New perspectives in attentional control theory
TL;DR: Attentional control theory is developed to explicate the relationship between anxiety and motivation and implications for theoretical predictions and alternative theoretical accounts are discussed.
About: This article is published in Personality and Individual Differences.The article was published on 2011-05-01. It has received 562 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Attentional control & Cognitive neuroscience.
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TL;DR: In this article, a review of the conservation of resources (COR) theory is presented, highlighting gaps in the COR literature that can be addressed by integrating research from other areas of psychology and management.
1,609 citations
Cites background from "New perspectives in attentional con..."
...Many of the variables examined in that literature are akin to key resources (Eysenck & Derakshan, 2011)....
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated that major depressive disorder is reliably associated with impaired performance on neuropsychological measures of EF, and the results are consistent with the theory that MDD is associated with broad impairment in multiple aspects of EF.
Abstract: Cognitive impairments are now widely acknowledged as an important aspect of major depressive disorder (MDD), and it has been proposed that executive function (EF) may be particularly impaired in patients with MDD. However, the existence and nature of EF impairments associated with depression remain strongly debated. Although many studies have found significant deficits associated with MDD on neuropsychological measures of EF, others have not, potentially due to low statistical power, task impurity, and diverse patient samples, and there have been no recent, comprehensive, meta-analyses investigating EF in patients with MDD. The current meta-analysis uses random-effects models to synthesize 113 previous research studies that compared participants with MDD to healthy control participants on at least one neuropsychological measure of EF. Results of the meta-analysis demonstrate that MDD is reliably associated with impaired performance on neuropsychological measures of EF, with effect sizes ranging from 0.32 to 0.97. Although patients with MDD also have slower processing speed, motor slowing alone cannot account for these results. In addition, some evidence suggests that deficits on neuropsychological measures of EF are greater in patients with more severe current depression symptoms, and those taking psychotropic medications, whereas evidence for effects of age was weaker. The results are consistent with the theory that MDD is associated with broad impairment in multiple aspects of EF. Implications for treatment of MDD and theories of EF are discussed. Future research is needed to establish the specificity and causal link between MDD and EF impairments.
1,243 citations
Cites background from "New perspectives in attentional con..."
...…findings are mixed, evidence suggests that trait anxiety and anxiety disorders are associated with impairments on neuropsychological measures of EF (e.g., Castaneda, Tuulio-Henriksson, Marttunen, Suvisaari, & Lönnqvist, 2008; Eysenck & Derakshan, 2011; Olley et al., 2007; Snyder et al., 2010)....
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TL;DR: Analysis of academic achievement and cognitive profiles of students with high math anxiety and low math anxiety showed that HMA students were weak in several measures of mathematics achievement, but not in reading and writing skills, and that students with HMA reported lower scores on short-term memory and WM performances.
Abstract: Mathematics anxiety (MA) has been defined as “a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of math problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations”. Previous studies have suggested that a notable proportion of children in primary and secondary school suffer from MA, which is negatively correlated with calculation skills. The processing efficiency and attentional control theories suggest that working memory (WM) also plays an important part in such anxious feelings. The present study aimed to analyze the academic achievement and cognitive profiles of students with high math anxiety (HMA) and low math anxiety (LMA). Specifically, 32 students with HMA and 34 with LMA matched for age, gender, generalized anxiety, and vocabulary attending sixth to eighth grades were selected from a larger sample. The two groups were tested on reading decoding, reading comprehension, mathematics achievement, and on verbal short-term memory and WM. Our findings showed that HMA students were weak in several measures of mathematics achievement, but not in reading and writing skills, and that students with HMA reported lower scores on short-term memory and WM performances (with associated difficulties in inhibiting irrelevant information) than children with LMA. In addition, a logistic regression showed that weaknesses in inhibitory control and fact retrieval were the strongest variables for classifying children as having HMA or LMA.
654 citations
Cites background from "New perspectives in attentional con..."
...…control theory (ACT), worrying (which is the cognitive component of anxiety) is believed to demand processing competence, thereby reducing the WM capacity available for other tasks (Eysenck and Calvo, 1992; Ashcraft and Kirk, 2001; Derakshan and Eysenck, 2009; Eysenck and Derakshan, 2011)....
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TL;DR: This work reviews the current state of knowledge of EF impairments associated with psychopathology and limitations to the previous research in light of recent advances in understanding and measuring EF and offers concrete suggestions for improving EF assessment.
Abstract: Executive function (EF) is essential for successfully navigating nearly all of our daily activities. Of critical importance for clinical psychological science, EF impairments are associated with most forms of psychopathology. However, despite the proliferation of research on EF in clinical populations, with notable exceptions clinical and cognitive approaches to EF have remained largely independent, leading to failures to apply theoretical and methodological advances in one field to the other field and hindering progress. First, we review the current state of knowledge of EF impairments associated with psychopathology and limitations to the previous research in light of recent advances in understanding and measuring EF. Next, we offer concrete suggestions for improving EF assessment. Last, we suggest future directions, including integrating modern models of EF with state of the art, hierarchical models of dimensional psychopathology as well as translational implications of EF-informed research on clinical science.
575 citations
TL;DR: A narrative review of the literature revealed that anxiety, whether self-reported or experimentally induced, is related to poorer performance across a wide variety of tasks and identified a number of methodological limitations common in the literature as well as avenues for future research.
Abstract: Cognitive deficits are now widely recognized to be an important component of anxiety. In particular, anxiety is thought to restrict the capacity of working memory by competing with task-relevant processes. The evidence for this claim, however, has been mixed. Although some studies have found restricted working memory in anxiety, others have not. Within studies that have found impairments, there is little agreement regarding the boundary conditions of the anxiety/WMC association. The aim of this review is to critically evaluate the evidence for anxiety-related deficits in working memory capacity. First, a meta-analysis of 177 samples (N = 22,061 individuals) demonstrated that self-reported measures of anxiety are reliably related to poorer performance on measures of working memory capacity (g = -.334, p < 10-29). This finding was consistent across complex span (e.g., OSPAN; g = -.342, k = 30, N = 3,196, p = .000001), simple span (e.g., digit span; g = -.318, k = 127, N = 17,547, p < 10-17), and dynamic span tasks (e.g., N-Back; g = -.437, k = 20, N = 1,318, p = .000003). Second, a narrative review of the literature revealed that anxiety, whether self-reported or experimentally induced, is related to poorer performance across a wide variety of tasks. Finally, the review identified a number of methodological limitations common in the literature as well as avenues for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record
431 citations
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...If this is the case, one could reasonably wonder why anxiety predicts certain abilities, such as inhibition, far more reliably than other abilities (e.g., Derakshan & Eysenck, 2009; Eysenck & Derakshan, 2011; Eysenck et al., 2007 for reviews)....
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...Specifically, Eysenck and colleagues (see Derakshan & Eysenck, 2009; Eysenck et al., 2007; Eysenck & Derakshan, 2011 for reviews) have proposed that anxiety interferes with the ability to inhibit irrelevant stimuli and responses....
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References
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TL;DR: The results suggest that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity ofExecutive functions and that latent variable analysis is a useful approach to studying the organization and roles of executive functions.
12,182 citations
"New perspectives in attentional con..." refers background or methods in this paper
...The antisaccade task was identified by Miyake et al. (2000) as such a task....
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...For example, Miyake et al. (2000) asked their participants to perform numerous executive tasks, and then performed latent-variable analysis to identify the main underlying executive functions....
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...The task-switching paradigm provides a relatively direct assessment of the shifting function (Miyake et al., 2000)....
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TL;DR: Attentional control theory is an approach to anxiety and cognition representing a major development of Eysenck and Calvo's (1992) processing efficiency theory and may not impair performance effectiveness when it leads to the use of compensatory strategies (e.g., enhanced effort; increased use of processing resources).
Abstract: Attentional control theory is an approach to anxiety and cognition representing a major development of Eysenck and Calvo's (1992) processing efficiency theory. It is assumed that anxiety impairs efficient functioning of the goal-directed attentional system and increases the extent to which processing is influenced by the stimulus-driven attentional system. In addition to decreasing attentional control, anxiety increases attention to threat-related stimuli. Adverse effects of anxiety on processing efficiency depend on two central executive functions involving attentional control: inhibition and shifting. However, anxiety may not impair performance effectiveness (quality of performance) when it leads to the use of compensatory strategies (e.g., enhanced effort; increased use of processing resources). Directions for future research are discussed.
3,799 citations
TL;DR: A questionnaire measure of self-reported failures in perception, memory, and motor function, the most plausible view is that cognitive failure makes a person vulnerable to showing bad effects of stress, rather than itself resulting from stress.
Abstract: This paper describes a questionnaire measure of self-reported failures in perception, memory, and motor function. Responses to all questions tend to be positively correlated, and the whole questionnaire correlates with other recent measures of self-reported deficit in memory, absent-mindedness, or slips of action. The questionnaire is however only weakly correlated with indices of social desirability set or of neuroticism. It is significantly correlated with ratings of the respondent by his or her spouse, and accordingly does have some external significance rather than purely private opinion of the self. The score is reasonably stable over long periods, to about the same extent as traditional measures of trait rather than state. Furthermore, it has not thus far been found to change in persons exposed to life-stresses. However, it does frequently correlate with the number of current psychiatric symptoms reported by the same person on the MHQ; and in one study it has been found that CFQ predicts subsequent MHQ in persons who work at a stressful job in the interval. It does not do so in those who work in a less stressful environment. The most plausible view is that cognitive failure makes a person vulnerable to showing bad effects of stress, rather than itself resulting from stress.
2,491 citations
"New perspectives in attentional con..." refers background in this paper
...Broadbent et al. reported a correlation of +.31 between trait anxiety and CFQ, and Righi et al. (2009) obtained a correlation of +....
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TL;DR: Theories of anxiety and performance need to address at least two major issues: (1) the complexity and apparent inconsistency of the findings; and (2) the conceptual definition of task difficulty as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Anxiety often impairs performance of “difficult” tasks (especially under test conditions), but there are numerous exceptions. Theories of anxiety and performance need to address at least two major issues: (1) the complexity and apparent inconsistency of the findings; and (2) the conceptual definition of task difficulty. Some theorists (e.g. Humphreys & Revelle, 1984; Sarason, 1988) argue that anxiety causes worry, and worry always impairs performance on tasks with high attentional or short-term memory demands. According to the processing efficiency theory, worry has two main effects: (1) a reduction in the storage and processing capacity of the working memory system available for a concurrent task; and (2) an increment in on-task effort and activities designed to improve performance. There is a crucial distinction within the theory between performance effectiveness (= quality of performance) and processing efficiency (= performance effectiveness divided by effort). Anxiety characteristically impa...
2,033 citations
"New perspectives in attentional con..." refers background or methods in this paper
...This was followed by processing efficiency theory (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992), and more recently by attentional control theory (Derakshan & Eysenck, 2009; Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007)....
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...The first major hypothesis forms an important part of processing efficiency theory (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992): anxiety impairs the efficiency of the central executive, which is an attention-like, limited capacity component of the working memory model put forward by Baddeley (1986)....
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TL;DR: The results suggest that the term inhibition has been overextended and that researchers need to be more specific when discussing and measuring inhibition-related functions.
Abstract: This study used data from 220 adults to examine the relations among 3 inhibition-related functions. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that Prepotent Response Inhibition and Resistance to Distractor Interference were closely related, but both were unrelated to Resistance to Proactive Interference. Structural equation modeling, which combined Prepotent Response Inhibition and Resistance to Distractor Interference into a single latent variable, indicated that 1 aspect of random number generation performance, task-switching ability, and everyday cognitive failures were related to Response-Distractor Inhibition, whereas reading span recall and unwanted intrusive thoughts were related to Resistance to Proactive Interference. These results suggest that the term inhibition has been overextended and that researchers need to be more specific when discussing and measuring inhibition-related functions.
2,027 citations
"New perspectives in attentional con..." refers background in this paper
...The inhibition function (subsequently clarified by Friedman and Miyake (2004)) prevents task-irrelevant stimuli and responses from disrupting performance....
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