Browsing by Subject "Attention"
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Item ADHD symptoms, executive attention, and electrophysiological activity in post-institutionalized children.(2010-08) Wiik Cruden, Kristen LouisePrior research indicates children who experience early deprivation in institutional care have increased rates of attentional problems (e.g., ADHD) years after adoption. Limited and conflicting evidence suggests post-institutionalized (PI) children may demonstrate behavioral deficits on measures of attentional control, response inhibition, and conflict monitoring and resolution, capacities broadly referred to as executive attention. Previous research has documented increased concentration of electroencephalogram (EEG) relative power in low frequency (e.g., theta) bands in PI children, compared to never institutionalized children. Similar patterns of low frequency EEG power have been observed in individuals with ADHD, suggesting a potentially shared neurobiological correlate. The current study examined both behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of attention in PI children. Parent reported ADHD symptoms, behavioral performance on two computerized executive attention measures, and resting EEG power were collected in a sample of 5 ½-year-old internationally adopted PI children (n = 25) and compared to same age non-adopted (NA) children (n = 33). Resting EEG collected when the children were 18 months of age was examined in longitudinal analyses. Consistent with prior research, PI children had increased levels of ADHD symptoms, although most children's symptoms were below a clinical threshold. No group differences were found in behavioral performance on executive attention measures. Analysis of longitudinal EEG data indicated PI children demonstrated greater concentration of low frequency EEG power (e.g., theta) than NA children at 18 months of age, and this group difference remained at age 5 ½, despite the PI group having spent an average of 4 ½ years in adoptive care. Contrary to hypotheses, concentration of frontal relative EEG power in the theta band at age 5 ½ was associated for PI children with more accurate performance on an executive attention task. In addition, in PI children increased concentration of low frequency frontal relative EEG power at age 18 months was associated with lower ADHD symptoms at age 5 ½ years. Interpretation of these results is limited by small sample size, particularly for the EEG analyses. However, these findings suggest the importance of considering brain-behavior relationships in respect to developmental context (e.g., resource poor vs. resource rich environments).Item Allocation of attention and the encoding of emotional memories.(2011-07) Blank, Michael PatrickEmotional reactivity to visual scenes affects both how we attend to them and how they are remembered, but it is not clear how these attention and memory effects are related. Weapon-focus theories (e.g., Loftus, 1979) suggest that attention is restricted to emotion-provoking parts of scenes, and that such restriction of attention affects the specificity of the memory that is stored. I directly tested whether “weapon-focus-like” restriction of attention predicts subsequent visually-specific memory for emotional scenes by recording eye movements while participants viewed relatively emotional and relatively non-emotional slides during initial encoding. Even though visually-specific memory was equivalent for all types of scenes, different patterns of eye movements predicted subsequent memory for emotional and non-emotional scenes. For emotional scenes only, visually-specific memory was predicted when eye movements were restricted to emotional parts of the scenes during encoding. For non-emotional scenes, visually-specific memory was predicted when more fixations of shorter duration were made, and attention was relatively broadened across the scene during encoding. Experiments 2 and 3 tested whether these patterns of eye movements reflect local or global processing of scenes, but across both experiments, there was no evidence that local and global processing influenced subsequent memory effects. The subsequent memory effects from Experiment 1 were replicated in Experiment 2, but in Experiment 3, a relative broadening of attention – more fixations of shorter duration – predicted subsequent memory for all scenes, a pattern that had only been observed for nonemotional scenes previously. Experiment 4 was conducted to test whether this occurred because emotional reactions to emotional scenes were reduced by having participants simply view each scene, which reduces emotional responses when compared to cases where valence and arousal judgments are made as they were in previous experiments. Experiment 4 replicated the subsequent memory effects from Experiment 3, demonstrating important boundary conditions on the subsequent memory effects established in the first two experiments. These results suggest that qualitatively distinct memory representations may be stored for emotional and non-emotional scenes, but both representations are capable of supporting visually-specific memory.Item Attention modes in consumer decision making: attending to the physical environment makes price more important(2014-05) Rahinel, RyanAt every waking moment, one's attention is situated along a continuum from experiencing, where one focuses on their immediate environment, to mind-wandering, where one focuses on environment-independent thoughts, feelings, and daydreams. The framework developed and tested in this research predicts how this spectrum of attention affects the relative weight consumers place on price information in their judgments and decisions. Six studies provide empirical support for the framework, with the core finding being that people in an experiencing (mind-wandering) mode systematically attach more (less) weight to price information. This effect stems from the price attribute's characteristic of changeability, or capability for exhibiting temporal variation. People in an experiencing (versus mind-wandering) mode place a greater importance on noticing change, and therefore subsequently estimate that a changeable stimulus (such as a price) is more likely to change. Such differences in beliefs of change likelihood lead to the observed differences in price weighting effects across the attention modes. These findings shed new light on the underlying psychology of attention as well as the role of price in judgment and decision making.Item A comparison between nonlinguistic cognitive processing treatment and traditional language treatment for bilingual children with primary language impairment(2011-07) Ebert, Kerry DanahyBackground: Children with Primary Language Impairment (PLI) show subtle weaknesses in nonlinguistic cognitive processing (NCP) skills such as attention, memory, and speed of processing. It is possible that these weaknesses contribute causally to the language delays that characterize PLI. For bilingual children with PLI, NCP weaknesses would underlie language learning ability for both languages. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between NCP skills and language skills in bilingual children with PLI by treating processing speed and attention. Methods: A total of 24 participants in three groups (NCP treatment, English language treatment, and delayed treatment control) completed the study protocol. All participants were Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI between the ages of 6 and 10 years. All participants completed an extensive battery of assessments indexing NCP, English language, and Spanish language skills both before and after a treatment cycle. Analyses examined change for individuals, for each group separately, and for the three groups in comparison to one another. Results: Children who completed the NCP treatment showed significant change in processing speed and in overall English language skills. However, children who completed the English language treatment tended to make greater gains, both in English and in NCP skills. Few comparisons between the three groups reached significance, in part because the delayed treatment control group tended to make positive change and in part because of the small sample size. Individual variability was apparent across all three groups, but particularly pronounced for Spanish. Conclusions: The results support a connection between NCP and language skills in children with PLI. Language-based treatment programs may effectively alter NCP skills, and NCP treatment programs may alter language skills.Item The Effects of Consumers’ Affect on Attention and Reaction to Ads(2019-06) Lu, XinyuThis dissertation examined (1) the influence of affective states on consumers’ selective attention to different types of ads that are categorized based on theoretically-derived attention-inducing characteristics; and (2) the influence of affective states on consumers’ ad processing style and evaluation of the ads that received attention. A computational research approach was used cross-analyzing proxy measures of real-time affective fluctuation of TV viewers during the 2018 and 2019 Super Bowl broadcast and their tweets regarding the ads aired during the Super Bowl broadcast. The results demonstrated some supports for the linkage between consumers’ temporary affective states, induced by the performance of the team they cheer for, and their selective attention to different types of ads even when they are exposed to the same set of ads during commercial breaks. Consistent with Mood Management Theory and prior psychology research evidence connecting affective states to visual attention, consumers in a negative affective state tend to pay more attention to positive ads and ads with emotional appeals than do those in a positive affective state. Furthermore, consumers in a positive affective state tend to pay more attention to exciting ads, compared to those in a negative affective state. However, this study’s data did not show significant relationship between consumers’ affective state and their selective attention to ads with different semantic affinity levels, nor any significant effects of affective state on ad processing style or evaluation of ads. The study contributes to advancing the ad attention and mood management research by testing the largely untested effects of consumers’ temporary affective states on selective attention and reactions to ads. The computational research approach developed in this study also offers significant methodological contributions to advertising scholarship, opening new avenue of research to apply the computational research approach to advertising theory building, especially theory regarding the role of consumers’ affective factors. Additionally, this study provides useful practical implications for ad targeting and ad placement strategies based on consumers’ temporary affective states. This study’s findings suggest a new promising way to target consumers and personalize ads based on individual consumers’ real-time, temporary affective states that can be captured by appropriate proxy measure data.Item Evaluation of Visual Attention to Images by Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury(2017-05) Swanson, SarahAbstract The most common persistent symptoms following traumatic brain injury (TBI) include deficits in vision, cognition, and communication. The combination of cognitive-communication and visual impairments experienced by those with brain injury have detrimental effects on rehabilitation and recovery, affecting an individual’s ability to interpret the physical and social world and even engage in basic self-care tasks. Considering the widespread effects of these deficits on an individual’s daily life, healthcare professionals need information on implementation of visual supports in the rehabilitation process. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine how individuals with and without TBI exhibit differences in the decision-making process, organizational search, processing time, and accuracy when engaging in a visual processing task comparing explicit and implicit information conditions. Participants included 15 adults with histories of mild to severe TBI and 15 age-, gender-, and education-matched controls. Participants completed a decision-making task where they matched picture to sentence for three conditions: (a) a condition targeting the main action, (b) a condition targeting a background detail, and (c) a condition targeting a physical or mental inference. The researchers utilized eye-tracking hardware and software to track participant eye movements and analyze various eye-movement metrics. Results of this study demonstrated that participants with and without TBI demonstrated significantly more regressions to the sentence, a higher number of fixations, and longer average fixation duration for the inference condition. Furthermore, participants with TBI displayed significantly longer fixations for the inference condition compared to controls, all of which suggest that the inference condition was more challenging or engaging than the explicit conditions. Additionally, all participants allocated nearly the same percentage of time fixating on the target image as they did to viewing all three foil images collectively. This information provides insight into how individuals with and without TBI make decisions. Rehabilitation professionals need information regarding the use of visual supports for individuals with TBI. The knowledge gained from this research provides important information visual processing following TBI and the use of images in rehabilitation to support cognition and language comprehension.Item Examining the Impact of ASE (Automated Speed Enforcement) in Work Zones on Driver Attention(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2016-01) Morris, Nichole L.; Cooper, Jennifer L.; Ton, Alice; Plummer, John Paul; Easterlund, PeterEach year, there are over 500 fatal crashes in work zones in the U.S., with over 100 road construction workers killed on work sites (NSC, 2011; FARS, 2011). Speed and distraction are among the top contributing factors to work zone crashes (Garber & Zhao, 2002; Mountain, Hirst, & Maher, 2005; Wilson, Willis, Hendrikz, Le Brocque, & Bellamy, 2006). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of different types of speed enforcement methods on driver attention in work zones. The investigation not only examined enforcement methods currently used in Minnesota, but also examined how implementing automated speed enforcement (ASE), which is not currently used in Minnesota, may influence driver attention and behavior in simulated work zones. Overall, the results do not appear to support the hypothesis that ASE without dynamic speed display sign (DSDS) improves driver attention in work zones. There is some evidence, however, that drivers did heighten their visual attention in work zones with ASE+DSDS enforcement. Drivers fixated on the secondary task display less frequently in the ASE+DSDS condition compared to other enforcement types while they traveled in the downstream portion of the work zone. The largest effects of the study were found among the age groups, with younger and older drivers exceeding the speed limit most often and varying their speed slightly depending on the type of enforcement present. Middle-aged drivers exhibited the greatest speed control and tended to abide by the speed limit to the same extent regardless of the type of enforcement present.Item The eye of the beholder: affective and attentional outcomes of selective attention to advertising .(2009-11) Duff, Brittany Rebecca-LeighAdvertisers often assume that ads that are encountered but not explicitly processed either have no effect, or a positive effect due to mere exposure. However, recent research in visual neuroscience has shown that when a non-target object is exposed, it can lead to negative rather than positive affective ratings for that object. Two studies reported here show that the difference in outcome may depend on one's goal at time of ad exposure. When engaged in exploratory search, a mere exposure effect is obtained. Conversely, goal-driven attention causes ad devaluation. Outcomes in terms of affective evaluation as well as future attention for the exposed ads are tested. Effects of exposure are also found for individual differences in attentional control. Additionally, implications for current advertising avoidance models are discussed.Item Highly Selective Attentional Modulation of Task-Appropriate Neural Populations in Primary Visual Cortex(2017-06) Warren, ScottA wide variety of different forms of attention have been described in the human and non-human literature, however the recently developed Input Gain Model of visual attention proposes that a simple neural mechanism, multiplicative gain, may be employed to explain much of the available data on visual attentional modulations. On this basis, we hypothesized that a better explanation for distinct forms of attention may be that this simple attentional mechanism is in fact highly specific: attentional modulations are only present within task-appropriate neurons or neuron groups, and it is the location (and not nature) of these modulations which defines the observer’s current attentive state. We present the results of two orthogonal attention tasks, both targeting distinct but specific and well defined sub-populations of primary visual cortical (V1) neurons. In both experiments we observe that attentional modulations are grossly targeted to neural populations that are selectively tuned for the cue. When humans attend to one orientation, voxels reflecting orientation selective neurons tuned toward that orientation are selectively enhanced. When monkeys were trained to attend to a very small region of space, attention modulated the V1 representation of stimulus elements near that location in space. In both studies, these modulations are predictive of observer behavior, providing evidence that attentional modulation of V1 meaningfully impacts the perceptibility of the attended stimuli. Systematic imprecision in these modulations suggest that attentional modulations of V1 are mediated through corticocortical feedback, hypothetically from secondary visual cortex. This provides a strong constraint for further refinement of general models of attention.Item The influence of prereading and recall instructions on attention and memory for scientific seductive text.(2011-09) Mensink, Michael CraigThe question of how interesting but irrelevant textual information (i.e., seductive details) in a multi-topic scientific text influences the processes and products of comprehension was explored in three experiments. In Experiment 1, participants read a multi-topic informational text on lightning and tornado formation and rated each sentence for importance and interest. In Experiment 2, participants read the text with or without seductive details and completed a free recall. Participants who received the seductive details version of the text demonstrated a seductive details effect (e.g., Harp & Mayer, 1998; Peshkam, Mensink, Putnam, & Rapp, 2011), in which they recalled significantly less important information compared to controls. In Experiment 3, participants read the seductive details version of the text while wearing a head-mounted eye tracker. Prior to reading the text, participants also received prereading questions designed to focus their attention on one topic (e.g., lightning formation) over the other (e.g., tornado formation). In addition, participants completed a test of their working memory capacity (WMC) in the form of a reading span test (RSPAN), and recieved either a general instruction to freely recall the text or two specific recall instructions for each topic. In terms of online processes, the results indicated that participants allocated additional attention to information introduced by the prereading instructions, in the form of increased reinspections and look-backs. However, attention to seductive details was not reduced by these instructions. In terms of offline products, participants recalled significantly more information from the text that was introduced by the prereading instructions, compared to information that was not mentioned in those instructions. Seductive details were also well recalled for participants receiving free recall instructions. Yet, production of seductive details was significantly reduced when participants received specific recall instructions. In addition, participants with high working memory capacities also produced significantly less seductive content as compared to participants with low working memory capacities. These findings suggest that although seductive details are irresistibly alluring during comprehension, that allure might not be similarly demonstrated upon recall-driven reflection.Item Influences of Affective Stimulus and Placement on Procedural Task Learning and Performance(2019-06) Birkholz, SamuelThis study assessed how procedural memory task performance is influenced by affective tone and stimulus placement. Participants (n = 78) completed one of four conditions with timed practice and performance tests. Results demonstrate procedural memory tasks can be learned just as quickly under different affective conditions.Item Information Acquisition and Revelation in the Financial Markets(2018-06) Chu, YinxiaoInformation plays an important role in financial markets. In this dissertation, first, we consider how traders choose different information. Second, we ask when traders acquire information under competition. Finally, we analyze how ambiguous information affects traders' incentives to trade and reveal their private information. There is information not only about the payoff but also concerning the supply and demand of an asset. In Chapter 1, we study how traders choose to process different information while asset prices are conveying some information. We show that traders decide to process different types of information depends on their initial belief and the informativeness of asset prices. In particular, when the return to each type of information is increasing, traders choose to learn only one type of information. Those who have more precise initial belief about the asset payoff (supply) choose to learn more about the asset payoff (supply). In Chapter 2, we study when traders decide to acquire information under competition. Traders consider two effects of competition in information acquisition: one is that an informed trader's profitability is affected by the presence of another informed trader, the other is the spillover of the information from the informed trader to the uninformed. We show that, when the former effect dominates, then traders tend to acquire information earlier. If the otherwise, then traders tend to delay their information acquisition. In Chapter 3, we study traders' behavior when information is ambiguous, which gives rise to multiple probability models to describe uncertainty. We demonstrate that ambiguity will reduce traders' incentive to trade and reveal their private information. When there is a moderate level of ambiguity, informed traders start to trade randomly, whereas they trade for sure when there is no or a little uncertainty. When ambiguity is sufficiently large, informed traders choose not to trade any more, and no additional information will be revealed in the market.Item N-back Performance with Trauma-Relevant Visual Distractors: Associations with Posttraumatic Stress Symptomatology(2018-09) Marquardt, CraigResponses to psychological trauma can range widely from resiliency to psychiatric disability. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one possible outcome following trauma composed of specific symptoms such as intrusive re-experiencing of trauma reminders, avoidance of trauma-related cues, dysphoric mood, and hyperarousal. The existence of PTSD-related cognitive impairments is well documented, but the contributory factors behind these effects are less understood. Questions about cognitive functioning are relevant for recently returning military service members who commonly report past neurological sequelae consistent with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) from explosive blasts. There is interest in using laboratory paradigms to tease apart the relative effects of PTSD and mTBI. The attentional control theory proposes misallocations of attentional resources are responsible for cognitive alterations among individuals with anxiety-related disorders. Elevated anxiety may lead to perceptual engagement with task-irrelevant threat, which would require goal-directed attentional resources to inhibit and shift back towards primary task goals. In this way, task effectiveness can be maintained at the cost of inefficiently slowed responding. A cross-sectional sample of veterans from Operations Enduring/Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) were recruited (n = 128) to complete a sequential-letter N-back task superimposed over task-irrelevant neutral images or affectively aversive combat scenes. Consistent with the attentional control theory, individuals with elevated symptoms of PTSD were more inefficient while task efficacy was largely preserved. Response time (RT) variability indices assessing the relative prominence of goal-directed decisional processes failed to produce associations with PTSD. Instead, inefficient cognition was best explained by general psychopathology effects and prolonged engagement with threat by non-decisional mental processes. Event-related potentials (ERPs) to the onset of the task stimuli supported the RT findings. Specific alterations in early engagement with stimulus-driven attentional processing were observed among individuals with elevated PTSD symptomatology. Two-step temporal-spatial decompositions of the ERPs did not reveal any PTSD effects specific to an identified central spatial component. Instead, effects of PTSD were best explained as alterations in perceptual processing most clearly observed within neural activity at a posterior spatial component. Effects of mTBI were isolated to the behavioral indices and resulted in more rather than less efficient engagement with the task. Several key aspects of the attentional control theory were not supported by the results. Alterations in goal-directed attentional systems may not be strictly necessary to produce PTSD-related cognitive inefficiencies. Study findings have implications for alternative models of PTSD using dimensional symptom severity scores.Item Rumination and Wronging: The Role of Attention in Epistemic Morality(Episteme, 2022) Saint-Croix, CatharineThe idea that our epistemic practices can be wrongful has been the core observation driving the growing literature on epistemic injustice, doxastic wronging, and moral encroachment. But, one element of our epistemic practice has been starkly absent from this discussion of epistemic morality: attention. The goal of this article is to show that attention is a worthwhile focus for epistemology, especially for the field of epistemic morality. After presenting a new dilemma for proponents of doxastic wronging, I show how focusing on attention not only allows us to defuse that dilemma, but also helps to substantiate accounts of what goes wrong in cases of doxastic wronging.Item Three essays about the financial impact of top managers on firm.(2009-08) Kim, Young HanThe dissertation investigates how top level managers such as CEO (Chief Executive Officer) or CFO (Chief Financial Officer) affect the value of the firm in the financial market from various perspectives of finance. Prior research in executive turnover and governance has found that past performance is the primary determinant of top manager dismissal. Stock prices, which serve as the base of forward looking performance evaluation, are inevitably noisy. In the first essay, I find that default probability using the structural model of default is more informative than the stock price based performance measures in understanding forced turnover of top managers. Using hand collected data regarding CEO and CFO departures, I find that better governed firms fire a CEO or CFO sensitively to firm performance proxied by default probability. I do not find that the forced turnover became more sensitive to firm performance after Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. Instead, I find such increase in turnover-performance sensitivity since 1998, which is consistent with Kaplan et al. (2006). The second essay investigates how the CEO's media play affect the stock price of his or her firm. We find that non-informative media-driven attention affects stock prices transitorily. Based on 6,937 CEO interviews on the financial network, CNBC, during the period from 1997 to 2006, we find that a firm experiences a positive and significant abnormal return of 162 basis points over the [-2, 0] trading day window, and a negative and significant abnormal return of 108 basis points over the next ten trading days. This finding is robust to whether or not the interview was confounded by any major corporate events or by any news articles. Also, this pattern is commonly found across different stock exchanges and at different time periods. We find that this stock price response is not unique to technology stocks. Furthermore, we find that enthusiastic individual investors are the key driving force behind this stock price response pattern. The value of the firm may be affected by the skill of the manager. The third essay investigates this possibility with empirical data. We find that managerial skills are priced in the financial market as well as in the labor market. We find evidence that the financial accounting skills of a Chief Financial Officer is reflected in the firm's stock price. A transition from a CPA CFO to a non-CPA CFO results in a permanent value loss (Average Cumulative Abnormal Return) of 19.3% compared to a transition from a CPA CFO to another CPA CFO position, other things being equal. Ceteris paribus, having a CPA license is associated with having a 42% higher salary as a CFO. Moreover, we find that CPA skills matter in a firm in the sense that a transition from a non-CPA CFO to a CPA CFO position reduces the earnings management as well as the degree of information asymmetry. We find evidence that shareholders with different monitoring capabilities influence the hiring of CFOs with different certification of his or her skills. We also find that institutional investors significantly influence the hiring of CFOs with the specific skills they prefer depending on the business environment of the firm.