A fearful gaze is a potent gaze: Evidence from a novel attentional-cuing method

Attentional cuing in math word problems for girls at-risk for ADHD and their peers in general education settings

Contemporary Educational Psychology ◽

10.1016/j.cedpsych.2012.02.001 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 106-112 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Suneeta Kercood ◽

Sydney S. Zentall ◽

Megan Vinh ◽

Kinsey Tom-Wright

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

General Education ◽

Word Problems ◽

Attentional Cuing

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Attention recruits frontal cortex in human infants

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2021474118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 118 (12) ◽

pp. e2021474118

Author(s):

Cameron T. Ellis ◽

Lena J. Skalaban ◽

Tristan S. Yates ◽

Nicholas B. Turk-Browne

Keyword(s):

Brain Regions ◽

First Year ◽

Human Infants ◽

Attention Networks ◽

Parietal Lobes ◽

Young Infants ◽

Child Friendly ◽

Attentional Cuing ◽

Infant Attention ◽

The Brain

Young infants learn about the world by overtly shifting their attention to perceptually salient events. In adults, attention recruits several brain regions spanning the frontal and parietal lobes. However, it is unclear whether these regions are sufficiently mature in infancy to support attention and, more generally, how infant attention is supported by the brain. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 24 sessions from 20 awake behaving infants 3 mo to 12 mo old while they performed a child-friendly attentional cuing task. A target was presented to either the left or right of the infant’s fixation, and offline gaze coding was used to measure the latency with which they saccaded to the target. To manipulate attention, a brief cue was presented before the target in three conditions: on the same side as the upcoming target (valid), on the other side (invalid), or on both sides (neutral). All infants were faster to look at the target on valid versus invalid trials, with valid faster than neutral and invalid slower than neutral, indicating that the cues effectively captured attention. We then compared the fMRI activity evoked by these trial types. Regions of adult attention networks activated more strongly for invalid than valid trials, particularly frontal regions. Neither behavioral nor neural effects varied by infant age within the first year, suggesting that these regions may function early in development to support the orienting of attention. Together, this furthers our mechanistic understanding of how the infant brain controls the allocation of attention.

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Attention recruits frontal cortex in human infants

10.1101/2020.10.14.340216 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

C. T. Ellis ◽

L. J. Skalaban ◽

T. S. Yates ◽

N. B. Turk-Browne

Keyword(s):

Brain Regions ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

First Year ◽

Human Infants ◽

Attention Networks ◽

Parietal Lobes ◽

Young Infants ◽

Child Friendly ◽

Attentional Cuing ◽

Infant Attention

Young infants learn about the world by overtly shifting their attention to perceptually salient events. In adults, attention recruits several brain regions spanning the frontal and parietal lobes. However, these regions are thought to have a protracted maturation and so it is unclear whether they are recruited in infancy and, more generally, how infant attention is supported by the brain. We used event-related fMRI with 24 awake behaving infants 3–12 months old while they performed a child-friendly attentional cuing task. A target was presented to either the left or right of the infant’s fixation and eye-tracking was used to measure the latency with which they saccaded to the target. To manipulate attention, a brief cue was presented before the target in three conditions: on the same side as the upcoming target (valid), on the other side (invalid), or on both sides (neutral). All infants were faster to look at the target on valid versus invalid trials, with valid faster than neutral and invalid slower than neutral, indicating that the cues effectively captured attention. We then compared the fMRI activity evoked by these trial types. Regions of adult attention networks activated more strongly for invalid than valid trials, particularly frontal regions such as anterior cingulate cortex. Neither behavioral nor neural effects varied by infant age within the first year, suggesting that these regions may function early in development to support the reorienting of attention. Together, this furthers our mechanistic understanding of how the infant brain controls the allocation of attention.

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