No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The characterization of attention resource capacity and its relationship with fluid reasoning intelligence: A multiple object tracking study
Abstract
Multiple object-tracking (MOT) paradigms have the potential to highlight attention resource capacities. However, there is a dearth in research exploring the relationship between individual differences in MOT capability and higher-level cognition, such as intelligence. Previous research has demonstrated that manipulating task demands, or the task's cognitive load, can help describe this relationship. Therefore, we assessed the relationship between performance on a 3D-MOT task at different levels of cognitive load (average speed for tracking 1, 2, 3 and 4 target objects out of 8 total objects), and fluid reasoning intelligence measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-2nd edition (WASI-II). Also, we compared MOT performance between intellectual styles classified as: (i) low, medium or high fluid reasoning IQ, and (ii) fluid reasoning or verbal styles. As expected, speed scores decreased as target objects increased. This trend represents a proxy for attentional resource capacity as manipulations to both speed and target objects are able to highlight individual differences in available attentional resources. Furthermore, MOT capability at high load (4-targets) was the best predictor of fluid reasoning intelligence compared to lower loads (1–3 targets), and individuals with a fluid reasoning style and/or medium-high fluid reasoning intelligence outperformed individuals with a verbal style and low fluid reasoning IQ, respectively. These results describe the underlying commonalities between fluid reasoning intelligence and attention resource capacity, extending previous findings with working memory capacity. This study demonstrates that examining MOT as a measure of attention, rather than a phenomenon, can illustrate the potential to repurpose the use of this task to characterize attentional resource capacity.
... The ability to attend to, track, and differentiate between multiple moving objects is vitally important in everyday activities such as driving, crossing a busy street, or supervising children (Cavanagh & Alvarez, 2005;Scholl, 2009), as well as for personnel in high-risk occupations such as aviation, defense, and emergency services. Previous research has identified that MOT ability is associated with working memory (WM) and visual attention resources, and can vary considerably between individuals (Harris et al., 2020;Oksama & Hyönä, 2004;Tullo et al., 2018). As such, some people may be better suited to activities and professions where MOT ability is a significant requirement (such as air traffic control), making it a potentially useful construct to evaluate for personnel selection and screening purposes. ...
... NeuroTracker tests individual perceptual-cognitive skills in an adaptive manner, adjusting object speed as a function of performance to ensure users are performing at the ceiling of their abilities (Faubert & Sidebottom, 2012;Legault & Faubert, 2012). The program is purported to assess individual visual information processing, WM, and attentional abilities (Parsons et al., 2016;Scholl, 2009;Tullo et al., 2018), and there has been growing scientific interest in its utility for assessing and training these abilities, primarily within sport, military and clinical settings (e.g., Harris et al., 2018;Parsons et al., 2016;Vartanian et al., 2016;see, Vater et al., 2021 for a review). For these reasons, NeuroTracker is believed to be unique in comparison to other MOT measurement tools (Tullo et al., 2018), which was one factor that led us to explore its utility in the current study. ...
... The program is purported to assess individual visual information processing, WM, and attentional abilities (Parsons et al., 2016;Scholl, 2009;Tullo et al., 2018), and there has been growing scientific interest in its utility for assessing and training these abilities, primarily within sport, military and clinical settings (e.g., Harris et al., 2018;Parsons et al., 2016;Vartanian et al., 2016;see, Vater et al., 2021 for a review). For these reasons, NeuroTracker is believed to be unique in comparison to other MOT measurement tools (Tullo et al., 2018), which was one factor that led us to explore its utility in the current study. ...
Objective: To explore the utility of multiple object tracking (MOT) ability, measured using NeuroTracker, as a predictor of air traffic control (ATC) task performance. Background: The perceptual-cognitive abilities required for MOT are also important for ATC performance. The current study provides a novel examination of NeuroTracker’s utility to predict novice performance on a simulated ATC task, relative to two discrete measures of working memory (WM). Method: Forty-six participants completed computer-based assessments of MOT ability (NeuroTracker) and WM (Corsi Block Tapping, Automated Operation Span) followed by the simulated ATC task. Regression analyses were performed to determine the associations between ATC task performance and the MOT and WM measures. Results: After controlling for age and video game playing, MOT ability significantly predicted more correct detections of conflicts between aircraft, fewer false alarm responses to conflicts, and faster aircraft acceptance and hand-off. When WM measures were included in regressions, MOT was a stronger predictor of performance than WM on those outcomes, and remained a statistically significant predictor of better conflict detection, false alarm response, and hand-off performance. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate the relevance of MOT ability to ATC task performance and support the potential utility of NeuroTracker for controller applicant screening and selection. Research is required to validate the findings in larger and more representative samples under more realistic conditions.
... Differences in MOT performance could be attributed to the flexible allocation of limited cognitive resources (Alvarez & Franconeri, 2007;Horowitz & Cohen, 2010;Iordanescu et al., 2009). Studies using classical MOT tasks have shown that MOT performance is related to measures of attention (for a review, see Scholl, 2009), working memory (Oksama & Hyönä, 2004;Trick, Mutreja, & Hunt, 2012) , and fluid intelligence (Tullo et al., 2018), which refers to the ability to solve novel problems and adapt to new situations through logical reasoning (Cattell, 1963;Horn, 1968). Yet whether these relationships also exist within a version with enhanced demands needs to be investigated. ...
... However, no significant relationship between MOT performance and fluid intelligence was observed in the present study. This finding contrasts with previous studies in which a significant relationship between intelligence and performance in a classical MOT task (Oksama and Hyönä, 2004) and a 3D MOT task were observed (Tullo et al., 2018). An explanation for this unexpected pattern of results could be found in the results of Tullo et al. (2018). ...
... This finding contrasts with previous studies in which a significant relationship between intelligence and performance in a classical MOT task (Oksama and Hyönä, 2004) and a 3D MOT task were observed (Tullo et al., 2018). An explanation for this unexpected pattern of results could be found in the results of Tullo et al. (2018). In their study, the link between fluid reasoning intelligence and MOT capability was apparent particularly in conditions, under which the participants had to track more than three objects, whereas in the present study only two targets were used. ...
Introduction
In team sports, the ability to visually track the movements of teammates and opponents simultaneously is a critical aspect for success. In sports psychology, this ability can be examined with the help of the multiple object tracking paradigm. The current study investigated the relationship between task performance in a novel 360°-multiple object tracking task and visuo-spatial cognitive functions as well as the reliability of the task.
Methods
In a sample of 153 team sport athletes the relationships between performance in the 360°-multiple object tracking task and performance in a spatial attention task, a spatial working memory task, and a fluid intelligence task at a first time of measurement were investigated. Additionally, at a second time of measurement the test-retest reliability of the 360°-multiple object tracking task was measured over a six-week interval in a subsample of 65 athletes.
Results
The expected significant correlations between the performance in the 360°-multiple object tracking task and the tasks measuring spatial attention and working memory were observed. Test-retest reliability analysis indicated a good reliability of the procedure.
Conclusions
The results of this study demonstrate that the novel 360°-multiple object tracking task is a reliable assessment of visuo-spatial cognitive performance of athletes in a dynamic 360°-environment.
... While most studies used four targets and four distractors, in others only three out of eight objects needed to be tracked (Fabri et al., 2017;Mejane et al., 2019;Plourde et al., 2017;Tullo et al., 2018b) and others used multiple conditions (e.g., Assed et al., 2016;Moen et al., 2018;Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018a;Tullo et al., 2018b). The more targets have to be tracked, the more difficult the task (Meyerhoff et al., 2017;Pylyshyn & Storm, 1988) and more distractors may mean tracking performance is more affected by suppression ability or by skills specific to target-distractor interactions. ...
... 7) Different dependent variables were used. Some studies used absolute speed thresholds (Corbin-Berrigan, Faubert, & Gagnon, 2020a;Fleddermann et al., 2019) while others used normalized speed thresholds (Corbin-Berrigan et al., 2018), and others reported the average speed at which participants successfully tracked three target spheres (Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018a;Tullo et al., 2018b), the absolute speed gain (Corbin-Berrigan et al., 2020b), or the number of correct responses (Fabri et al., 2017). To better compare results across studies, normalized speed thresholds may best capture improvement differences between groups, because pre-test values are taken as the baseline. ...
... 8) Standardization of, or at least detailed reporting of, display sizes and object spacing. Different Neurotracker studies used images projected on multiple walls of a room with shutter glasses to create 3D spheres (Legault et al., 2013;Legault & Faubert, 2012), a single screen with 3D glasses (e.g., Lysenko-Martin et al., 2020;Vartanian et al., 2016) head-mounted displays (Romeas et al., 2016;Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018a), and tablet devices (Chermann et al., 2018;Harris et al., 2020b). Not all of the studies mention the size of the visual field, which is unfortunate because the distance into the periphery of the objects has a very large effect on acuity (Strasburger et al., 2011), causing perceptual demands to vary, potentially dramatically. ...
In this systematic review, we evaluate the scientific evidence behind "Neurotracker," one of the most popular perceptual-cognitive training tools in sports. The tool, which is also used in rehabilitation and aging research to examine cognitive abilities, uses a 3D multiple object-tracking (MOT) task. In this review, we examine Neurotracker from both a sport science and a basic science perspective. We first summarize the sport science debate regarding the value of general cognitive skill training, based on tools such as Neurotracker, versus sport-specific skill training. We then consider the several hundred MOT publications in cognitive and vision science from the last 30 years that have investigated cognitive functions and object tracking processes. This literature suggests that the abilities underlying object tracking are not those advertised by the Neurotracker manufacturers. With a systematic literature search, we scrutinize the evidence for whether general cognitive skills can be tested and trained with Neurotracker and whether these trained skills transfer to other domains. The literature has major limitations, for example a total absence of preregistered studies, which makes the evidence for improvements for working memory and sustained attention very weak. For other skills as well, the effects are mixed. Only three studies investigated far transfer to ecologically valid tasks, two of which did not find any effect. We provide recommendations for future Neurotracker research to improve the evidence base and for making better use of sport and basic science findings.
... Scholl, 2009), using pupillometry (e.g., Walle, Nordvik, Espeseth, Becker, & Laeng, 2018) or a combined fMRI and pupillometry method to MOT (Alnaes et al., 2014;Mäki-Marttunen et al., 2019). However, the findings regarding the relationship between general cognitive abilities and MOT performance are also inconclusive (Medeiros-Ward, Seegmiller, Watson, & Strayer, 2011;Trick, Perl, & Sethi, 2005;Oksama & Hyona, 2004;Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018). ...
... Individual differences in pupillary responses are less studied and findings regarding the effect of general cognitive abilities on baseline and TEP sizes are inconsistent in the literature (Ahern & Beatty, 1979;Boersma et al., 1970;Crough, 1971;Heitz et al., 2008;Peavler & Nellis, 1976;Tsukahara et al., 2016;Unsworth & Robison, 2017bvan der Meer et al., 2010). The findings regarding the relationship between general cognitive abilities and MOT performance is also inconsistent (Medeiros-Ward et al., 2011;Oksama & Hyona, 2004;Trick et al., 2005;Tullo et al., 2018). ...
... Congruent with this attentional account of MOT and findings from Oksama and Hyona (2004) study, MOT performance in the present study did not have a significant relation with gF or WMC scores, not even at most demanding conditions. To the contrary, Tullo et al. (2018) found a positive relation between MOT capability at high load and fluid intelligence (b = 0.14). However, MOT capability was indexed by the average object speed at which the participant could successfully track all target objects. ...
Previous studies on individual differences in pupil size of healthy individuals and their relation to performance have been inconclusive. Using a novel approach, we tested the effect of general cognitive abilities and level of task performance on pretrial baseline and task-evoked pupil (TEP) sizes (N = 116) while we manipulated the level of task demands using a multiple object tracking task. Results did not reveal an effect of general cognitive abilities, estimated by working memory capacity and gF scores, on either baseline or TEP sizes. In
contrast, we found an interaction in TEP sizes between level of overall MOT performance and task demands. We propose that individual differences in TEP sizes are related to state-specific level of task performance and task demands, probably in combination with other factors like age, personality traits, and state-specific level of motivation and arousal. We also suggest methodological confounds that may cause the previous inconclusive findings.
... The NeuroTracker's effectiveness with individuals with developmental disabilities can be attributed to three of its core characteristics. First, the task is a modernized iteration of the traditional Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task, which is characterized as a robust and accurate measure of selective, distributed, sustained, and dynamic attention [26,27]. Second, the computer-based task is non-verbal and conceptually simple in nature; it involves visually tracking a subset of objects while ignoring substantially identical distractor objects over a short period of time. ...
... The adaptive nature of the NeuroTracker is based on factors that influence an individual performance on the Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task, the psychophysical task that the NeuroTracker is based on. Previous research examining MOT capability has demonstrated that manipulating the paradigm's task demands (i.e., similar to those manipulated here to adapt to the participant's capability) quantifies the attentional resources required to successfully complete the trial [27,33]. Thus, any change in either the number of target items, the speed of all objects, and/or tracking duration is directly associated with the task's attentional demands or level of difficulty. ...
Background
This feasibility study investigated the viability of implementing a cognitive-based training program (NeuroTracker) and assessing its potential effects on academic performance for adolescents with extremely low IQ.
Methods
Twenty-six adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years with a Wechsler-based IQs in the extremely low range ( M IQ = 56.00, SD IQ = 13.89) completed 15 training sessions on either the NeuroTracker or an active control task; math and reading performance were assessed using clinically validated instruments before and after training. Recruitment and retention rates, adherence, and properties of the academic measures were assessed.
Results
All recruited participants completed 15 training sessions within a 6-week period. Eighty-three percent of participants meeting initial inclusion criteria completed all stages of the study from baseline to post-intervention assessments. Some limitations of the academic measures were identified.
Conclusions
Results suggest that implementing NeuroTracker as a classroom-based intervention and using clinically validated outcome measures is feasible with this population.
... Finally, it should be noted that higher fluid intelligence improved tracking performance on both, the position as well as the direction error, irrespective of condition or group. This underlines notions that fluid intelligence is related to basic attentional processes and, a sub facet, general processing speed also impacts motor control (Tullo et al., 2018) and that it should be controlled if possible (Mann et al., 2007). However, neither fluid intelligence nor any of the other factors we controlled for could explain the observed differences between groups (working memory, fluid intelligence, age, video game expertise). ...
Athletes specializing in sports demanding rapid predictions and hand-eye coordination are highly trained in predicting the consequences of motor commands. This can be framed as highly efficient action emulation, but the neural underpinnings of this remain elusive. We examined the neural processes linked to the training effect of athletes (4,000 hours of training) by employing a continuous pursuit tracking task and EEG data. We manipulated feedback availability by intermittently occluding the cursor. As a performance measure, we used the distance between cursor and target (position error), the angle between the cursor and target movement direction (direction error) and the magnitude of cursor acceleration (acceleration error) to quantify movement strategy. In EEG data, we investigated beta, alpha, and theta frequency band oscillations. Athletes’ position error is lower than non-athletes’ when there is no feedback about the cursor location, but direction error is not. We found no quantitative power differences in the investigated frequency bands, but evidence that athletes and non-athletes accomplish action emulation through different functional neuroanatomical structures, especially when alpha and beta band activity is concerned. We surmise that non-athletes seemed to rely on top-down inhibitory control to predict guesses on cursor trajectories in the absence of cursor position feedback. In contrast, athletes might benefit from enhanced inhibitory gating mechanisms in the ventral stream and the integration of sensory and motor processes in the insular cortex, which could provide them with processing advantages in computing forward models. We further reflect that this advantage might be supported by alpha band activity in athletes' motor cortex, suggesting less inhibitory gating and a higher likelihood of executing integrated sensorimotor programs. We posit that current framings of neuroanatomical structures and neurophysiological processes in the action emulation framework must be revised to better capture superior motor performance.
... For psychophysical measurements, contrast-detection and speeddiscrimination thresholds were determined to assess the involvement of visual motion processing, while separating the involvement of motion sensitivity (speed discrimination from contrast detection), as described by Main et al. 36 . In addition, the upper speed limit of revolving objects to be covertly tracked was determined to assess the involvement of attentional processing (e.g., 44 ). The employment of an object-tracking task was also motivated by functional neuroimaging studies suggesting a role for the IPS in reading 2,3 and attentional tracking [45][46][47] . ...
The reading ability of English readers has been shown to correlate with psychophysical measurements of dynamic visual information processing. This study investigated the relationship between reading ability and dynamic visual information processing in healthy adult native Japanese readers (n = 46). Reading ability was assessed using three different tests: the Japanese Adult Reading Test (JART), transposed-letter detection task, and oral reading. Principal component analysis was performed on the scores on the three reading tests to quantify reading ability. Psychophysical thresholds were measured for contrast detection and speed discrimination with a drifting grating stimulus as well as for tracking two targets among concentrically revolving objects, providing an upper speed limit for attentional tracking. Simple correlation analysis revealed that one of the principal components correlated with the tracking speed limit. In addition, another principal component correlated with the speed-discrimination threshold, which is consistent with previous findings in English readers. These results suggest that Japanese reading ability involves at least two different processes, each sharing underlying mechanisms with visual motion and attentional processing.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-024-80172-0.
... MOT performance, which relies on several dimensions of attention (selective, sustained and divided 23 ) directed toward dynamic stimuli, has been assumed to reflect driving demands more accurately than UFOV 24,25 . More broadly, the MOT task is also used to measure attentional capacity 26,27 . Several studies have demonstrated that MOT scores are predictive of individual differences in driving behavior 24,25,28 . ...
Studies have shown that adaptation to a virtual reality driving simulator takes time and that individuals differ widely in the time they need to adapt. The present study examined the relationship between attentional capacity and driving-simulator adaptation, with the hypothesis that individuals with better attentional capacity would exhibit more efficient adaptation to novel virtual driving circumstances. To this end, participants were asked to steer in a driving simulator through a series of 100 bends while keeping within a central demarcated zone. Adaptation was assessed from changes in steering behavior (steering performance: time spent within the zone, steering stability, steering reversal rate) over the course of the bends. Attentional capacity was assessed with two dynamic visual attention tasks (Multiple Object Tracking, MOT; Multiple Object Avoidance, MOA). Results showed effective adaptation to the simulator with repetition, as all steering-behavior variables improved. Both MOT and MOA scores significantly predicted adaptation, with MOT being a stronger predictor. Further analyses revealed that higher-capacity participants, but not their lower-capacity counterparts, produced more low-amplitude steering-wheel corrections early in the task, resulting in finer vehicle control and better performance later on. These findings provide new insights into adaptation to virtual reality simulators through the lens of attentional capacity.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-024-79392-1.
... Additionally, MOT has been found to be closely linked to visual inhibition, and the effects of MOT training on response inhibition can vary among individuals. Therefore, MOT training may serve as an effective intervention for individuals seeking improvement in response inhibition [39,40]. Moreover, regarding inhibitory control, this study revealed that MOT training can effectively enhance subjects' interference inhibition. ...
Background
The present study aims to investigate the potential impact of eight sessions of Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) training on the executive function in basketball players. The purpose of the study was primarily to observe the effects of MOT training with and without feedback on the executive function of basketball players.
Methods
A sample of fifty-eight participants was selected from college students enrolled in a university basketball special selection class. The participants were divided into three equal groups. The first group received MOT training with instant feedback and was called feedback group, the second group received MOT training without instant feedback and was called no feedback group, and the third group did not receive any intervention and was called control group.
Results
After eight sessions of MOT training, feedback group demonstrated the best performance in the Go/No-go task and the 3-back task. After eight sessions of MOT training, there was no significant difference in test scores on the Stroop task between the feedback and no feedback groups. There was also no significant difference in test scores between the feedback and no feedback groups on the 2-back task after eight sessions of MOT training. The findings of this study suggest that MOT training can effectively enhance the executive function of basketball players.
Conclusions
MOT training was found to enhance the executive function of basketball players, irrespective of whether they received instant feedback. However, the feedback group exhibited superior improvements in the Go/No-go task and the 3-back task.
... Within approximately 150 milliseconds after the ball is thrown, they must identify the pitch type and course, predict the trajectory of the ball, and decide whether to hit or not hit the ball by moving the bat to that position (Adair, 1995). Because MOT skills can reflect attentional resource capacity (Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018), mastering them could aid batters in efficiently processing the temporal and spatial aspects of the hitting situation. This study thus examines the relationship between MOT skills and baseball hitting performance. ...
This study aimed to determine the effects of multiple object tracking (MOT) skill training on elite baseball players. Baseball demands athletes to exhibit a high level of dynamic movement and quick and accurate situational judgment in multiple situations, including offense, defense, and base running. However, current research has not clarified whether the effects of MOT skills training are transferable to baseball performance.
We investigated whether MOT skill training influenced baseball hitting performanc e before and after the intervention. Twelve players from a Japanese professional baseball team participated, and the intervention spanned approximately five months. The MOT skills of all players significantly improved (n=12). Additionally, we assessed the changes in hitting performance following MOT skill training.
The results revealed a significant trend toward an improvement in the zone contact rate, zone swing strike rate, and outside swing strike rate in the breaking ball condition, such as the curveball and slider, indicating a large effect size (n=6).
Further research across various competition levels is necessary to explore the transfer effects of MOT training on baseball-specific parameters.
... The initial speed was set at 68 cm per second (cm/s), and object speed increased or decreased by 0.05 log. The size of the 3D volume space was 46 degrees of visual angle at the screen level [15,16,24,25]. ...
Cognitive training applications are valuable tools in improving or compensating for cognitive deficits. Much of the success of these applications depends on the type of program, its intensity, and duration. In turn, it is influenced by the patient’s age, type of cognitive impairment, and initial status. Given the brain’s neural plasticity, an improvement in cognitive functioning is always expected, so the evaluation instruments must be sensitive enough to detect the effect of the transferred application on one or more cognitive domains. The 3D multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) has been used mainly in cognitive training in sports and it has also been helpful to evaluate cognitive functions that change with age. The primary evidence of training transference with 3D-MOT concerns sustained attention and working memory in the cognitive area. The transfer over manual dexterity concerning fine and gross motricity or manual coordination has been less explored. This chapter shows the transfer of cognitive training using the 3D-MOT on two manual dexterity tests applied in two groups of patients: mild cognitive impairment and dementia. In addition, the minimum number of sessions required to achieve a significant improvement in test scores in training conditions with a constant and cognitive workload of fixed duration was determined.KeywordsCognitive trainingMultiple object trackingManual dexterityMild cognitive impairmentDementia
... The ability to track multiple moving objects has been reported to be different among individuals 40,56-58 and this is reported to be positively correlated to individual differences such as IQ 40,59 . In the current study, we did not observe a significant correlation between IQ scores and the overall performance in the MOT task (see results). ...
Difficulty in the ability to allocate and maintain visual attention is frequently reported by patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). In the present study, we used a multiple object tracking (MOT) task to investigate the degree to which TBI affects the allocation and maintenance of visual attention to multiple moving targets. Fifteen adults with mild TBI and 20 control participants took part in this study. All participants were matched for age, gender, and IQ. The sensitivity and time taken to perform the MOT task were measured for different conditions in which the duration of the tracking, number of target, and distractor dots were systematically varied. When the number of target dots required to be tracked increased, sensitivity in correctly detecting them decreased for both groups but was significantly greater for patients with mild TBI. Similarly, increasing the number of distractor dots had a greater effect on reducing task sensitivity for patients with mild TBI than control participants. Finally, across all conditions, poorer detection performance was observed for patients with mild TBI when the tracking duration was longer compared to control participants. The present study showed that patients with mild TBI have greater deficits (compared to control participants) in their ability to maintain visual attention on tracking multiple moving objects, which was particularly hindered by increased tracking load and distraction.
... Several cognitive and neural features associated with attention are also involved in general intelligence (Bowren et al., 2020;Colom et al., 2013;Haier, 2017;Jung & Haier, 2007) and, in fact, attentional control may be responsible of a noteworthy part behind the positive manifold within the cognitive domain (Burgoyne et al., 2022). Similarly, it has a consistent relationship with fluid ability and working memory (Colom, Abad, Quiroga, Shih, & Flores-Mendoza, 2008;Kane & Engle, 2002;Oberauer, 2019;Tsukahara & Engle, 2021;Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018;Unsworth, 2015). ...
Attention might be considered a key component of intelligence, and its cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms probably underwent profound changes in the course of human evolution. Attention can be conceived as a “limiting factor” for general intelligence (g), as the ability to maintain a selective coordination of specific cognitive processes through time regardless of conflicting stimuli. In this perspective review, we consider the paleontological and archaeological evidence that may supply information on the evolution of the attention system in the human genus. In terms of anatomy, the paleoneurological record suggests that the parietal cortex experienced a relative enlargement in Neandertals and, most prominently, in modern humans. These anatomical variations match cultural changes associated with technological and social complexity. Inferences in cognitive archaeology indicate that Homo sapiens is also specialized for working memory and visuospatial integration, when compared with extinct human taxa. These features are likely associated with changes in the attention system, and in cognitive processes dealing with meta-awareness, conscious control of mind wandering, resistance to distractors, and management of emotional clues. Although these inferences are inevitably speculative, they might stimulate a comprehensive interpretation of the technological and social behaviours associated with the evolution of the human genus, bridging together psychology and evolutionary anthropology.
... All kinds of situations have been considered completely, and the space for improvement is very limited. The second is to use mathematical models or numerical simulation methods [8][9][10] to establish an experimental simulation platform to simulate and control the running state of the train, and to quantitatively analyze the capacity expansion effect, so as to provide effective solutions for actual train operation [11,12]. Among the commonly used train simulation methods, the cellular automaton model has unique advantages due to its discrete grid dynamics in time and space. ...
In this paper, a bidirectional quasi-moving block cellular automaton model for single-track railways is proposed to simulate the impact of quasi-moving block on the passing capacity of single track railway. The rules of train departure, meeting, entering the station and running in the section are formulated and the Naqu-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is taken as an example for simulation. The results show that, under the quasi moving block, with the changes of the mixed ratio and stop time of freight train, the passing capacity is improved compared with the currently adopted automatic inter-station block. Besides, it is found that the passing capacity is the largest under equal station spacing conditions, indicating that the distance between stations should be minimized in the preliminary line design.
... Our findings suggest that if a condition leads to deficits on the Digit Symbol Coding or Spatial Span tests, then a test based on MOT, for example, might be useful. Tullo et al. (2018) have begun developing MOT as a clinical test of attentional capacity. Similarly, if deficits are observed using the Trail Making Test, it might be worth using a visual search paradigm (Gold et al., 2007;Horowitz et al., 2006) to determine whether the problem stems specifically from a problem in shifting attention, or whether it might be attributable to the other faculties tapped by the Trail Making Test. ...
We investigated whether standardized neuropsychological tests and experimental cognitive paradigms measure the same cognitive faculties. Specifically, do neuropsychological tests commonly used to assess attention measure the same construct as attention paradigms used in cognitive psychology and neuroscience? We built on the “general attention factor”, comprising several widely used experimental paradigms (Huang et al., 2012). Participants (n = 636) completed an on-line battery (TestMyBrain.org) of six experimental tests [Multiple Object Tracking, Flanker Interference, Visual Working Memory, Approximate Number Sense, Spatial Configuration Visual Search, and Gradual Onset Continuous Performance Task (Grad CPT)] and eight neuropsychological tests [Trail Making Test versions A & B (TMT-A, TMT-B), Digit Symbol Coding, Forward and Backward Digit Span, Letter Cancellation, Spatial Span, and Arithmetic]. Exploratory factor analysis in a subset of 357 participants identified a five-factor structure: (1) attentional capacity (Multiple Object Tracking, Visual Working Memory, Digit Symbol Coding, Spatial Span), (2) search (Visual Search, TMT-A, TMT-B, Letter Cancellation); (3) Digit Span; (4) Arithmetic; and (5) Sustained Attention (GradCPT). Confirmatory analysis in 279 held-out participants showed that this model fit better than competing models. A hierarchical model where a general cognitive factor was imposed above the five specific factors fit as well as the model without the general factor. We conclude that Digit Span and Arithmetic tests should not be classified as attention tests. Digit Symbol Coding and Spatial Span tap attentional capacity, while TMT-A, TMT-B, and Letter Cancellation tap search (or attention-shifting) ability. These five tests can be classified as attention tests.
... This aligns with data that instead support higher level mechanisms of attentional tracking Oksama & Hyönä, 2004). Our account of attentional tracking as operating on high-level perceptual representations is also in line with recent findings linking attentional tracking ability with other higher cognitive processes (Tullo, Faubert, & Bertone, 2018). ...
Illusions can induce striking differences between perception and retinal input. For instance, a static Gabor with a moving internal texture appears to be shifted in the direction of its internal motion, a shift that increases dramatically when the Gabor itself is also in motion. Here, we ask whether attention operates on the perceptual or physical location of this stimulus. To do so, we generated an attentional tracking task where participants (N = 15) had to keep track of a single target among three Gabors that rotated around a common center in the periphery. During tracking, the illusion was used to make three Gabors appear either shifted away from or toward one another while maintaining the same physical separation. Because tracking performance depends in part on target to distractor spacing, if attention selects targets from perceived positions, performance should be better when the Gabors appear further apart and worse when they appear closer together. We find that tracking performance is superior with greater perceived separation, implying that attentional tracking operates over perceived rather than physical positions.
... Factorial structure was assessed through the conduct of exploratory factor analysis, while concurrent and divergent validity of the instrument was assessed through an examination of the scores obtained from the instrument with scores obtained from Italian language versions of the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (i.e., a nonverbal test of ability) and the Inattention Scale, respectively (de Cassia Nakano et al., 2016;Renzulli & Gaesser, 2015;Sommer et al., 2008;VanTassel-Baska, Feng, & Evans, 2007). The Inattention Scale was selected to assess divergent validity, as inattention has been found to be inversely related to intelligence by a number of scholars (Diehl, Semegon Schwarzer, 2006;Schepers, 1992;2007;Tullo, Faubert & Bertone, 2018). The results obtained indicate the applicability of the instrument and the usefulness of the evaluations of both the educational figures in the identification of giftedness. ...
The present standardization study is based on a published paper titled “Identifying Giftedness: Validation of an Italian Language Giftedness Checklist for Teachers and Parents” by Fabio and Buzzai (2019). The purpose of the present study is to show the Italian Adaptation of the Giftedness Checklist of Sommer, Fink and Neubauer (2008), in both the versions for teachers and parents. The present screening can help to cope with multidimensional definitions of giftedness, and to cope also with the usefulness of information provided by parents and teachers.
More in depth, the specific aims are: 1) to show an easy administration of the screening test for identifying of gifted and talented children aged from 6 to 13; 2) to show how to sum the scores obtained and 3) to indicate how to easily compare them with z-scores.
Italian language screening and scoring rules are presented in the tables 1, 2, 3 and 4.
This study compared the multiple object tracking (MOT) performance of athletes vs. non-athletes and expert athletes vs. novice athletes by systematically reviewing and meta-analyzing the literature. A systematic literature search was conducted using five databases for articles published until July 2024. Healthy people were included, specifically classified as athletes and non-athletes, or experts and novices. Potential sources of heterogeneity were selected using a random-effects model. Moderator analyses were also performed. A total of 23 studies were included in this review. Regarding the overall effect, athletes were significantly better at MOT tasks than non-athletes, and experts performed better than novices. Subgroup analyses showed that expert athletes had a significantly larger effect than novices, and that the type of sport significantly moderated the difference in MOT performance between the two groups. Meta-regression revealed that the number of targets and duration of tracking moderated the differences in performance between experts and novices, but did not affect the differences between athletes and non-athletes. This meta-analysis provides evidence of performance advantages for athletes compared with nonathletes, and experts compared with novices in MOT tasks. Moreover, the two effects were moderated by different factors; therefore, future studies should classify participants more specifically according to sports levels.
Neuroeconomics and behavioral finance have provided insight on how cognitive processes and emotions combine to influence financial decisions. In trading decision-making, cognitive assessment and its possible increase through training should be better understood. In this preliminary validation investigation, we employed NeuroTracker (3D multiple object tracking or 3D-MOT), a technique extensively used to test and train cognitive processes in performance populations, to investigate whether the metrics on this task relate to trading performance. The findings demonstrate that there are strong relationships between trading metrics and NeuroTracker scores.Keywords3D-MOTNeuroTrackerTradingNeuroeconomicsFinance
The extant literature aimed at characterizing attentional capability in autistics has presented inconsistent findings. This inconsistency and uncertainty may be the product of different theoretical and methodological approaches used to define attention in autism. In the current study, we investigate whether the allocation of attentional resources to task demands, and attention resource capacity, differs between autistics with no comorbid attention-deficit diagnosis (n = 55) and age-matched neurotypicals (n = 55). We compared differences in capacity and the allocation of resources by manipulating attentional load in a Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task, a robust, versatile, and ecological measure of selective, sustained, and distributed attention. While autistics demonstrated lower MOT performance, this difference disappeared when we accounted for fluid reasoning intelligence. Additionally, the similarity in the trend of MOT performance at increasing levels of attentional load between autistics and neurotypicals suggests no differences in the allocation of attentional resources to task demands. Taken together, our study suggests that higher-order cognitive abilities, such as intelligence, should be considered when characterizing attention across the autistic population in research. Similarly, our findings highlight the importance of considering cognitive competence when assessing attentional capabilities in autistic individuals, which could have significant implications for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and support.
There is a significant overlap in symptomology between individuals with deficits in attention and learning, which is explained by the co-dependent dynamic between the two cognitive constructs. Within this dynamic, attentional resources are allocated to salient stimuli while learning mechanisms distinguish relevant from irrelevant information. Moreover, individuals with deficits in higher-order cognition (i.e., intelligence) can demonstrate difficulties in attention and learning. The Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task is a sensitive and versatile measure of attention that has characterized individual differences in attention as a function of higher-order cognition. Exploiting the traditional MOT task’s ability to characterize the allocation of attentional resources to task demands, the current study compared learning exhibited on an attention-based task across neurodevelopmental conditions defined by deficits in attention (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; ADHD), learning (specific learning disorder; SLD), and intelligence (intellectual developmental disorder; IDD). Children and adolescents (N = 101) completed 15 sessions on a Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) task where performance trajectories were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling and conditioned by the presence of ADHD, SLD, or IDD while controlling for performance on a separate measure of attention, age, and sex. The sample, characterized by below-average IQ and problematic levels of attention, exhibited an effect of learning on MOT. However, individuals with an IDD diagnosis demonstrated decreased baseline MOT capability while ADHD and SLD profiles exhibited decreased slopes, relative to other neurodevelopmental conditions. Taken together, the results demonstrate distinct linear performance trajectories between neurodevelopmental conditions defined by deficits in attention, learning, and intelligence. The current study provides additional evidence to repurpose the traditional MOT task as a descriptor of attention and discusses alternative uses for the paradigm. Overall, these results suggest an eclectic approach that considers attention, learning, and higher-order cognition when diagnosing ADHD, SLD, or IDD.
Working memory (WM) training explores whether and how repeated practice on working memory tasks might generalize to a variety of outcome measures. Although this field of research is part of the growing literature in cognitive sciences, it has spawned contentious debates. The controversies are largely driven by inconsistent findings and commercial interests, and as a result, numerous meta-analyses and systematic reviews have focused on the validity of WM training. Similarly, there is an inconsistency in the conclusions drawn by these meta-analyses; while there seems to be an agreement about the generalization to proximal cognitive measures; there is a discrepancy in the interpretation of any translational outcomes (e.g., behavioral, clinical, and academic). In this chapter, we review the collection of meta-analyses with a particular focus on children diagnosed with ADHD and other developmental disabilities, and recommend that the field should focus on improving our understanding of the mechanistic and effectiveness properties of WM training, which might result in the development of valuable alternative and/or supplemental approaches, when traditional interventions might fall short, especially for individuals typically underrepresented and underserved.
Bringing together cutting-edge research, this Handbook is the first comprehensive text to examine the pivotal role of working memory in first and second language acquisition, processing, impairments, and training. Authored by a stellar cast of distinguished scholars from around the world, the Handbook provides authoritative insights on work from diverse, multi-disciplinary perspectives, and introduces key models of working memory in relation to language. Following an introductory chapter by working memory pioneer Alan Baddeley, the collection is organized into thematic sections that discuss working memory in relation to: Theoretical models and measures; Linguistic theories and frameworks; First language processing; Bilingual acquisition and processing; and Language disorders, interventions, and instruction. The Handbook is sure to interest and benefit researchers, clinicians, speech therapists, and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in linguistics, psychology, education, speech therapy, cognitive science, and neuroscience, or anyone seeking to learn more about language, cognition and the human mind.
Ce travail de thèse avait pour objectif d'explorer les spécificités cognitives des enfants à haut potentiel intellectuel (EHPI). Ces enfants présentent habituellement un Quotient Intellectuel (QI) élevé, estimé à partir de tests standardisés comme le Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC). Ce type d'évaluation est souvent coûteux en temps. Premièrement, nous sommes alors intéressés à l'élaboration et à la sélection de formes abrégées du WISC ayant les meilleures qualités psychométriques ainsi que les meilleures probabilités d'identifier les EHPI. Ces formes abrégées offrent la possibilité aux praticiens et aux chercheurs de réaliser des évaluations approfondies afin d'identifier les caractéristiques socioémotionnelles et cognitives de ces enfants à besoins particuliers, afin de leur proposer des programmes éducatifs spéciaux. Parmi les différentes aptitudes cognitives, les capacités attentionnelles et de mémoire de travail (MDT) ont particulièrement retenu notre attention à cause de leurs liens privilégiés avec les capacités intellectuelles, les capacités d'apprentissage ou encore les performances scolaires. Deuxièmement, nous avons montré que le rythme développemental des réseaux attentionnels des EHPI ne se différenciait pas de celui de leurs pairs. Toutefois, les EHPI présentaient une meilleure capacité de contrôle exécutif que leurs pairs.Troisièmement, nous avons présenté l'utilité d'une épreuve adaptative de la MDT dans les études développementales. À partir de cette épreuve originale de MDT, nous avons confirmé que les EHPI présentent de meilleures performances en MDT que leurs pairs. Nos résultats ont également montré que leur rapidité à traiter la phase interférente de cette tâche semble être importante dans le fonctionnement de leur MDT. Ce travail de thèse a permis de confirmer et d'approfondir nos connaissances sur les caractéristiques cognitives des EHPI. Dans une perspective développementale et éducative, l'identification des forces et des limites de leurs caractéristiques cognitives semble fondamentale dans la prise en compte de leurs besoins éducatifs particuliers
Background
Visual cognition plays a pivotal role in sports. It is widely recognized that there is an intriguing coupling that they could affect each other through interaction between visual cognition and motor control, but few studies linked the effects of visual cognitive tasks on landing stability to postural control and injury risk.
Research question
Whether visual cognitive tasks affect the landing stability and lower limb injury risk of professional soccer players?
Methods
The current study used a three-dimensional Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task to simulate visual cognitive difficulties experienced in soccer matches. Fifteen male high-level soccer athletes (height: 181.43±7.36 cm, weight: 75.37±10.67 kg, training years: 10.07±2.98 yr) from our school team were recruited and completed a landing action from a high platform with and without MOT tasks. Vicon infrared high-speed motion capture system and three-dimensional force measuring platform were used to collect various outcomes simultaneously.
Results
The Time to Stabilization (TTS) during landing was significantly prolonged, while the Medial-Lateral Stability Index (MLSI), Anterior-Posterior Stability (APSI), Dynamic Postural Index Stability Index (DPSI), the trajectory lengths, and envelope area of COP during landing were also increased during MOT dual-task.
Discussion
The decline of these indicators reflected the deterioration in postural stability and greater requirements for maintaining balance which could increase the risk of injury in soccer athletes. We advocate that adequate visual attention and visual information processing might play critical roles in maintaining dynamic balance through the supraspinal neural network.
The study aimed to construct a test for the behavioral implications of verbal working memory among Savant syndrome and Verify the factor structure of the test using factor analysis. The study relied on the Geweke & Singleton (1980) approach to select the participants. The study sample consisted of a targeted sample with Savant syndrome. 32 Savant syndrome cases had selected. The verbal working memory test was applied electronically with the help of four colleagues in the field of special education. The applying procedure lasted nine months. The Exploratory Factor Analysis results reached a fitted general factor model. The confirmatory analysis results revealed the fitted construct of the first-order three-factor model structure. The results indicated the possibility of the three-factors loading on a second-order general factor structure.
Significance:
This study summarizes the empirical evidence on the use of peripheral vision for the most-researched peripheral vision tools in sports.
Objectives:
The objective of this review was to explain if and how the tools can be used to investigate peripheral vision usage and how empirical findings with these vision tools might be transferred to sports situations.
Data sources:
The data sources used in this study were Scopus, ScienceDirect, and PubMed. We additionally searched the manufacturers' Web pages and used Google Scholar to find full texts that were not available elsewhere.
Study eligibility criteria:
Studies were included if they were published in a peer-reviewed journal, were written in English language, and were conducted in a sports context. From the 10 searched tools, we included the 5 tools with most published studies.
Conclusions and implications of key findings:
In our topical search, we identified 93 studies for the five most-used peripheral vision tools. Surprisingly, none of these studies used eye-tracking methods to control for the use of peripheral vision. Best "passive" control is achieved by tools using (foveal) secondary tasks (Dynavision D2 and Vienna Test System). Best transfer to sports tasks is expected for tools demanding action responses (FitLight, Dynavision D2). Tools are likely to train peripheral monitoring (NeuroTracker), peripheral reaction time (Dynavision D2, Vienna Test System), or peripheral preview (FitLight), whereas one tool did not show any link to peripheral vision processes (Nike SPARQ Vapor Strobe).
In the past 20 years, there has been growing research interest in the association between video games and cognition. Although many studies have found that video game players are better than non-players in multiple cognitive domains, other studies failed to replicate these results. Until now, the vast majority of studies defined video game players based on the number of hours an individual spent playing video games, with relatively few studies focusing on video game expertise using performance criteria. In the current study, we sought to examine whether individuals who play video games at a professional level in the esports industry differ from amateur video game players in their cognitive and learning abilities. We assessed 14 video game players who play in a competitive league (Professional) and 16 casual video game players (Amateur) on set of standard neuropsychological tests evaluating processing speed, attention, memory, executive functions, and manual dexterity. We also examined participants’ ability to improve performance on a dynamic visual attention task that required tracking multiple objects in three-dimensions (3D-MOT) over five sessions. Professional players showed the largest performance advantage relative to Amateur players in a test of visual spatial memory (Spatial Span), with more modest benefits in a test of selective and sustained attention (d2 Test of Attention), and test of auditory working memory (Digit Span). Professional players also showed better speed thresholds in the 3D-MOT task overall, but the rate of improvement with training did not differ in the two groups. Future longitudinal studies of elite video game experts are required to determine whether the observed performance benefits of professional gamers may be due to their greater engagement in video game play, or due to pre-existing differences that promote achievement of high performance in action video games.
Individual differences in attentional abilities provide an interesting approach in studying visual attention as well as the relation of attention to other psychometric measures. However, recent research has demonstrated that many tasks from experimental research are not suitable for individual differences research as they fail to capture these differences reliably. Here, we provide a test for individual differences in visual attention which relies on the multiple object tracking task (MOT). This test captures individual differences reliably in 6-15 minutes. Within the task the participants have to maintain a set of targets (among identical distractors) across an interval of object motion. It captures the efficiency of attentional deployment. Importantly, this test was explicitly designed and tested for reliability under conditions that match those of most laboratory research (restricted sample of students, approximately n = 50). The test is free to use and runs fully under open source software. In order to facilitate the application of the test, we have translated it into 16 common languages (Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish). The test can be downloaded at https://osf.io/qy6nb/. We hope that this MOT test supports researchers whose field of study requires capturing individual differences in visual attention reliably.
Individual differences in attentional abilities provide an interesting approach in studying visual attention as well as the relation of attention to other psychometric measures. However, recent research has demonstrated that many tasks from experimental research are not suitable for individual differences research, as they fail to capture these differences reliably. Here, we provide a test for individual differences in visual attention which relies on the multiple object tracking task (MOT). This test captures individual differences reliably in 6 to 15 min. Within the task, the participants have to maintain a set of targets (among identical distractors) across an interval of object motion. It captures the efficiency of attentional deployment. Importantly, this test was explicitly designed and tested for reliability under conditions that match those of most laboratory research (restricted sample of students, approximately n = 50). The test is free to use and runs fully under open-source software. In order to facilitate the application of the test, we have translated it into 16 common languages (Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish). The test can be downloaded at https://osf.io/qy6nb/. We hope that this MOT test supports researchers whose field of study requires capturing individual differences in visual attention reliably.
Feedback is beneficial for learning. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether: (i) feedback draws attentional resources when integrated, and (ii) the benefits of feedback for learning can be demonstrated using an attention-based task. We therefore: (i) isolated feedback-specific load from task-specific load via individual differences in attention resource capacity, and (ii) examined the effect of trial-by-trial feedback (i.e., present vs. absent) on learning a Multiple Object-Tracking (MOT) paradigm. We chose MOT because it is a robust measure of attention resource capacity. In Study 1 participants tracked one (i.e., lowest attentional load condition) through four target items (i.e., highest load condition) among eight total items. One group (n = 32) received trial-by-trial feedback whereas the other group (n = 32) did not. The absence of feedback resulted in better MOT performance compared with the presence of feedback. Moreover, the difference in MOT capability between groups increased as the task-specific attentional load increased. These findings suggest that feedback integration requires attentional resources. Study 2 examined whether the absence (n = 19) or presence (n = 19) of feedback affects learning on the same MOT task across four testing days. When holding task-specific load constant, improvement in MOT was greater with feedback than without. Although this study is the first to isolate feedback-specific load in attention with MOT, more evidence is needed to demonstrate how the benefits of feedback translate to improvement on an attention-based task. These findings encourage future research to further explore the interaction between feedback, attention and, learning.
Short-term memory is critically implicated in most human cognitive capacities and has been the object of study for more than a century, yet many questions remain unsettled and new controversies have emerged. This paper provides an overview of some current debates within the field. These include (i) the issue of how many short-term memory systems there are, (ii) whether working memory is best understood as having domain-specific resources, (iii) how information is encoded in working memory, (iv) how sensory memory and working memory are related to attention, and (v) the relationship between short-term memory and consciousness.
The diagnosis of concussion remains challenging, particularly in cases where several months have passed between a head injury and clinical assessment. Tracking multiple moving objects in three-dimensional (3D) space engages many of the same cognitive processes that are affected by concussion, a form of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), suggesting that tests of 3D multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) may be sensitive to post-concussion syndrome after a brain injury has occurred. To test this, we evaluated 3D-MOT performance (using NeuroTrackerTM) against Sports Concussion Assessment Tool results for cognition, balance, and symptom severity in a large sample (N = 457) of male and female participants between the ages of 6 to 73. 3D-MOT performance in subjects under age 13 was not impaired by a history of concussion, but was positively associated with cognition and balance. 3D-MOT performance in those 13 and older was negatively associated with concussion symptom severity, and positively associated with cognition and balance. 3D-MOT was selectively impaired in subjects with probable post-concussion syndrome (pPCS), defined using the 95th percentile of symptom severity for subjects with no history of concussion. A decision tree predicted concussion status with 95.2% overall test accuracy (91.1% sensitivity, 97.8% specificity) using concussion history, age, and 3D-MOT score. Individuals with a history of concussion in the past 37 days were predicted to have pPCS if they were age 35 or older, or if they were under age 35 but achieved scores below 1.2 on the 3D-MOT. These results demonstrate the potential of 3D-MOT for pPCS diagnosis, and highlight the increased vulnerability to concussion symptoms that comes with age.
Background
This study aimed to investigate whether performance in a multiple object tracking (MOT) task could be improved incrementally with sports expertise, and whether differences between experienced and less experienced athletes, or non-athletes, were modulated by load.
Methods
We asked 22 elite and 20 intermediate basketball players, and 23 non-athletes, to perform an MOT task under three attentional load conditions (two, three, and four targets). Accuracies were analyzed to examine whether different levels of sports expertise influence MOT task performance.
Results
The elite athletes displayed better tracking performance compared with the intermediate or non-athletes when tracking three or four targets. However, no significant difference was found between the intermediate athletes and the non-athletes. Further, no differences were observed among the three groups when tracking two targets.
Discussion
The results suggest that the effects of expertise in team ball sports could transfer to a non-sports-specific attention task. These transfer effects to general cognitive functions occur only in elite athletes with extensive training under higher attentional load.
Multiple-object-tracking tasks require an observer to track a group of identical objects moving in 2D space. The current study was conducted in an attempt to examine object tracking in 3D space. We were interested in testing influence of classical depth cues (texture gradients, relative size and contrast) on tracking. In Experiment 1 we varied the presence of these depth cues while subjects were tracking four (out of eight) identical, moving objects. Texture gradient, a cue related to scene layout, did not influence object tracking. Experiment 2 was designed to clarify the differences between contrast and relative size effects. Results revealed that contrast was a more effective cue for multiple object tracking in 3D scenes. The effect of occlusion was also examined. Several occluders, presented in the scene, were occasionally masking the targets. Tracking was more successful when occluders were arranged in different depth planes, mimicking more natural conditions. Increasing the number of occlusions led to poorer performance.
Three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) is a perceptual-cognitive training system based on a 3D virtual environment. This is the first study to examine the effects of 3D-MOT training on attention, working memory, and visual information processing speed as well as using functional brain imaging on a normative population. Twenty university-aged students were recruited and divided into a training (NT) and nonactive control (CON) group. Cognitive functions were assessed using neuropsychological tests, and correlates of brain functions were assessed using quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG). Results indicate that 10 sessions of 3D-MOT training can enhance attention, visual information processing speed, and working memory, and also leads to quantifiable changes in resting-state neuroelectric brain function.
© EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society (ECNS) 2014.
It is much easier to divide attention across the left and right visual hemifields than within the same visual hemifield. Here we investigate whether this benefit of dividing attention across separate visual fields is evident at early cortical processing stages. We measured the steady-state visual evoked potential, an oscillatory response of the visual cortex elicited by flickering stimuli, of moving targets and distractors while human observers performed a tracking task. The amplitude of responses at the target frequencies was larger than that of the distractor frequencies when participants tracked two targets in separate hemifields, indicating that attention can modulate early visual processing when it is divided across hemifields. However, these attentional modulations disappeared when both targets were tracked within the same hemifield. These effects were not due to differences in task performance, because accuracy was matched across the tracking conditions by adjusting target speed (with control conditions ruling out effects due to speed alone). To investigate later processing stages, we examined the P3 component over central-parietal scalp sites that was elicited by the test probe at the end of the trial. The P3 amplitude was larger for probes on targets than on distractors, regardless of whether attention was divided across or within a hemifield, indicating that these higher-level processes were not constrained by visual hemifield. These results suggest that modulating early processing stages enables more efficient target tracking, and that within-hemifield competition limits the ability to modulate multiple target representations within the hemifield maps of the early visual cortex.
Our ability to actively maintain information in visual memory is strikingly limited. There is considerable debate about why this is so. As with many questions in psychology, the debate is framed dichotomously: Is visual working memory limited because it is supported by only a small handful of discrete “slots” into which visual representations are placed, or is it because there is an insufficient supply of a “resource” that is flexibly shared among visual representations? Here, we argue that this dichotomous framing obscures a set of at least eight underlying questions. Separately considering each question reveals a rich hypothesis space that will be useful for building a comprehensive model of visual working memory. The questions regard (1) an upper limit on the number of represented items, (2) the quantization of the memory commodity, (3) the relationship between how many items are stored and how well they are stored, (4) whether the number of stored items completely determines the fidelity of a representation (vs. fidelity being stochastic or variable), (5) the flexibility with which the memory commodity can be assigned or reassigned to items, (6) the format of the memory representation, (7) how working memories are formed, and (8) how memory representations are used to make responses in behavioral tasks. We reframe the debate in terms of these eight underlying questions, placing slot and resource models as poles in a more expansive theoretical space.
The ability of visually impaired people to deploy attention effectively to maximize use of their residual vision in dynamic situations is fundamental to safe mobility. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate whether tests of dynamic attention (multiple object tracking; MOT) and static attention (Useful Field of View; UFOV) were predictive of the ability of people with central field loss (CFL) to detect pedestrian hazards in simulated driving.
11 people with bilateral CFL (visual acuity 20/30-20/200) and 11 age-similar normally-sighted drivers participated. Dynamic and static attention were evaluated with brief, computer-based MOT and UFOV tasks, respectively. Dependent variables were the log speed threshold for 60% correct identification of targets (MOT) and the increase in the presentation duration for 75% correct identification of a central target when a concurrent peripheral task was added (UFOV divided and selective attention subtests). Participants drove in a simulator and pressed the horn whenever they detected pedestrians that walked or ran toward the road. The dependent variable was the proportion of timely reactions (could have stopped in time to avoid a collision).
UFOV and MOT performance of CFL participants was poorer than that of controls, and the proportion of timely reactions was also lower (worse) (84% and 97%, respectively; p = 0.001). For CFL participants, higher proportions of timely reactions correlated significantly with higher (better) MOT speed thresholds (r = 0.73, p = 0.01), with better performance on the UFOV divided and selective attention subtests (r = -0.66 and -0.62, respectively, p<0.04), with better contrast sensitivity scores (r = 0.54, p = 0.08) and smaller scotomas (r = -0.60, p = 0.05).
Our results suggest that brief laboratory-based tests of visual attention may provide useful measures of functional visual ability of individuals with CFL relevant to more complex mobility tasks.
In recent times, psychologists have attempted to relate individual differences in intelligence either to differences in a subject's ability to divide attention or to differences in the speed with which they process the information offered by the environment. Because these approaches are not mutually exclusive and, indeed, have some important features in common, it was decided to examine the relationship between speed of processing and intelligence under conditions requiring divided attention. To this end, the Ravens Standard Progressive Matrices Test was administered to 48 subjects who subsequently performed a card-sorting task of varying information content under both single- and competing-task conditions. The obtained results point strongly to a more central role for complexity in speed of processing models of intelligence.
Working memory capacity, attention control, and fluid intelligence Or take the power of attention. Is this wholly, or partly, or not at all the same as intelligence? All three views are widely held in the literature . The idea that attention is important to intelligence is not novel. Indeed, Spearman (1927) discussed this issue at length. However, the relationship between attention and intelligence was contemplated even earlier, with some of the first empirical evidence provided by Burt (1909). Binet (1903), the father of intelligence testing, also recognized the importance of attention to general intelligence (Sternberg, 1982). William James (1890/1981), too, wrote that “the number of things we may attend to is altogether indefinite, depending on the power of the individual intellect” (p. 405). However, despite nearly a century of research, the above question still pervades the science of mental ability, and Spearman's comment appears to be as true today as ...
Existing theories of multiple object tracking (MOT) offer different predictions concerning the role of higher level cognitive processes, individual differences, effortful attention and parallel processing in MOT. Pylyshyn's model (1989) argues for an automatic parallel processing mechanism separate from other cognition, whereas alternative models (e.g., Kahneman & Treisman, 1984 or spotlight models) are based on higher level cognition such as spatial short‐term memory and/or effortful attention switching. These predictions were examined in Experiment 1 where identical objects and in Experiment 2 where visually and semantically distinct objects were tracked. Both experiments demonstrated a substantial individual variation in the estimated tracking capacity. Tasks measuring visuospatial short‐term memory and attention switching proved to be significant predictors of MOT. In addition, tracking performance deteriorated as a function of tracking time and set size. Our results are in contrast to Pylyshyn's model. A mechanism with both parallel and serial processing and temporary spatial memory is outlined to accommodate the observed pattern of results.
Working memory is currently a 'hot' topic in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Because of their radically different scopes and emphases, however, comparing different models and theories and understanding how they relate to one another has been a difficult task. This volume offers a much-needed forum for systematically comparing and contrasting existing models of working memory. It does so by asking each contributor to address the same comprehensive set of important theoretical questions on working memory. The answers to these questions provided in the volume elucidate the emerging general consensus on the nature of working memory among different theorists and crystallize incompatible theoretical claims that must be resolved in future research. As such, this volume serves not only as a milestone that documents the state-of-the-art in the field but also as a theoretical guidebook that will likely promote new lines of research and more precise and comprehensive models of working memory.
We investigated differences in multiple-object tracking among individuals with Down syndrome (DS) as compared to typically developing children matched on a visual-spatial mental age of approximately 5.5 years. In order to ensure that these effects did not originate in differences in encoding or reporting the positions of targets in distracters after a delay, immediate and delayed report were measured for static items. Although their immediate and delayed report for multiple static items was comparable to that of the typically developing children, the participants with DS performed as if they were only capable of tracking a single item at a time regardless of the number of targets that needed to be tracked. This finding is surprising because the operations used in multiple-object tracking are thought to be necessary for visuospatial tasks, which are an area of relative strength among persons with DS. These results call into question the idea that abilities or deficits in multiple-object tracking predict visuospatial performance, and highlight ways that atypical development can inform our understanding of typical development.
The attentional processes for tracking moving objects may be largely hemisphere-specific. Indeed, in our first two experiments the maximum object speed (speed limit) for tracking targets in one visual hemifield (left or right) was not significantly affected by a requirement to track additional targets in the other hemifield. When the additional targets instead occupied the same hemifield as the original targets, the speed limit was reduced. At slow target speeds, however, adding a second target to the same hemifield had little effect. At high target speeds, the cost of adding a same-hemifield second target was approximately as large as would occur if observers could only track one of the targets. This shows that performance with a fast-moving target is very sensitive to the amount of resource allocated. In a third experiment, we investigated whether the resources for tracking can be distributed unequally between two targets. The speed limit for a given target was higher if the second target was slow rather than fast, suggesting that more resource was allocated to the faster of the two targets. This finding was statistically significant only for targets presented in the same hemifield, consistent with the theory of independent resources in the two hemifields. Some limited evidence was also found for resource sharing across hemifields, suggesting that attentional tracking resources may not be entirely hemifield-specific. Together, these experiments indicate that the largely hemisphere-specific tracking resource can be differentially allocated to faster targets.
Healthy aging is associated with a number of perceptual changes, but measures of biological-motion perception have yielded conflicting results. Biological motion provides information about a walker, from gender and identity to speed, direction, and distance. In our natural environment, as someone approaches us (closer distances), the walker spans larger areas of our field of view, the extent of which can be underutilized with age. Yet, the effect of age on biological-motion perception in such real-world scenarios remains unknown. We assessed the effect of age on discriminating walking direction in upright and inverted biological-motion patterns, positioned at various distances in virtual space. Findings indicate that discrimination is worse at closer distances, an effect exacerbated by age. Older adults' performance decreases at distances as far away as 4 m, whereas younger adults maintain their performance as close as 1 m (worse at 0.5 m). This suggests that older observers are limited in their capacity to integrate information over larger areas of the visual field and supports the notion that age-related effects are more apparent when larger neural networks are required to process simultaneous information. This has further implications for social contexts where information from biological motion is critical.
This paper provides an overview of the research into the cognitive basis of intelligence. This research explains cognitive abilities in terms of cognitive units or properties of such units. Furthermore, this research is characterized by the application of so-called elementary cognitive tasks. The various approaches of this research originate from the concepts of cognitive psychology: Mental (and perceptual) speed, attention, working memory, memory access, and learning. All the approaches led to measures which correlate with measures of intelligence. The enormous importance of the cognitive basis is highlighted by the observation that predictors taken from the various approaches explain approximately 50% of the variance of intelligence. At the latent level the rate of explanation seems to surmount the 70% barrier. Furthermore, the problems and perspectives of the approaches are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The aim of this study was to confirm that coordination and storage in the context of processing are significant predictors of reasoning even if crystallized intelligence is controlled for. It was also expected that sustained attention and coordination would be highly correlated. Therefore, 20 working memory tests, 2 attention tests, and 18 intelligence subtests were administered to 121 students. We were able to replicate results indicating that storage in the context of processing and coordination are significant predictors of reasoning. Controlling for crystallized intelligence did not decrease the common variance between working memory and reasoning. The study also revealed that the factors coordination and sustained attention were highly correlated. Finally, a model is presented with the latent variables speed and g, which can explain almost all of the common variance of the applied aggregates. A detailed discussion of the results supports the view that working memory and intelligence share about 70% of the common variance.
In dealing with a dynamic world, people have the ability to maintain selective attention on a subset of moving objects in the environment. Performance in such multiple-object tracking is limited by three primary factors-the number of objects that one can track, the speed at which one can track them, and how close together they can be. We argue that this last limit, of object spacing, is the root cause of all performance constraints in multiple-object tracking. In two experiments, we found that as long as the distribution of object spacing is held constant, tracking performance is unaffected by large changes in object speed and tracking time. These results suggest that barring object-spacing constraints, people could reliably track an unlimited number of objects as fast as they could track a single object.
Mounting evidence suggests that visual attention may be simultaneously deployed to multiple distinct object locations, but the constraints upon this multi-object attentional system are still debated. Results from multiple object tracking (MOT) experiments have been interpreted as revealing a fixed attentional capacity limit of 4 objects, while other evidence has suggested that attentional capacity may be more fluid. Here, we investigated the influence of target stimulus factors, such as speed and size, and of distractor filtering factors, such as number of distractors and screen density, on MOT performance. Each factor had significant effects on capacity, producing values that ranged from above 6 objects down to one object, depending on the task demands. Although our results support the view that crowding effects modulate the effective capacity of attention, we also find evidence that central processes related to distractor suppression and target enhancement modulate capacity.
Everyday tasks often require us to keep track of multiple objects in dynamic scenes. Past studies show that tracking becomes more difficult as objects move faster. In the present study, we show that this trade-off may not be due to increased speed itself but may, instead, be due to the increased crowding that usually accompanies increases in speed. Here, we isolate changes in speed from variations in crowding, by projecting a tracking display either onto a small area at the center of a hemispheric projection dome or onto the entire dome. Use of the larger display increased retinal image size and object speed by a factor of 4 but did not increase interobject crowding. Results showed that tracking accuracy was equally good in the large-display condition, even when the objects traveled far into the visual periphery. Accuracy was also not reduced when we tested object speeds that limited performance in the small-display condition. These results, along with a reinterpretation of past studies, suggest that we might be able to track multiple moving objects as fast as we can a single moving object, once the effect of object crowding is eliminated.
The aims of this study were (a) to find out if attentional ability factors that are separate from the well-established ability factors (e.g., fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and short-term acquisition and retrieval function) can be identified, and (b) to establish, through the use of part correlations, whether attentional abilities play a role in the changes in fluid and crystallized intelligence that occur with increasing age. A battery of 36 tests (19 psychometric tests and 17 measures of attentional processes) were given to 100 people. 20 of whom were in each age decade between 20 and 70. Results indicated that three attentional factors--Search, Concentration, and Attentional Flexibility--exist at the primary-ability level and that all three define fluid intelligence at the second-order level. Results also indicate that the decline in fluid intelligence with increasing age disappears if attentional factors are parted-out. Similarly, the increase in crystallized intelligence with increasing age becomes even greater if one controls for attentional processes. I conclude that changes in attentional processes play an important part in changes in human intelligence with age.
During the past decade a number of variations in the simple up‐down procedure have been used in psychoacoustic testing. A broad class of these methods is described with due emphasis on the related problems of parameter estimation and the efficient placing of observations. The advantages of up‐down methods are many, including simplicity, high efficiency, robustness, small‐sample reliability, and relative freedom from restrictive assumptions. Several applications of these procedures in psychoacoustics are described, including examples where conventional techniques are inapplicable.
The capacity to deliberately control attention in order to hold and manipulate information in working memory is critical to higher cognitive functions. This suggests that between-subject differences in general cognitive ability might be related to observable differences in the activity of brain systems that support working memory and attention control. To test this notion, electroencephalograms were recorded from 80 healthy young adults during spatial working memory tasks. Measures of task-related neurophysiological and behavioral variables were derived from these data and compared to scores on a test battery commonly used to assess general cognitive ability (the WAIS-R). Subjects who scored high on the psychometric test also tended to respond faster in the experimental tasks without any loss of accuracy. The amplitude of the late positive component of the event-related potential was larger in high-ability subjects, and the frontal midline theta component of the EEG signal was also selectively enhanced in this group under conditions of sustained performance and high working memory load. These results suggest that subjects who scored high on the WAIS-R were better able to focus and sustain attention to task performance. Changes in the EEG alpha rhythm in response to manipulations of task practice and load were also examined and compared between frontal and parietal regions. The results indicated that high-ability subjects developed strategies that made relatively greater use of parietal regions, whereas low-ability subjects relied more exclusively on frontal regions. Other analyses indicated that hemispheric asymmetries in alpha band measures distinguish between individuals with relatively high verbal aptitude and those with relatively high nonverbal aptitude. In particular, subjects with a verbal cognitive style tended to make greater use of the left parietal region during task performance, and subjects with a nonverbal style tended to make greater use of the right parietal region. These results help clarify relationships between task-related brain activity and individual differences in cognitive ability and style.
Miller (1956) summarized evidence that people can remember about seven chunks in short-term memory (STM) tasks. However, that number was meant more as a rough estimate and a rhetorical device than as a real capacity limit. Others have since suggested that there is a more precise capacity limit, but that it is only three to five chunks. The present target article brings together a wide variety of data on capacity limits suggesting that the smaller capacity limit is real. Capacity limits will be useful in analyses of information processing only if the boundary conditions for observing them can be carefully described. Four basic conditions in which chunks can be identified and capacity limits can accordingly be observed are: (1) when information overload limits chunks to individual stimulus items, (2) when other steps are taken specifically to block the recording of stimulus items into larger chunks, (3) in performance discontinuities caused by the capacity limit, and (4) in various indirect effects of the capacity limit. Under these conditions, rehearsal and long-term memory cannot be used to combine stimulus items into chunks of an unknown size; nor can storage mechanisms that are not capacity-limited, such as sensory memory, allow the capacity-limited storage mechanism to be refilled during recall. A single, central capacity limit averaging about four chunks is implicated along with other, noncapacity-limited sources. The pure STM capacity limit expressed in chunks is distinguished from compound STM limits obtained when the number of separately held chunks is unclear. Reasons why pure capacity estimates fall within a narrow range are discussed and a capacity limit for the focus of attention is proposed.
This paper is concerned with the relationship between two central constructs—reasoning ability and working-memory capacity—which arise from two distinct bodies of literature on individual differences in cognition, the psychometric and the information-processing, respectively. In four separate studies (N = 723, 412, 415, and 594), we assessed reasoning ability using various tests from the psychometric literature, and working-memory capacity using tests constructed according to Baddeley's (1986) definition of working memory. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded consistently high estimates of the correlation between working-memory capacity and reasoning ability factors (r = .80 to .90). We also found differentiation between the two factors: Reasoning correlated comparatively highly with general knowledge; working-memory capacity correlated comparatively highly with processing speed. Inspection of residuals from model fitting suggested the existence of a verbal versus quantitative content factor. We discuss the implications of our results for what they tell us about the nature of reasoning, and the nature of working memory.
This present article discusses an approach to training high-level athletes' perceptual-cognitive skills. The intention herein is to (a) introduce concepts in regard to what may be required by athletes to optimally process sports-related visual scenes at the perceptual-cognitive level; (b) present an experimental method of how it may be possible to train this capacity in athletes while discussing the necessary features for a successful perceptual-cognitive training outcome; and (c) propose that this capacity may be trainable even among the highest-level athletes. An important suggestion is that a simple difference between sitting and standing testing conditions may strongly influence speed thresholds with this task, which is analogous to game movement dynamics in sports, indicating shared resources between such high-level perceptual-cognitive demands and mechanisms involved in posture control. A discussion follows emphasizing how a perceptual-cognitive training approach may be useful as an integral component of athletic training. The article concludes with possible future directions.
Results of earlier multiple object tracking (MOT) studies imply that humans can track several moving targets in a 2D environment simultaneously. Recently, a study suggested that stereoscopic depth has positive effect on tracking multiple objects when the objects are presented separately on multiple planes. However, it remains unclear whether or not humans can track moving targets in a real 3D environment. In this study, we investigated this issue displaying four targets and four distractors on near and/or far depth planes separated physically by 6, 10 or 50 cm using a half-mirror and two CRT-monitors. In addition we also tested whether participants could track the targets when either a target or a distractor changed depth during tracking. Our results suggested that performance dropped if the targets were presented on both depth planes especially when the distance between the planes was 50 cm. In addition, participants could track a depth-changed target if targets were presented on both planes before the start of a motion phase regardless of whether the initial state of targets distribution randomly varied or not, whereas they failed to track the target if all targets were presented on a single plane before MOT. In conclusion, humans have the ability to set attention on a wide range for MOT in a real 3D environment, with the provision that the efficiency of the tracking is critically dependent not only on the distance in depth but also on an initial state of distribution of the targets without the predictability of the initial state.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Attentional effort relates to the allocation of limited-capacity attentional resources to meet current task demands and involves the activation of top-down attentional systems in the brain. Pupillometry is a sensitive measure of this intensity aspect of top-down attentional control. Studies relate pupillary changes in response to cognitive processing to activity in the locus coeruleus (LC), which is the main hub of the brain's noradrenergic system and it is thought to modulate the operations of the brain's attentional systems. In the present study, participants performed a visual divided attention task known as multiple object tracking (MOT) while their pupil sizes were recorded by use of an infrared eye tracker and then were tested again with the same paradigm while brain activity was recorded using fMRI. We hypothesized that the individual pupil dilations, as an index of individual differences in mental effort, as originally proposed by Kahneman (1973), would be a better predictor of LC activity than the number of tracked objects during MOT. The current results support our hypothesis, since we observed pupil-related activity in the LC. Moreover, the changes in the pupil correlated with activity in the superior colliculus and the right thalamus, as well as cortical activity in the dorsal attention network, which previous studies have shown to be strongly activated during visual tracking of multiple targets. Follow-up pupillometric analyses of the MOT task in the same individuals also revealed that individual differences to cognitive load can be remarkably stable over a lag of several years. To our knowledge this is the first study using pupil dilations as an index of attentional effort in the MOT task and also relating these to functional changes in the brain that directly implicate the LC-NE system in the allocation of processing resources.
This study was inspired by the more locally oriented processing style in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A modified multiple object tracking (MOT) task was administered to a group of children with and without ASD. Participants not only had to distinguish moving targets from distracters, but they also had to track targets when they were visually grouped to distracters, a manipulation which has a detrimental effect on tracking performance in adults. MOT performance in the ASD group was also affected by grouping, but this effect was significantly reduced. This result highlights how the reduced bias towards more global processing in ASD could influence further stages of cognition by altering the way in which attention selects information for further processing.
This research deals with individual differences in the ability to focus and divide attention. Eighty-five subjects performed visual search and auditory detection tasks in three conditions: single channel, focused attention, and divided attention. Reaction time (RT) was fastest in the single channel condition, intermediate in the focused attention condition, and longest in the divided attention condition, and these effects were much stronger in the auditory than the visual task. Correlations among RTs in the three conditions were very high within modality (>.88), and lower between modalities (.5 to .6). The correlational data was well fit by a model that included separate factors for the visual and auditory tasks. Measures from the three attentional conditions within each modality loaded equally on these factors. The data provided no evidence for distinct abilities to divide or focus attention.
Performance on measures of working memory (WM) capacity predicts performance on a wide range of real-world cognitive tasks. I review the idea that WM capacity (a) is separable from short-term memory, (b) is an important component of general fluid intelligence, and (c) represents a domain-free limitation in ability to control attention. Studies show that individual differences in WM capacity are reflected in performance on antisaccade, Stroop, and dichotic-listening tasks. WM capacity, or executive attention, is most important under conditions in which interference leads to retrieval of response tendencies that conflict with the current task.
The contribution of perceptual processes to the correlation between measures of sustained attention and intelligence was investigated in considering computerized and paper–pencil tests of sustained attention. Perceptual processes were represented by tasks demanding signal detection and stimulus discrimination. A total of 117 participants completed two attention tests, as well as two tests that required signal detection and stimulus discrimination. Intelligence was measured by means of Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) and Berliner Intelligenzstruktur-Test (BIS). Structural equation modeling showed that intelligence was best predicted by one independent latent variable, which included loadings of sustained attention, speed of signal detection, and of stimulus discrimination. The investigation of the structure of prediction revealed speed of stimulus discrimination and genuine sustained attention as major predictors of intelligence.
Overall performance when tracking moving targets is known to be poorer for larger numbers of targets, but the specific effect on tracking's temporal resolution has never been investigated. We document a broad range of display parameters for which visual tracking is limited by temporal frequency (the interval between when a target is at each location and a distracter moves in and replaces it) rather than by object speed. We tested tracking of one, two, and three moving targets while the eyes remained fixed. Variation of the number of distracters and their speed revealed both speed limits and temporal frequency limits on tracking. The temporal frequency limit fell from 7 Hz with one target to 4 Hz with two targets and 2.6 Hz with three targets. The large size of this performance decrease implies that in the two-target condition participants would have done better by tracking only one of the two targets and ignoring the other. These effects are predicted by serial models involving a single tracking focus that must switch among the targets, sampling the position of only one target at a time. If parallel processing theories are to explain why dividing the tracking resource reduces temporal resolution so markedly, supplemental assumptions will be required.
In the multiple object tracking task, participants are asked to keep targets separate from identical distractors as all items move randomly. It is well known that simple manipulations such as object speed and number of distractors dramatically alter the number of targets that are successfully tracked, but very little is known about what causes this variation in performance. One possibility is that participants tend to lose track of objects (dropping) more frequently under these conditions. Another is that the tendency to confuse a target with a distractor increases (swapping). These two mechanisms have very different implications for the attentional architecture underlying tracking. However, behavioral data alone cannot differentiate between these possibilities. In the current study, we used an electrophysiological marker of the number of items being actively tracked to assess which type of errors tended to occur during speed and distractor load manipulations. Our neural measures suggest that increased distractor load led to an increased likelihood of confusing targets with distractors while increased speed led to an increased chance of a target item being dropped. Behavioral experiments designed to test this novel prediction support this assertion.
The paper reports on an investigation of attention and working memory as sources of intelligence. The investigation was concentrated on the relatedness of attention and working memory as predictors of intelligence and on the structure underlying the prediction. In a sample of 120 participants, intelligence was assessed by the Advanced Progressive Matrices [APM; Raven, J. C. (1962). Advanced progressive matrices. London: Lewis and Co.] and Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test [ZVT; Oswald, W. D., & Roth, E. (1978). Der Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test (ZVT). Gfttingen: Hogrefe]. Attention was restricted to sustained attention and measured by means of two versions of the Frankfurt Adaptive Concentration-Performance Test [FACT] represented working memory capacity. Structural equation modeling revealed that attention and working memory predicted overlapping parts of intelligence. The data suggested different models for APM and ZVT as criterion variable. When APM represented intelligence, the final model suggested both working memory and attention as significant predictors. In contrast, when ZVT represented intelligence, the model included only attention as significant predictor. The restriction of the models to working memory as single predictor led to an insufficient result.
Limited processing capacity constrains learning and performance in complex cognitive tasks. In traditional instruction, novices' failure to adequately learn cognitive tasks can often be attributed to the inappropriate direction of attention and the related high or excessive load that is imposed on a learner's cognitive system. An instructional design model for the training of complex cognitive tasks should provide instructional strategies that control cognitive load. We propose such a model and recommend research in which the cognitive load of instructional manipulations is systematically investigated and determined with mental-effort based measures.
This paper is concerned with some of the factors that determine the difficulty of material that needs to be learned. It is suggested that when considering intellectual activities, schema acquisition and automation are the primary mechanisms of learning. The consequences of cognitive load theory for the structuring of information in order to reduce difficulty by focusing cognitive activity on schema acquisition is briefly summarized. It is pointed out that cognitive load theory deals with learning and problem solving difficulty that is artificial in that it can be manipulated by instructional design. Intrinsic cognitive load in contrast, is constant for a given area because it is a basic component of the material. Intrinsic cognitive load is characterized in terms of element interactivity. The elements of most schemas must be learned simultaneously because they interact and it is the interaction that is critical. If, as in some areas, interactions between many elements must be learned, then intrinsic cognitive load will be high. In contrast, in different areas, if elements can be learned successively rather than simultaneously because they do not interact, intrinsic cognitive load will be low. It is suggested that extraneous cognitive load that interferes with learning only is a problem under conditions of high cognitive load caused by high element interactivity. Under conditions of low element interactivity, re-designing instruction to reduce extraneous cognitive load may have no appreciable consequences. In addition, the concept of element interactivity can be used to explain not only why some material is difficult to learn but also, why it can be difficult to understand. Understanding becomes relevant when high element interactivity material with a naturally high cognitive load must be learned.
This study provides a partial replication of Stankov's (1988a; Psychology and Aging, 3, 1–16) finding that attentional variables can account for at least some of the age-related changes in intelligence test performance. Particularly important are processes involved in Search (Perceptual/Clerical speed) tasks and tasks that require mental concentration. Another aim was to study the role of the speed of test-taking scores. Estimates of this variable are shown to give additional information to that of number-correct measures and to correlate highly amongst themselves providing support for a separate broad speediness (Gs) factor. The implication of this finding to models of cognitive ability is discussed.
The relationship between attention and general intelligence was investigated considering the different types of attention: alertness, sustained attention, focused attention, attentional switching, divided attention, attention according to the supervisory attentional system, attention as inhibition, spatial attention, attention as planning, interference, attention as arousal, and attention according to the assessment tradition. In a sample of 197 participants the relationship of attention and intelligence was investigated by means of structural equation modeling. The results revealed that each type of attention was substantially related to intelligence on the latent level. Furthermore, a high degree of overlap in predicting intelligence was observed for the various types of attention. Comprehensive models based on resources theory and Posner's dimensions were also investigated. The best model of the relationship between attention and intelligence included two first-order and one second-order latent variables of attention and one of intelligence. It predicted 32% of the variance of intelligence.
Wittenborn (1943; Psychometrica, 8, 19–35) devised a number of tests of ‘attention’ which were intended to measure the ability to maintain high levels of concentration or mental effort. Because of their apparent elementary and algorithmic nature, performances on the tasks were assumed not to be significantly related to subjects' ‘intellectual level’ or to the extent of their background knowledge.A correlational study was carried out to investigate the relationship between such tests of attention and common measures of intelligence. The framework for the selection of tests was provided by the Horn-Cattell theory of fluid and crystallised intelligence. The battery of tests contained markers of fluid and crystallised intelligence, short-term memory, spatial ability and perceptual/clerical speed, as well as ‘attention’ tasks derived from Wittenborn (1943). A serial short-term memory (SSTM) task was also included in the battery. On factor analysis, it was found that the attention tests, and the SSTM task, did not form a separate factor but had their major factor loadings on the same factor as was defined by the traditional measures of fluid intelligence. It was concluded that these results give support to accounts of intelligence based on such concepts as mental energy (Spearman, 1927; The abilities of man. New York: Macmillan) or non-automatic mental processing (e.g. Jensen, 1979; Creative Science and Technology, 2, 16–29).
Multiple-object tracking involves simultaneously tracking positions of a number of target-items as they move among distractors. The standard version of the task poses special challenges for children, demanding extended concentration and the ability to distinguish targets from identical-looking distractors, and may thus underestimate children's tracking abilities. As a result, a modified version of the task called “Catch the Spies” was developed. Participants tracked one to four moving “spies” (targets) that had “disguised” themselves so that they could blend in with a crowd of 10 people (happy-faces). Tracking accuracy was measured in five age groups (6, 8, 10, 12, and 19 years old). All performed well above chance though there were age-related increases in the number that could be tracked at once. Overall, when the effects of age were statistically controlled, tracking performance was significantly better for action videogame players than non-players, and marginally better for action-sports participants than non-participants.
It has been suggested that situations requiring the division of attention between competing activities can tap abilities which are central to cognitive functioning. This paper attempted to determine whether there are identifiable characteristics in the single tests that will help to predict changes in general factor loading when they are presented as components of competing tasks. The framework for the study was provided by the theory of fluid (Gf) and crystallized (Gc) intelligence. A battery of single and competing tasks was presented to 126 subjects. The competing tasks represented a variety of within and across factor combinations from different levels of the Gf/Gc hierarchy. Modality of presentation was also varied in some combinations. The results indicate that single and competing tasks measure the same broad ability of the Gf/Gc theory and that general factor loadings can decrease as well as increase in the competing task situation. There is also evidence that these tendencies depend, to some extent, on the degree to which the tasks require the same cognitive factors or use the same sensory modalities. Overall, it is assumed that competing tasks do make greater demands on general ability but that, unless the requirements of the single tests themselves are relatively small, performance breakdown, with an accompanying decrease in general factors loadings, is the likely outcome.
The present study examined competing task performance within an information theory framework. In the first experiment, 72 subjects performed a card-sorting task at four levels of task difficulty (0-bit, 1-bit, 2-bit and 3-bit levels) under both single and competing task conditions. Output per 60 sec was measured for each task. In the second experiment, estimates of fluid and crystalized ability, as well as short-term acquisition and retrieval, were obtained from 68 subjects who performed the same tasks as the subjects in Experiment 1. The results of the first experiment suggested the rate of processing remains invariant under both single and competing task conditions with the latter condition being readily interpreted as introducing an additional bit of information. The introduction of the competing condition also led to higher correlation between processing parameters and Gf (but not Gc or SAR) marker tests. The implication of these findings for cognitive models of human ability is discussed.
Driving on a busy road, eluding a group of predators, or playing a team sport involves keeping track of multiple moving objects. In typical laboratory tasks, the number of visual targets that humans can track is about four. Three types of theories have been advanced to explain this limit. The fixed-limit theory posits a set number of attentional pointers available to follow objects. Spatial interference theory proposes that when targets are near each other, their attentional spotlights mutually interfere. Resource theory asserts that a limited resource is divided among targets, and performance reflects the amount available per target. Utilising widely separated objects to avoid spatial interference, the present experiments validated the predictions of resource theory. The fastest target speed at which two targets could be tracked was much slower than the fastest speed at which one target could be tracked. This speed limit for tracking two targets was approximately that predicted if at high speeds, only a single target could be tracked. This result cannot be accommodated by the fixed-limit or interference theories. Evidently a fast target, if it moves fast enough, can exhaust attentional resources.
The ability to track multiple moving objects with attention has been the focus of much research. However, the literature is relatively inconclusive regarding two key aspects of this ability, (1) whether the distribution of attention among the tracked targets is fixed during a period of tracking or is dynamically adjusted, and (2) whether motion information (direction and/or speed) is used to anticipate target locations even when velocities constantly change due to inter-object collisions. These questions were addressed by analyzing target-localization errors. Targets in crowded situations (i.e., those in danger of being lost) were localized more precisely than were uncrowded targets. Furthermore, the response vector (pointing from the target location to the reported location) was tuned to the direction of target motion, and observers with stronger direction tuning localized targets more precisely. Overall, our results provide evidence that multiple-object tracking mechanisms dynamically adjust the spatial distribution of attention in a demand-based manner (allocating more resources to targets in crowded situations) and utilize motion information (especially direction information) to anticipate target locations.
There is considerable evidence that visual attention is concentrated at a single locus in the visual field, and that this locus can be moved independent of eye movements. Two studies are reported which suggest that, while certain aspects of attention require that locations be scanned serially, at least one operation may be carried out in parallel across several independent loci in the visual field. That is the operation of indexing features and tracking their identity. The studies show that: (a) subjects are able to track a subset of up to 5 objects in a field of 10 identical randomly-moving objects in order to distinguish a change in a target from a change in a distractor; and (b) when the speed and distance parameters of the display are designed so that, on the basis of some very conservative assumptions about the speed of attention movement and encoding times, the predicted performance of a serial scanning and updating algorithm would not exceed about 40% accuracy, subjects still manage to do the task with 87% accuracy. These findings are discussed in relation to an earlier, and independently motivated model of feature-binding--called the FINST model--which posits a primitive identity maintenance mechanism that indexes and tracks a limited number of visual objects in parallel. These indexes are hypothesized to serve the function of binding visual features prior to subsequent pattern recognition.
Short-term memory storage can be divided into separate subsystems for verbal information and visual information, and recent studies have begun to delineate the neural substrates of these working-memory systems. Although the verbal storage system has been well characterized, the storage capacity of visual working memory has not yet been established for simple, suprathreshold features or for conjunctions of features. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to retain information about only four colours or orientations in visual working memory at one time. However, it is also possible to retain both the colour and the orientation of four objects, indicating that visual working memory stores integrated objects rather than individual features. Indeed, objects defined by a conjunction of four features can be retained in working memory just as well as single-feature objects, allowing sixteen individual features to be retained when distributed across four objects. Thus, the capacity of visual working memory must be understood in terms of integrated objects rather than individual features, which places significant constraints on cognitive and neurobiological models of the temporary storage of visual information.
This study investigated the effectiveness of the WAIS-R Block Design subtest to predict everyday spatial ability for 65 university undergraduates (15 men, 50 women) who were administered Block Design, the Standardized Road Map Test of Direction Sense, and the Everyday Spatial Activities Test. In addition, the verbally loaded National Adult Reading Test was administered to assess whether the more visuospatial Block Design subtest was a better predictor of spatial ability. Moderate support was found. When age and sex were accounted for, Block Design accounted for 36% of the variance in performance (r = -.62) on the Road Map Test and 19% of the variance on the performance of the Everyday Spatial Activities Test (r = .42). In contrast, the scores on the National Adult Reading Test did not predict performance on the Road Map Test or Everyday Spatial Abilities Test. This suggests that, with appropriate caution, Block Design could be used as a measure of everyday spatial abilities.
In two experiments, the contributions of memory and attention processes to the cognitive abilities of reasoning and perceptual speed were investigated. Two measures of speed of information retrieval from long-term and short-term memory (Posner paradigm, Sternberg paradigm) and two attention measures (continuous attention test, attention switching test) were included in the first experiment (N = 220). The memory tests led to correlations with the measures of cognitive abilities, whereas the attention test did not. The same tests as well as one additional memory test and one attention test (working memory test, test of covert orientation) were administered in the second experiment (N = 116). Again, the memory tests led to the larger correlations with the measures of cognitive abilities. Two components were obtained in components analysis, of which the first was characterized by high loadings of the memory tests and the second by high loadings of the attention tests. Only the memory component contributed to the prediction of cognitive abilities.
We examined the allocation of attention in depth using a multi-element tracking paradigm. Observers were required to track a predefined subset of from two to eight elements in displays containing up to sixteen identical moving elements. We first show that depth cues, such as binocular disparity and occlusion through T-junctions, improve performance in a multi-element tracking task in the case where element boundaries are allowed to intersect in the depiction of motion in a single frontoparallel plane. We also show that the allocation of attention across two perceptually distinguishable planar surfaces, either frontoparallel or receding at a slanting angle and defined by coplanar elements, is easier than allocation of attention within a single surface. The same result was not found when attention was required to be deployed across items of two-color populations rather than across items of a single color. Our results suggest that, when surface information does not suffice to distinguish between targets and distractors that are embedded in these surfaces, division of attention across two surfaces aids in tracking moving targets. A final experiment with populations of elements moving within distinct volumes produced similar results, suggesting that spatial separation in three dimensions, rather than confinement to surfaces as such, may explain the improved performance for the two-surface case.