To look or not to look: dissociating presaccadic and covert spatial attention.

TAKE FIVE? EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF MICROBREAK DURATION, ACTIVITIES, AND APPRAISALS ON HUMAN ENERGY AND PERFORMANCE By Andrew A. Bennett, M.A. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015 Co-Director: Dr. S. Douglas Pugh, Associate Professor of Management Co-Director: Dr. Allison S. Gabriel, Assistant Professor of Management Employees in many occupations deplete cognitive resources of attention and energy (Dodge, 1913; Kahneman, 1973), impacting performance on subsequent work tasks (Dalal, Bhave, & Fiset, 2014). Individuals spend upwards of 10% of formal work time taking a break completing non-work tasks (Esteves, 2013; McGehee & Owen, 1940) in an effort to replenish these resources (Fritz, Lam, & Spritzer, 2011; Kim et al., 2014). This study used a randomized controlled experiment to answer three questions that are new contributions to the literature. First, I explored if engaging in a specific activity (watching a funny video, meditating, or completing a different work task) during the microbreak helped induce recovery processes. Second, I questioned if an individual’s appraisal (psychological detachment, relaxation, and enjoyment) of the break impacted outcomes in addition to, or potentially more than, engaging in a break activity. Third, I investigated if the time duration (1-minute, 5-minute, or 9-minute) of the microbreak impacted outcomes. Results show that taking any break between work tasks allowed individuals to feel less fatigued, more energized, and more attentive. Surprisingly, in many instances a 1-minute break was just as effective as taking a longer break of 5 or 9 minutes, and for these shorter break periods, engaging in a different work task for a short period rather than disengaging from work was the best at improving attention. In addition, to increase feeling energized at work, appraising the break as being enjoyable was more important than the actual break activity. Combined, this study has both an academic and practical impact, finding that just like with work that depletes physical resources, short breaks also benefit employees engaging in work that depleted cognitive resources.

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4949&context=etd

Take five? Examining the impact of microbreak duration, activities, and appraisals on human energy and performance

Objective. Visual information is often used to guide purposeful movement. However, older adults have impaired responses to visual information, leading to increased risk for injuries and potential loss of independence. We evaluated distinct visual and motor attention contributions to a cued saccade task to determine the extent to which aging selectively affects these processes. Methods. Nineteen healthy young (18–28 years) and 20 older (60–90 years) participants performed a cued saccade task under two conditions. We challenged motor attention by changing the number of possible saccade targets (1 or 6). Results. Older adults had difficulty in inhibiting unwanted eye movements and had greater eye movement inaccuracy in the hard condition when compared to the younger adults and to the easy condition. Also, an inverse relation existed between performance on the visual and motor components of the task in older adults, unlike younger adults. Conclusions. Older adults demonstrated difficulty in both inhibiting irrelevant saccade targets and selecting correct saccade endpoints during more complex tasks. The shift in relations among attention measures between the younger and older participants may indicate a need to prioritize attentional resources with age. These changes may impact an older adult's ability to function in complex environments.

/pdf/selective-age-effects-on-visual-attention-and-motor-4ndrkj0lj5.pdf

Selective Age Effects on Visual Attention and Motor Attention during a Cued Saccade Task.

Athletes must be able to successfully navigate the soccer pitch or hockey rink to win the game, requiring maximal cognitive resources to successfully compete. Concussions potentially deplete these resources, and the long-term impact of concussions on an individual’s goal-directed visually guided behavior continues to elude the scientific community. While the acute effects on cognition and the motor system have been elucidated elsewhere, long-term effects on performance have been less clear. Additionally, most investigations into long-term postinjury motor behaviors have focused on balance and gait, with little focus on functional upper extremity movements. These arm movements require both cognitive and motor functions to successfully complete the task, such as visually guided reaching, and have received little attention. This review examines the current state of the literature to date on the long-term effects of concussions on cognitive and motor deficits affecting visuomotor behavior.

Effects of concussions on visually guided motor actions: A literature review.

The significant contributions of the study are the addition of eye movement data and an attention task to explain differences in hand motor control across different visual displays in older adults....

https://www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/jn.00928.2016

Altered visual strategies and attention are related to increased force fluctuations during a pinch grip task in older adults.

Attentional resource allocation during a cued saccade task

Distinct saccade planning and endogenous visuospatial attention maps in parietal cortex: A basis for functional differences in sensory and motor attention.

Michael S. Aleksandrowicz

Papers

Attentional resource allocation during a cued saccade task

Distinct saccade planning and endogenous visuospatial attention maps in parietal cortex: A basis for functional differences in sensory and motor attention.