Measuring Alertness

A generation of research in cognitive psychology has given rise to many tasks that tap at various aspects of attention. It is now widely agreed that attention is not a single thing and that its measurement needs a strategy to study each of its various aspects. While there is no widely agreed taxonomy of attentional operations, there is an important distinction between functions of obtaining and maintaining the alert state (alerting network), orienting to sensory events (orienting network), and regulating thoughts and behaviors (executive network). Neuroimaging has confirmed that these functions involve separate but overlapping areas of brain activity. Neurochemical and genetic studies have also provided some distinctions between brain networks involved in attention. Alertness as a function of one important attentional network is emphasized and methods to activate phasic and tonic alerting are reviewed and individual or group differences in the efficiency of network operations are discussed.

[1]  Michael Gill,et al.  Impaired conflict resolution and alerting in children with ADHD: evidence from the Attention Network Task (ANT). , 2008, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[2]  Bruce D. McCandliss,et al.  The Relation of Brain Oscillations to Attentional Networks , 2007, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[3]  Brad E. Sheese,et al.  Attention genes. , 2007, Developmental science.

[4]  L. Rohde,et al.  Association Between Alpha-2a-adrenergic Receptor Gene and ADHD Inattentive Type , 2006, Biological Psychiatry.

[5]  J. Halperin,et al.  Revisiting the role of the prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. , 2006, Psychological bulletin.

[6]  J. Buhle,et al.  Typologies of attentional networks , 2006, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[7]  Gereon R. Fink,et al.  Dysfunctional Attentional Networks in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence from an Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study , 2006, Biological Psychiatry.

[8]  Yufeng Wang,et al.  Possible association of the alpha‐2A adrenergic receptor gene (ADRA2A) with symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder , 2006, American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics.

[9]  Diego Fernandez-Duque,et al.  Attentional networks in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. , 2006, Neuropsychology.

[10]  G. Fink,et al.  Alertness-training in neglect: behavioral and imaging results. , 2006, Restorative neurology and neuroscience.

[11]  Jane Worthington,et al.  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with reading disabilities: preliminary genetic findings on the involvement of the ADRA2A gene. , 2005, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[12]  Jonathan D. Cohen,et al.  An integrative theory of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine function: adaptive gain and optimal performance. , 2005, Annual review of neuroscience.

[13]  Jin Fan,et al.  The activation of attentional networks , 2005, NeuroImage.

[14]  Hugo D. Critchley,et al.  Brain activity relating to the contingent negative variation: an fMRI investigation , 2004, NeuroImage.

[15]  M. Posner,et al.  Assessing the molecular genetics of attention networks , 2002, BMC Neuroscience.

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

[17]  M. Corbetta,et al.  Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain , 2002, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[18]  K. Willmes,et al.  On the Functional Neuroanatomy of Intrinsic and Phasic Alertness , 2001, NeuroImage.

[19]  A. Nobre,et al.  Orienting attention in time: behavioural and neuroanatomical distinction between exogenous and endogenous shifts , 2000, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  M. Davidson,et al.  Neurochemistry of attention. , 1998 .

[21]  I. Nimmo-Smith,et al.  Sustained attention training for unilateral neglect: theoretical and rehabilitation implications. , 1995, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[22]  Daniel G. Youpa,et al.  Activating Tasks for the Study of Visual-Spatial Attention in ADHD Children: A Cognitive Anatomic Approach , 1991, Journal of child neurology.

[23]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[24]  Albrecht W. Inhoff,et al.  Isolating attentional systems: A cognitive-anatomical analysis , 1987, Psychobiology.

[25]  M. R. Harter,et al.  Attention to pattern orientation: negative cortical potentials, reaction time, and the selection process. , 1980, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[26]  W. Walter.  THE CONVERGENCE AND INTERACTION OF VISUAL, AUDITORY, AND TACTILE RESPONSES IN HUMAN NONSPECIFIC CORTEX , 1964, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[27]  G. Moruzzi,et al.  Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG. , 1949, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.