age ± SD: 43.3 ± 10.4 and 42.7 ± 11.1, respectively). On average, patients with LBP reported pain duration of 7.6 ± 6.5 years, light to moderate disability (19.3 ± 5.7/100) and low clinical pain intensity (21.8 ± 1.5/100), while pain catastrophizing, state and trait anxiety and depressive symptoms were not significantly different between groups (all p's >0.05). HNCS and selective attention had differential inhibitory effects on pain and SEP, but no difference was observed between groups. Across both groups, HNCS decreased pain (p = 0.06) as well as the N100 and the N150 components of SEP (p's selective attention only decreased pain (p attention was directed toward the HNCS stimulus (pselective attention. Importantly, this experiment was carefully designed to control for non-specific effects associated with the repetition of the test stimulus and the effect of an innocuous counter-stimulation. It remains to be determined if these results hold for patients with severe LBP and psychological symptoms or whether symptom severity may be associated with pain inhibition deficits. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Decoding the Charitable Brain: Empathy, Perspective Taking, and Attention Shifts Differentially Predict Altruistic Giving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tusche, Anita; Böckler, Anne; Kanske, Philipp; Trautwein, Fynn-Mathis; Singer, Tania

    2016-04-27

    Altruistic behavior varies considerably across people and decision contexts. The relevant computational and motivational mechanisms that underlie its heterogeneity, however, are poorly understood. Using a charitable giving task together with multivariate decoding techniques, we identified three distinct psychological mechanisms underlying altruistic decision-making (empathy, perspective taking, and attentional reorienting) and linked them to dissociable neural computations. Neural responses in the anterior insula (AI) (but not temporoparietal junction [TPJ]) encoded trial-wise empathy for beneficiaries, whereas the TPJ (but not AI) predicted the degree of perspective taking. Importantly, the relative influence of both socio-cognitive processes differed across individuals: participants whose donation behavior was heavily influenced by affective empathy exhibited higher predictive accuracies for generosity in AI, whereas those who strongly relied on cognitive perspective taking showed improved predictions of generous donations in TPJ. Furthermore, subject-specific contributions of both processes for donations were reflected in participants' empathy and perspective taking responses in a separate fMRI task (EmpaToM), suggesting that process-specific inputs into altruistic choices may reflect participants' general propensity to either empathize or mentalize. Finally, using independent attention task data, we identified shared neural codes for attentional reorienting and generous donations in the posterior superior temporal sulcus, suggesting that domain-general attention shifts also contribute to generous behavior (but not in TPJ or AI). Overall, our findings demonstrate highly specific roles of AI for affective empathy and TPJ for cognitive perspective taking as precursors of prosocial behavior and suggest that these discrete routes of social cognition differentially drive intraindividual and interindividual differences in altruistic behavior. Human societies depend on

  9. Selective Attention in Inattentional Blindness: Selection is Specific but Suppression is Not

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Wood

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available When we selectively attend to one set of objects and ignore another, we often fail to notice unexpected events. The likelihood of noticing varies depending on the similarity of an unexpected object to other items in the display, a process thought to be controlled by the attention set that we create for the attended and ignored objects. It remains unclear, though, how attention sets are formed and structured. Do they enhance features of attended objects (“white” and suppress features of ignored objects (“black”, or do they distinguish objects based on relations or categories (“darker” versus “lighter,” or “dark objects” versus “light objects”? In previous work, these explanations are confounded; the objects would be partitioned into the same groups regardless the structure of the attention set. In the present three experiments, the attended or ignored set of objects was a constant color while the other set was variable. When people attended white and ignored a multicolored set of objects (Experiment 1, novel colors were suppressed just as much as display colors, suggesting nonselective filtering of nonwhite objects. When the color of one set of objects varied across displays but was constant within them (Experiments 2 and 3, we again found as much suppression for task-irrelevant and novel colors as for actively ignored ones. Whenever people ignored a set of objects that varied in color, they suppressed unexpected objects that matched the ignored colors and that differed from the actively ignored items on the critical trial. In contrast, when people attended a varying set, noticing was enhanced only for unexpected objects that matched the currently attended color. In this task, attentional filtering is category-based and did not depend on the features of the individual objects.

  10. Individual Differences in the Speed of Facial Emotion Recognition Show Little Specificity but Are Strongly Related with General Mental Speed: Psychometric, Neural and Genetic Evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinyang Liu

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Facial identity and facial expression processing are crucial socio-emotional abilities but seem to show only limited psychometric uniqueness when the processing speed is considered in easy tasks. We applied a comprehensive measurement of processing speed and contrasted performance specificity in socio-emotional, social and non-social stimuli from an individual differences perspective. Performance in a multivariate task battery could be best modeled by a general speed factor and a first-order factor capturing some specific variance due to processing emotional facial expressions. We further tested equivalence of the relationships between speed factors and polymorphisms of dopamine and serotonin transporter genes. Results show that the speed factors are not only psychometrically equivalent but invariant in their relation with the Catechol-O-Methyl-Transferase (COMT Val158Met polymorphism. However, the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 serotonin polymorphism was related with the first-order factor of emotion perception speed, suggesting a specific genetic correlate of processing emotions. We further investigated the relationship between several components of event-related brain potentials with psychometric abilities, and tested emotion specific individual differences at the neurophysiological level. Results revealed swifter emotion perception abilities to go along with larger amplitudes of the P100 and the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN, when emotion processing was modeled on its own. However, after partialling out the shared variance of emotion perception speed with general processing speed-related abilities, brain-behavior relationships did not remain specific for emotion. Together, the present results suggest that speed abilities are strongly interrelated but show some specificity for emotion processing speed at the psychometric level. At both genetic and neurophysiological levels, emotion specificity depended on whether general cognition is taken into account

  11. Individual Differences in the Speed of Facial Emotion Recognition Show Little Specificity but Are Strongly Related with General Mental Speed: Psychometric, Neural and Genetic Evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xinyang; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Recio, Guillermo; Sommer, Werner; Cai, Xinxia; Wilhelm, Oliver

    2017-01-01

    Facial identity and facial expression processing are crucial socio-emotional abilities but seem to show only limited psychometric uniqueness when the processing speed is considered in easy tasks. We applied a comprehensive measurement of processing speed and contrasted performance specificity in socio-emotional, social and non-social stimuli from an individual differences perspective. Performance in a multivariate task battery could be best modeled by a general speed factor and a first-order factor capturing some specific variance due to processing emotional facial expressions. We further tested equivalence of the relationships between speed factors and polymorphisms of dopamine and serotonin transporter genes. Results show that the speed factors are not only psychometrically equivalent but invariant in their relation with the Catechol-O-Methyl-Transferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism. However, the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 serotonin polymorphism was related with the first-order factor of emotion perception speed, suggesting a specific genetic correlate of processing emotions. We further investigated the relationship between several components of event-related brain potentials with psychometric abilities, and tested emotion specific individual differences at the neurophysiological level. Results revealed swifter emotion perception abilities to go along with larger amplitudes of the P100 and the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN), when emotion processing was modeled on its own. However, after partialling out the shared variance of emotion perception speed with general processing speed-related abilities, brain-behavior relationships did not remain specific for emotion. Together, the present results suggest that speed abilities are strongly interrelated but show some specificity for emotion processing speed at the psychometric level. At both genetic and neurophysiological levels, emotion specificity depended on whether general cognition is taken into account or not. These

  12. Emotion perception and empathy: An individual differences test of relations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olderbak, Sally; Wilhelm, Oliver

    2017-10-01

    Numerous theories posit a positive relation between perceiving emotion expressed in the face of a stranger (emotion perception) and feeling or cognitively understanding the emotion of that person (affective and cognitive empathy, respectively). However, when relating individual differences in emotion perception with individual differences in affective or cognitive empathy, effect sizes are contradictory, but often not significantly different from zero. Based on 4 studies (study ns range from 97 to 486 persons; n total = 958) that differ from one another on many design and sample characteristics, applying advanced modeling techniques to control for measurement error, we estimate relations between affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and emotion perception. Relations are tested separately for each of the 6 basic emotions (an emotion-specific model) as well as across all emotions (an emotion-general model). Reflecting the literature, effect sizes and statistical significance with an emotion-general model vary across the individual studies (rs range from -.001 to .24 for emotion perception with affective empathy and -.01 to .39 for emotion perception with cognitive empathy), with a meta-analysis of these results indicating emotion perception is weakly related with affective (r = .13, p = .003) and cognitive empathy (r = .13, p = .05). Relations are not strengthened in an emotion-specific model. We argue that the weak effect sizes and inconsistency across studies reflects a neglected distinction of measurement approach-specifically, empathy is assessed as typical behavior and emotion perception is assessed as maximal effort-and conclude with considerations regarding the measurement of each construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  13. The Attentional Blink Paradigm in Individuals with High and Low Levels of Depression and Anxiety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah Kathleen Skinner

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The attentional biases of individuals with high and low levels of depression and anxiety were tested using the Attentional Blink paradigm. A rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP task was used to detect biases in identification of emotionally valenced target images. The independent variables were depression, anxiety, lag of target stimulus, and emotional valence of target images. The dependent variables were accuracy, reaction times, and pupil dilation. As predicted, attentional biases were found for symptoms of both depression and anxiety, independently and co-morbidly, for dependent variables. The data suggest that there are both differences and similarities in the effects of symptoms of anxiety and depression on attentional biases around emotional stimuli.

  14. Oscillatory activity reflects differential use of spatial reference frames by sighted and blind individuals in tactile attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schubert, Jonathan T W; Buchholz, Verena N; Föcker, Julia; Engel, Andreas K; Röder, Brigitte; Heed, Tobias

    2015-08-15

    Touch can be localized either on the skin in anatomical coordinates, or, after integration with posture, in external space. Sighted individuals are thought to encode touch in both coordinate systems concurrently, whereas congenitally blind individuals exhibit a strong bias for using anatomical coordinates. We investigated the neural correlates of this differential dominance in the use of anatomical and external reference frames by assessing oscillatory brain activity during a tactile spatial attention task. The EEG was recorded while sighted and congenitally blind adults received tactile stimulation to uncrossed and crossed hands while detecting rare tactile targets at one cued hand only. In the sighted group, oscillatory alpha-band activity (8-12Hz) in the cue-target interval was reduced contralaterally and enhanced ipsilaterally with uncrossed hands. Hand crossing attenuated the degree of posterior parietal alpha-band lateralization, indicating that attention deployment was affected by external spatial coordinates. Beamforming suggested that this posture effect originated in the posterior parietal cortex. In contrast, cue-related lateralization of central alpha-band as well as of beta-band activity (16-24Hz) were unaffected by hand crossing, suggesting that these oscillations exclusively encode anatomical coordinates. In the blind group, central alpha-band activity was lateralized, but did not change across postures. The pattern of beta-band activity was indistinguishable between groups. Because the neural mechanisms for posterior alpha-band generation seem to be linked to developmental vision, we speculate that the lack of this neural mechanism in blind individuals is related to their preferred use of anatomical over external spatial codes in sensory processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Influence of Near-Segment Positioning in a Rotationally Asymmetric Multifocal Intraocular Lens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, In Seok; Yoon, Sam Young; Kim, Jae Yong; Kim, Myoung Joon; Tchah, Hungwon

    2016-04-01

    To compare visual performance and higher order aberrations (HOAs) based on the position of the near segment in eyes with rotationally asymmetric multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs). Asymmetric multifocal IOLs (Lentis Mplus LS-313; Oculentis Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) were implanted with the near segment positioned either inferiorly, superiorly, or temporally. Uncorrected distance (UDVA), intermediate (UIVA), and near (UNVA) visual acuity, corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), and distance-corrected intermediate (DCIVA) and near (DCNVA) visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, HOAs, and subjective symptom questionnaires were compared at 1 month postoperatively. Forty-five eyes from 45 patients were evaluated (n = 25, 9, and 11 eyes in the inferior, superior, and temporal groups, respectively). No significant differences in UDVA, UIVA, UNVA, CDVA, DCIVA, or DCNVA were found between the three groups (P > .05). The temporal group showed the best results in UDVA, CDVA, and DCNVA, but the inferior group showed the best results in DCIVA and UNVA and the superior group showed the best results in UIVA. Contrast sensitivity and the subjective symptom questionnaire also did not demonstrate any significant differences (P > .05). Total HOA and spherical aberration did not demonstrate any statistically significant differences (P > .05), but vertical coma and horizontal coma demonstrated significant differences based on near segment position (P < .001). The position of the near segment in eyes with rotationally asymmetric multifocal IOLs demonstrates no significant effect on visual performance. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

  16. Negative Affect, Decision Making, and Attentional Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortega, Ana Raquel; Ramírez, Encarnación; Colmenero, José María; García-Viedma, Ma Del Rosario

    2017-02-01

    This study focuses on whether risk avoidance in decision making depends on negative affect or it is specific to anxious individuals. The Balloon Analogue Risk Task was used to obtain an objective measure in a risk situation with anxious, depressive, and control individuals. The role of attentional networks was also studied using the Attentional Network Test-Interaction (ANT-I) task with neutral stimuli. A significant difference was observed between anxious and depressive individuals in assumed risk in decision making. We found no differences between anxious and normal individuals in the alert, orientation, and congruency effects obtained in the ANT-I task. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between the risk avoidance and the indexes of alertness, orienting, and control. Future research shall determine whether emotionally relevant stimulation leads to attentional control deficit or whether differences between anxious and no anxious individuals are due to the type of strategy followed in choice tasks.

  17. Identification of Auditory Object-Specific Attention from Single-Trial Electroencephalogram Signals via Entropy Measures and Machine Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yun Lu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Existing research has revealed that auditory attention can be tracked from ongoing electroencephalography (EEG signals. The aim of this novel study was to investigate the identification of peoples’ attention to a specific auditory object from single-trial EEG signals via entropy measures and machine learning. Approximate entropy (ApEn, sample entropy (SampEn, composite multiscale entropy (CmpMSE and fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn were used to extract the informative features of EEG signals under three kinds of auditory object-specific attention (Rest, Auditory Object1 Attention (AOA1 and Auditory Object2 Attention (AOA2. The linear discriminant analysis and support vector machine (SVM, were used to construct two auditory attention classifiers. The statistical results of entropy measures indicated that there were significant differences in the values of ApEn, SampEn, CmpMSE and FuzzyEn between Rest, AOA1 and AOA2. For the SVM-based auditory attention classifier, the auditory object-specific attention of Rest, AOA1 and AOA2 could be identified from EEG signals using ApEn, SampEn, CmpMSE and FuzzyEn as features and the identification rates were significantly different from chance level. The optimal identification was achieved by the SVM-based auditory attention classifier using CmpMSE with the scale factor τ = 10. This study demonstrated a novel solution to identify the auditory object-specific attention from single-trial EEG signals without the need to access the auditory stimulus.

  18. Individuals with Asperger's disorder exhibit difficulty in switching attention from a local level to a global level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katagiri, Masatoshi; Kasai, Tetsuko; Kamio, Yoko; Murohashi, Harumitsu

    2013-02-01

    The purpose of the present study was to determine whether individuals with Asperger's disorder exhibit difficulty in switching attention from a local level to a global level. Eleven participants with Asperger's disorder and 11 age- and gender-matched healthy controls performed a level-repetition switching task using Navon-type hierarchical stimuli. In both groups, level-repetition was beneficial at both levels. Furthermore, individuals with Asperger's disorder exhibited difficulty in switching attention from a local level to a global level compared to control individuals. These findings suggested that there is a problem with the inhibitory mechanism that influences the output of enhanced local visual processing in Asperger's disorder.

  19. Relating Specific Emotions to Intrinsic Motivation: On the Moderating Role of Positive and Negative Emotion Differentiation

    OpenAIRE

    Vandercammen, Leen; Hofmans, Joeri; Theuns, Peter

    2014-01-01

    Despite the fact that studies on self-determination theory have traditionally disregarded the explicit role of emotions in the motivation eliciting process, research attention for the affective antecedents of motivation is growing. We add to this emerging research field by testing the moderating role of emotion differentiation -individual differences in the extent to which people can differentiate between specific emotions- on the relationship between twelve specific emotions and intrinsic mo...

  20. Emotional Stroop interference for threatening words is related to reduced EEG δ-β coupling and low attentional control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putman, Peter; Arias-Garcia, Elsa; Pantazi, Ioanna; van Schie, Charlotte

    2012-05-01

    Previously, electroencephalographic (EEG) delta-beta coupling (positive correlation between power in the fast beta and slow delta frequency bands) has been related to affective processing. For instance, differences in delta-beta coupling have been observed between people in a psychological stress condition and controls. We previously reported relationships between attentional threat processing and delta-beta coupling and individual differences in attentional control. The present study extended and replicated these findings in a large mixed gender sample (N=80). Results demonstrated that emotional Stroop task interference for threatening words was related to self-reported attentional inhibition capacity and frontal delta-beta coupling. There was no clear gender difference for delta-beta coupling (only a non-significant trend) and the relationship between delta-beta coupling and attentional threat-processing was not affected by gender. These results replicate and extend an earlier finding concerning delta-beta coupling and cognitive affect regulation and further clarify relationships between delta-beta coupling, attentional control, and threat-processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Primary multifocal tuberculous osteomyelitis with involvement of the ribs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, D.S. [New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York (United States); Rafii, M.; McGuinness, G. [Department of Radiology, NYU Medical Center, New York, NY (United States); Jagirdar, J.S. [Department of Pathology, NYU Medical Center, New York, New York (United States)

    1998-11-01

    Two cases of primary multifocal tuberculous osteomyelitis with involvement of the rib cage are presented. The lungs were normal and the appearance of the skeletal lesions did not suggest tuberculosis. These lesions were predominantly lytic, with minimal soft tissue involvement. Tuberculosis should be high in the differential diagnosis of multiple destructive bone lesions, especially in patients from regions where tuberculosis is endemic. (orig.) With 5 figs., 21 refs.

  2. Are divided attention tasks useful in the assessment and management of sport-related concussion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Register-Mihalik, Johna K; Littleton, Ashley C; Guskiewicz, Kevin M

    2013-12-01

    This article is a systematic review of the literature on divided attention assessment inclusive of a cognitive and motor task (balance or gait) for use in concussion management. The systematic review drew from published papers listed in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL databases. The search identified 19 empirical research papers meeting the inclusion criteria. Study results were considered for the psychometric properties of the paradigms, the influence of divided attention on measures of cognition and postural control and the comparison of divided attention task outcomes between individuals with concussion and healthy controls (all samples were age 17 years or older). The review highlights that the reliability of the tasks under a divided attention paradigm presented ranges from low to high (ICC: 0.1-0.9); however, only 3/19 articles included psychometric information. Response times are greater, gait strategies are less efficient, and postural control deficits are greater in concussed participants compared with healthy controls both immediately and for some period following concussive injury, specifically under divided attention conditions. Dual task assessments in some cases were more reliable than single task assessments and may be better able to detect lingering effects following concussion. Few of the studies have been replicated and applied across various age groups. A key limitation of these studies is that many include laboratory and time-intensive measures. Future research is needed to refine a time and cost efficient divided attention assessment paradigm, and more work is needed in younger (pre-teens) populations where the application may be of greatest utility.

  3. Stage- and sex-specific heat tolerance in the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria

    OpenAIRE

    Blanckenhorn Wolf U.; Gautier Roland; Nick Marcel; Puniamoorthy Nalini; Schäfer Martin A.

    2014-01-01

    Thermal tolerance varies at all hierarchical levels of biological organization: among species populations individuals and even within individuals. Age or developmental stage and sex specific thermal effects have received relatively little attention in the literature despite being crucial for understanding thermal adaptation in nature and responses to global warming. We document stage and sex specific heat tolerance in the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Diptera: Scathophagidae) a...

  4. Bilateral implantation of +3.0 D multifocal toric intraocular lenses: results of a US Food and Drug Administration clinical trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehmann, Robert; Modi, Satish; Fisher, Bret; Michna, Magda; Snyder, Michael

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of apodized diffractive +3.0 D multifocal toric intraocular lens (IOL) implantations in subjects with preoperative corneal astigmatism. This was a prospective cohort study conducted at 21 US sites. The study population consisted of 574 subjects, aged ≥21 years, with preoperative astigmatism 0.75-2.82 D, and potential postoperative visual acuity (VA) ≥0.2 logMAR, undergoing bilateral cataract removal by phacoemulsification. The intervention was bilateral implantation of aspheric apodized diffractive +3.0 D multifocal toric or spherical multifocal nontoric IOLs. The main outcome measures were monocular uncorrected near and distance VA and safety at 12 months. A total of 373/386 and 182/188 subjects implanted with multifocal toric and nontoric IOLs, respectively, completed 12-month follow-up after the second implantation. Toric IOLs were nonin-ferior in monocular uncorrected distance (4 m) and near (40 cm) VA but had >1 line better binocular uncorrected intermediate VA (50, 60, and 70 cm) than nontoric IOLs. Toric IOLs reduced cylinder to within 0.50 D and 1.0 D of target in 278 (74.5%) and 351 (94.1%) subjects, respectively. Mean ± standard deviation (SD) differences between intended and achieved axis orientation in the first and second implanted eyes were 5.0°±6.1° and 4.7°±4.0°, respectively. Mean ± SD 12-month IOL rotations in the first and second implanted eyes were 2.7°±5.8° and 2.2°±2.7°, respectively. No subject receiving toric IOLs required secondary surgical intervention due to optical lens properties. Multifocal toric IOLs were noninferior to multifocal nontoric IOLs in uncorrected distance and near VAs in subjects with preexisting corneal astigmatism and effectively corrected astigmatism of 0.75-2.82 D.

  5. Relating Dopaminergic and Cholinergic Polymorphisms to Spatial Attention in Infancy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markant, Julie; Cicchetti, Dante; Hetzel, Susan; Thomas, Kathleen M.

    2014-01-01

    Early selective attention skills are a crucial building block for cognitive development, as attention orienting serves as a primary means by which infants interact with and learn from the environment. Although several studies have examined infants' attention orienting using the spatial cueing task, relatively few studies have examined…

  6. Attentional bias in math anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubinsten, Orly; Eidlin, Hili; Wohl, Hadas; Akibli, Orly

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive theory from the field of general anxiety suggests that the tendency to display attentional bias toward negative information results in anxiety. Accordingly, the current study aims to investigate whether attentional bias is involved in math anxiety (MA) as well (i.e., a persistent negative reaction to math). Twenty seven participants (14 with high levels of MA and 13 with low levels of MA) were presented with a novel computerized numerical version of the well established dot probe task. One of six types of prime stimuli, either math related or typically neutral, was presented on one side of a computer screen. The prime was preceded by a probe (either one or two asterisks) that appeared in either the prime or the opposite location. Participants had to discriminate probe identity (one or two asterisks). Math anxious individuals reacted faster when the probe was at the location of the numerical related stimuli. This suggests the existence of attentional bias in MA. That is, for math anxious individuals, the cognitive system selectively favored the processing of emotionally negative information (i.e., math related words). These findings suggest that attentional bias is linked to unduly intense MA symptoms.

  7. Training of attention functions in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucha, Oliver; Tucha, Lara; Kaumann, Gesa; König, Sebastian; Lange, Katharina M; Stasik, Dorota; Streather, Zoe; Engelschalk, Tobias; Lange, Klaus W

    2011-09-01

    Pharmacological treatment of children with ADHD has been shown to be successful; however, medication may not normalize attention functions. The present study was based on a neuropsychological model of attention and assessed the effect of an attention training program on attentional functioning of children with ADHD. Thirty-two children with ADHD and 16 healthy children participated in the study. Children with ADHD were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions, i.e., an attention training program which trained aspects of vigilance, selective attention and divided attention, or a visual perception training which trained perceptual skills, such as perception of figure and ground, form constancy and position in space. The training programs were applied in individual sessions, twice a week, for a period of four consecutive weeks. Healthy children did not receive any training. Alertness, vigilance, selective attention, divided attention, and flexibility were examined prior to and following the interventions. Children with ADHD were assessed and trained while on ADHD medications. Data analysis revealed that the attention training used in the present study led to significant improvements of various aspects of attention, including vigilance, divided attention, and flexibility, while the visual perception training had no specific effects. The findings indicate that attention training programs have the potential to facilitate attentional functioning in children with ADHD treated with ADHD drugs.

  8. TBC1D24 Mutations in a Sibship with Multifocal Polymyoclonus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adeline Ngoh

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Advances in molecular genetic technologies have improved our understanding of genetic causes of rare neurological disorders with features of myoclonus.Case Report: A family with two affected siblings, presenting with multifocal polymyoclonus and neurodevelopmental delay, was recruited for whole-exome sequencing following unyielding diagnostic neurometabolic investigations. Compound heterozygous mutations in TBC1D24, a gene previously associated with various epilepsy phenotypes and hearing loss, were identified in both siblings. The mutations included a missense change c.457G>A (p.Glu157Lys, and a novel frameshift mutation c.545del (p.Thr182Serfs*6.Discussion: We propose that TBC1D24-related diseases should be in the differential diagnosis for children with polymyoclonus. 

  9. Asymmetry in auditory and spatial attention span in normal elderly genetically at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Mark W; Delis, Dean C; Bondi, Mark W; Salmon, David P

    2005-02-01

    Some studies of elderly individuals with the ApoE-e4 genotype noted subtle deficits on tests of attention such as the WAIS-R Digit Span subtest, but these findings have not been consistently reported. One possible explanation for the inconsistent results could be the presence of subgroups of e4+ individuals with asymmetric cognitive profiles (i.e., significant discrepancies between verbal and visuospatial skills). Comparing genotype groups with individual, modality-specific tests might obscure subtle differences between verbal and visuospatial attention in these asymmetric subgroups. In this study, we administered the WAIS-R Digit Span and WMS-R Visual Memory Span subtests to 21 nondemented elderly e4+ individuals and 21 elderly e4- individuals matched on age, education, and overall cognitive ability. We hypothesized that a) the e4+ group would show a higher incidence of asymmetric cognitive profiles when comparing Digit Span/Visual Memory Span performance relative to the e4- group; and (b) an analysis of individual test performance would fail to reveal differences between the two subject groups. Although the groups' performances were comparable on the individual attention span tests, the e4+ group showed a significantly larger discrepancy between digit span and spatial span scores compared to the e4- group. These findings suggest that contrast measures of modality-specific attentional skills may be more sensitive to subtle group differences in at-risk groups, even when the groups do not differ on individual comparisons of standardized test means. The increased discrepancy between verbal and visuospatial attention may reflect the presence of "subgroups" within the ApoE-e4 group that are qualitatively similar to asymmetric subgroups commonly associated with the earliest stages of AD.

  10. The effect of high- to low-altitude adaptation on the multifocal electroretinogram

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kofoed, Peter Kristian; Sander, Birgit; Zubieta-Calleja, Gustavo

    2009-01-01

    PURPOSE: To examine variations in retinal electrophysiology assessed by multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) during acclimatization of native highlanders to normobaric normoxia at sea level. METHODS: Eight healthy residents of the greater La Paz area in Bolivia (3600 m above sea level) were...

  11. Multifocal oral melanoacanthoma associated with Addison's disease and hyperthyroidism: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dantas, Thinali Sousa; Nascimento, Isabelly Vidal do; Verde, Maria Elisa Quezado Lima; Alves, Ana Paula Negreiros Nunes; Sousa, Fabrício Bitu; Mota, Mário Rogério Lima

    2017-01-01

    Oral melanoacanthoma is a mucocutaneous, pigmented, rare, benign, and probably reactive lesion. This paper reports for the first time in the literature a case of multifocal oral melanoacanthoma in a patient diagnosed with Addison's disease and concomitant Graves' disease with hyperthyroidism. The patient presented with oral pigmented lesions, which were hypothesized to be mucosal pigmentation associated with Addison's disease. Due to their unusual clinical pattern, these oral lesions were biopsied and diagnosed as oral melanoacanthoma on histopathology and immunohistochemistry for HMB-45. At the moment of this report, the patient was being treated for her systemic conditions, but the lesions had not regressed. Reactive hyperpigmentation of the skin and mucous membranes may be found in Addison's disease and hyperthyroidism. This case reinforces the hypothesis of a reactive nature for oral melanoacanthoma and highlights the need for investigation of endocrine disorders in patients with multifocal oral melanoacanthoma.

  12. Multifocal Abrikossoff's granular cell tumor of the oesophagus: Case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ranđelović Tomislav D.

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION Granular cell tumors, relatively uncommon soft tissue tumors, have been a matter of debate among pathologists regarding histogenesis for a long time. Less common locations are in the aerodigestive tract including the oesophagus. CASE OUTLINE We have recently treated a rare case, a 37-year old male, who was admitted due to dysphagia and a painful swallow with occasional pharyngo-nasal regurgitation followed with a mild loss of weight. Standard clinical examination including X-ray chest, ECG and laboratory tests did not show pathological findings. Barium contrast oesophagography demonstrated multiple ovoid defects in the wall of the oesophagus. CT scan of the chest confirmed luminal narrowing owing to the tumor of the upper oesophagus. Upper endoscopy showed unusual multifocal nodular lesions alongside the oesophageal axis covered by smooth mucosa. A primary biopsy specimen taken from the largest nodules confirmed an unusual pathological finding of the granular cell tumor. Subtotal, transpleural oesophagectomy was performed and reconstruction was derived by long colon segment interposition through the posterior mediastinum. The postoperative course was uneventful. The operative specimen consisted of four ovoid tumors alongside the oesophagus (the greatest diameter 0.5-1.8, average 1.25. All verified tumors histologicaly consisted of a spindle-shaped or polygonal cells containing small and large eosinophilic granules and central nuclei. Most tumor cells showed strongly positive immunohistochemical staining for S-100 protein. These tumor cells were partially positive for p-53 and Ki-67. No lymph node metastases were detected histologically. CONCLUSION Multifocal granular cell tumor of the oesophagus is an unusual finding with low incidence, and rarely caused symptoms. Pathological features and multiplicity of such tumors emphasized malignant predisposition requiring surgical resection of the oesophagus.

  13. Threat/reward-sensitivity and hypomanic-personality modulate cognitive-control and attentional neural processes to emotional stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pornpattananangkul, Narun; Hu, Xiaoqing; Nusslock, Robin

    2015-11-01

    Temperamental-traits (e.g. threat/reward-sensitivity) are found to modulate cognitive-control and attentional-processes. Yet, it is unclear exactly how these traits interact with emotional-stimuli in the modulation of cognitive-control, as reflected by the N2 event-related potential (ERP), and attentional-processes, as reflected by the P2 and P3 ERPs. Here in an ERP emotional-Go/NoGo task, 36 participants were instructed to inhibit their response to Fearful- and Happy-faces. Individual-differences in threat-sensitivity, reward-sensitivity and hypomanic-personality were assessed through self-report. Hypomanic-personality was assessed, given its relationship with reward-sensitivity and relevance to mood-disorder symptoms. Concerning cognitive-control, individuals with elevated threat-sensitivity displayed more-negative N2s to Happy-NoGo (relative to Fearful-NoGo) faces, whereas both individuals with elevated reward-sensitivity and hypomanic-personality displayed more-negative N2s to Fearful-NoGo (relative to Happy-NoGo) faces. Accordingly, when cognitive-control is required (during Go/NoGo), a mismatch between one's temperament and the valence of the NoGo-stimulus elevates detection of the need for cognitive-control. Conversely, the modulation of attentional-processing was specific to threat-sensitivity, as there was no relationship between either reward-sensitivity or hypomanic-personality and attentional-processing. Elevated threat-sensitivity was associated with enhanced early (P2s) and later (P3s) attentional-processing to Fearful-NoGo (relative to Happy-NoGo) faces. These latter findings support the negative attentional-bias model relating elevated threat-sensitivity with attentional-biases toward negative-stimuli and away from positive-stimuli. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  14. Minor and unsystematic cortical topographic changes of attention correlates between modalities.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis F H Basile

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In this study we analyzed the topography of induced cortical oscillations in 20 healthy individuals performing simple attention tasks. We were interested in qualitatively replicating our recent findings on the localization of attention-induced beta bands during a visual task [1], and verifying whether significant topographic changes would follow the change of attention to the auditory modality. We computed corrected latency averaging of each induced frequency bands, and modeled their generators by current density reconstruction with Lp-norm minimization. We quantified topographic similarity between conditions by an analysis of correlations, whereas the inter-modality significant differences in attention correlates were illustrated in each individual case. We replicated the qualitative result of highly idiosyncratic topography of attention-related activity to individuals, manifested both in the beta bands, and previously studied slow potential distributions [2]. Visual inspection of both scalp potentials and distribution of cortical currents showed minor changes in attention-related bands with respect to modality, as compared to the theta and delta bands, known to be major contributors to the sensory-related potentials. Quantitative results agreed with visual inspection, supporting to the conclusion that attention-related activity does not change much between modalities, and whatever individual changes do occur, they are not systematic in cortical localization across subjects. We discuss our results, combined with results from other studies that present individual data, with respect to the function of cortical association areas.

  15. Aging effects on selective attention-related electroencephalographic patterns during face encoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deiber, M-P; Rodriguez, C; Jaques, D; Missonnier, P; Emch, J; Millet, P; Gold, G; Giannakopoulos, P; Ibañez, V

    2010-11-24

    Previous electrophysiological studies revealed that human faces elicit an early visual event-related potential (ERP) within the occipito-temporal cortex, the N170 component. Although face perception has been proposed to rely on automatic processing, the impact of selective attention on N170 remains controversial both in young and elderly individuals. Using early visual ERP and alpha power analysis, we assessed the influence of aging on selective attention to faces during delayed-recognition tasks for face and letter stimuli, examining 36 elderly and 20 young adults with preserved cognition. Face recognition performance worsened with age. Aging induced a latency delay of the N1 component for faces and letters, as well as of the face N170 component. Contrasting with letters, ignored faces elicited larger N1 and N170 components than attended faces in both age groups. This counterintuitive attention effect on face processing persisted when scenes replaced letters. In contrast with young, elderly subjects failed to suppress irrelevant letters when attending faces. Whereas attended stimuli induced a parietal alpha band desynchronization within 300-1000 ms post-stimulus with bilateral-to-right distribution for faces and left lateralization for letters, ignored and passively viewed stimuli elicited a central alpha synchronization larger on the right hemisphere. Aging delayed the latency of this alpha synchronization for both face and letter stimuli, and reduced its amplitude for ignored letters. These results suggest that due to their social relevance, human faces may cause paradoxical attention effects on early visual ERP components, but they still undergo classical top-down control as a function of endogenous selective attention. Aging does not affect the face bottom-up alerting mechanism but reduces the top-down suppression of distracting letters, possibly impinging upon face recognition, and more generally delays the top-down suppression of task-irrelevant information

  16. Attention to irrelevant cues is related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Richard; Griffiths, Oren; Le Pelley, Michael E; Weickert, Thomas W

    2013-05-01

    Many modern learning theories assume that the amount of attention to a cue depends on how well that cue predicted important events in the past. Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in attention and recent theories of psychosis have argued that positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations are related to a failure of selective attention. However, evidence demonstrating that attention to irrelevant cues is related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia is lacking. We used a novel method of measuring attention to nonpredictive (and thus irrelevant) cues in a causal learning test (Le Pelley ME, McLaren IP. Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning. Q J Exp Psychol B. 2003;56:68-79) to assess whether healthy adults and people with schizophrenia discriminate previously predictive and nonpredictive cues. In a series of experiments with independent samples, we demonstrated: (1) when people with schizophrenia who had severe positive symptoms successfully distinguished between predictive and nonpredictive cues during training, they failed to discriminate between predictive and nonpredictive cues relative to healthy adults during subsequent testing and (2) learning about nonpredictive cues was correlated with more severe positive symptoms scores in schizophrenia. These results suggest that positive symptoms of schizophrenia are related to increased attention to nonpredictive cues during causal learning. This deficit in selective attention results in learning irrelevant causal associations and may be the basis of positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

  17. Risk markers of all-cause and diagnosis-specific disability pension--a prospective cohort study of individuals sickness absent due to stress-related mental disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishtiak-Ahmed, Kazi; Perski, Aleksander; Mittendorfer-Rutz, Ellenor

    2014-08-07

    Stress-related mental disorders rank among the leading causes of sickness absence in several European countries. The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of all-cause and diagnosis-specific disability pension in sickness absentees with stress-related mental disorders. A cohort of 36304 non-retired individuals aged 16-64 years at 31.12.2004 with at-least one sickness absence spell due to stress-related mental disorders (SRMD) initiated in 2005 in Sweden was followed-up with regard to disability pension (2006-2010) by linkage of registers. Uni- and multivariate Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% Confidence Intervals, CI, were estimated using Cox regression for several risk markers. During the follow-up period, 2735 individuals (7.5%) were granted a disability pension, predominantly due to mental diagnoses (n = 2004, 73.3%). In the multivariate analyses, female sex, age exceeding 35 years, low educational level, being born in a country outside EU25 and Northern Europe, residing outside big cities, living alone, having had a long duration of the first spell due to SRMD (>90 days); mental disorders necessitating frequent specialised health care as well as comorbid somatic disorders were found to be predictive of granting disability pension. Some different patterns emerged for risk factors related to diagnosis-specific disability pension and for younger and older individuals. Several predictors could be identified as risk markers for disability pension. The variation in the effect of risk markers with regard to age and diagnosis of disability pension speaks in favour of the importance of a person-centered approach in treatment and rehabilitation.

  18. Heavy drinking, impulsivity and attentional narrowing following alcohol cue exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hicks, Joshua A; Fields, Sherecce; Davis, William E; Gable, Philip A

    2015-08-01

    Research shows that alcohol-related stimuli have the propensity to capture attention among individuals motivated to consume alcohol. Research has further demonstrated that impulsive individuals are especially prone to this type of attentional bias. Recently, it is suggested that alcohol cue exposure can also produce a general narrowing of attention consistent with the activation of approach motivational states. Based on previous models of addiction and recent research on the activation of approach motivational states, we predicted that impulsive individuals would demonstrate a constriction of attentional focus in response to alcohol cue exposure. Participants (n = 392) completed a task assessing attentional breadth in response to alcohol and non-alcohol cues, followed by measures of alcohol use and impulsivity. The findings revealed that impulsivity scores predicted narrowing of attentional scope following the presentation of alcohol cues for heavier drinkers but not for light drinkers. These results suggest that impulsive individuals who drink more heavily demonstrate a narrowing of attention in the presence of alcohol-related incentive cues. Implications for how these findings might account for the link between impulsivity and alcohol use and misuse are discussed.

  19. Autorefraction versus subjective refraction in a radially asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Linden, Jan Willem; Vrijman, Violette; Al-Saady, Rana; El-Saady, Rana; van der Meulen, Ivanka J; Mourits, Maarten P; Lapid-Gortzak, Ruth

    2014-12-01

    To evaluate whether the automated refraction (AR) correlates with subjective manifest (MR) refraction in eyes implanted with radially asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens (IOLs). This retrospective study evaluated 52 eyes (52 patients) implanted with a radially asymmetric multifocal IOL (LS-312 MF30, Oculentis, Germany). At 3 months postoperatively, the AR and MR values were compared to determine the correlation between the sphere (S), the spherical equivalent (SE) and the astigmatic components J0 and J45. The difference of mean spherical measurement was +0.98D ± 0.62, with the AR measuring more myopic. The difference of the mean spherical equivalent was +1.11D ± 0.57, again with AR being more myopic. Both these differences were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The astigmatic components showed less differences, with the mean difference of the J0 being -0.09D ± 0.43, and the J45 of +0.04D ± 0.47, which were both not statistically significant (p = 0.123 and p = 0.531, respectively). Correlation analysis of the refractive parameters showed r(2) = 0.067, r(2) = 0.078, r(2) = 0.018 and r(2) = 0.015, respectively, all of which point to a low correlation between the AR and the MR. Autorefraction shows poor correlation to manifest subjective refraction with these radially asymmetric multifocal IOLs. The autorefraction systematically underestimates the spherical and spherical equivalent power, while the correlation between the astigmatic components was also low. Autorefraction seems not a valid starting point for manifest subjective refraction with these types of lenses, unless a corrective factor of about +1 dioptre is used. © 2014 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Variation in Cognitive Failures: An Individual Differences Investigation of Everyday Attention and Memory Failures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unsworth, Nash; Brewer, Gene A.; Spillers, Gregory J.

    2012-01-01

    The present study examined individual differences in everyday cognitive failures assessed by diaries. A large sample of participants completed various cognitive ability measures in the laboratory. Furthermore, a subset of these participants also recorded everyday cognitive failures (attention, retrospective memory, and prospective memory failures)…

  1. Radioembolization After Portal Vein Embolization in a Patient with Multifocal Hepatocellular Carcinoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burgmans, Mark C.; Irani, Farah G.; Chan, Wan Ying; Teo, Terence K.; Kao, Yung Hsiang; Goh, Anthony S.W.; Chow, Pierce K.; Lo, Richard H.

    2012-01-01

    Radioembolization is an effective locoregional therapy for patients with intermediate or advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It has been shown that radioembolization is safe in patients with portal vein thrombosis. This case report describes safe radioembolization after portal vein embolization in a patient with multifocal HCC.

  2. Multifocal amelanotic conjunctival melanoma and acquired melanosis sine pigmento.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paridaens, A D; McCartney, A C; Hungerford, J L

    1992-03-01

    Clinical and histopathological features of four cases of multifocal amelanotic malignant melanoma of the conjunctiva in association with 'acquired melanosis sine pigmento' are reported. The absence of conjunctival pigmentation in this extremely rare combination of lesions prevented early diagnosis and clinical monitoring. As a result orbital exenteration was required in three cases. This multicentric non-pigmented variety of conjunctival malignant melanoma tends to present later than pigmented forms and may require exenteration of the orbit as a primary procedure.

  3. Disorder-specific neuroanatomical correlates of attentional bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, O.A.; Veltman, D.J.; Groenewegen, H.J.; Witter, M.P.; Merkelbach, J.; Cath, D.C.; van Balkom, A.J.; van Oppen, P.; van Dyck, R.

    2005-01-01

    Context: Attentional bias to disease-relevant emotional cues is considered to be pathogenetically relevant in anxiety disorders. Objective: To investigate functional neural correlates and disease specificity of attentional bias across different anxiety disorders. Design: A cognitive and emotional

  4. Disorder-specific neuroanatomical correlates of attentional bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, Odile A.; Veltman, Dick J.; Groenewegen, Henk J.; Witter, Menno P.; Merkelbach, Jille; Cath, Danielle C.; van Balkom, Anton J. L. M.; van Oppen, Patricia; van Dyck, Richard

    2005-01-01

    CONTEXT: Attentional bias to disease-relevant emotional cues is considered to be pathogenetically relevant in anxiety disorders. OBJECTIVE: To investigate functional neural correlates and disease specificity of attentional bias across different anxiety disorders. DESIGN: A cognitive and emotional

  5. Is Visual Selective Attention in Deaf Individuals Enhanced or Deficient? The Case of the Useful Field of View

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dye, Matthew W. G.; Hauser, Peter C.; Bavelier, Daphne

    2009-01-01

    Background Early deafness leads to enhanced attention in the visual periphery. Yet, whether this enhancement confers advantages in everyday life remains unknown, as deaf individuals have been shown to be more distracted by irrelevant information in the periphery than their hearing peers. Here, we show that, in a complex attentional task, a performance advantage results for deaf individuals. Methodology/Principal Findings We employed the Useful Field of View (UFOV) which requires central target identification concurrent with peripheral target localization in the presence of distractors – a divided, selective attention task. First, the comparison of deaf and hearing adults with or without sign language skills establishes that deafness and not sign language use drives UFOV enhancement. Second, UFOV performance was enhanced in deaf children, but only after 11 years of age. Conclusions/Significance This work demonstrates that, following early auditory deprivation, visual attention resources toward the periphery slowly get augmented to eventually result in a clear behavioral advantage by pre-adolescence on a selective visual attention task. PMID:19462009

  6. Brain dynamics of visual attention during anticipation and encoding of threat- and safe-cues in spider-phobic individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michalowski, Jaroslaw M; Pané-Farré, Christiane A; Löw, Andreas; Hamm, Alfons O

    2015-09-01

    This study systematically investigated the sensitivity of the phobic attention system by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) in spider-phobic and non-phobic volunteers in a context where spider and neutral pictures were presented (phobic threat condition) and in contexts where no phobic but unpleasant and neutral or only neutral pictures were displayed (phobia-irrelevant conditions). In a between-group study, participants were assigned to phobia-irrelevant conditions either before or after the exposure to spider pictures (pre-exposure vs post-exposure participants). Additionally, each picture was preceded by a fixation cross presented in one of three different colors that were informative about the category of an upcoming picture. In the phobic threat condition, spider-phobic participants showed a larger P1 than controls for all pictures and signal cues. Moreover, individuals with spider phobia who were sensitized by the exposure to phobic stimuli (i.e. post-exposure participants) responded with an increased P1 also in phobia-irrelevant conditions. In contrast, no group differences between spider-phobic and non-phobic individuals were observed in the P1-amplitudes during viewing of phobia-irrelevant stimuli in the pre-exposure group. In addition, cues signaling neutral pictures elicited decreased stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) compared with cues signaling emotional pictures. Moreover, emotional pictures and cues signaling emotional pictures evoked larger early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP) than neutral stimuli. Spider phobics showed greater selective attention effects than controls for phobia-relevant pictures (increased EPN and LPP) and cues (increased LPP and SPN). Increased sensitization of the attention system observed in spider-phobic individuals might facilitate fear conditioning and promote generalization of fear playing an important role in the maintenance of anxiety disorders. © The Author (2015). Published by

  7. Improvement of the classification accuracy in discriminating diabetic retinopathy by multifocal electroretinogram analysis

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    The multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) is a newly developed electrophysiological technique. In this paper, a classification method is proposed for early diagnosis of the diabetic retinopathy using mfERG data. MfERG records were obtained from eyes of healthy individuals and patients with diabetes at different stages. For each mfERG record, 103 local responses were extracted. Amplitude value of each point on all the mfERG local responses was looked as one potential feature to classify the experimental subjects. Feature subsets were selected from the feature space by comparing the inter-intra distance. Based on the selected feature subset, Fisher's linear classifiers were trained. And the final classification decision of the record was made by voting all the classifiers' outputs. Applying the method to classify all experimental subjects, very low error rates were achieved. Some crucial properties of the diabetic retinopathy classification method are also discussed.

  8. Attentional Bias in Math Anxiety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orly eRubinsten

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive theory from the field of general anxiety suggests that the tendency to display attentional bias toward negative information results in anxiety. Accordingly, the current study aims to investigate whether attentional bias is involved in math anxiety as well (i.e., a persistent negative reaction to math. Twenty seven participants (14 with high levels of math anxiety and 13 with low levels of math anxiety were presented with a novel computerized numerical version of the well established dot probe task. One of 6 types of prime stimuli, either math related or typically neutral, were presented on one side of a computer screen. The prime was preceded by a probe (either one or two asterisks that appeared in either the prime or the opposite location. Participants had to discriminate probe identity (one or two asterisks. Math anxious individuals reacted faster when the probe was at the location of the numerical related stimuli. This suggests the existence of attentional bias in math anxiety. That is, for math anxious individuals, the cognitive system selectively favored the processing of emotionally negative information (i.e., math related words. These findings suggest that attentional bias is linked to unduly intense math anxiety symptoms.

  9. Visual selective attention in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaughlin, Paula M; Anderson, Nicole D; Rich, Jill B; Chertkow, Howard; Murtha, Susan J E

    2014-11-01

    Subtle deficits in visual selective attention have been found in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, few studies have explored performance on visual search paradigms or the Simon task, which are known to be sensitive to disease severity in Alzheimer's patients. Furthermore, there is limited research investigating how deficiencies can be ameliorated with exogenous support (auditory cues). Sixteen individuals with aMCI and 14 control participants completed 3 experimental tasks that varied in demand and cue availability: visual search-alerting, visual search-orienting, and Simon task. Visual selective attention was influenced by aMCI, auditory cues, and task characteristics. Visual search abilities were relatively consistent across groups. The aMCI participants were impaired on the Simon task when working memory was required, but conflict resolution was similar to controls. Spatially informative orienting cues improved response times, whereas spatially neutral alerting cues did not influence performance. Finally, spatially informative auditory cues benefited the aMCI group more than controls in the visual search task, specifically at the largest array size where orienting demands were greatest. These findings suggest that individuals with aMCI have working memory deficits and subtle deficiencies in orienting attention and rely on exogenous information to guide attention. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Correction to: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in rituximab-treated rheumatic diseases: a rare event.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berger, Joseph R; Malik, Vineeta; Lacey, Stuart; Brunetta, Paul; Lehane, Patricia B

    2018-04-10

    The article "Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in rituximab-treated rheumatic diseases: a rare event," written by Joseph R. Berger, Vineeta Malik, Stuart Lacey, Paul Brunetta, and Patricia B. Lehane 3 , was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink).

  11. Multifocal choroiditis as the first sign of systemic sarcoidosis associated with pembrolizumab

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qu-Knafo Lise

    2017-04-01

    Conclusions and importance: Pembrolizumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. We report a pembrolizumab-associated sarcoidosis revealed by a panuveitis with multifocal choroiditis. Physicians should be aware of the potential inflammatory and autoimmune disease that may be induced by immunomodulatory therapies.

  12. The (neurocognitive mechanisms behind attention bias modification in anxiety: Proposals based on theoretical accounts of attentional bias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre eHeeren

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Recently, researchers have investigated the causal nature of attentional bias for threat (AB in the maintenance of anxiety disorders by experimentally manipulating it. They found that training anxious individuals to attend to nonthreat stimuli reduces AB, which, in turn, reduces anxiety. This effect supports the hypothesis that AB can causally impact the maintenance of anxiety. At a fundamental level, however, uncertainty still abounds regarding the nature of the processes that mediate this effect. In the present paper, we propose that two contrasting approaches may be derived from theoretical accounts of AB. According to a first class of models, called the valence-specific bias models, modifying AB requires the modification of valence-specific attentional selectivity. According to a second class of models, called the attention control models, modifying AB requires the modification of attention control, driven by the recruitment of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We formulate a series of specific predictions, to provide suggestions to trial these two approaches one against the other. This knowledge is critical for understanding the mechanisms of AB in anxiety disorders, which bares important clinical implications.

  13. Attention and Other Cognitive Deficits in Aphasia: Presence and Relation to Language and Communication Measures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Laura L.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: This study was designed to further elucidate the relationship between cognition and aphasia, with a focus on attention. It was hypothesized that individuals with aphasia would display variable deficit patterns on tests of attention and other cognitive functions and that their attention deficits, particularly those of complex attention…

  14. Comparing the relative peripheral refraction effect of single vision and multifocal contact lenses measured using an autorefractor and an aberrometer: A pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ravi C. Bakaraju

    2015-07-01

    Conclusion: For most test conditions, distinct differences were observed between the RPR measures obtained with the two modified instruments. The differences varied with CL design and centration. Although the pilot study supports the interchangeable use of the two instruments for on- and off-axis refraction in unaided eyes or eyes corrected with low/no spherical aberration; we advocate the use of the COAS-HD over the SN for special purposes like refracting through multifocal CLs.

  15. Characteristics of attention-related body sensations. Temporal stability and associations with measures of body focus, affect, sustained attention, and heart rate variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tihanyi, Benedek T; Ferentzi, Eszter; Köteles, Ferenc

    2017-09-01

    This study investigated the temporal stability and correlates of attention-related body sensations that emerge without external stimulation during rest and due to focused attention on a body part. To assess attention-related body sensations, participants were asked to focus on a freely chosen body area with closed eyes, and had to report whether the sensation of that area had changed. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess various aspects of body focus (body awareness, body responsiveness, somatosensory amplification, subjective somatic symptoms), and positive and negative affectivity. Previous experiences in body-mind therapies were also measured. PEBL Continuous Performance Test was used to assess sustained attention. Heart rate variability scores were based on a 3-minute long resting heart rate measurement. Fifty-eight university students (22.3 ± 3.95 years; 34 females) participated in the study. The stability of attention-related body sensations was measured 8 weeks later on a randomly chosen sub-group (n = 28). Attention-related body sensations showed a mediocre temporal stability (r ρ  = 0.47, p = 0.012). People reporting attention-related body sensations showed significantly higher body awareness, somatosensory amplification, and resting heart rate; and marginally higher somatic symptoms. No relation was found with body-mind practice, body responsiveness, positive and negative affect, the vagal component of heart rate variability, and performance in the sustained attention task. Attention-related sensations are relatively stable over time. They are connected to some, but not to all of the aspects of body focus. Further studies are needed to elaborate the influencing stable and situational factors.

  16. Now You’re With Me, Now You’re Not: Between-Session and Within-Session Intra-Individual Variability in Attention in Aphasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Villard

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Patients with aphasia (PWA have been found to exhibit impaired performance on attention tasks relative to healthy controls, even when tasks contain only non-linguistic stimuli (e.g. Robin & Rizzo, 1989. Additionally, our previous work has shown that PWA exhibit increased day-to-day, or between-session, intra-individual variability (BS-IIV on non-linguistic attention tasks (Villard & Kiran, 2015. The current study examines BS-IIV, as well as moment-to-moment, or within-session, intra-individual variability (WS-IIV, in performance on a series of non-linguistic and linguistic attention tasks. We theorize that BS-IIV and WS-IIV may be critical metrics for understanding attention processing in PWA. Methods: Data from 17 PWA and 17 age-matched healthy controls have been analyzed; data is expected from a total of 20 in each group. Each participant completed a series of five computerized experimental tasks of incrementally increasing demands/complexity. Task 1 measured non-linguistic sustained visual attention; Task 2 added visual distractor stimuli; Task 3 added non-linguistic target auditory stimuli, requiring integration of two modalities; Task 4 added lexical decision demands; and Task 5 added lexical-semantic processing demands. This series of five tasks was administered four times, on four different non-consecutive days. We hypothesized that increased task complexity would elicit increased BS-IIV and WS-IIV in attention for PWA but not for controls. Data Analysis: In order to examine BS-IIV and WS-IIV in reaction time (RT, coefficients of variation (COVs, or the standard deviation over the mean were calculated for each participant, on each task. Specifically, a COV representing BS-IIV in RT (BS-COV was calculated for each participant, each task, using data collected across the four sessions. Similarly, a COV representing WS-IIV in RT (WS-COV was calculated for each participant, each task, using data collected within a single session

  17. Sex-related differences in attention and memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solianik, Rima; Brazaitis, Marius; Skurvydas, Albertas

    2016-01-01

    The sex differences and similarities in cognitive abilities is a continuing topic of major interest. Besides, the influences of trends over time and possible effects of sex steroid and assessment time on cognition have expanded the necessity to re-evaluate differences between men and women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare cognitive performance between men and women in a strongly controlled experiment. In total, 28 men and 25 women were investigated. Variables of body temperature and heart rate were assessed. A cognitive test battery was used to assess attention (visual search, unpredictable task switching as well as complex visual search and predictable task switching tests) and memory (forced visual memory, forward digit span and free recall test). The differences in heart rate and body temperatures between men and women were not significant. There were no differences in the mean values of attention and memory abilities between men and women. Coefficients of variation of unpredictable task switching response and forward digit span were lower (Pattention task incorrect response and negatively correlated (Pmemory task. Current study showed no sex differences in the mean values of cognition, whereas higher intra-individual variability of short-term memory and attention switching was identified in women, indicating that their performance was lower on these cognitive abilities. Copyright © 2016 The Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

  18. Time Course of Visual Attention to High-Calorie Virtual Food in Individuals with Bulimic Tendencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jiwon; Kim, Kiho; Lee, Jang-Han

    2016-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to use an eye-tracking device to investigate attention bias and its mechanism toward high-calorie virtual food in individuals with bulimic tendencies (BT). A total of 76 participants were divided into two groups: a BT group (n = 38) and a control group (n = 38). The eye movements of all participants were continuously measured while the participants were confronted with pairs of high-calorie, low-calorie, and nonfood virtual stimuli (pictures). It was found that the BT group detected high-calorie food more quickly than they did the low-calorie food and nonfood stimuli, but they also avoided the high-calorie food. These results indicate that individuals with BT automatically allocate their attention toward high-calorie food and, subsequently, try to avoid it. Based on these results, we suggest that this approach-avoidance pattern for high-calorie virtual food could be a factor in the development and maintenance of bulimia symptoms by encouraging individuals with BT to be in conflict with the urge to overeat.

  19. Object individuation is invariant to attentional diffusion: Changes in the size of the attended region do not interact with object-substitution masking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodhew, Stephanie C; Edwards, Mark

    2016-12-01

    When the human brain is confronted with complex and dynamic visual scenes, two pivotal processes are at play: visual attention (the process of selecting certain aspects of the scene for privileged processing) and object individuation (determining what information belongs to a continuing object over time versus what represents two or more distinct objects). Here we examined whether these processes are independent or whether they interact. Object-substitution masking (OSM) has been used as a tool to examine such questions, however, there is controversy surrounding whether OSM reflects object individuation versus substitution processes. The object-individuation account is agnostic regarding the role of attention, whereas object-substitution theory stipulates a pivotal role for attention. There have been attempts to investigate the role of attention in OSM, but they have been subject to alternative explanations. Here, therefore, we manipulated the size of the attended region, a pure and uncontaminated attentional manipulation, and examined the impact on OSM. Across three experiments, there was no interaction. This refutes the object-substitution theory of OSM. This, in turn, tell us that object-individuation is invariant the distribution of attention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Verbal and facial-emotional Stroop tasks reveal specific attentional interferences in sad mood

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Isaac, L.; Vrijsen, J.N.; Eling, P.A.T.M.; Oostrom, I.I.H. van; Speckens, A.E.M.; Becker, E.S.

    2012-01-01

    Mood congruence refers to the tendency of individuals to attend to information more readily when it has the same emotional content as their current mood state. The aim of the present study was to ascertain whether attentional interference occurred for participants in sad mood states for emotionally

  1. Nerve sonography in multifocal motor neuropathy and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. S. Druzhinin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The quantitative ultrasound characteristics (USC of the median, ulnar nerve at different levels and the spinal nerves in patients with multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN; n=13; 40,4 ± 12,6 years old and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP; n = 7; 47,3 ± 11,2 year old did not reveal statistical difference in cross sectional area (CSA between analyzed groups. Patients with MMN have more pronounced asymmetry of CSA in comparison with CIDP patients which have a symmetrical pattern of diffuse nerve involvement. Quantitative USC has shown to be not informative enough in differentiation of MMN and CIDP. The qualitative analysis (QA according to 3 described types of nerve changes has shown that CIDP is characterized by the prevalence of type 3 pattern (85.8 % while MMN – by type 2 (69.2 %. The sensitivity and specificity of proposed QA patterns in nerve USC need to be analyzed in additional investigations. 

  2. Attentional Processes in Children's Overt and Relational Aggression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arsenault, Darin J.; Foster, Sharon L.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined attention and memory processes assumed by the social information-processing model to be biased in aggressive children. We also explored whether similar biases were associated with overt and relational aggression. A total of 96 fourth through sixth graders saw videos of overtly and relationally aggressive child actors and…

  3. Sleep Deprivation Diminishes Attentional Control Effectiveness and Impairs Flexible Adaptation to Changing Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitney, Paul; Hinson, John M; Satterfield, Brieann C; Grant, Devon A; Honn, Kimberly A; Van Dongen, Hans P A

    2017-11-22

    Insufficient sleep is a global public health problem resulting in catastrophic accidents, increased mortality, and hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity. Yet the effect of sleep deprivation (SD) on decision making and performance is often underestimated by fatigued individuals and is only beginning to be understood by scientists. The deleterious impact of SD is frequently attributed to lapses in vigilant attention, but this account fails to explain many SD-related problems, such as loss of situational awareness and perseveration. Using a laboratory study protocol, we show that SD individuals can maintain information in the focus of attention and anticipate likely correct responses, but their use of such a top-down attentional strategy is less effective at preventing errors caused by competing responses. Moreover, when the task environment requires flexibility, performance under SD suffers dramatically. The impairment in flexible shifting of attentional control we observed is distinct from lapses in vigilant attention, as corroborated by the specificity of the influence of a genetic biomarker, the dopaminergic polymorphism DRD2 C957T. Reduced effectiveness of top-down attentional control under SD, especially when conditions require flexibility, helps to explain maladaptive performance that is not readily explained by lapses in vigilant attention.

  4. Visuospatial selective attention in chickens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sridharan, Devarajan; Ramamurthy, Deepa L; Schwarz, Jason S; Knudsen, Eric I

    2014-05-13

    Voluntary control of attention promotes intelligent, adaptive behaviors by enabling the selective processing of information that is most relevant for making decisions. Despite extensive research on attention in primates, the capacity for selective attention in nonprimate species has never been quantified. Here we demonstrate selective attention in chickens by applying protocols that have been used to characterize visual spatial attention in primates. Chickens were trained to localize and report the vertical position of a target in the presence of task-relevant distracters. A spatial cue, the location of which varied across individual trials, indicated the horizontal, but not vertical, position of the upcoming target. Spatial cueing improved localization performance: accuracy (d') increased and reaction times decreased in a space-specific manner. Distracters severely impaired perceptual performance, and this impairment was greatly reduced by spatial cueing. Signal detection analysis with an "indecision" model demonstrated that spatial cueing significantly increased choice certainty in localizing targets. By contrast, error-aversion certainty (certainty of not making an error) remained essentially constant across cueing protocols, target contrasts, and individuals. The results show that chickens shift spatial attention rapidly and dynamically, following principles of stimulus selection that closely parallel those documented in primates. The findings suggest that the mechanisms that control attention have been conserved through evolution, and establish chickens--a highly visual species that is easily trained and amenable to cutting-edge experimental technologies--as an attractive model for linking behavior to neural mechanisms of selective attention.

  5. Spatiotemporal overlap between brain activation related to saccade preparation and attentional orienting.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Lubbe, Robert Henricus Johannes; Neggers, Sebastiaan F.W.; Verleger, Rolf; Kenemans, J. Leon

    2006-01-01

    Recent brain imaging studies provided evidence that the brain areas involved with attentional orienting and the preparation of saccades largely overlap, which may indicate that focusing attention at a specific location can be considered as an unexecuted saccade towards that location (i.e. the

  6. Examining the Relative Contribution of Memory Updating, Attention Focus Switching, and Sustained Attention to Children’s Verbal Working Memory Span

    OpenAIRE

    Beula M. Magimairaj; James W. Montgomery

    2013-01-01

    Whereas considerable developmental memory research has examined the contributions of short-term memory, processing efficiency, retention duration, and scope of attention to complex memory span, little is known about the influence of controlled attention. The present study investigated the relative influence of three understudied attention mechanisms on the verbal working memory span of school-age children: memory updating; attention focus switching; and sustained attention. Results of general...

  7. Anxiety type modulates immediate versus delayed engagement of attention-related brain regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spielberg, Jeffrey M; De Leon, Angeline A; Bredemeier, Keith; Heller, Wendy; Engels, Anna S; Warren, Stacie L; Crocker, Laura D; Sutton, Bradley P; Miller, Gregory A

    2013-09-01

    Background Habituation of the fear response, critical for the treatment of anxiety, is inconsistently observed during exposure to threatening stimuli. One potential explanation for this inconsistency is differential attentional engagement with negatively valenced stimuli as a function of anxiety type. Methods The present study tested this hypothesis by examining patterns of neural habituation associated with anxious arousal, characterized by panic symptoms and immediate engagement with negatively valenced stimuli, versus anxious apprehension, characterized by engagement in worry to distract from negatively valenced stimuli. Results As predicted, the two anxiety types evidenced distinct patterns of attentional engagement. Anxious arousal was associated with immediate activation in attention-related brain regions that habituated over time, whereas anxious apprehension was associated with delayed activation in attention-related brain regions that occurred only after habituation in a worry-related brain region. Conclusions Results further elucidate mechanisms involved in attention to negatively valenced stimuli and indicate that anxiety is a heterogeneous construct with regard to attention to such stimuli.

  8. Renal hemodynamics and renin-angiotensin system activity in humans with multifocal renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Twist, Daan J L; Houben, Alphons J H M; de Haan, Michiel W; de Leeuw, Peter W; Kroon, Abraham A

    2016-06-01

    Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is the second most common cause of renovascular hypertension. Nonetheless, knowledge on the renal microvasculature and renin-angiotensin system (RAS) activity in kidneys with FMD is scarce. Given the fairly good results of revascularization, we hypothesized that the renal microvasculature and RAS are relatively spared in kidneys with FMD. In 58 hypertensive patients with multifocal renal artery FMD (off medication) and 116 matched controls with essential hypertension, we measured renal blood flow (Xenon washout method) per kidney and drew blood samples from the aorta and both renal veins to determine renin secretion and glomerular filtration rate per kidney. We found that renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate in FMD were comparable to those in controls. Although systemic renin levels were somewhat higher in FMD, renal renin secretion was not elevated. Moreover, in patients with unilateral FMD, no differences between the affected and unaffected kidney were observed with regard to renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, or renin secretion. In men, renin levels and renin secretion were higher as compared with women. The renal blood flow response to RAS modulation (by intrarenal infusion of angiotensin II, angiotensin-(1-7), an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker, or a nitric oxide synthase blocker) was also comparable between FMD and controls. Renal blood flow, glomerular filtration, and the response to vasoactive substances in kidneys with multifocal FMD are comparable to patients with essential hypertension, suggesting that microvascular function is relatively spared. Renin secretion was not increased and the response to RAS modulation was not affected in kidneys with FMD.

  9. Brain activity associated with selective attention, divided attention and distraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salo, Emma; Salmela, Viljami; Salmi, Juha; Numminen, Jussi; Alho, Kimmo

    2017-06-01

    Top-down controlled selective or divided attention to sounds and visual objects, as well as bottom-up triggered attention to auditory and visual distractors, has been widely investigated. However, no study has systematically compared brain activations related to all these types of attention. To this end, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in participants performing a tone pitch or a foveal grating orientation discrimination task, or both, distracted by novel sounds not sharing frequencies with the tones or by extrafoveal visual textures. To force focusing of attention to tones or gratings, or both, task difficulty was kept constantly high with an adaptive staircase method. A whole brain analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed fronto-parietal attention networks for both selective auditory and visual attention. A subsequent conjunction analysis indicated partial overlaps of these networks. However, like some previous studies, the present results also suggest segregation of prefrontal areas involved in the control of auditory and visual attention. The ANOVA also suggested, and another conjunction analysis confirmed, an additional activity enhancement in the left middle frontal gyrus related to divided attention supporting the role of this area in top-down integration of dual task performance. Distractors expectedly disrupted task performance. However, contrary to our expectations, activations specifically related to the distractors were found only in the auditory and visual cortices. This suggests gating of the distractors from further processing perhaps due to strictly focused attention in the current demanding discrimination tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Impact of attention biases to threat and effortful control on individual variations in negative affect and social withdrawal in very young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Claire E; Zapp, Daniel J; Fettig, Nicole B; Pérez-Edgar, Koraly

    2016-01-01

    Early temperamental sensitivity may form the basis for the later development of socioemotional maladjustment. In particular, temperamental negative affect places children at risk for the development of anxiety. However, not all children who show negative affect go on to develop anxiety or extreme social withdrawal. Recent research indicates that reactive control, in the form of attention to threat, may serve as a bridge between early temperament and the development of later social difficulties. In addition, variation in effortful control may also modulate this trajectory. Children (mean age=5.57 years) were assessed for attention bias to threatening and pleasant faces using a dot-probe paradigm. Attention bias to threatening (but not happy) faces moderated the direct positive relation between negative affect and social withdrawal. Children with threat biases showed a significant link between negative affect and social withdrawal, whereas children who avoided threat did not. In contrast, effortful control did not moderate the relation between negative affect and social withdrawal. Rather, there was a direct negative relation between effortful control and social withdrawal. The findings from this short report indicate that the relations among temperament, attention bias, and social withdrawal appears early in life and point to early emerging specificity in reactive and regulatory functioning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: Recent Advances and a Neuro-Ophthalmological Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudhakar, Padmaja; Bachman, David M; Mark, Alexander S; Berger, Joseph R; Kedar, Sachin

    2015-09-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a severe often fatal opportunistic infection of the central nervous system caused by reactivation of a ubiquitous polyoma virus, JC virus. Although typically characterized by multifocal asymmetric subcortical white matter lesions, it may be monofocal and affect the cortical gray matter. Among the broad spectrum of clinical manifestations that occurs with PML, visual complaints are common. Combination of representative personally observed cases of PML and comprehensive review of case series of PML from 1958 through 2014. Neuro-ophthalmic signs and symptoms were reported in approximately 20%-50% of patients with PML and can be the presenting manifestation in half of these. A majority of these presentations occur from damage to cerebral visual pathways resulting in visual field defects, cortical blindness, and other disorders of visual association. Given the decreased frequency of infratentorial and cerebellar involvement, ocular motility disorders are less common. Visual complaints occur in patients with PML and are often the presenting sign. Awareness of this condition is helpful in avoiding unnecessary delays in the diagnosis of PML and management of the underlying condition. Recent guidelines have established criteria for diagnosis of PML in the high-risk patient population and strategies to mitigate the risk in these populations.

  12. Wide-field two-dimensional multifocal optical-resolution photoacoustic computed microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Jun; Li, Guo; Wang, Lidai; Nasiriavanaki, Mohammadreza; Maslov, Konstantin; Engelbach, John A.; Garbow, Joel R.; Wang, Lihong V.

    2014-01-01

    Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) is an emerging technique that directly images optical absorption in tissue at high spatial resolution. To date, the majority of OR-PAM systems are based on single focused optical excitation and ultrasonic detection, limiting the wide-field imaging speed. While one-dimensional multifocal OR-PAM (1D-MFOR-PAM) has been developed, the potential of microlens and transducer arrays has not been fully realized. Here, we present the development of two-dimensional multifocal optical-resolution photoacoustic computed microscopy (2D-MFOR-PACM), using a 2D microlens array and a full-ring ultrasonic transducer array. The 10 × 10 mm2 microlens array generates 1800 optical foci within the focal plane of the 512-element transducer array, and raster scanning the microlens array yields optical-resolution photoacoustic images. The system has improved the in-plane resolution of a full-ring transducer array from ≥100 µm to 29 µm and achieved an imaging time of 36 seconds over a 10 × 10 mm2 field of view. In comparison, the 1D-MFOR-PAM would take more than 4 minutes to image over the same field of view. The imaging capability of the system was demonstrated on phantoms and animals both ex vivo and in vivo. PMID:24322226

  13. Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis with an atypical presentation in an adult man

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, Cheng William; Hsiao, Edward C.; Horvai, Andrew E.; Link, Thomas M.

    2015-01-01

    We present the case of a 33-year-old man with no significant medical history who developed right scapular pain, left-sided sacroiliac joint pain, and lower back pain, and was eventually diagnosed with chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO). Imaging demonstrated multiple scattered T2-hyperintense lesions on MRI at the spine and the left SI joint, some of which progressed and one regressed in size on follow-up. Histopathology demonstrated only non-specific chronic inflammation compatible with CRMO. No evidence of infectious organisms or neoplastic processes was found. The pain was relapsing and remitting in nature. Laboratory investigations were notable for no evidence of hematologic malignancy or infection, but only a mild increase in alkaline phosphatase. This case highlights that CRMO, despite being thought of as a childhood-onset disease, can present in adults as well, and also provides illustrative examples of imaging and histological findings. (orig.)

  14. Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis with an atypical presentation in an adult man

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hong, Cheng William [University of California San Francisco, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, San Francisco, CA (United States); Cleveland Clinic, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, OH (United States); Hsiao, Edward C. [University of California San Francisco, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and the Institute for Human Genetics, Department of Medicine, San Francisco, CA (United States); Horvai, Andrew E. [University of California San Francisco, Department of Pathology, San Francisco, CA (United States); Link, Thomas M. [University of California San Francisco, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, San Francisco, CA (United States)

    2015-09-15

    We present the case of a 33-year-old man with no significant medical history who developed right scapular pain, left-sided sacroiliac joint pain, and lower back pain, and was eventually diagnosed with chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO). Imaging demonstrated multiple scattered T2-hyperintense lesions on MRI at the spine and the left SI joint, some of which progressed and one regressed in size on follow-up. Histopathology demonstrated only non-specific chronic inflammation compatible with CRMO. No evidence of infectious organisms or neoplastic processes was found. The pain was relapsing and remitting in nature. Laboratory investigations were notable for no evidence of hematologic malignancy or infection, but only a mild increase in alkaline phosphatase. This case highlights that CRMO, despite being thought of as a childhood-onset disease, can present in adults as well, and also provides illustrative examples of imaging and histological findings. (orig.)

  15. Multifocal Visual Evoked Potential in Eyes With Temporal Hemianopia From Chiasmal Compression: Correlation With Standard Automated Perimetry and OCT Findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sousa, Rafael M; Oyamada, Maria K; Cunha, Leonardo P; Monteiro, Mário L R

    2017-09-01

    To verify whether multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) can differentiate eyes with temporal hemianopia due to chiasmal compression from healthy controls. To assess the relationship between mfVEP, standard automated perimetry (SAP), and Fourier domain-optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements. Twenty-seven eyes with permanent temporal visual field (VF) defects from chiasmal compression on SAP and 43 eyes of healthy controls were submitted to mfVEP and FD-OCT scanning. Multifocal visual evoked potential was elicited using a stimulus pattern of 60 sectors and the responses were averaged for the four quadrants and two hemifields. Optical coherence tomography macular measurements were averaged in quadrants and halves, while peripapillary RNFL thickness was averaged in four sectors around the disc. Visual field loss was estimated in four quadrants and each half of the 24-2 strategy test points. Multifocal visual evoked potential measurements in the two groups were compared using generalized estimated equations, and the correlations between mfVEP, VF, and OCT findings were quantified. Multifocal visual evoked potential-measured temporal P1 and N2 amplitudes were significantly smaller in patients than in controls. No significant difference in amplitude was observed for nasal parameters. A significant correlation was found between mfVEP amplitudes and temporal VF loss, and between mfVEP amplitudes and the corresponding OCT-measured macular and RNFL thickness parameters. Multifocal visual evoked potential amplitude parameters were able to differentiate eyes with temporal hemianopia from controls and were significantly correlated with VF and OCT findings, suggesting mfVEP is a useful tool for the detection of visual abnormalities in patients with chiasmal compression.

  16. Selective attention modulates human auditory brainstem responses: relative contributions of frequency and spatial cues.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre Lehmann

    Full Text Available Selective attention is the mechanism that allows focusing one's attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, for instance, on a single conversation in a noisy room. Attending to one sound source rather than another changes activity in the human auditory cortex, but it is unclear whether attention to different acoustic features, such as voice pitch and speaker location, modulates subcortical activity. Studies using a dichotic listening paradigm indicated that auditory brainstem processing may be modulated by the direction of attention. We investigated whether endogenous selective attention to one of two speech signals affects amplitude and phase locking in auditory brainstem responses when the signals were either discriminable by frequency content alone, or by frequency content and spatial location. Frequency-following responses to the speech sounds were significantly modulated in both conditions. The modulation was specific to the task-relevant frequency band. The effect was stronger when both frequency and spatial information were available. Patterns of response were variable between participants, and were correlated with psychophysical discriminability of the stimuli, suggesting that the modulation was biologically relevant. Our results demonstrate that auditory brainstem responses are susceptible to efferent modulation related to behavioral goals. Furthermore they suggest that mechanisms of selective attention actively shape activity at early subcortical processing stages according to task relevance and based on frequency and spatial cues.

  17. Acuidade visual em implantes bilaterais de lentes intra-oculares monofocais e multifocais Visual acuity of bilateral implants of monofocal and multifocal intraocular lenses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Akaishi

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Comparar a acuidade visual de longe e perto de pacientes submetidos à facoemulsificação binocular não simultânea com implante de lentes multifocais ou monofocais. MÉTODOS: Foram selecionados 20 pacientes com lentes multifocais bilaterais e outros 20 pacientes com lentes monofocais também bilaterais, com acuidade visual sem correção melhor ou igual a 0,63 (20/30, medidos separadamente, nos três primeiros meses de pós-operatório. Foi medida a acuidade visual para longe e perto com e sem correção e testes de sensibilidade ao contraste e ofuscamento. RESULTADOS: A acuidade visual sem correção para longe no grupo das monofocais teve média de 0,82 (DP± 0,16 e no grupo das multifocais, 0,94 (DP±0,12, valor de p 0,001. Os dois grupos de lentes tiveram visão com correção para longe igual a 1. No grupo das multifocais, 75% tiveram J1 e 100% tiveram J3 ou melhor sem correção. No grupo das lentes monofocais, 10% tiveram J1 e 70% tiveram J3 ou melhor sem correção. Não houve diferença significante na avaliação com o teste de sensibilidade ao contraste entre os grupos pesquisados. No teste de ofuscamento, os dois grupos tiveram redução da visão, que foi mais acentuada no grupo dos pacientes com lentes multifocais. CONCLUSÃO: A acuidade visual para longe com correção nos pacientes com implante multifocal foi semelhante a dos pacientes com implantes monofocais, embora a acuidade visual para perto no grupo em que foi implantado lente multifocal foi bastante superior ao grupo da lente monofocal. A sensibilidade ao contraste manteve-se semelhante nos dois grupos, já o ofuscamento ("glare test" no grupo multifocal foi maior que no grupo monofocal.PURPOSE: To compare distant and near visual acuity between patients submitted to bilateral nonsimultaneous facoemulsification and implantation of multifocal or monofocal intraocular lenses (IOL. METHODS: Twenty patients with bilateral multifocal IOL and 20 patients with

  18. Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schilling, F.

    1998-01-01

    Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is an unusual clinical entity. More than 200 cases are described in the literature and it is presented here with special reference to its radiological aspects. It is an acquired disease of the skeleton which occurs predominantly during childhood and adolescence. About ten per cent of cases begin in early or, rarely, in later adult life. This variant is described here for the first time and is discussed as 'adult CRMO'. The underlying pathology is a bland, predominantly lympho-plasma cellular osteomyelitis which is self-limiting and leads to bone sclerosis (Garre). It probably involves an abnormal immune process which follows an infection but remains clinically latent and remains aseptic and sterile. In a quarter of cases there is an association with pustulosis palmo-plantaris and its relationship with psoriatic arthropathy is discussed. The clinical, histopathological and imaging features (radiological and particularly MRT) and the bone changes are described. (orig./AJ) [de

  19. Training attention improves decision making in individuals with elevated self-reported depressive symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Jessica A; Gorlick, Marissa A; Denny, Taylor; Worthy, Darrell A; Beevers, Christopher G; Maddox, W Todd

    2014-06-01

    Depression is often characterized by attentional biases toward negative items and away from positive items, which likely affects reward and punishment processing. Recent work has reported that training attention away from negative stimuli reduced this bias and reduced depressive symptoms. However, the effect of attention training on subsequent learning has yet to be explored. In the present study, participants were required to learn to maximize reward during decision making. Undergraduates with elevated self-reported depressive symptoms received attention training toward positive stimuli prior to performing the decision-making task (n = 20; active training). The active-training group was compared to two other groups: undergraduates with elevated self-reported depressive symptoms who received placebo training (n = 22; placebo training) and a control group with low levels of depressive symptoms (n = 33; nondepressive control). The placebo-training depressive group performed worse and switched between options more than did the nondepressive controls on the reward maximization task. However, depressives that received active training performed as well as the nondepressive controls. Computational modeling indicated that the placebo-trained group learned more from negative than from positive prediction errors, leading to more frequent switching. The nondepressive control and active-training depressive groups showed similar learning from positive and negative prediction errors, leading to less-frequent switching and better performance. Our results indicate that individuals with elevated depressive symptoms are impaired at reward maximization, but that the deficit can be improved with attention training toward positive stimuli.

  20. Primary Disseminated Multifocal Ewing Sarcoma: Results of the Euro-EWING 99 Trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ladenstein, Ruth; Pötschger, Ulrike; Le Deley, Marie Cécile; Whelan, Jeremy; Paulussen, Michael; Oberlin, Odile; van den Berg, Henk; Dirksen, Uta; Hjorth, Lars; Michon, Jean; Lewis, Ian; Craft, Alan; Jürgens, Heribert

    2010-01-01

    Purpose To improve the poor prognosis of patients with primary disseminated multifocal Ewing sarcomas (PDMES) with a dose-intense treatment concept. Patients and Methods From 1999 to 2005, 281 patients with PDMES were enrolled onto the Euro-EWING 99 R3 study. Median age was 16.2 years (range, 0.4 to

  1. Late hemodynamic failure following percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for long and multifocal femoropopliteal stenoses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, B; Tønnesen, K H; Holstein, P

    1991-01-01

    separate segments were dilated. Following 98% initial technical success, 3-year patency was 68% for single short stenoses, as opposed to 20% for long and multifocal stenoses (p = 0.05, logrank test). Antiplatelet therapy with acetylsalicyclic acid was not found to influence occurrence of restenosis...

  2. Specificity and multiplicity in the recognition of individuals: implications for the evolution of social behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiley, R H

    2013-02-01

    Recognition of conspecifics occurs when individuals classify sets of conspecifics based on sensory input from them and associate these sets with different responses. Classification of conspecifics can vary in specificity (the number of individuals included in a set) and multiplicity (the number of sets differentiated). In other words, the information transmitted varies in complexity. Although recognition of conspecifics has been reported in a wide variety of organisms, few reports have addressed the specificity or multiplicity of this capability. This review discusses examples of these patterns, the mechanisms that can produce them, and the evolution of these mechanisms. Individual recognition is one end of a spectrum of specificity, and binary classification of conspecifics is one end of a spectrum of multiplicity. In some cases, recognition requires no more than simple forms of learning, such as habituation, yet results in individually specific recognition. In other cases, recognition of individuals involves complex associations of multiple cues with multiple previous experiences in particular contexts. Complex mechanisms for recognition are expected to evolve only when simpler mechanisms do not provide sufficient specificity and multiplicity to obtain the available advantages. In particular, the evolution of cooperation and deception is always promoted by specificity and multiplicity in recognition. Nevertheless, there is only one demonstration that recognition of specific individuals contributes to cooperation in animals other than primates. Human capacities for individual recognition probably have a central role in the evolution of complex forms of human cooperation and deception. Although relatively little studied, this capability probably rivals cognitive abilities for language. © 2012 The Author. Biological Reviews © 2012 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

  3. Individual Differences In The Executive Control Of Attention, Memory, And Thought, And Their Associations With Schizotypy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Michael J.; Meier, Matt E.; Smeekens, Bridget A.; Gross, Georgina M.; Chun, Charlotte A.; Silvia, Paul J.; Kwapil, Thomas R.

    2016-01-01

    A large correlational study took a latent-variable approach to the generality of executive control by testing the individual-differences structure of executive-attention capabilities and assessing their prediction of schizotypy, a multidimensional construct (with negative, positive, disorganized, and paranoid factors) conveying risk for schizophrenia. Although schizophrenia is convincingly linked to executive deficits, the schizotypy literature is equivocal. Subjects completed tasks of working memory capacity (WMC), attention restraint (inhibiting prepotent responses), and attention constraint (focusing visual attention amid distractors), the latter two in an effort to fractionate the “inhibition” construct. We also assessed mind-wandering propensity (via in-task thought probes) and coefficient of variation in response times (RT CoV) from several tasks as more novel indices of executive attention. WMC, attention restraint, attention constraint, mind wandering, and RT CoV were correlated but separable constructs, indicating some distinctions among “attention control” abilities; WMC correlated more strongly with attentional restraint than constraint, and mind wandering correlated more strongly with attentional restraint, attentional constraint, and RT CoV than with WMC. Across structural models, no executive construct predicted negative schizotypy and only mind wandering and RT CoV consistently (but modestly) predicted positive, disorganized, and paranoid schizotypy; stalwart executive constructs in the schizophrenia literature — WMC and attention restraint — showed little to no predictive power, beyond restraint’s prediction of paranoia. Either executive deficits are consequences rather than risk factors for schizophrenia, or executive failures barely precede or precipitate diagnosable schizophrenia symptoms. PMID:27454042

  4. Bidirectional Associations between Peer Relations and Attention Problems from 9 to 16 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Linqin; Pan, Bin; Zhang, Wenxin; Zhang, Liang; Chen, Liang; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

    2018-05-12

    We examined the bidirectional relations between peer relations and attention problems from middle childhood through adolescence. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Chinese Children and Adolescents (LSCCA, N = 2157, 51.9% male), three key aspects of peer relations (acceptance, rejection, and victimization) were assessed annually from 9 to 16 years of age. Attention problems were assessed at 9 and 15 years. Latent growth modeling indicated that greater attention problems at age 9 were linked with a lower intercept for peer acceptance, and higher intercepts for rejection and victimization. Also, prior lower acceptance and greater rejection and victimization, along with a higher increase over time in rejection and lower decrease over time in victimization, predicted attention problems at age 15. Cross-lagged analysis showed that attention problems were associated with less subsequent peer acceptance and greater subsequent rejection and victimization. Only peer rejection (but neither victimization nor acceptance) predicted more subsequent attention problems. Findings point to bidirectional associations between attention problems and peer relations in the developmental transition across adolescence. Evidence for differential bidirectionality of attention problems with the multiple peer experience (group versus dyadic; good versus bad) emerged, and future replications are needed.

  5. Mental Attention in Gifted and Nongifted Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro, Jose I.; Ramiro, Pedro; Lopez, Jose M.; Aguilar, Manuel; Acosta, Manuel; Montero, Juan

    2006-01-01

    The relationship between the construct of mental attention and "giftedness" is not well established. Gifted individuals could make effective use of their executive functions and this could be related to their mental attentional capacity. The dialectic constructivist model developed by Pascual-Leone introduced the concept of mental…

  6. Enhanced facilitation of spatial attention in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Kevin M; Nestor, Paul G; Valdman, Olga; Niznikiewicz, Margaret A; Shenton, Martha E; McCarley, Robert W

    2011-01-01

    While attentional functions are usually found to be impaired in schizophrenia, a review of the literature on the orienting of spatial attention in schizophrenia suggested that voluntary attentional orienting in response to a valid cue might be paradoxically enhanced. We tested this hypothesis with orienting tasks involving the cued detection of a laterally presented target stimulus. Subjects were chronic schizophrenia patients (SZ) and matched healthy control subjects (HC). In Experiment 1 (15 SZ, 16 HC), cues were endogenous (arrows) and could be valid (100% predictive) or neutral with respect to the subsequent target position. In Experiment 2 (16 SZ, 16 HC), subjects performed a standard orienting task with unpredictive exogenous cues (brightening of the target boxes). In Experiment 1, SZ showed a larger attentional facilitation effect on reaction time than HC. In Experiment 2, no clear sign of enhanced attentional facilitation was found in SZ. The voluntary, facilitatory shifting of spatial attention may be relatively enhanced in individuals with schizophrenia in comparison to healthy individuals. This effect bears resemblance to other relative enhancements of information processing in schizophrenia such as saccade speed and semantic priming. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

  7. Self-reflection Orients Visual Attention Downward.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yi; Tong, Yu; Li, Hong

    2017-01-01

    Previous research has demonstrated abstract concepts associated with spatial location (e.g., God in the Heavens) could direct visual attention upward or downward, because thinking about the abstract concepts activates the corresponding vertical perceptual symbols. For self-concept, there are similar metaphors (e.g., "I am above others"). However, whether thinking about the self can induce visual attention orientation is still unknown. Therefore, the current study tested whether self-reflection can direct visual attention. Individuals often display the tendency of self-enhancement in social comparison, which reminds the individual of the higher position one possesses relative to others within the social environment. As the individual is the agent of the attention orientation, and high status tends to make an individual look down upon others to obtain a sense of pride, it was hypothesized that thinking about the self would lead to a downward attention orientation. Using reflection of personality traits and a target discrimination task, Study 1 found that, after self-reflection, visual attention was directed downward. Similar effects were also found after friend-reflection, with the level of downward attention being correlated with the likability rating scores of the friend. Thus, in Study 2, a disliked other was used as a control and the positive self-view was measured with above-average judgment task. We found downward attention orientation after self-reflection, but not after reflection upon the disliked other. Moreover, the attentional bias after self-reflection was correlated with above-average self-view. The current findings provide the first evidence that thinking about the self could direct visual-spatial attention downward, and suggest that this effect is probably derived from a positive self-view within the social context.

  8. Location-specific effects of attention during visual short-term memory maintenance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsukura, Michi; Cosman, Joshua D; Roper, Zachary J J; Vatterott, Daniel B; Vecera, Shaun P

    2014-06-01

    Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that early sensory areas such as area V1 are recruited to actively maintain a selected feature of the item held in visual short-term memory (VSTM). These findings raise the possibility that visual attention operates in similar manners across perceptual and memory representations to a certain extent, despite memory-level and perception-level selections are functionally dissociable. If VSTM operates by retaining "reasonable copies" of scenes constructed during sensory processing (Serences et al., 2009, p. 207, the sensory recruitment hypothesis), then it is possible that selective attention can be guided by both exogenous (peripheral) and endogenous (central) cues during VSTM maintenance. Yet, the results from the previous studies that examined this issue are inconsistent. In the present study, we investigated whether attention can be directed to a specific item's location represented in VSTM with the exogenous cue in a well-controlled setting. The results from the four experiments suggest that, as observed with the endogenous cue, the exogenous cue can efficiently guide selective attention during VSTM maintenance. The finding is not only consistent with the sensory recruitment hypothesis but also validates the legitimacy of the exogenous cue use in past and future studies. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  9. Dimensionally Specific Capture of Attention: Implications for Saliency Computation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine E. Burnett

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Observers automatically orient to a sudden change in the environment. This is demonstrated experimentally using exogenous cues, which prioritize the analysis of subsequent targets appearing nearby. This effect has been attributed to the computation of saliency, obtained by combining features specific signals, which then feed back to drive attention to the salient location. An alternative possibility is that cueing directly effects target-evoked sensory responses in a feed-forward manner. We examined the effects of luminance and equiluminant color cues in a dual task paradigm, which required both a motion and a color discrimination. Equiluminant color cues improved color discrimination more than luminance cues, but luminance cues improved motion discrimination more than equiluminant color cues. This suggests that the effects of exogenous cues are dimensionally specific and may not depend entirely on the computation of a dimension general saliency signal.

  10. Evaluation of refractive correction for standard automated perimetry in eyes wearing multifocal contact lenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirasawa, Kazunori; Ito, Hikaru; Ohori, Yukari; Takano, Yui; Shoji, Nobuyuki

    2017-01-01

    To evaluate the refractive correction for standard automated perimetry (SAP) in eyes with refractive multifocal contact lenses (CL) in healthy young participants. Twenty-nine eyes of 29 participants were included. Accommodation was paralyzed in all participants with 1% cyclopentolate hydrochloride. SAP was performed using the Humphrey SITA-standard 24-2 and 10-2 protocol under three refractive conditions: monofocal CL corrected for near distance (baseline); multifocal CL corrected for distance (mCL-D); and mCL-D corrected for near vision using a spectacle lens (mCL-N). Primary outcome measures were the foveal threshold, mean deviation (MD), and pattern standard deviation (PSD). The foveal threshold of mCL-N with both the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols significantly decreased by 2.2-2.5 dB ( P correction without additional near correction is to be recommended.

  11. Visual Attention to Antismoking PSAs: Smoking Cues versus Other Attention-Grabbing Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders-Jackson, Ashley N.; Cappella, Joseph N.; Linebarger, Deborah L.; Piotrowski, Jessica Taylor; O'Keeffe, Moira; Strasser, Andrew A.

    2011-01-01

    This study examines how addicted smokers attend visually to smoking-related public service announcements (PSAs) in adults smokers. Smokers' onscreen visual fixation is an indicator of cognitive resources allocated to visual attention. Characteristic of individuals with addictive tendencies, smokers are expected to be appetitively activated by…

  12. Attention Strongly Modulates Reliability of Neural Responses to Naturalistic Narrative Stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ki, Jason J; Kelly, Simon P; Parra, Lucas C

    2016-03-09

    Attentional engagement is a major determinant of how effectively we gather information through our senses. Alongside the sheer growth in the amount and variety of information content that we are presented with through modern media, there is increased variability in the degree to which we "absorb" that information. Traditional research on attention has illuminated the basic principles of sensory selection to isolated features or locations, but it provides little insight into the neural underpinnings of our attentional engagement with modern naturalistic content. Here, we show in human subjects that the reliability of an individual's neural responses with respect to a larger group provides a highly robust index of the level of attentional engagement with a naturalistic narrative stimulus. Specifically, fast electroencephalographic evoked responses were more strongly correlated across subjects when naturally attending to auditory or audiovisual narratives than when attention was directed inward to a mental arithmetic task during stimulus presentation. This effect was strongest for audiovisual stimuli with a cohesive narrative and greatly reduced for speech stimuli lacking meaning. For compelling audiovisual narratives, the effect is remarkably strong, allowing perfect discrimination between attentional state across individuals. Control experiments rule out possible confounds related to altered eye movement trajectories or order of presentation. We conclude that reliability of evoked activity reproduced across subjects viewing the same movie is highly sensitive to the attentional state of the viewer and listener, which is aided by a cohesive narrative. Copyright © 2016 Ki et al.

  13. Increased reaction time variability in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as a response-related phenomenon: evidence from single-trial event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saville, Christopher W N; Feige, Bernd; Kluckert, Christian; Bender, Stephan; Biscaldi, Monica; Berger, Andrea; Fleischhaker, Christian; Henighausen, Klaus; Klein, Christoph

    2015-07-01

    Increased intra-subject variability (ISV) in reaction times (RTs) is a promising endophenotype for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and among the most robust hallmarks of the disorder. ISV has been assumed to represent an attentional deficit, either reflecting lapses in attention or increased neural noise. Here, we use an innovative single-trial event-related potential approach to assess whether the increased ISV associated with ADHD is indeed attributable to attention, or whether it is related to response-related processing. We measured electroencephalographic responses to working memory oddball tasks in patients with ADHD (N = 20, aged 11.3 ± 1.1) and healthy controls (N = 25, aged 11.7 ± 1.1), and analysed these data with a recently developed method of single-trial event-related potential analysis. Estimates of component latency variability were computed for the stimulus-locked and response-locked forms of the P3b and the lateralised readiness potential (LRP). ADHD patients showed significantly increased ISV in behavioural ISV. This increased ISV was paralleled by an increase in variability in response-locked event-related potential latencies, while variability in stimulus-locked latencies was equivalent between groups. This result held across the P3b and LRP. Latency of all components predicted RTs on a single-trial basis, confirming that all were relevant for speed of processing. These data suggest that the increased ISV found in ADHD could be associated with response-end, rather than stimulus-end processes, in contrast to prevailing conceptions about the endophenotype. This mental chronometric approach may also be useful for exploring whether the existing lack of specificity of ISV to particular psychiatric conditions can be improved upon. © 2014 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

  14. Motor Performance in Relation with Sustained Attention in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Solmaz Solouki

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Present study compares relationship between motor performance, sustained attention and impulse control in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and normal children. Materials & Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, 21 boys with ADHD and 21 normal boys in the age range of 7- 10 years old were participated. Motor performance by using Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and sustained attention and impulse control by using Continuous Performance Test were evaluated. Results: Analysis by T-Test and Mann-Whitney revealed significant difference between ADHD group and normal group in gross, fine and battery motor performance also sustained attention and impulse control (P<0.0001. Analysis by Z-Fisher test indicated no significant difference between Correlation Coefficient of inattention and gross motor performance in two groups (P=0.276 but significant difference between Correlation Coefficient of inattention and fine (P<0.0001 and battery (P<0.0001 motor performance were shown. Correlation Coefficient impulsivity and gross (P=0.379, fine (P=0.92 and battery (P=0.562 motor performance shown no significant difference between two groups. Conclusion: According to study results there was a positive relation between sustained attention and impulse control and most of motor performance in both groups. Therefore these findings help Occupational Therapist to determine rehabilitation priorities and to use exact strategies in order to enhance motor performance in children.

  15. Altered intrinsic organisation of brain networks implicated in attentional processes in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a resting-state study of attention, default mode and salience network connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidlauskaite, Justina; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund; Roeyers, Herbert; Wiersema, Jan R

    2016-06-01

    Deficits in task-related attentional engagement in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been hypothesised to be due to altered interrelationships between attention, default mode and salience networks. We examined the intrinsic connectivity during rest within and between these networks. Six-minute resting-state scans were obtained. Using a network-based approach, connectivity within and between the dorsal and ventral attention, the default mode and the salience networks was compared between the ADHD and control group. The ADHD group displayed hyperconnectivity between the two attention networks and within the default mode and ventral attention network. The salience network was hypoconnected to the dorsal attention network. There were trends towards hyperconnectivity within the dorsal attention network and between the salience and ventral attention network in ADHD. Connectivity within and between other networks was unrelated to ADHD. Our findings highlight the altered connectivity within and between attention networks, and between them and the salience network in ADHD. One hypothesis to be tested in future studies is that individuals with ADHD are affected by an imbalance between ventral and dorsal attention systems with the former playing a dominant role during task engagement, making individuals with ADHD highly susceptible to distraction by salient task-irrelevant stimuli.

  16. Is empathy necessary to comprehend the emotional faces? The empathic effect on attentional mechanisms (eye movements), cortical correlates (N200 event-related potentials) and facial behaviour (electromyography) in face processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balconi, Michela; Canavesio, Ylenia

    2016-01-01

    The present research explored the effect of social empathy on processing emotional facial expressions. Previous evidence suggested a close relationship between emotional empathy and both the ability to detect facial emotions and the attentional mechanisms involved. A multi-measure approach was adopted: we investigated the association between trait empathy (Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale) and individuals' performance (response times; RTs), attentional mechanisms (eye movements; number and duration of fixations), correlates of cortical activation (event-related potential (ERP) N200 component), and facial responsiveness (facial zygomatic and corrugator activity). Trait empathy was found to affect face detection performance (reduced RTs), attentional processes (more scanning eye movements in specific areas of interest), ERP salience effect (increased N200 amplitude), and electromyographic activity (more facial responses). A second important result was the demonstration of strong, direct correlations among these measures. We suggest that empathy may function as a social facilitator of the processes underlying the detection of facial emotion, and a general "facial response effect" is proposed to explain these results. We assumed that empathy influences cognitive and the facial responsiveness, such that empathic individuals are more skilful in processing facial emotion.

  17. Infant Attention and Early Childhood Executive Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuevas, Kimberly; Bell, Martha Ann

    2014-01-01

    Individual differences in infant attention are theorized to reflect the speed of information processing and are related to later cognitive abilities (i.e., memory, language, and intelligence). This study provides the first systematic longitudinal analysis of infant attention and early childhood executive function (EF; e.g., working memory,…

  18. Attention and memory evaluation across the life span: heterogeneous effects of age and education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez-Pérez, Esther; Ostrosky-Solís, Feggy

    2006-05-01

    The developmental sequences of attention and memory were studied by utilizing normative data derived from the neuropsychological battery named NEUROPSI ATTENTION AND MEMORY. A sample of 521 Spanish-speaking individuals, aged 6 to 85 years, participated in this study. In the adult sample, educational level ranged from 0 to 22 years of education. Data from subtests measuring orientation, attention and concentration, executive functions, working memory, immediate and delayed verbal memory, and immediate and delayed visual memory were included. The factor structure of the analyzed battery is presented. The effects of age and education on this structure were analyzed. Results suggested that although attention and memory are related, their developmental sequences are separated from one another. During childhood, the development of selective and sustained attention, attentional-working memory, and executive functions showed a fast improvement in performance. Development of verbal memory and place and person orientation showed a slower increment in scores. In the adult sample it was found that factors related to memory are sensitive to age, whereas those related to attention and executive functions are sensitive to education. The consideration of both the developmental sequence, as well as differential effects of education, can improve the sensitivity and specificity of neuropsychological measures, allowing early diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction and implementation of adequate rehabilitation programs.

  19. Spectacle Independence after Cataract Extraction in Post-Radial Keratotomy Patients Using Hybrid Monovision with ReSTOR® Multifocal and TECNIS® Monofocal Intraocular Lenses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isha Gupta

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: We report 2 patients who have undergone radial keratotomy (RK preceding ReSTOR® multifocal intraocular lens (IOL; Alcon, Fort Worth, Tex., USA implantation in their nondominant eyes and TECNIS® monofocal IOL (Abbott Medical Optics, Abbott Park, Ill., USA in their dominant eyes. Methods: Retrospective review of 2 patients who underwent hybrid monovision with ReSTOR® multifocal and TECHNIS® monofocal IOLs at the time of cataract surgery after a remote history of RK. Results: Implantation of the ReSTOR® multifocal and the TECHNIS® monofocal IOLs was successful, with no reported adverse events. The patients were able to achieve spectacle freedom. Conclusion: We report a novel technique for the management of post-RK patients to optimize their chances for spectacle independence.

  20. Connectivity supporting attention in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, Anita D; Jacobson, Lisa A; Wexler, Joanna L; Nebel, Mary Beth; Caffo, Brian S; Pekar, James J; Mostofsky, Stewart H

    2015-01-01

    Intra-subject variability (ISV) is the most consistent behavioral deficit in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ISV may be associated with networks involved in sustaining task control (cingulo-opercular network: CON) and self-reflective lapses of attention (default mode network: DMN). The current study examined whether connectivity supporting attentional control is atypical in children with ADHD. Group differences in full-brain connection strength and brain-behavior associations with attentional control measures were examined for the late-developing CON and DMN in 50 children with ADHD and 50 typically-developing (TD) controls (ages 8-12 years). Children with ADHD had hyper-connectivity both within the CON and within the DMN. Full-brain behavioral associations were found for a number of between-network connections. Across both groups, more anti-correlation between DMN and occipital cortex supported better attentional control. However, in the TD group, this brain-behavior association was stronger and occurred for a more extensive set of DMN-occipital connections. Differential support for attentional control between the two groups occurred with a number of CON-DMN connections. For all CON-DMN connections identified, increased between-network anti-correlation was associated with better attentional control for the ADHD group, but worse attentional control in the TD group. A number of between-network connections with the medial frontal cortex, in particular, showed this relationship. Follow-up analyses revealed that these associations were specific to attentional control and were not due to individual differences in working memory, IQ, motor control, age, or scan motion. While CON-DMN anti-correlation is associated with improved attention in ADHD, other circuitry supports improved attention in TD children. Greater CON-DMN anti-correlation supported better attentional control in children with ADHD, but worse attentional control in TD children. On the other

  1. Neural Correlates of Drug-Related Attentional Bias in Heroin Dependence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qinglin Zhao

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The attention of drug-dependent persons tends to be captured by stimuli associated with drug consumption. This involuntary cognitive process is considered as attentional bias (AB. AB has been hypothesized to have causal effects on drug abuse and drug relapse, but its underlying neural mechanisms are still unclear. This study investigated the neural basis of AB in abstinent heroin addicts (AHAs, combining event-related potential (ERP analysis and source localization techniques. Electroencephalography data were collected in 21 abstinent heroin addicts and 24 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs during a dot-probe task. In the task, a pair of drug-related image and neutral image was presented randomly in left and right side of the cross fixation, followed by a dot probe replacing one of the images. Behaviorally, AHAs had shorter reaction times (RTs for the congruent condition compared to the incongruent condition, whereas this was not the case in the HCs. This finding demonstrated the presence of AB towards drug cues in AHAs. Furthermore, the image-evoked ERPs in AHAs had significant shorter P1 latency compared to HCs, as well as larger N1, N2, and P2 amplitude, suggesting that drug-related stimuli might capture attention early and overall require more attentional resources in AHAs. The target-related P3 had significantly shorter latency and lower amplitude in the congruent than incongruent condition in AHAs compared to HCs. Moreover, source localization of ERP components revealed increased activity for AHAs as compared to HCs in the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC, superior parietal lobule and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG for image-elicited responses, and decreased activity in the occipital and the medial parietal lobes for target-elicited responses. Overall, the results of our study confirmed that AHAs may exhibit AB in drug-related contexts, and suggested that the bias might be related to an abnormal neural activity, both in

  2. Orienting and maintenance of attention to threatening facial expressions in anxiety--an eye movement study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holas, Pawel; Krejtz, Izabela; Cypryanska, Marzena; Nezlek, John B

    2014-12-15

    Cognitive models posit that anxiety disorders stem in part from underlying attentional biases to threat. Consistent with this, studies have found that the attentional bias to threat-related stimuli is greater in high vs. low anxious individuals. Nevertheless, it is not clear if similar biases exist for different threatening emotions or for any facial emotional stimulus. In the present study, we used eye-tracking to measure orienting and maintenance of attention to faces displaying anger, fear and disgust as threats, and faces displaying happiness and sadness. Using a free viewing task, we examined differences between low and high trait anxious (HTA) individuals in the attention they paid to each of these emotional faces (paired with a neutral face). We found that initial orienting was faster for angry and happy faces, and high trait anxious participants were more vigilant to fearful and disgust faces. Our results for attentional maintenance were not consistent. The results of the present study suggest that attentional processes may be more emotion-specific than previously believed. Our results suggest that attentional processes for different threatening emotions may not be the same and that attentional processes for some negative and some positive emotions may be similar. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Emotion and Attention Interaction: a trade-off between stimuli relevance, motivation and individual differences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leticia eOliveira

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Mounting evidence suggests that the neural processing of emotional stimuli is prioritized. However, whether the processing of emotional stimuli is dependent on attention remains debatable. Several studies have investigated this issue by testing the capacity of emotional distracters to divert processing resources from an attentional main task. The attentional load theory postulates that the perceptual load of the main task determines the selective processing of the distracter. Although we agree with this theory, we also suggest that other factors could be important in determining the association between the load of the main task and distracter processing, namely, (1 the relevance of the to-be ignored stimuli and (2 the engagement in the main task resulting from motivation. We postulate that these factors function as opposite forces to influence distracter processing. In addition, we propose that this trade-off is modulated by individual differences. In summary, we suggest that the relationship between emotion and attention is flexible rather than rigid and depends on several factors. Considering this perspective may help us to understand the divergence in the results described by several studies in this field.

  4. Emotion and attention interaction: a trade-off between stimuli relevance, motivation and individual differences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Leticia; Mocaiber, Izabela; David, Isabel A.; Erthal, Fátima; Volchan, Eliane; Pereira, Mirtes G.

    2013-01-01

    Mounting evidence suggests that the neural processing of emotional stimuli is prioritized. However, whether the processing of emotional stimuli is dependent on attention remains debatable. Several studies have investigated this issue by testing the capacity of emotional distracters to divert processing resources from an attentional main task. The attentional load theory postulates that the perceptual load of the main task determines the selective processing of the distracter. Although we agree with this theory, we also suggest that other factors could be important in determining the association between the load of the main task and distracter processing, namely, (1) the relevance of the to-be ignored stimuli and (2) the engagement in the main task due to motivation. We postulate that these factors function as opposite forces to influence distracter processing. In addition, we propose that this trade-off is modulated by individual differences. In summary, we suggest that the relationship between emotion and attention is flexible rather than rigid and depends on several factors. Considering this perspective may help us to understand the divergence in the results described by several studies in this field. PMID:23874284

  5. Emotion and attention interaction: a trade-off between stimuli relevance, motivation and individual differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Leticia; Mocaiber, Izabela; David, Isabel A; Erthal, Fátima; Volchan, Eliane; Pereira, Mirtes G

    2013-01-01

    Mounting evidence suggests that the neural processing of emotional stimuli is prioritized. However, whether the processing of emotional stimuli is dependent on attention remains debatable. Several studies have investigated this issue by testing the capacity of emotional distracters to divert processing resources from an attentional main task. The attentional load theory postulates that the perceptual load of the main task determines the selective processing of the distracter. Although we agree with this theory, we also suggest that other factors could be important in determining the association between the load of the main task and distracter processing, namely, (1) the relevance of the to-be ignored stimuli and (2) the engagement in the main task due to motivation. We postulate that these factors function as opposite forces to influence distracter processing. In addition, we propose that this trade-off is modulated by individual differences. In summary, we suggest that the relationship between emotion and attention is flexible rather than rigid and depends on several factors. Considering this perspective may help us to understand the divergence in the results described by several studies in this field.

  6. Implicit negative affect predicts attention to sad faces beyond self-reported depressive symptoms in healthy individuals: An eye-tracking study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodenschatz, Charlott Maria; Skopinceva, Marija; Kersting, Anette; Quirin, Markus; Suslow, Thomas

    2018-04-04

    Cognitive theories of depression assume biased attention towards mood-congruent information as a central vulnerability and maintaining factor. Among other symptoms, depression is characterized by excessive negative affect (NA). Yet, little is known about the impact of naturally occurring NA on the allocation of attention to emotional information. The study investigates how implicit and explicit NA as well as self-reported depressive symptoms predict attentional biases in a sample of healthy individuals (N = 104). Attentional biases were assessed using eye-tracking during a free viewing task in which images of sad, angry, happy and neutral faces were shown simultaneously. Participants' implicit affectivity was measured indirectly using the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test. Questionnaires were administered to assess actual and habitual explicit NA and presence of depressive symptoms. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with sustained attention to sad faces and reduced attention to happy faces. Implicit but not explicit NA significantly predicted gaze behavior towards sad faces independently from depressive symptoms. The present study supports the idea that naturally occurring implicit NA is associated with attention allocation to dysphoric facial expression. The findings demonstrate the utility of implicit affectivity measures in studying individual differences in depression-relevant attentional biases and cognitive vulnerability. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Unmasking or Worsening AIDS-Related Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: A Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Fournier

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Incidence of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML in HIV-infected patients has declined in the combined antiretroviral therapy (cART era although a growing number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS-related PML-immune reconstitution inflammatory syndromes (PML-IRIS have been published during the same period. Therapeutic management of PML-IRIS is not consensual and mainly relies on corticosteroids. Our main aim was, in addition to provide a thoughtful analysis of published PML-IRIS cases, to assess the benefit of corticosteroids in the management of PML-IRIS, focusing on confirmed cases. We performed a literature review of the 46 confirmed cases of PML-IRIS cases occurring in HIV-infected patients from 1998 to September 2016 (21 unmasking and 25 paradoxical PML-IRIS. AIDS-related PML-IRIS patients were mostly men (sex ratio 4/1 with a median age of 40.5 years (range 12–66. Median CD4 T cell count before cART and at PML-IRIS onset was 45/μl (0–301 and 101/μl (20–610, respectively. After cART initiation, PML-IRIS occurred within a median timescale of 38 days (18–120. Clinical signs were motor deficits (69%, speech disorders (36%, cognitive disorders (33%, cerebellar ataxia (28%, and visual disturbances (23%. Brain MRI revealed hyperintense areas on T2-weighted sequences and FLAIR images (76% and suggestive contrast enhancement (87%. PCR for John Cunningham virus (JCV in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF was positive in only 84% of cases; however, when performed, brain biopsy confirmed diagnosis of PML in 90% of cases and demonstrated histological signs of IRIS in 95% of cases. Clinical worsening related to PML-IRIS and leading to death was observed in 28% of cases. Corticosteroids were prescribed in 63% of cases and maraviroc in one case. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate significant benefit from steroid treatment, despite spectacular improvement in certain cases. Diagnosis of PML-IRIS should be considered in HIV

  8. Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Unmasking or Worsening AIDS-Related Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: A Literature Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fournier, Anna; Martin-Blondel, Guillaume; Lechapt-Zalcman, Emmanuèle; Dina, Julia; Kazemi, Apolline; Verdon, Renaud; Mortier, Emmanuel; de La Blanchardière, Arnaud

    2017-01-01

    Incidence of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in HIV-infected patients has declined in the combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) era although a growing number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related PML-immune reconstitution inflammatory syndromes (PML-IRIS) have been published during the same period. Therapeutic management of PML-IRIS is not consensual and mainly relies on corticosteroids. Our main aim was, in addition to provide a thoughtful analysis of published PML-IRIS cases, to assess the benefit of corticosteroids in the management of PML-IRIS, focusing on confirmed cases. We performed a literature review of the 46 confirmed cases of PML-IRIS cases occurring in HIV-infected patients from 1998 to September 2016 (21 unmasking and 25 paradoxical PML-IRIS). AIDS-related PML-IRIS patients were mostly men (sex ratio 4/1) with a median age of 40.5 years (range 12-66). Median CD4 T cell count before cART and at PML-IRIS onset was 45/μl (0-301) and 101/μl (20-610), respectively. After cART initiation, PML-IRIS occurred within a median timescale of 38 days (18-120). Clinical signs were motor deficits (69%), speech disorders (36%), cognitive disorders (33%), cerebellar ataxia (28%), and visual disturbances (23%). Brain MRI revealed hyperintense areas on T2-weighted sequences and FLAIR images (76%) and suggestive contrast enhancement (87%). PCR for John Cunningham virus (JCV) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was positive in only 84% of cases; however, when performed, brain biopsy confirmed diagnosis of PML in 90% of cases and demonstrated histological signs of IRIS in 95% of cases. Clinical worsening related to PML-IRIS and leading to death was observed in 28% of cases. Corticosteroids were prescribed in 63% of cases and maraviroc in one case. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate significant benefit from steroid treatment, despite spectacular improvement in certain cases. Diagnosis of PML-IRIS should be considered in HIV

  9. From genes to brain development to phenotypic behavior: "dorsal-stream vulnerability" in relation to spatial cognition, attention, and planning of actions in Williams syndrome (WS) and other developmental disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, Janette; Braddick, Oliver

    2011-01-01

    Visual information is believed to be processed through two distinct, yet interacting cortical streams. The ventral stream performs the computations needed for recognition of objects and faces ("what" and "who"?) and the dorsal stream the computations for registering spatial relationships and for controlling visually guided actions ("where" and "how"?). We initially proposed a model of spatial deficits in Williams syndrome (WS) in which visual abilities subserved by the ventral stream, such as face recognition, are relatively well developed (although not necessarily in exactly the same way as in typical development), whereas dorsal-stream functions, such as visuospatial actions, are markedly impaired. Since these initial findings in WS, deficits of motion coherence sensitivity, a dorsal-stream function has been found in other genetic disorders such as Fragile X and autism, and as a consequence of perinatal events (in hemiplegia, perinatal brain anomalies following very premature birth), leading to the proposal of a general "dorsal-stream vulnerability" in many different conditions of abnormal human development. In addition, dorsal-stream systems provide information used in tasks of visuospatial memory and locomotor planning, and these systems are closely coupled to networks for attentional control. We and several other research groups have previously shown deficits of frontal and parietal lobe function in WS individuals for specific attention tasks [e.g., Atkinson, J., Braddick, O., Anker, S., Curran, W., & Andrew, R. (2003). Neurobiological models of visuospatial cognition in children with Williams Syndrome: Measures of dorsal-stream and frontal function. Developmental Neuropsychology, 23(1/2), 141-174.]. We have used the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) which aims to attempt to separate components of attention with distinct brain networks (selective attention, sustained attention, and attention control-executive function) testing a group of older

  10. An individual differences approach to temporal integration and order reversals in the attentional blink task

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Willems, Charlotte; Saija, Jefta D.; Akyurek, Elkan G.; Martens, Sander

    2016-01-01

    Background The reduced ability to identify a second target when it is presented in close temporal succession of a first target is called the attentional blink (AB). Studies have shown large individual differences in AB task performance, where lower task performance has been associated with more

  11. An adult multifocal medulloblastoma with diffuse acute postoperative cerebellar swelling: immunohistochemical and molecular genetics analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balik, Vladimir; Trojanec, Radek; Holzerova, Milena; Tuckova, Lucie; Sulla, Igor; Megova, Magdalena; Vaverka, Miroslav; Hrabalek, Lumir; Ehrmann, Jiri

    2015-01-01

    Medulloblastoma (MB), the most common malignant tumor typically affecting children, occurs only exceptionally in adults. Multifocal presentation of this malignancy in adulthood is even much rarer—only four cases with favorable postoperative course have been reported, so far. The study illustrates a very rare rapid postoperative clinical deterioration due to diffuse cerebellar swelling (DCS) in an adult multifocal MB (MMB). To the best of their knowledge, authors for the first time performed genetic analysis of MMB and demonstrated expression patterns of selected markers that put the patient within the sonic hedgehog (SHH) molecular subgroup and at least partially explain her unsatisfactory clinical course. Herein, authors summarized the relevant literature concerning this issue with the aim to determine features that would facilitate diagnosis and therapy of such a scarce clinical entity.

  12. Methylphenidate Modulates Functional Network Connectivity to Enhance Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Sheng; Hsu, Wei-Ting; Scheinost, Dustin; Finn, Emily S.; Shen, Xilin; Constable, R. Todd; Li, Chiang-Shan R.; Chun, Marvin M.

    2016-01-01

    Recent work has demonstrated that human whole-brain functional connectivity patterns measured with fMRI contain information about cognitive abilities, including sustained attention. To derive behavioral predictions from connectivity patterns, our group developed a connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) approach (Finn et al., 2015; Rosenberg et al., 2016). Previously using CPM, we defined a high-attention network, comprising connections positively correlated with performance on a sustained attention task, and a low-attention network, comprising connections negatively correlated with performance. Validating the networks as generalizable biomarkers of attention, models based on network strength at rest predicted attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in an independent group of individuals (Rosenberg et al., 2016). To investigate whether these networks play a causal role in attention, here we examined their strength in healthy adults given methylphenidate (Ritalin), a common ADHD treatment, compared with unmedicated controls. As predicted, individuals given methylphenidate showed patterns of connectivity associated with better sustained attention: higher high-attention and lower low-attention network strength than controls. There was significant overlap between the high-attention network and a network with greater strength in the methylphenidate group, and between the low-attention network and a network with greater strength in the control group. Network strength also predicted behavior on a stop-signal task, such that participants with higher go response rates showed higher high-attention and lower low-attention network strength. These results suggest that methylphenidate acts by modulating functional brain networks related to sustained attention, and that changing whole-brain connectivity patterns may help improve attention. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent work identified a promising neuromarker of sustained attention based on whole

  13. DRD4 long allele carriers show heightened attention to high-priority items relative to low-priority items.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorlick, Marissa A; Worthy, Darrell A; Knopik, Valerie S; McGeary, John E; Beevers, Christopher G; Maddox, W Todd

    2015-03-01

    Humans with seven or more repeats in exon III of the DRD4 gene (long DRD4 carriers) sometimes demonstrate impaired attention, as seen in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and at other times demonstrate heightened attention, as seen in addictive behavior. Although the clinical effects of DRD4 are the focus of much work, this gene may not necessarily serve as a "risk" gene for attentional deficits, but as a plasticity gene where attention is heightened for priority items in the environment and impaired for minor items. Here we examine the role of DRD4 in two tasks that benefit from selective attention to high-priority information. We examine a category learning task where performance is supported by focusing on features and updating verbal rules. Here, selective attention to the most salient features is associated with good performance. In addition, we examine the Operation Span (OSPAN) task, a working memory capacity task that relies on selective attention to update and maintain items in memory while also performing a secondary task. Long DRD4 carriers show superior performance relative to short DRD4 homozygotes (six or less tandem repeats) in both the category learning and OSPAN tasks. These results suggest that DRD4 may serve as a "plasticity" gene where individuals with the long allele show heightened selective attention to high-priority items in the environment, which can be beneficial in the appropriate context.

  14. Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Epidemiology, clinical pictures, diagnosis and therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kishida, Shuji

    2007-01-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system caused by the reactivation of a ubiquitous polyomavirus JC (JCV). PML was for many years a rare disease occurring only in patients with underlying severe impaired immunity. Over the past three decades, the incidence of PML has significantly increased related to the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) pandemic and, more recently, to the growing use of immunosuppressive drugs. The clinical presentation of PML is variable with neurological symptoms corresponding to affected cerebral areas. Usually, the clinical outcome of patients with PML is poor with an inexorable progression to death within 6 months of symptom onset. Although PML usually requires a brain biopsy or autopsy for confirmation, radiological imaging and a demonstration of JCV-DNA in the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) provide supportive evidence for the diagnosis. Although there is no proven effective therapy for PML, patients with HIV (human immunodeficeincy virus)-related PML may benefit significantly from HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy). In this article the author reviews the epidemiology, especially in Japan, current challenges in the diagnosis and the treatment guidelines of patients with PML based on recent advances in the understanding of the JC virus biology. (author)

  15. Children's 5-HTTLPR genotype moderates the link between maternal criticism and attentional biases specifically for facial displays of anger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibb, Brandon E; Johnson, Ashley L; Benas, Jessica S; Uhrlass, Dorothy J; Knopik, Valerie S; McGeary, John E

    2011-09-01

    Theorists have proposed that negative experiences in childhood may contribute to the development of experience-specific information-processing biases, including attentional biases. There are also clear genetic influences on cognitive processes, with evidence that polymorphisms in specific candidate genes may moderate the impact of environmental stress on attentional biases (e.g., a functional polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene; 5-HTTLPR). In the current study, we tested a gene×environment (G×E) model of risk for attentional biases. We hypothesised that children whose mothers exhibit high levels of expressed emotion criticism (EE-Crit) would display attentional biases specifically for angry, but not happy or sad, faces, and that this link would be stronger among children carrying one or two copies of the 5-HTTLPR short allele than among those homozygous for the long allele. Results generally supported these hypotheses, though we found that carriers of the 5-HTTLPR short allele who also had a critical mother exhibited attentional avoidance of angry faces rather than preferential attention.

  16. Shared vs. specific brain activation changes in dyslexia after training of phonology, attention, or reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heim, Stefan; Pape-Neumann, Julia; van Ermingen-Marbach, Muna; Brinkhaus, Moti; Grande, Marion

    2015-07-01

    Whereas the neurobiological basis of developmental dyslexia has received substantial attention, only little is known about the processes in the brain during remediation. This holds in particular in light of recent findings on cognitive subtypes of dyslexia which suggest interactions between individual profiles, training methods, and also the task in the scanner. Therefore, we trained three groups of German dyslexic primary school children in the domains of phonology, attention, or visual word recognition. We compared neurofunctional changes after 4 weeks of training in these groups to those in untrained normal readers in a reading task and in a task of visual attention. The overall reading improvement in the dyslexic children was comparable over groups. It was accompanied by substantial increase of the activation level in the visual word form area (VWFA) during a reading task inside the scanner. Moreover, there were activation increases that were unique for each training group in the reading task. In contrast, when children performed the visual attention task, shared training effects were found in the left inferior frontal sulcus and gyrus, which varied in amplitude between the groups. Overall, the data reveal that different remediation programmes matched to individual profiles of dyslexia may improve reading ability and commonly affect the VWFA in dyslexia as a shared part of otherwise distinct networks.

  17. Attention in essential tremor: evidence from event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauletti, C; Mannarelli, D; Locuratolo, N; Vanacore, N; De Lucia, M C; Mina, C; Fattapposta, F

    2013-07-01

    Clinically subtle executive dysfunctions have recently been described in essential tremor (ET), though the presence of attentional deficits is still unclear. We investigated the psychophysiological aspects of attention in ET, using event-related potentials (ERPs). Twenty-one non-demented patients with ET and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent a psychophysiological evaluation. P300 components and the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) were recorded. The latencies and amplitudes of the P3a and P3b subcomponents and CNV areas were evaluated. Possible correlations between clinical parameters and ERP data were investigated. P3a latency was significantly longer in the ET group (p attentive circuits, while the memory context-updating process appears to be spared. This selective cognitive dysfunction does not appear to interfere with the attentional set linked to the expectancy evaluated during a complex choice-reaction time task, which is preserved in ET. This multitask psychophysiological approach reveals the presence of a peculiar attentional deficit in patients with ET, thus expanding the clinical features of this disease.

  18. Are You Paying Attention?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørmen, Jacob

    2016-01-01

    and sustained. To study such attention practices, 16 semi-structured interviews with adult Danes are carried out. Through a thematic analysis of these interviews, the chapter explores how ways of attending relate to individual media and how patterns of daily life enable some practices and constrain others...

  19. The multifaceted presentation of chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Girschick, Hermann; Finetti, Martina; Orlando, Francesca

    2018-01-01

    Objectives: Chronic non-bacterial osteomyelitis (CNO) or chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is an autoinflammatory disorder characterized by sterile bone osteolytic lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic data and clinical, instrumental and therapeutic features...... with glucocorticoids, 61 with bisphosphonates, 58 with MTX, 47 with SSZ, 26 with anti-TNF and 4 with anakinra, with a variable response. Conclusion: This is the largest reported case series of CNO patients, showing that the range of associated clinical manifestations is rather heterogeneous. The study confirms...... that the disease usually presents with an early teenage onset, but it may also occur in adults, even in the absence of mucocutaneous manifestations....

  20. High levels of time contraction in young children in dual tasks are related to their limited attention capacities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallez, Quentin; Droit-Volet, Sylvie

    2017-09-01

    Numerous studies have shown that durations are judged shorter in a dual-task condition than in a simple-task condition. The resource-based theory of time perception suggests that this is due to the processing of temporal information, which is a demanding cognitive task that consumes limited attention resources. Our study investigated whether this time contraction in a dual-task condition is greater in younger children and, if so, whether this is specifically related to their limited attention capacities. Children aged 5-7years were given a temporal reproduction task in a simple-task condition and a dual-task condition. In addition, different neuropsychological tests were used to assess not only their attention capacities but also their capacities in terms of working memory and information processing speed. The results showed a shortening of perceived time in the dual task compared with the simple task, and this increased as age decreased. The extent of this shortening effect was directly linked to younger children's limited attentional capacities; the lower their attentional capacities, the greater the time contraction. This study demonstrated that children's errors in time judgments are linked to their cognitive capacities rather than to capacities that are specific to time. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Pre-Processing of Brands Versus Attentional: A Test of the Differences in the Registry of Stimulus by Individuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tais Pasquotto Andreoli

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Due to limited capacity of cognitive resources and to the saturation context of stimuli, becomes probably that a lot of available stimulus in the ambient don´t be actively processed, in a conscious manner, but yes unconsciously, at the preattentive level. Despite of the importance of preattentive processing, are few the studies that address and discuss its implications and function on stimuli reception. In the light of the above, the study has with aim to compare the preattentive and attentive processing in terms of advertiser brand registry, testing, for that, the implicit and explicit memory of individuals and their brand valuation. Methodologically, the study proceeded, initially, to the bibliographic survey, focusing on the follow conceptual bases: the attention process under a complex perspective, subdivided into preattention and attention, and the information registry in light of the processing level. Supported by the bibliographic survey, the study adopted the hypothetical-deduvito method, with the development of a experiment 2 (preattention x attention x 2 (magazine show in slide x impress.As contribution, the study support the traced hypotheses: large incidence of explicit memory of advertiser brands in attentive processing; implicit memory found in both processing; brand valuation effects higher when the preattentive processing happened, instead of when did attentive processing. The results find reinforce the theory about the registry differences according with the attention used on processing, highlighting, yet, the superiority of impress media and preattentive processing in the individual influence capacity.      

  2. Augmenting one-session treatment of children's specific phobias with attention training to positive stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, Allison M; Farrell, Lara J; Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J; Milliner, Ella; Tiralongo, Evelin; Donovan, Caroline L; McConnell, Harry; Bradley, Brendan P; Mogg, Karin; Ollendick, Thomas H

    2014-11-01

    This study examined the efficacy of combining two promising approaches to treating children's specific phobias, namely attention training and one 3-h session of exposure therapy ('one-session treatment', OST). Attention training towards positive stimuli (ATP) and OST (ATP+OST) was expected to have more positive effects on implicit and explicit cognitive mechanisms and clinical outcome measures than an attention training control (ATC) condition plus OST (ATC+OST). Thirty-seven children (6-17 years) with a specific phobia were randomly assigned to ATP+OST or ATC+OST. In ATP+OST, children completed 160 trials of attention training responding to a probe that always followed the happy face in happy-angry face pairs. In ATC+OST, the probe appeared equally often after angry and happy faces. In the same session, children completed OST targeting their phobic situation/object. Clinical outcomes included clinician, parent and child report measures. Cognitive outcomes were assessed in terms of change in attention bias to happy and angry faces and in danger and coping expectancies. Assessments were completed before and after treatment and three-months later. Compared to ATC+OST, the ATP+OST condition produced (a) significantly greater reductions in children's danger expectancies about their feared situations/object during the OST and at three-month follow-up, and (b) significantly improved attention bias towards positive stimuli at post-treatment, which in turn, predicted a lower level of clinician-rated phobia diagnostic severity three-months after treatment. There were no significant differences between ATP+OST and ATC+OST conditions in clinician, parent, or child-rated clinical outcomes. Training children with phobias to focus on positive stimuli is effective in increasing attention towards positive stimuli and reducing danger expectancy biases. Studies with larger sample sizes and a stronger 'dose' of ATP prior to the OST may reveal promising outcomes on clinical measures

  3. Context-specific attentional sampling: Intentional control as a pre-requisite for contextual control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brosowsky, Nicholaus P; Crump, Matthew J C

    2016-08-01

    Recent work suggests that environmental cues associated with previous attentional control settings can rapidly and involuntarily adjust attentional priorities. The current study tests predictions from adaptive-learning and memory-based theories of contextual control about the role of intentions for setting attentional priorities. To extend the empirical boundaries of contextual control phenomena, and to determine whether theoretical principles of contextual control are generalizable we used a novel bi-dimensional stimulus sampling task. Subjects viewed briefly presented arrays of letters and colors presented above or below fixation, and identified specific stimuli according to a dimensional (letter or color) and positional cue. Location was predictive of the cued dimension, but not the position or identity. In contrast to previous findings, contextual control failed to develop through automatic, adaptive-learning processes. Instead, previous experience with intentionally changing attentional sampling priorities between different contexts was required for contextual control to develop. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Attention-related modulation of auditory brainstem responses during contralateral noise exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikeda, Kazunari; Sekiguchi, Takahiro; Hayashi, Akiko

    2008-10-29

    As determinants facilitating attention-related modulation of the auditory brainstem response (ABR), two experimental factors were examined: (i) auditory discrimination; and (ii) contralateral masking intensity. Tone pips at 80 dB sound pressure level were presented to the left ear via either single-tone exposures or oddball exposures, whereas white noise was delivered continuously to the right ear at variable intensities (none--80 dB sound pressure level). Participants each conducted two tasks during stimulation, either reading a book (ignoring task) or detecting target tones (attentive task). Task-related modulation within the ABR range was found only during oddball exposures at contralateral masking intensities greater than or equal to 60 dB. Attention-related modulation of ABR can thus be detected reliably during auditory discrimination under contralateral masking of sufficient intensity.

  5. Medial prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity during emotional memory encoding predicts individual differences in the loss of associative memory specificity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berkers, R.M.W.J.; Klumpers, F.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

    2016-01-01

    Emotionally charged items are often remembered better, whereas a paradoxical loss of specificity is found for associative emotional information (specific memory). The balance between specific and generalized emotional memories appears to show large individual differences, potentially related to

  6. Medial prefrontal–hippocampal connectivity during emotional memory encoding predicts individual differences in the loss of associative memory specificity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berkers, R.M.W.J.; Klumpers, F.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

    2016-01-01

    Emotionally charged items are often remembered better, whereas a paradoxical loss of specificity is found for associative emotional information (specific memory). The balance between specific and generalized emotional memories appears to show large individual differences, potentially related to

  7. Adaptive Allocation of Attention: Effects of Sex and Sociosexuality on Visual Attention to Attractive Opposite-Sex Faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, Lesley A; Park, Justin H; Faulkner, Jason; Schaller, Mark; Neuberg, Steven L; Kenrick, Douglas T

    2007-09-01

    We tested the hypothesis that, compared with sociosexually restricted individuals, those with an unrestricted approach to mating would selectively allocate visual attention to attractive opposite-sex others. We also tested for sex differences in this effect. Seventy-four participants completed the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory, and performed a computer-based task that assessed the speed with which they detected changes in attractive and unattractive male and female faces. Differences in reaction times served as indicators of selective attention. Results revealed a Sex X Sociosexuality interaction: Compared with sociosexually restricted men, unrestricted men selectively allocated attention to attractive opposite-sex others; no such effect emerged among women. This finding was specific to opposite-sex targets and did not occur in attention to same-sex others. These results contribute to a growing literature on the adaptive allocation of attention in social environments.

  8. Social class differences in self, attribution, and attention: socially expansive individualism of middle-class Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowman, Nicholas A; Kitayama, Shinobu; Nisbett, Richard E

    2009-07-01

    Although U.S. culture strongly sanctions the ideal of independence, the specific ways in which independence is realized may be variable depending, among other factors, on social class. Characterized by relative scarcity of social and material resources, working-class (WC) Americans were expected to strongly value self-reliance. In contrast, with choices among abundant resources, middle-class (MC) Americans were expected to value personal control and social expansiveness. In support of this analysis, relative to their WC counterparts, MC Americans reported more support from friends and greater likelihood of giving and receiving advice but less self-reliance (Study 1). Furthermore, we found evidence that this social difference has cognitive consequences: College students with MC backgrounds were more likely than their WC counterparts were to endorse situational attributions for others' behavior (Studies 2a and 2b) as well as to show holistic visual attention (Study 3).

  9. Attention as a characteristic of nonclinical dissociation: an event-related potential study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Ruiter, Michiel B.; Phaf, R. Hans; Veltman, Dick J.; Kok, Albert; van Dyck, Richard

    2003-01-01

    Individual differences in dissociative style (which is generally considered a risk factor for dissociative pathology) were studied in a nonclinical sample. It was hypothesized that high-dissociative participants would show enhanced attentional abilities toward both relevant and irrelevant stimulus

  10. Verbal and facial-emotional Stroop tasks reveal specific attentional interferences in sad mood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaac, Linda; Vrijsen, Janna N; Eling, Paul; van Oostrom, Iris; Speckens, Anne; Becker, Eni S

    2012-01-01

    Mood congruence refers to the tendency of individuals to attend to information more readily when it has the same emotional content as their current mood state. The aim of the present study was to ascertain whether attentional interference occurred for participants in sad mood states for emotionally relevant stimuli (mood-congruence), and to determine whether this interference occurred for both valenced words and valenced faces. A mood induction procedure was administered to 116 undergraduate females divided into two equal groups for the sad and happy mood condition. This study employed three versions of the Stroop task: color, verbal-emotional, and a facial-emotional Stroop. The two mood groups did not differ on the color Stroop. Significant group differences were found on the verbal-emotional Stroop for sad words with longer latencies for sad-induced participants. Main findings for the facial-emotional Stroop were that sad mood is associated with attentional interference for angry-threatening faces as well as longer latencies for neutral faces. Group differences were not found for positive stimuli. These findings confirm that sad mood is associated with attentional interference for mood-congruent stimuli in the verbal domain (sad words), but this mood-congruent effect does not necessarily apply to the visual domain (sad faces). Attentional interference for neutral faces suggests sad mood participants did not necessarily see valence-free faces. Attentional interference for threatening stimuli is often associated with anxiety; however, the current results show that threat is not an attentional interference observed exclusively in states of anxiety but also in sad mood.

  11. Application of serum natalizumab levels during plasma exchange in MS patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vennegoor, A.; Rispens, T.; van Oosten, B.W.; Wattjes, M.P.; Wondergem, M.J.; Teunissen, C.E.; van der Kleij, D.; Uitdehaag, B.M.J.; Polman, C.H.; Killestein, J.

    2015-01-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a severe complication of natalizumab treatment. Restoring immune function by plasmapheresis/immunoadsorption (PLEX/IA) is important for the outcome of PML. We report on four multiple sclerosis (MS) patients whom developed PML during natalizumab

  12. Multifocal fibrosclerosis presenting as Grave's orbitopathy. Bilateral exophthalmos associated with retroperitoneal and sellar fibrosis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Pol, R.; Nieuwenhuis, M. G.; Mourits, M. P.

    1999-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Multifocal fibrosclerosis (MF) is a rare disease that may be misdiagnosed as Graves' orbitopathy. The combination of localisations of MF presented here has not been reported before. CASE REPORT: A 44-year-old man was referred with progressive bilateral exophthalmos. CT of his chest and

  13. Light-distortion analysis as a possible indicator of visual quality after refractive lens exchange with diffractive multifocal intraocular lenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brito, Pedro; Salgado-Borges, José; Neves, Helena; Gonzalez-Meijome, José; Monteiro, Manuel

    2015-03-01

    To study the perception of light distortion after refractive lens exchange (RLE) with diffractive multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs). Clínica Oftalmológica das Antas, Porto, Portugal. Retrospective comparative study. Refractive lens exchange was performed with implantation of an AT Lisa 839M (trifocal) or 909MP (bifocal toric) IOL, the latter if corneal astigmatism was more than 0.75 diopter (D). The postoperative visual and refractive outcomes were evaluated. A prototype light-distortion analyzer was used to quantify the postoperative light-distortion indices. A control group of eyes in which a Tecnis ZCB00 1-piece monofocal IOL was implanted had the same examinations. A trifocal or bifocal toric IOL was implanted in 66 eyes. The control IOL was implanted in 18 eyes. All 3 groups obtained a significant improvement in uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) (P refractive cylinder was less than 1.00 D in 86.7% of cases with the toric IOL. The mean light-distortion index was significantly higher in the multifocal IOL groups than in the monofocal group (P light-distortion index and CDVA. The multifocal IOLs provided excellent UDVA and functional UNVA despite increased light-distortion indices. The light-distortion analyzer reliably quantified a subjective component of vision distinct from visual acuity; it may become a useful adjunct in the evaluation of visual quality obtained with multifocal IOLs. No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. Copyright © 2015 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Individualizing Services, Individualizing Responsibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garsten, Christina; Hollertz, Katarina; Jacobsson, Kerstin

    possibilities for individual voice, autonomy and self-determination in the local delivery of activation policy? What barriers do specific organisational models and practices imply for clients to choose, determine and access tailor-made programmes and services? What policy technologies are at work in governing......-oriented, and the normative demands placed on individuals appear increasingly totalizing, concerning the whole individual rather than the job-related aspects only. The paper is based on 23 in-depth interviews with individual clients as well as individual caseworkers and other professionals engaged in client-related work...

  15. Acute, low-dose methamphetamine administration improves attention/information processing speed and working memory in methamphetamine-dependent individuals displaying poorer cognitive performance at baseline.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahoney, James J; Jackson, Brian J; Kalechstein, Ari D; De La Garza, Richard; Newton, Thomas F

    2011-03-30

    Abstinent methamphetamine (Meth) dependent individuals demonstrate poorer performance on tests sensitive to attention/information processing speed, learning and memory, and working memory when compared to non-Meth dependent individuals. The poorer performance on these tests may contribute to the morbidity associated with Meth-dependence. In light of this, we sought to determine the effects of acute, low-dose Meth administration on attention, working memory, and verbal learning and memory in 19 non-treatment seeking, Meth-dependent individuals. Participants were predominantly male (89%), Caucasian (63%), and cigarette smokers (63%). Following a four day, drug-free washout period, participants were given a single-blind intravenous infusion of saline, followed the next day by 30 mg of Meth. A battery of neurocognitive tasks was administered before and after each infusion, and performance on measures of accuracy and reaction time were compared between conditions. While acute Meth exposure did not affect test performance for the entire sample, participants who demonstrated relatively poor performance on these tests at baseline, identified using a median split on each test, showed significant improvement on measures of attention/information processing speed and working memory when administered Meth. Improved performance was seen on the following measures of working memory: choice reaction time task (p≤0.04), a 1-back task (p≤0.01), and a 2-back task (p≤0.04). In addition, those participants demonstrating high neurocognitive performance at baseline experienced similar or decreased performance following Meth exposure. These findings suggest that acute administration of Meth may temporarily improve Meth-associated neurocognitive performance in those individuals experiencing lower cognitive performance at baseline. As a result, stimulants may serve as a successful treatment for improving cognitive functioning in those Meth-dependent individuals experiencing

  16. Multifocal visual evoked responses to dichoptic stimulation using virtual reality goggles: Multifocal VER to dichoptic stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arvind, Hemamalini; Klistorner, Alexander; Graham, Stuart L; Grigg, John R

    2006-05-01

    Multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEPs) have demonstrated good diagnostic capabilities in glaucoma and optic neuritis. This study aimed at evaluating the possibility of simultaneously recording mfVEP for both eyes with dichoptic stimulation using virtual reality goggles and also to determine the stimulus characteristics that yield maximum amplitude. ten healthy volunteers were recruited and temporally sparse pattern pulse stimuli were presented dichoptically using virtual reality goggles. Experiment 1 involved recording responses to dichoptically presented checkerboard stimuli and also confirming true topographic representation by switching off specific segments. Experiment 2 involved monocular stimulation and comparison of amplitude with Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, orthogonally oriented gratings were dichoptically presented. Experiment 4 involved dichoptic presentation of checkerboard stimuli at different levels of sparseness (5.0 times/s, 2.5 times/s, 1.66 times/s and 1.25 times/s), where stimulation of corresponding segments of two eyes were separated by 16.7, 66.7,116.7 & 166.7 ms respectively. Experiment 1 demonstrated good traces in all regions and confirmed topographic representation. However, there was suppression of amplitude of responses to dichoptic stimulation by 17.9+/-5.4% compared to monocular stimulation. Experiment 3 demonstrated similar suppression between orthogonal and checkerboard stimuli (p = 0.08). Experiment 4 demonstrated maximum amplitude and least suppression (4.8%) with stimulation at 1.25 times/s with 166.7 ms separation between eyes. It is possible to record mfVEP for both eyes during dichoptic stimulation using virtual reality goggles, which present binocular simultaneous patterns driven by independent sequences. Interocular suppression can be almost eliminated by using a temporally sparse stimulus of 1.25 times/s with a separation of 166.7 ms between stimulation of corresponding segments of the two eyes.

  17. Can the accuracy of multifocal intraocular lens power calculation be improved to make patients spectacle free?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramji, Hasnain; Moore, Johnny; Moore, C B Tara; Shah, Sunil

    2016-04-01

    To optimise intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation techniques for a segmental multifocal IOL, LENTIS™ MPlus(®) (Oculentis GmbH, Berlin, Germany) and assess outcomes. A retrospective consecutive non-randomised case series of patients receiving the MPlus(®) IOL following cataract surgery or clear lens extraction was performed at a privately owned ophthalmic hospital, Midland Eye, Solihull, UK. Analysis was undertaken of 116 eyes, with uncomplicated lens replacement surgery using the LENTIS™ MPlus(®) lenses. Pre-operative biometry data were stratified into short (<22.00 mm) and long axial lengths (ALs) (≥22.00 mm). IOL power predictions were calculated with SRK/T, Holladay I, Hoffer Q, Holladay II and Haigis formulae and compared to the final manifest refraction. These were compared with the OKULIX ray tracing method and the stratification technique suggested by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth). Using SRK/T for long eyes and Hoffer Q for short eyes, 64% achieved postoperative subjective refractions of ≤±0.25 D, 83%≤±0.50 D and 93%≤±0.75 D, with a maximum predictive error of 1.25D. No specific calculation method performed best across all ALs; however for ALs under 22 mm Hoffer Q and Holliday I methods performed best. Excellent but equivalent overall refractive results were found between all biometry methods used in this multifocal IOL study. For eyes with ALs under 22 mm Hoffer Q and Holliday I performed best. Current techniques mean that patients are still likely to need top up glasses for certain situations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Differentiation of Rodent Behavioral Phenotypes and Methylphenidate Action in Sustained and Flexible Attention Tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Richard; Shumsky, Jed; Waterhouse, Barry D.

    2016-01-01

    Methyphenidate (MPH) is the primary drug treatment of choice for ADHD. It is also frequently used off-label as a cognitive enhancer by otherwise healthy individuals from all age groups and walks of life. Military personnel, students, and health professionals use MPH illicitly to increase attention and improve workplace performance over extended periods of work activity. Despite the frequency of its use, the efficacy of MPH to enhance cognitive function across individuals and in a variety of circumstances is not well characterized. We sought to better understand MPH’s cognitive enhancing properties in two different rodent models of attention. We found that MPH could enhance performance in a sustained attention task, but that its effects in this test were subject dependent. More specifically, MPH increased attention in low baseline performing rats but had little to no effect on high performing rats. MPH exerted a similar subject specific effect in a test of flexible attention, i.e. the attention set shifting task. In this test MPH increased behavioral flexibility in animals with poor flexibility but impaired performance in more flexible animals. Overall, our results indicate that the effects of MPH are subject-specific and depend on the baseline level of performance. Furthermore, good performance in in the sustained attention task was correlated with good performance in the flexible attention task; i.e. animals with better vigilance exhibited greater behavioral flexibility. The findings are discussed in terms of potential neurobiological substrates, in particular noradrenergic mechanisms, that might underlie subject specific performance and subject specific responses to MPH. PMID:26688113

  19. Exploring the function of selective attention and hypervigilance for threat in anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Helen J; Benson, Valerie; Donnelly, Nick; Hadwin, Julie A

    2014-02-01

    Theoretical frameworks of anxiety propose that attentional biases to threat-related stimuli cause or maintain anxious states. The current paper draws on theoretical frameworks and key empirical studies to outline the distinctive attentional processes highlighted as being important in understanding anxiety. We develop a conceptual framework to make a distinction between two attentional biases: selective attention to threat and hypervigilance for threat. We suggest that these biases each have a different purpose and can account for the typical patterns of facilitated and impaired attention evident in anxious individuals. The framework is novel in its specification of the eye movement behavior associated with these attentional biases. We highlight that selective attention involves narrowing overt attention onto threat to ensure that these stimuli receive processing priority, leading to rapid engagement with task-relevant threat and delayed disengagement from task-irrelevant threat. We show that hypervigilance operates in the presence and absence of threat and involves monitoring for potential dangers via attentional broadening or excessive scanning of the environment with numerous eye movements, leading to improved threat detection and increased distraction from task-irrelevant threat. We conclude that future research could usefully employ eye movement measures to more clearly understand the diverse roles of attention in anxiety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy limited to the brain stem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kastrup, O.; Maschke, M.; Diener, H.C. [Neurologische Universitaetsklinik, University of Essen (Germany); Wanke, I. [Department of Neuroradiology, University of Essen (Germany)

    2002-03-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a subacute demyelinating slow-virus encephalitis caused by the JC polyomavirus in 2-5% of patients with AIDS. MRI typically shows multiple lesions in the cerebral hemispheres. We present a rare case of rapidly evolving and lethal PML with a severe bulbar syndrome and spastic tetraparesis in a patient with AIDS. MRI showed high-signal lesions on T2-weighted images confined to the brain stem, extending from the medulla oblongata to the midbrain. JC virus polymerase chain reaction in cerebrospinal fluid was positive, and neuropathology showed the findings of PML. This case was also notable because of the rapid progression despite improved immune status with antiretroviral therapy. (orig.)

  1. Relations between Preschool Attention Span-Persistence and Age 25 Educational Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClelland, Megan M.; Acock, Alan C.; Piccinin, Andrea; Rhea, Sally Ann; Stallings, Michael C.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined relations between children's attention span-persistence in preschool and later school achievement and college completion. Children were drawn from the Colorado Adoption Project using adopted and non-adopted children (N = 430). Results of structural equation modeling indicated that children's age 4 attention span-persistence…

  2. Losing focus: how lens position and viewing angle affect the function of multifocal lenses in fishes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagnon, Yakir Luc; Wilby, David; Temple, Shelby Eric

    2016-09-01

    Light rays of different wavelengths are focused at different distances when they pass through a lens (longitudinal chromatic aberration [LCA]). For animals with color vision this can pose a serious problem, because in order to perceive a sharp image the rays must be focused at the shallow plane of the photoreceptor's outer segments in the retina. A variety of fish and tetrapods have been found to possess multifocal lenses, which correct for LCA by assigning concentric zones to correctly focus specific wavelengths. Each zone receives light from a specific beam entrance position (BEP) (the lateral distance between incoming light and the center of the lens). Any occlusion of incoming light at specific BEPs changes the composition of the wavelengths that are correctly focused on the retina. Here, we calculated the effect of lens position relative to the plane of the iris and light entering the eye at oblique angles on how much of the lens was involved in focusing the image on the retina (measured as the availability of BEPs). We used rotational photography of fish eyes and mathematical modeling to quantify the degree of lens occlusion. We found that, at most lens positions and viewing angles, there was a decrease of BEP availability and in some cases complete absence of some BEPs. Given the implications of these effects on image quality, we postulate that three morphological features (aphakic spaces, curvature of the iris, and intraretinal variability in spectral sensitivity) may, in part, be adaptations to mitigate the loss of spectral image quality in the periphery of the eyes of fishes.

  3. Cue self-relevance affects autobiographical memory specificity in individuals with a history of major depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crane, Catherine; Barnhofer, Thorsten; Mark, J; Williams, G

    2007-04-01

    Previously depressed and never-depressed individuals identified personal characteristics (self-guides) defining their ideal, ought, and feared selves. One week later they completed the autobiographical memory test (AMT). For each participant the number of AMT cues that reflected self-guide content was determined to produce an index of AMT cue self-relevance. Individuals who had never been depressed showed no significant relationship between cue self-relevance and specificity. In contrast, in previously depressed participants there was a highly significant negative correlation between cue self-relevance and specificity--the greater the number of AMT cues that reflected self-guide content, the fewer specific memories participants recalled. It is suggested that in individuals with a history of depression, cues reflecting self-guide content are more likely to prompt a shift to processing of information within the long-term self (Conway, Singer, & Tagini, 2004), increasing the likelihood that self-related semantic information will be provided in response to cues on the autobiographical memory test.

  4. Pre-attentive processing of spectrally complex sounds with asynchronous onsets: an event-related potential study with human subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tervaniemi, M; Schröger, E; Näätänen, R

    1997-05-23

    Neuronal mechanisms involved in the processing of complex sounds with asynchronous onsets were studied in reading subjects. The sound onset asynchrony (SOA) between the leading partial and the remaining complex tone was varied between 0 and 360 ms. Infrequently occurring deviant sounds (in which one out of 10 harmonics was different in pitch relative to the frequently occurring standard sound) elicited the mismatch negativity (MMN), a change-specific cortical event-related potential (ERP) component. This indicates that the pitch of standard stimuli had been pre-attentively coded by sensory-memory traces. Moreover, when the complex-tone onset fell within temporal integration window initiated by the leading-partial onset, the deviants elicited the N2b component. This indexes that involuntary attention switch towards the sound change occurred. In summary, the present results support the existence of pre-perceptual integration mechanism of 100-200 ms duration and emphasize its importance in switching attention towards the stimulus change.

  5. The value of local treatment in patients with primary, disseminated, multifocal Ewing sarcoma (PDMES)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haeusler, Julia; Ranft, Andreas; Boelling, Tobias; Gosheger, Georg; Braun-Munzinger, Gabriele; Vieth, Volker; Burdach, Stefan; van den Berg, Henk; Juergens, Heribert; Dirksen, Uta

    2010-01-01

    The value of local treatment in patients with primary, disseminated, multifocal Ewing sarcoma (PDMES) was investigated. We analyzed 120 patients registered into the European Ewing Tumor Working Initiative of National Groups (EURO-E.W.I.N.G. 99) trial at the trial center of Muenster from 1998 to

  6. Sensory Gain Outperforms Efficient Readout Mechanisms in Predicting Attention-Related Improvements in Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ester, Edward F.; Deering, Sean

    2014-01-01

    Spatial attention has been postulated to facilitate perceptual processing via several different mechanisms. For instance, attention can amplify neural responses in sensory areas (sensory gain), mediate neural variability (noise modulation), or alter the manner in which sensory signals are selectively read out by postsensory decision mechanisms (efficient readout). Even in the context of simple behavioral tasks, it is unclear how well each of these mechanisms can account for the relationship between attention-modulated changes in behavior and neural activity because few studies have systematically mapped changes between stimulus intensity, attentional focus, neural activity, and behavioral performance. Here, we used a combination of psychophysics, event-related potentials (ERPs), and quantitative modeling to explicitly link attention-related changes in perceptual sensitivity with changes in the ERP amplitudes recorded from human observers. Spatial attention led to a multiplicative increase in the amplitude of an early sensory ERP component (the P1, peaking ∼80–130 ms poststimulus) and in the amplitude of the late positive deflection component (peaking ∼230–330 ms poststimulus). A simple model based on signal detection theory demonstrates that these multiplicative gain changes were sufficient to account for attention-related improvements in perceptual sensitivity, without a need to invoke noise modulation. Moreover, combining the observed multiplicative gain with a postsensory readout mechanism resulted in a significantly poorer description of the observed behavioral data. We conclude that, at least in the context of relatively simple visual discrimination tasks, spatial attention modulates perceptual sensitivity primarily by modulating the gain of neural responses during early sensory processing PMID:25274817

  7. Avoiding math on a rapid timescale: Emotional responsivity and anxious attention in math anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pizzie, Rachel G; Kraemer, David J M

    2017-11-01

    Math anxiety (MA) is characterized by negative feelings towards mathematics, resulting in avoidance of math classes and of careers that rely on mathematical skills. Focused on a long timescale, this research may miss important cognitive and affective processes that operate moment-to-moment, changing rapid reactions even when a student simply sees a math problem. Here, using fMRI with an attentional deployment paradigm, we show that MA influences rapid spontaneous emotional and attentional responses to mathematical stimuli upon brief presentation. Critically, participants viewed but did not attempt to solve the problems. Indicating increased threat reactivity to even brief presentations of math problems, increased MA was associated with increased amygdala response during math viewing trials. Functionally and anatomically defined amygdala ROIs yielded similar results, indicating robustness of the finding. Similar to the pattern of vigilance and avoidance observed in specific phobia, behavioral results of the attentional paradigm demonstrated that MA is associated with attentional disengagement for mathematical symbols. This attentional avoidance is specific to math stimuli; when viewing negatively-valenced images, MA is correlated with attentional engagement, similar to other forms of anxiety. These results indicate that even brief exposure to mathematics triggers a neural response related to threat avoidance in highly MA individuals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Enhanced attentional bias towards sexually explicit cues in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daisy J Mechelmans

    Full Text Available Compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB is relatively common and has been associated with significant distress and psychosocial impairments. CSB has been conceptualized as either an impulse control disorder or a non-substance 'behavioural' addiction. Substance use disorders are commonly associated with attentional biases to drug cues which are believed to reflect processes of incentive salience. Here we assess male CSB subjects compared to age-matched male healthy controls using a dot probe task to assess attentional bias to sexually explicit cues. We show that compared to healthy volunteers, CSB subjects have enhanced attentional bias to explicit cues but not neutral cues particularly for early stimuli latency. Our findings suggest enhanced attentional bias to explicit cues possibly related to an early orienting attentional response. This finding dovetails with our recent observation that sexually explicit videos were associated with greater activity in a neural network similar to that observed in drug-cue-reactivity studies. Greater desire or wanting rather than liking was further associated with activity in this neural network. These studies together provide support for an incentive motivation theory of addiction underlying the aberrant response towards sexual cues in CSB.

  9. Relationships Among Attention Networks and Physiological Responding to Threat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarapas, Casey; Weinberg, Anna; Langenecker, Scott A.

    2016-01-01

    Although researchers have long hypothesized a relationship between attention and anxiety, theoretical and empirical accounts of this relationship have conflicted. We attempted to resolve these conflicts by examining relationships of attentional abilities with responding to predictable and unpredictable threat, related but distinct motivational process implicated in a number of anxiety disorders. Eighty-one individuals completed a behavioral task assessing efficiency of three components of attention – alerting, orienting, and executive control (Attention Network Test - Revised). We also assessed startle responding during anticipation of both predictable, imminent threat (of mild electric shock) and unpredictable contextual threat. Faster alerting and slower disengaging from non-emotional attention cues were related to heightened responding to unpredictable threat, whereas poorer executive control of attention was related to heightened responding to predictable threat. This double dissociation helps to integrate models of attention and anxiety and may be informative for treatment development. PMID:27816781

  10. Individual differences and specificity of prefrontal gamma frequency-tACS on fluid intelligence capabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santarnecchi, E; Muller, T; Rossi, S; Sarkar, A; Polizzotto, N R; Rossi, A; Cohen Kadosh, R

    2016-02-01

    Emerging evidence suggests that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is an effective, frequency-specific modulator of endogenous brain oscillations, with the potential to alter cognitive performance. Here, we show that reduction in response latencies to solve complex logic problem indexing fluid intelligence is obtained through 40 Hz-tACS (gamma band) applied to the prefrontal cortex. This improvement in human performance depends on individual ability, with slower performers at baseline receiving greater benefits. The effect could have not being explained by regression to the mean, and showed task and frequency specificity: it was not observed for trials not involving logical reasoning, as well as with the application of low frequency 5 Hz-tACS (theta band) or non-periodic high frequency random noise stimulation (101-640 Hz). Moreover, performance in a spatial working memory task was not affected by brain stimulation, excluding possible effects on fluid intelligence enhancement through an increase in memory performance. We suggest that such high-level cognitive functions are dissociable by frequency-specific neuromodulatory effects, possibly related to entrainment of specific brain rhythms. We conclude that individual differences in cognitive abilities, due to acquired or developmental origins, could be reduced during frequency-specific tACS, a finding that should be taken into account for future individual cognitive rehabilitation studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Strategy in Regulatory Decision-Making for Management of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Segec, A; Keller-Stanislawski, B; Vermeer, N S

    2015-01-01

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) has been observed after the use of several medicines, including monoclonal antibodies. As these drugs play important roles in the therapeutic armamentarium, it is important to address the challenges that this severe adverse reaction poses to the safe...... use of medicines. Considering the need for consistent outcomes of regulatory decisions, the European Medicines Agency Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) used PML as an example to develop a systematic approach to labeling and risk minimization....

  12. Visual arts training is linked to flexible attention to local and global levels of visual stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamberlain, Rebecca; Wagemans, Johan

    2015-10-01

    Observational drawing skill has been shown to be associated with the ability to focus on local visual details. It is unclear whether superior performance in local processing is indicative of the ability to attend to, and flexibly switch between, local and global levels of visual stimuli. It is also unknown whether these attentional enhancements remain specific to observational drawing skill or are a product of a wide range of artistic activities. The current study aimed to address these questions by testing if flexible visual processing predicts artistic group membership and observational drawing skill in a sample of first-year bachelor's degree art students (n=23) and non-art students (n=23). A pattern of local and global visual processing enhancements was found in relation to artistic group membership and drawing skill, with local processing ability found to be specifically related to individual differences in drawing skill. Enhanced global processing and more fluent switching between local and global levels of hierarchical stimuli predicted both drawing skill and artistic group membership, suggesting that these are beneficial attentional mechanisms for art-making in a range of domains. These findings support a top-down attentional model of artistic expertise and shed light on the domain specific and domain-general attentional enhancements induced by proficiency in the visual arts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Evidence for specificity of the impact of punishment on error-related brain activity in high versus low trait anxious individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Alexandria; Gawlowska, Magda

    2017-10-01

    A previous study suggests that when participants were punished with a loud noise after committing errors, the error-related negativity (ERN) was enhanced in high trait anxious individuals. The current study sought to extend these findings by examining the ERN in conditions when punishment was related and unrelated to error commission as a function of individual differences in trait anxiety symptoms; further, the current study utilized an electric shock as an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Results confirmed that the ERN was increased when errors were punished among high trait anxious individuals compared to low anxious individuals; this effect was not observed when punishment was unrelated to errors. Findings suggest that the threat-value of errors may underlie the association between certain anxious traits and punishment-related increases in the ERN. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Working memory and language: skill-specific or domain-general relations to mathematics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purpura, David J; Ganley, Colleen M

    2014-06-01

    Children's early mathematics skills develop in a cumulative fashion; foundational skills form a basis for the acquisition of later skills. However, non-mathematical factors such as working memory and language skills have also been linked to mathematical development at a broad level. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted to evaluate the specific relations of these two non-mathematical factors to individual aspects of early mathematics. Thus, the focus of this study was to determine whether working memory and language were related to only individual aspects of early mathematics or related to many components of early mathematics skills. A total of 199 4- to 6-year-old preschool and kindergarten children were assessed on a battery of early mathematics tasks as well as measures of working memory and language. Results indicated that working memory has a specific relation to only a few-but critically important-early mathematics skills and language has a broad relation to nearly all early mathematics skills. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Attention demands of spoken word planning: A review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ardi eRoelofs

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Attention and language are among the most intensively researched abilities in the cognitive neurosciences, but the relation between these abilities has largely been neglected. There is increasing evidence, however, that linguistic processes, such as those underlying the planning of words, cannot proceed without paying some form of attention. Here, we review evidence that word planning requires some but not full attention. The evidence comes from chronometric studies of word planning in picture naming and word reading under divided attention conditions. It is generally assumed that the central attention demands of a process are indexed by the extent that the process delays the performance of a concurrent unrelated task. The studies measured the speed and accuracy of linguistic and nonlinguistic responding as well as eye gaze durations reflecting the allocation of attention. First, empirical evidence indicates that in several task situations, processes up to and including phonological encoding in word planning delay, or are delayed by, the performance of concurrent unrelated nonlinguistic tasks. These findings suggest that word planning requires central attention. Second, empirical evidence indicates that conflicts in word planning may be resolved while concurrently performing an unrelated nonlinguistic task, making a task decision, or making a go/no-go decision. These findings suggest that word planning does not require full central attention. We outline a computationally implemented theory of attention and word planning, and describe at various points the outcomes of computer simulations that demonstrate the utility of the theory in accounting for the key findings. Finally, we indicate how attention deficits may contribute to impaired language performance, such as in individuals with specific language impairment.

  16. Newly-formed emotional memories guide selective attention processes: Evidence from event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schupp, Harald T; Kirmse, Ursula; Schmälzle, Ralf; Flaisch, Tobias; Renner, Britta

    2016-06-20

    Emotional cues can guide selective attention processes. However, emotional stimuli can both activate long-term memory representations reflecting general world knowledge and engage newly formed memory representations representing specific knowledge from the immediate past. Here, the self-completion feature of associative memory was utilized to assess the regulation of attention processes by newly-formed emotional memory. First, new memory representations were formed by presenting pictures depicting a person either in an erotic pose or as a portrait. Afterwards, to activate newly-built memory traces, edited pictures were presented showing only the head region of the person. ERP recordings revealed the emotional regulation of attention by newly-formed memories. Specifically, edited pictures from the erotic compared to the portrait category elicited an early posterior negativity and late positive potential, similar to the findings observed for the original pictures. A control condition showed that the effect was dependent on newly-formed memory traces. Given the large number of new memories formed each day, they presumably make an important contribution to the regulation of attention in everyday life.

  17. Newly-formed emotional memories guide selective attention processes: Evidence from event-related potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schupp, Harald T.; Kirmse, Ursula; Schmälzle, Ralf; Flaisch, Tobias; Renner, Britta

    2016-01-01

    Emotional cues can guide selective attention processes. However, emotional stimuli can both activate long-term memory representations reflecting general world knowledge and engage newly formed memory representations representing specific knowledge from the immediate past. Here, the self-completion feature of associative memory was utilized to assess the regulation of attention processes by newly-formed emotional memory. First, new memory representations were formed by presenting pictures depicting a person either in an erotic pose or as a portrait. Afterwards, to activate newly-built memory traces, edited pictures were presented showing only the head region of the person. ERP recordings revealed the emotional regulation of attention by newly-formed memories. Specifically, edited pictures from the erotic compared to the portrait category elicited an early posterior negativity and late positive potential, similar to the findings observed for the original pictures. A control condition showed that the effect was dependent on newly-formed memory traces. Given the large number of new memories formed each day, they presumably make an important contribution to the regulation of attention in everyday life. PMID:27321471

  18. Familial transmission of a body-related attentional bias - An eye-tracking study in a nonclinical sample of female adolescents and their mothers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anika Bauer

    Full Text Available Previous research indicates that body image disturbance is transmitted from mother to daughter via modeling of maternal body-related behaviors and attitudes (indirect transmission and via maternal body-related feedback (direct transmission. So far, the transmission of body-related attentional biases, which according to cognitive-behavioral theories play a prominent role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, has not been analyzed. The current eye-tracking study applied the concepts of direct and indirect transmission to body-related attentional biases by examining body-related viewing patterns on self- and other-pictures within mother-daughter dyads.Eye movements of N = 82 participants (n = 41 healthy female adolescents, mean age 15.82 years, SD = 1.80, and their mothers, mean age 47.78 years, SD = 4.52 were recorded while looking at whole-body pictures of themselves and a control peer. Based on fixations on self-defined attractive and unattractive body areas, visual attention bias scores were calculated for mothers and daughters, representing the pattern of body-related attention allocation. Based on mothers' fixations on their own daughter's and the adolescent peer's body, a second visual attention bias score was calculated, reflecting the mothers' viewing pattern on their own daughter.Analysis of variance revealed an attentional bias for self-defined unattractive body areas in adolescents. The girls' visual attention bias score correlated significantly with their mothers' bias score, indicating indirect transmission, and with their mothers' second bias score, indicating direct transmission. Moreover, the girls' bias score correlated significantly with negative body-related feedback from their mothers.Female adolescents show a deficit-oriented attentional bias for one's own and a peer's body. The correlated body-related attention patterns imply that attentional biases might be transmitted directly and indirectly from mothers

  19. Resisting the siren call of individualism in pediatric decision-making and the role of relational interests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salter, Erica K

    2014-02-01

    The siren call of individualism is compelling. And although we have recognized its dangerous allure in the realm of adult decision-making, it has had profound and yet unnoticed dangerous effects in pediatric decision-making as well. Liberal individualism as instantiated in the best interest standard conceptualizes the child as independent and unencumbered and the goal of child rearing as rational autonomous adulthood, a characterization that is both ontologically false and normatively dangerous. Although a notion of the individuated child might have a place in establishing a threshold of care obligated and enforced by the state, beyond this context we should turn our attention more explicitly to the relational interests of children.

  20. Default mode network abnormalities during state switching in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidlauskaite, J; Sonuga-Barke, E; Roeyers, H; Wiersema, J R

    2016-02-01

    Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display excess levels of default mode network (DMN) activity during goal-directed tasks, which are associated with attentional disturbances and performance decrements. One hypothesis is that this is due to attenuated down-regulation of this network during rest-to-task switching. A second related hypothesis is that it may be associated with right anterior insula (rAI) dysfunction - a region thought to control the actual state-switching process. These hypotheses were tested in the current fMRI study in which 19 adults with ADHD and 21 typically developing controls undertook a novel state-to-state switching paradigm. Advance cues signalled upcoming switches between rest and task periods and switch-related anticipatory modulation of DMN and rAI was measured. To examine whether rest-to-task switching impairments may be a specific example of a more general state regulation deficit, activity upon task-to-rest cues was also analysed. Against our hypotheses, we found that the process of down-regulating the DMN when preparing to switch from rest to task was unimpaired in ADHD and that there was no switch-specific deficit in rAI modulation. However, individuals with ADHD showed difficulties up-regulating the DMN when switching from task to rest. Rest-to-task DMN attenuation seems to be intact in adults with ADHD and thus appears unrelated to excess DMN activity observed during tasks. Instead, individuals with ADHD exhibit attenuated up-regulation of the DMN, hence suggesting disturbed re-initiation of a rest state.