Enhanced executive attention efficiency after adaptive force control training: Behavioural and physiological results

Attention plays an important role in perception and cognition, and developing an effective method to train and improve attention is an essential and challenging task. In this study, fingertip-based adaptive force control tasks (AFCT) were explored for attention training, and the visual-channel task called an attention network test (ANT) was used to measure the level of attention before and after AFCT. The purposes of this study were to investigate whether AFCT can enhance the attention level on the ANT task and to elucidate the underlying electrophysiological mechanisms. The results showed that the efficiency of the executive control network during ANT was significantly improved by the AFCT training, indicating that the AFCT training may enhance the executive attention level during visual-channel tasks. To measure the behavioural performance during the AFCT training, we used tolerance, variance and duration of the forces to design a comprehensive score of behavioural performance (CSBP), and the electrophysiological mechanisms were also explored using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. The AFCT and ANT results showed consistency in medial frontal theta activity and in connectivity strength at frontal-parietal regions in the alpha band. These results indicated that the observed attention improvement across tasks executed using different sensory channels may be due to the training of overlapping components of the relevant attention networks. Thus, this study provides further insight into the design of training tasks that stimulate multi-sensory channels, which can be used to improve attention and treat various attention deficit disorders.

[1]  M. Sarter,et al.  The cognitive neuroscience of sustained attention: where top-down meets bottom-up , 2001, Brain Research Reviews.

[2]  Manuel Schabus,et al.  Fronto-parietal EEG coherence in theta and upper alpha reflect central executive functions of working memory. , 2005, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[3]  Lauren N. Harkrider,et al.  Learner-controlled practice difficulty in the training of a complex task: cognitive and motivational mechanisms. , 2013, The Journal of applied psychology.

[4]  Eosu Kim,et al.  Bright illumination reduces parietal EEG alpha activity during a sustained attention task , 2013, Brain Research.

[5]  Tomiser Jm,et al.  Haptic attention and visual transfer by mentally retarded and nonretarded individuals , 1983 .

[6]  Nicolas Robitaille,et al.  Oscillatory activity in parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during retention in visual short‐term memory: Additive effects of spatial attention and memory load , 2009, Human brain mapping.

[7]  Katharina N. Seidl-Rathkopf,et al.  Functions of the human frontoparietal attention network: Evidence from neuroimaging , 2015, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.

[8]  C. Frith,et al.  Modulation of human visual cortex by crossmodal spatial attention. , 2000, Science.

[9]  M. Goldberg,et al.  Attention, intention, and priority in the parietal lobe. , 2010, Annual review of neuroscience.

[10]  Jin Fan,et al.  Selective impairment of attentional networks of orienting and executive control in schizophrenia , 2005, Schizophrenia Research.

[11]  Jing Wang,et al.  Analysis of propagation of multi-channel EEG in the test of sustained attention , 2010, 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology.

[12]  Hanna Lu,et al.  Disturbance of attention network functions in Chinese healthy older adults: an intra-individual perspective , 2015, International Psychogeriatrics.

[13]  Kyung Hwan Kim,et al.  Analysis of induced gamma-band activity in EEG during visual perception of Korean, English, Chinese words , 2006, Neuroscience Letters.

[14]  E. Koster,et al.  Improving attention control in dysphoria through cognitive training: transfer effects on working memory capacity and filtering efficiency. , 2013, Psychophysiology.

[15]  M. Knyazeva,et al.  EEG-Based Functional Brain Networks: Does the Network Size Matter? , 2012, PloS one.

[16]  Eric Hahn,et al.  Attention network test (ANT) reveals gender-specific alterations of executive function in schizophrenia , 2009, Psychiatry Research.

[17]  Bruce D. McCandliss,et al.  Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the development of executive attention. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[18]  R. Reilly,et al.  EEG alpha power and coherence time courses in a sustained attention task , 2003, First International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, 2003. Conference Proceedings..

[19]  Christopher D. Wickens,et al.  Effectiveness of Part-Task Training and Increasing-Difficulty Training Strategies , 2013, Hum. Factors.

[20]  D. Stuss,et al.  The cognitive neuropsychology of attention: a frontal lobe perspective , 1994 .

[21]  Jin Fan,et al.  Development of attentional networks: An fMRI study with children and adults , 2005, NeuroImage.

[22]  S. Makeig,et al.  Section: Behavioral/systems/cognitive Medial Prefrontal Theta Bursts Precede Rapid Motor Responses during Visual Selective Attention Introduction , 2022 .

[23]  Jan-Mathijs Schoffelen,et al.  A Tutorial Review of Functional Connectivity Analysis Methods and Their Interpretational Pitfalls , 2016, Front. Syst. Neurosci..

[24]  N. Yeung,et al.  The roles of cortical oscillations in sustained attention , 2015, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[25]  Bruce D. McCandliss,et al.  Testing the Efficiency and Independence of Attentional Networks , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[26]  Viola S. Störmer,et al.  Sounds Activate Visual Cortex and Improve Visual Discrimination , 2014, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[27]  A. Lundervold,et al.  The attention network test: a characteristic pattern of deficits in children with ADHD , 2008, Behavioral and Brain Functions.

[28]  Arthur F. Kramer,et al.  Cognitive training with casual video games: points to consider , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[29]  Alexa B. Roggeveen,et al.  Large-scale gamma-band phase synchronization and selective attention. , 2008, Cerebral cortex.

[30]  Matthew Garner,et al.  The Effect of Prefrontal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Attention Network Function in Healthy Volunteers , 2018, Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society.

[31]  Clintin P Davis-Stober,et al.  Development of the time course for processing conflict: an event-related potentials study with 4 year olds and adults , 2004, BMC Neuroscience.

[32]  C. Frith,et al.  A fronto-parietal network for rapid visual information processing: a PET study of sustained attention and working memory , 1996, Neuropsychologia.

[33]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. , 2012, Annual review of neuroscience.

[34]  B. de Gelder,et al.  Multisensory Integration and Attention in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials , 2011, PloS one.

[35]  C. Eriksen,et al.  Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task , 1974 .

[36]  C. Gerloff,et al.  Dissociation of sustained attention from central executive functions: local activity and interregional connectivity in the theta range , 2007, The European journal of neuroscience.

[37]  H. Asada,et al.  Frontal midline theta rhythms reflect alternative activation of prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex in humans , 1999, Neuroscience Letters.

[38]  Yi Yang,et al.  Force Control Tasks with Pure Haptic Feedback Promote Short-Term Focused Attention , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

[39]  Michael X. Cohen,et al.  Dynamic Interactions between Large-Scale Brain Networks Predict Behavioral Adaptation after Perceptual Errors , 2012, Cerebral cortex.

[40]  J. Geweke,et al.  Measurement of Linear Dependence and Feedback between Multiple Time Series , 1982 .

[41]  A. Engel,et al.  Cognitive functions of gamma-band activity: memory match and utilization , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[42]  Raymond M. Klein,et al.  Repeated measurement of the attention components of patients with multiple sclerosis using the Attention Network Test-Interaction (ANT-I): Stability, isolability, robustness, and reliability , 2013, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[43]  Wen-Lan Wu,et al.  A pilot study: Force control on ball throwing in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , 2011 .

[44]  K. Lohse.  The influence of attention on learning and performance: pre-movement time and accuracy in an isometric force production task. , 2012, Human movement science.

[45]  Monika Althaus,et al.  The effects of memory load and stimulus relevance on the EEG during a visual selective memory search task: An ERP and ERD/ERS study , 2006, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[46]  M. R. Rueda,et al.  Enhanced efficiency of the executive attention network after training in preschool children: Immediate changes and effects after two months , 2012, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

[47]  Caterina Pesce,et al.  Antecedent acute cycling exercise affects attention control: an ERP study using attention network test , 2015, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[48]  Camarin E. Rolle,et al.  Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults , 2013, Nature.

[49]  Hartmut Heinrich,et al.  Attentional processes in children with ADHD: an event-related potential study using the attention network test. , 2011, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[50]  S. Nieuwenhuis,et al.  Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources , 2007, PLoS biology.

[51]  W. Klimesch.  EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis , 1999, Brain Research Reviews.

[52]  Adrian K. C. Lee,et al.  Auditory selective attention is enhanced by a task-irrelevant temporally coherent visual stimulus in human listeners , 2015, eLife.

[53]  M. Chun,et al.  A neuromarker of sustained attention from whole-brain functional connectivity , 2015, Nature Neuroscience.

[54]  Matthew A. Petoe,et al.  Multisensory attention training for treatment of tinnitus. , 2015, Scientific reports.

[55]  Arnaud Delorme,et al.  EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis , 2004, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[56]  Simone Gori,et al.  Action video games improve reading abilities and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting in English-speaking children with dyslexia , 2017, Scientific Reports.

[57]  Bruce D. McCandliss,et al.  Development of attentional networks in childhood , 2004, Neuropsychologia.

[58]  E J Butter,et al.  Visual and haptic training and cross-modal transfer of reflectivity. , 1979, Journal of educational psychology.

[59]  W. Ray,et al.  EEG alpha activity reflects attentional demands, and beta activity reflects emotional and cognitive processes. , 1985, Science.

[60]  Frauke Zipp,et al.  Attention Network Test reveals alerting network dysfunction in multiple sclerosis , 2010, Multiple sclerosis.

[61]  Amit K. Shah,et al.  A “virtually minimal” visuo-haptic training of attention in severe traumatic brain injury , 2013, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

[62]  R. Oostenveld,et al.  Tactile Spatial Attention Enhances Gamma-Band Activity in Somatosensory Cortex and Reduces Low-Frequency Activity in Parieto-Occipital Areas , 2006, The Journal of Neuroscience.