Conflicting sensory information sharpens the neural representations of early selective visuospatial attention.

Adaptive behaviors require the ability to resolve conflicting information caused by the processing of incompatible sensory inputs. Prominent theories of attention have posited that early selective attention helps mitigate cognitive interference caused by conflicting sensory information by facilitating the processing of task-relevant sensory inputs and filtering out behaviorally irrelevant information. Surprisingly, many recent studies that investigated the role of early selective attention on conflict mitigation have failed to provide positive evidence. Here, we examined changes in the selectivity of early visuospatial attention in male and female human subjects performing an attention-cueing Eriksen flanker task, where they discriminated the shape of a visual target surrounded by congruent or incongruent distractors. We used the inverted encoding model to reconstruct spatial representations of visual selective attention from the topographical patterns of amplitude modulations in alpha-band oscillations in scalp EEG (∼8-12Hz). We found that the fidelity of the alpha-based spatial reconstruction was significantly higher in the incongruent compared to the congruent condition. Importantly, these conflict-related modulations in the reconstruction fidelity occurred at a much earlier time window than those of the lateralized posterior event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with target selection and distractor suppression processes, as well as conflict-related modulations in the fronto-central negative-going wave and midline-frontal theta oscillations (∼3-7 Hz), thought to track executive control functions. Taken together, our data suggest that conflict resolution is supported by the cascade of neural processes underlying early selective visuospatial attention and frontal executive functions that unfold over time.Significance Statement The ability to resolve conflict is essential for adaptive behaviors. Here, we utilized a model-based approach to examine conflict-related changes in spatial representations of visuospatial attention from alpha band oscillations (∼8-12Hz) in EEG obtained from human participants performing an attention-cueing Eriksen flanker task. We observed increased fidelity of neural representations of early visuospatial attention immediately after stimulus onset in trials with incongruent compared to congruent distractors. Moreover, these conflict-related changes in the alpha-based representations occurred more rapidly than overall changes in parietal and frontal activity, which are thought to track late selection processes. This finding implicates the role of early selective visuospatial attention in mitigating cognitive interference and emphasizes that attention mechanisms involve multiple selection processes that evolve over time.

Effects of social and nonsocial reward on executive function in preschoolers.

INTRODUCTION: Executive function, a set of higher order cognitive skills underlying goal-directed behaviors, develops rapidly during preschool years. Reward increases executive function engagement in adolescents and adults. However, there is still a scarcity of data on how reward affects executive function in young children. The present study examines whether different incentive types contribute differently to executive function performance and neural activity in children. METHODS: Twenty-five preschoolers of 5-6 years old were provided an incentive Go/No-go task, comparing social, nonsocial, and nonreward conditions. Activations in the prefrontal regions during the tasks were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. RESULTS: The results revealed that social reward enhanced right prefrontal activations in young children. In contrast to adult literature, younger children did not show any significant differences in executive function performance across conditions. CONCLUSION: This study expands our understanding of motivation and EF engagement in preschoolers. Specifically, social reward enhanced prefrontal activations in young children. The implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Proteome analysis at the subcellular level of the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis in response to low-temperature stress conditions.

The present study addresses the differential expression of Spirulina platensis proteins detected during cold-induced stress, analyzed at the subcellular level. In performing differential expression analysis, the results revealed upregulated proteins in every subcellular fraction, including two-component response systems, DNA repair, molecular chaperones, stress-induced proteins and proteins involved in other biological processes such as secretion systems and nitrogen assimilation. The chlorophyll biosynthetic proteins, protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase and ChlI, had unique expression patterns as detected in the thylakoid membrane; the levels of these proteins immediately decreased during the first 45 min of low-temperature exposure. In contrast, their expression levels significantly increased after low-temperature exposure, indicating the relevance of the chlorophyll biosynthesis in Spirulina in response to low-temperature stress in the light condition. In addition, this is the first report in which genome-based protein identification in S. platensis by peptide mass fingerprinting was performed using the database derived from the unpublished Spirulina genome sequence.