Adaptive modes of attention: Evidence from attentional networks.

Posner and Petersen (1990) suggested that the attention system is composed of three networks: alerting, orienting, and executive functioning or control. Drawing on this theory, the Attentional Networks Test (ANT) was designed to quantify the functionality of the three attention networks. The ANT is used extensively in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine.

Looking beyond seeing: Components of visual-spatial ability as an overarching process.

Visual-spatial skills have been a fertile ground for assessing aspects of intelligence and investigating its components. The initial goal of this bipartite study was to elucidate the nature of the underlying components of visual-spatial processes and the relations among them. The second goal was examination of a higher, overarching factor, underlying spatial ability but also lexical-semantic performance as well.

A color-digit Stroop task shows numerical influence on numerosity processing.

The numerical Stroop task involves presenting participants with two digits that differ in physical size and numerical value and asking them to report which digit had the larger size or value while ignoring the other dimension. Previous studies show that participants have difficulty ignoring the irrelevant dimension and thus have implications on the automaticity of numerical processing. The present study investigates the automatic influence of numerical value on numerosity processing in a novel Stroop-like task.

Evidence for Two Types of Task Conflict in a Color-Digit Stroop Task.

In the present study, we conducted a Stroop-like task in which the participants were required to decide whether the presented stimulus, which could be either a colored digit or a colored rectangle, consisted of more or less than five colors. Like other Stroop-like tasks, the stimuli could be congruent (the stimulus was a digit that was equal to the presented number of colors), incongruent (the stimulus was a digit that was different than the presented number of colors), or neutral (a colored rectangle). We utilized a two-to-one response setting so that in some incongruent trials the digit and the number of colors would elicit the same response (e.

What is high rumination?

Objective: The current paper tries to illuminate the need for standard cutoff points.

Introduction: rumination is considered to be a transdiagnostic process leading to a variety of consequences. But, what is prominent ruminative tendency? Are there agreed-upon specifications or cutoff points that distinguish between high and low tendency to ruminate? In an attempt to answer these questions, we reviewed 25 works that compared people characterized as high or low in rumination.

Numerical values modulate size perception.

The link between various codes of magnitude and their interactions has been studied extensively for many years. In the current study, we examined how the physical and numerical magnitudes of digits are mapped into a combined mental representation. In two psychophysical experiments, participants reported the physically larger digit among two digits.

The role of emotion recognition in reappraisal affordances.

Introduction: Emotion regulation is essential for psychological well-being. One strategy that is commonly researched is reappraisal. Individual differences regarding the tendency to use reappraisal, as well as its implications for affective experience, were extensively studied.

Insights from Eye Blinks into the Cognitive Processes Involved in Visual Word Recognition.

Behavioral differences in speed and accuracy between reading familiar and unfamiliar words are well-established in the empirical literature. However, these standard measures of skill proficiency are limited in their ability to capture the moment-to-moment processing involved in visual word recognition. In the present study, the effect of word familiarity was initially investigated using an eye blink rate among adults and children.

The contribution of difficulty of an irrelevant task to task conflict.

In the standard colour-word Stroop task, participants are presented with colour words and required to respond to their colour while ignoring their meaning. Two types of conflict might occur in such experiments: information conflict and task conflict. Information conflict reflects the processing of two contradicting pieces of information and is indicated by shorter reaction times (RTs) in congruent than in incongruent trials.

Endogenous attention modulates automaticity of number processing.

Numerals (i.e., symbolic representations of numerical magnitude) are widespread in our environment and are fundamental to many decisions we make.

Observing ageism implicitly using the numerical parity judgment task.

Objective magnitude representations may be prone to subjective percepts when judging human beings. An elderly man is clearly "large" in terms of age. But, is he truly perceived as "big" in our minds? We investigated whether "objective" representation of age interacts with subjective stereotypical percepts of aging, using a numeral classification task preceded by prime images containing human figures.

Resting Stroop task: Evidence of task conflict in trials with no required response.

In the typical Stroop task, participants are presented with color words written in different ink colors and are asked to respond to their color. It has been suggested that the Stroop task consists of two main conflicts: information conflict (color vs. word naming) and task conflict (respond to color vs.

Absolute or relative size: What do we perceive when we look at a glass that is half full?

Given that both children and adults struggle with fractions in mathematics education, we investigated the processing of nonsymbolic fractions in a continuous form of part-of-the-whole. Continuous features of nonsymbolic numbers (e.g.

Asymmetric affective perspective taking effects toward valence influenced by personality perspective taken.

Previously, we found that taking perspectives of two polar targets of the neuroticism dimension of personality influenced affect evaluations of negative pictures more than positive pictures. As neuroticism is more reactive to negative affects, the current follow-up experiment explores the effect of affective perspective taking (APT) when perspectives are derived from extroversion, which is more reactive to positive affects. Stimuli consisted of neutral, sad, and happy pictures, which were rated from the perspectives of an introvert and an extrovert.

Task and information conflicts in the numerical Stroop task.

Studies of the Stroop color-word task have provided evidence for the existence of two conflicts: (1) an early task conflict between noting the relevant color and reading afforded by the irrelevant word (or word-like stimuli), and (2) a late information conflict between the information provided by the word and the information provided by the color. Measurements of pupil changes, in addition to reaction time (RT), have extended understanding regarding these two conflicts. The current work examines the generalizability of such understanding.

Math Fluency during Primary School.

Math fluency is the ability to solve arithmetic facts quickly and accurately (i.e., addition and subtraction problems up to 20, and multiplication and division problems from the multiplication table).

Attentional networks during the menstrual cycle.

The menstrual cycle is characterized partially by fluctuations of the ovarian hormones estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4), which are implicated in the regulation of cognition. Research on attention in the different stages of the menstrual cycle is eclectic with discrepancies in attention definitions, and the three attentional networks (alerting, orienting and executive) and their interaction were not explored during the menstrual cycle. In the current study, we used the ANT-I (attentional network test - interactions) to examine naturally cycling women (NC) and women using oral contraceptives (OC).

The contribution of temporal analysis of pupillometry measurements to cognitive research.

Reaction time (RT) is one of the most frequently used measures to detect cognitive processes. When tasks require more cognitive processes/resources, reaction is slower. However, RTs may provide only restricted information regarding the temporal characteristics of cognitive processes.

Understanding Estimations of Magnitudes: An fMRI Investigation.

The current study examined whether discrete numerical estimation is based on the same cognitive process as estimation of continuous magnitudes such as weight and time. While the verbal estimation of numerical quantities has a contingent unit of measurement (e.g.

Cognitive and brain correlates of acquired number-colour synaesthetic-like associations.

Synaesthesia is a condition in which one sensory dimension triggers another sensation. The exact contribution of genetic and environmental factors in synaesthesia is not yet fully understood. Most synaesthesia phenotypes involve associations in which the synaesthetic inducer constitutes some form of linguistic/conceptual information acquired during the course of development (e.

Numerical cognition: Unitary or diversified system(s)?

Many researchers, including Clarke and Beck, describe the human numerical system as unitary. We offer an alternative view - the coexistence of several systems; namely, multiple systems (general magnitude, parallel individuation, and symbolic) existing in parallel, ready to be activated depending on the task/need. Based on this alternative view, we present an account for the representation of rational numbers.

Rumination, emotional intensity and emotional clarity.

It has been suggested that a high tendency to ruminate presents a deficient emotion regulation. Past research found that people with high tendency to ruminate show sustained attention for negative stimuli and increased negative thinking, which may result in intensified experiences of negative emotions. Moreover, high level of rumination was associated with low emotional understanding.

Shaping the way from the unknown to the known: The role of convex hull shape in numerical comparisons.

Various studies have shown that numerical processing is modulated by non-numerical physical properties. One such physical property is the convex hull - the smallest convex polygon surrounding all items in an array. The convex hull is usually discussed only in terms of its area.

Top-down effect on pupillary response: Evidence from shape from shading.

Shaded 2D images often create an illusion of depth, due to the shading information and assumptions regarding the location of the light source. Specifically, 2D images that are lighter on top usually appear convex while images that are darker on top, usually appear concave, reflecting the assumption that light is coming from above. The process of recovering the 3D shape of a shaded image is called Shape from Shading.