Functional connectivity correlates of attentional networks in insomnia disorder: A pilot study.

Insomnia disorder has been associated with poor executive functioning. Functional imaging studies of executive functioning in insomnia are scarce and inconclusive. Because the Attentional Network Test relies on well-defined cortical networks and sensitively distinguishes different aspects of executive function, it might reveal brain functional alterations in relatively small samples of patients. The current pilot study assessed functional connectivity during the Attentional Network Test performed using magnetic resonance imaging in 12 participants with insomnia and 13 self-defined good sleepers. ANCOVAs were used to evaluate group differences in performance and functional connectivity in the regions of interest representing the attentional networks (i.e. alerting, orienting and executive control) at p < 0.05, uncorrected. During the orienting part, participants with insomnia showed weaker connectivity of the precentral gyrus with the superior parietal lobe (false discovery rate-corrected), while they showed stronger connectivity between premotor and visual regions. Individual differences in connectivity between premotor and visual regions correlated inversely with reaction time. Reaction times suggested more efficient executive control in participants with insomnia compared with good sleepers. During the executive control part, participants with insomnia showed stronger connectivity of thalamic parts of the arousal circuit with the middle frontal and the occipital gyri. Conversely, connectivity between the inferior and superior frontal gyri was weaker. Participants with insomnia seem to recruit more cortical resources in visuo-motor regions to orient attention than good sleepers do, and seem to have enhanced executive control that relates to stronger connectivity of arousal-related thalamic areas. This latter result should be treated with caution and requires confirmation.

Decreased Connectivity in Precuneus of the Ventral Attentional Network in First-Episode, Treatment-Naïve Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: A Network Homogeneity and Independent Component Analysis.

Background and Objective: The ventral attentional network (VAN) can provide quantitative information on cognitive problems in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Nevertheless, little is known about network homogeneity (NH) changes in the VAN of these patients. The aim of this study was to examine the NH values in the VAN by independent component analysis (ICA) and compare the NH values between MDD patients and the normal controls (NCs). Methods: Attentional network test and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were collected from 73 patients, and 70 NCs matched by gender, age, and education years. ICA and NH were employed to evaluate the data. Moreover, the NH values were compared, and Spearman's rank correlation analysis was used to assess the correlations with the executive control reaction time (ECRT). Results: Our results showed that the first-episode, treatment-naive MDD patients had decreased NH in the right precuneus (PCu) and abnormal ECRT compared with NCs. However, no significant correlation was found between the NH values and measured clinical variables. Conclusion: Our results highlight the potential importance of VAN in the pathophysiology of cognitive problems in MDD, thus offering new directions for future research on MDD.

Effects of stage I hypertension on the recovery of early postoperative attention network function in elderly patients undergoing elective hip or knee arthroplasty surgery

Background/aim: Hypertension is an important risk factor for cognitive impairment. This study explored whether elderly patients with stage I hypertension (HPs) and normotensive patients (NPs) showed differences in the recovery of postoperative attention network function according to the attentional network test (ANT) performance. Materials and methods: Of 110 patients screened, 25 HPs and 25 NPs completed this study. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was applied to all participants before the operation and the ANT (on days 2 and 7) after the operation. All participants completed 1 day preoperatively and the ANT on postoperative days (PODs) 2 and 7. Results: Compared with NPs, HPs had significantly lower alerting network effect scores and more difficulty resolving conflict on POD 7. However, no significant difference was observed between the groups on POD 2. Orienting network performance was similar between the groups at all time points. Significant differences in alerting and executive control network performances were observed between PODs 2 and 7 in each group. Conclusion: HPs showed selective cognitive impairment at different time points following elective hip or knee arthroplasty. Compared with NPs, during the first postoperative week, HPs were more likely to experience delayed recovery of alerting and executive control network function, but not orienting network function.

Executive Control of Emotional Conflict.

Attentional networks and their interactions have been extensively studied through the Attentional Network Test for Interaction (ANTI). This task combines a spatial cueing paradigm with a flanker procedure and examines the efficiency and the interactions among the attentional networks (Alerting, Orienting and Executive control). However, the ANTI did not consider the effect of emotions on the attentional systems, although many studies have shown a relationship between emotion and Executive system. This study aims to analyze the executive system in an emotional context. We used a version of ANTI with arrows (ANTI-A) and an ANTI-Emotion (ANTI-E), where the arrows in the flanker task were replaced with neutral and threatening faces. One hundred and thirty-four university students performed both an ANTI-A and an ANTI-E. Results confirmed all the main effects and interactions for both the types of ANTI. Furthermore, the ANTI-E showed that the executive control of the conflict was harder when the target was neutral rather than when it was threatening. This difficulty in solving the flanker task could be due to the effect of distractors with a threatening valence. The ANTI-E could be allowed to verify how much attentional bias that characterizes people with emotional disorders (e.g., anxiety) may depend on altered executive control of the emotional conflict.

Home-delivered attention bias modification training via smartphone to improve attention control in sub-clinical generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized, controlled multi-session experiment.

BACKGROUND: Mogg and Bradley (2016) proposed that attentional bias (to threat stimuli) among patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) may be associated with the top-down attention control process. Additionally, some scholars (e.g., Enock & McNally, 2013) have designed mobile applications to enable patients to engage in home-delivered attentional bias modification (HD-ABM); however, many problems related to these training systems have not yet been addressed. METHOD: A total of 82 participants (61 women, mean age = 21.47 y) who received GAD diagnoses were randomly assigned to an HD-ABM (n = 30), placebo training (n = 30), or waiting list (n = 22) group. Both the HD-ABM and placebo groups were trained with the attention training application (through Android phones three times a day for four weeks). RESULTS: (1) All measures of participants' self-reported symptoms (except for trait anxiety) were significantly lower in Week 4 and in the follow-up. (2) Attentional network test (ANT) results demonstrated that all participants' alerting scores significantly increased by Week 4. (3) Participants in the HD-ABM and placebo groups demonstrated significant increases in their self-reported attention control scores, decreases in their attention bias index (ABI) scores, and progress in their executive control abilities. LIMITATIONS: Self-report scales may have been insufficient for measuring effectiveness in the present study. CONCLUSIONS: This study helps to elucidate the mechanism underlying changes in attention processes after HD-ABM training implemented through a mobile application in GAD.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for College Students With ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: Between 2% and 8% of college students meet criteria for ADHD, with increased incidence in recent decades. There are very few clinical trials conducted on the meaningful intervention of ADHD in college. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) effectively treats college students with ADHD and could be more feasibly applied in college mental health clinics. METHOD: Fifty-four undergraduates with ADHD between ages 19 and 24 were randomized to receive either MBCT or wait-list (WL) during a 6-week intervention phase. ADHD symptoms, neuropsychological performance, and related outcomes were assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: Participants receiving MBCT group showed greater treatment response rates (57%-71% vs. 23%-31%) and experience less anxiety and depression, and greater levels of mindfulness; MBCT participants show greater improvement on neuropsychological performance. CONCLUSION: MBCT may be a useful intervention for college students with ADHD, improving participants' ADHD symptoms, mindfulness, and sustained attention.

Abnormal Default Mode Network Homogeneity in Treatment-Naive Patients With First-Episode Depression.

Background and Objective: The default mode network (DMN) may be an important component involved in the broad-scale cognitive problems seen in patients with first-episode treatment-naive depression. Nevertheless, information is scarce regarding the changes in network homogeneity (NH) found in the DMN of these patients. Therefore, in this study, we explored the NH of the DMN in patients with first-episode treatment-naive depression. Methods: The study included 66 patients and 74 control participants matched by age, gender, educational level and health status who underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and the attentional network test (ANT). To assess data, the study utilizes NH and independent component analysis (ICA). Additionally, Spearman's rank correlation analysis is performed among significantly abnormal NH in depression patients and clinical measurements and executive control reaction time (ECRT). Results: In comparison with the control group, patients with first-episode treatment-naive depression showed lower NH in the bilateral angular gyrus (AG), as well as increased NH in the bilateral precuneus (PCu) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Likewise, patients with first-episode treatment-naive depression had longer ECRT. No significant relation was found between abnormal NH values and the measured clinical variables. Conclusions: Our results suggest patients with first-episode treatment-naive depression have abnormal NH values in the DMN. This highlights the significance of DMN in the pathophysiology of cognitive problems in depression. Our study also found alterations in executive functions in patients with first-episode treatment-naive depression.

Visuospatial information processing load and the ratio between parietal cue and target P3 amplitudes in the Attentional Network Test.

In ERP studies of cognitive processes during attentional tasks, the cue signals containing information about the target can increase the amplitude of the parietal cue P3 in relation to the 'neutral' temporal cue, and reduce the subsequent target P3 when this information is valid, i.e. corresponds to the target's attributes. The present study compared the cue-to-target P3 ratios in neutral and visuospatial cueing, in order to estimate the contribution of valid visuospatial information from the cue to target stages of the task performance, in terms of cognitive load. The P3 characteristics were also correlated with the results of individuals' performance of the visuospatial tasks, in order to estimate the relationship of the observed ERP with spatial reasoning. In 20 typically developing boys, aged 10-13 years (11.3±0.86), the intelligence quotient (I.Q.) was estimated by the Block Design and Vocabulary subtests from the WISC-III. The subjects performed the Attentional Network Test (ANT) accompanied by EEG recording. The cued two-choice task had three equiprobable cue conditions: No cue, with no information about the target; Neutral (temporal) cue, with an asterisk in the center of the visual field, predicting the target onset; and Spatial cues, with an asterisk in the upper or lower hemifield, predicting the onset and corresponding location of the target. The ERPs were estimated for the mid-frontal (Fz) and mid-parietal (Pz) scalp derivations. In the Pz, the Neutral cue P3 had a lower amplitude than the Spatial cue P3; whereas for the target ERPs, the P3 of the Neutral cue condition was larger than that of the Spatial cue condition. However, the sums of the magnitudes of the cue and target P3 were equal in the spatial and neutral cueing, probably indicating that in both cases the equivalent information processing load is included in either the cue or the target reaction, respectively. Meantime, in the Fz, the analog ERP components for both the cue and target stimuli did not depend on the cue condition. The results show that, in the parietal site, the spatial cue P3 reflects the processing of visuospatial information regarding the target position. This contributes to the subsequent "decision-making", thus reducing the information processing load on the target response, which is probably reflected in the lower P3. This finding is consistent with the positive correlation of parietal cue P3 with the individual's ability to perform spatial tasks as scored by the Block Design subtest.

Gender difference of attentional network in 5-year old children / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:To investigate gender differences in the attentional network in 5-year-old children.Methods:A totally of 70 healthy children [31 girls,(62.5 ± 2.6 months old;39 boys,(63.3 ± 2.8) months old] from the top class of kindergarten were enrolled in the study.A modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT) was used to assess the attentional networks (alerting,orienting,and executive control).Results:The mean rate of accuracy was higher than 90％.A significant gender difference was found in the alerting network,boys scored higher than girls [(139 ± 54) ms vs.(109 ± 49) ms,P ＜ 0.05].No gender difference was found in the orienting or executive control networks (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion:It suggests that 5-year-old children are fully capable of completing the attentional networks test,and the 5-year-old boy's alert function may be stronger than that of girls.

Selective enhancement of attentional networks in college table tennis athletes: a preliminary investigation.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the characteristics of the attentional network in college table tennis athletes. A total of 65 college students categorized as table tennis athlete group or non-athlete group participated in the study. All participants completed the attentional network test (ANT) which measured the alerting, orienting and executive control networks. The results showed a significant difference between the athlete and non-athlete group for executive control network (p < 0.01), while no differences were observed for alerting (p > 0.05) or orienting (p > 0.05) networks. These results combined suggest that college table tennis athletes exhibited selectively enhanced executive control of attentional networks.

Dysfunction in attentional processing in patients with Parkinson's disease and visual hallucinations.

Mechanistic insights into visual hallucinations (VH) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have suggested a role for impaired attentional processes. The current study tested 25 PD patients with and 28 PD patients without VH on the attentional network test. Hallucinators had significantly lower accuracy rates compared to non-hallucinators, but no differences were found in reaction times. This suggests that hallucinators show deficits in attentional processes and conflict monitoring. Our findings provide novel behavioural insights that dovetail with current neurobiological frameworks of VH.

Neural correlates of executive attention in adults born very preterm.

Very preterm birth is associated with an increased prevalence of attention problems and may especially impair executive attention, i.e., top-down control of attentional selection in situations where distracting information interferes with the processing of task-relevant stimuli. While there are initial findings linking structural brain alterations in preterm-born individuals with attention problems, the functional basis of these problems are not well understood. The present study used an fMRI adaptation of the Attentional Network Test to examine the neural correlates of executive attention in a large sample of N = 86 adults born very preterm and/or with very low birth weight (VP/VLBW), and N = 100 term-born controls. Executive attention was measured by comparing task behavior and brain activations associated with the processing of incongruent vs. congruent arrow flanker stimuli. Consistent with subtle impairments of executive attention, the VP/VLBW group showed lower accuracy and a tendency for increased response times during the processing of incongruent stimuli. Both groups showed similar activation patters, especially within expected fronto-cingulo-parietal areas, but no significant between-group differences. Our results argue for a maintained attention-relevant network organization in high-functioning preterm born adults in spite of subtle deficits in executive attention. Gestational age and neonatal treatment variables showed associations with task behavior, and brain activation in the dorsal ACC and lateral occipital areas, suggesting that the degree of prematurity (and related neonatal complications) has subtle modulatory influences on executive attention processing.

Attentional control, attentional network functioning, and emotion regulation styles.

Attentional network functioning in emotionally neutral conditions and self-reported attentional control (AC) were analysed as predictors of the tendency to engage in dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. Diminished attentional orienting predicted an increased tendency to engage in brooding rumination, and enhanced alertness predicted a greater chance of suppression, beyond trait anxiety and self-reported AC, which were not predictive of either rumination or suppression. This is the first study to show that some forms of dysfunctional emotion regulation are related to the attentional network functioning in emotionally neutral conditions. Results are discussed in relation to regulatory temperament and anxiety-related attentional biases literature.

Inhibition and adjective learning in bilingual and monolingual children.

The ability to control attention - by inhibiting pre-potent, yet no longer relevant information - is an essential skill in all of human learning, and increasing evidence suggests that this ability is enhanced in language learning environments in which the learner is managing and using more than one language. One question waiting to be addressed is whether such efficient attentional control plays a role in word learning. That is, children who must manage two languages also must manage to learn two languages and the advantages of more efficient attentional control may benefit aspects of language learning within each language. This study compared bilingual and monolingual children's performances in an artificial word-learning task and in a non-linguistic task that measures attention control. Three-year-old monolingual and bilingual children with similar vocabulary development participated in these tasks. The results replicate earlier work showing advanced attentional control among bilingual children and suggest that this better attentional control may also benefit better performance in novel adjective learning. The findings provide the first direct evidence of a relation between performances in an artificial word-learning task and in an attentional control task. We discuss this finding with respect to the general relevance of attentional control for lexical learning in all children and with respect to current views of bilingual children's word learning.