Attentional bias (AB) is when certain stimuli catch attention quicker than others, which varies according to individual characteristics. The study investigated: (1) if there is an AB to or from...Show moreAttentional bias (AB) is when certain stimuli catch attention quicker than others, which varies according to individual characteristics. The study investigated: (1) if there is an AB to or from itch; (2) whether this differs between people with chronic itch and healthy controls; (3) and if there is a possible AB/stress association. This is because understanding ABs to/from itch further elucidates the experience of patients with chronic itch and possible future clinical applications. Furthermore, an explorative analysis compared two tasks measuring AB, namely the Posner cueing and dot-probe task. The two tasks, alongside a stress-questionnaire, were administered online to the participants (N=70). A (frequentist and Bayesian) RM ANOVA was done for the main analysis, and a within- subjects t-test for the explorative task-comparison. Given that the task-comparison found the two tasks differing significantly (p = 0.01 d = -0.31), the results of the two tasks were interpreted separately. Overall, indications of AB being biased away from itch stimuli was found. When the AB was contrasted between participant group (people with and without chronic itch), the Posner cueing task found no significant difference (p = 0.68, ηp 2 = 0.003) whereas the dot-probe task found an AB away from itch-stimuli in patients with chronic itch (p = 0.02, ηp 2 = 0.077). Similar pattern unfolded with the stress-association: the Posner cueing task finding that AB did not significantly differ with stress (p = 0.23, ηp 2 = 0.021). The dot-probe task did find that they significantly differed (p = 0.01, ηp 2 = 0.091) where with higher stress, the AB switched to being an AB towards itch stimuli. The discrepancy between the two tasks aligns with expectations considering that the tasks were found inequivalent - highlighting one of the strengths of this study being that the two tasks were compared. Altogether this points towards differences in what the two tasks tap into, and that the attention of people with chronic itch is biased as a function of stress. Summarizing, AB to itch differed between the two groups and was associated with stress when using dot-probe task, which did not apply to the Posner cueing task.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
open access
2024-08-31T00:00:00Z
Prior studies have shown ambiguous results concerning the question if and how cognitive performance and neurophysiological markers change under the influence of weightlessness. Additional research...Show morePrior studies have shown ambiguous results concerning the question if and how cognitive performance and neurophysiological markers change under the influence of weightlessness. Additional research is necessary to confirm effects and shed light on experimental and interindividual differences and those related to various mechanisms underlying cognitive processes. This study aimed to assess the influence of microgravity on the neurocognitive marker P3 during parabolic flight. METHODS: Participants were trained to perform a brain-computer interface (BCI) task, which included a visual oddball paradigm task. Nine participants performed this task during parabolic flight. Statistic analyses assessed the amplitude and latency of the P3 event-related potential (ERP). RESULTS: Results revealed no significant differences for P3 Amplitude nor Latency in the 0G condition versus the 1G condition. The amplitude for oddball stimuli was significantly higher than the amplitude for standard stimuli in both 1G and 0G. CONCLUSION: There needs to be greater consensus and understanding concerning the effects of microgravity on cognitive performance and ERPs. The data presented here does not verify that short bouts of microgravity could enhance nor diminish neuro-behavioral performance. It does confirm that the visual-based oddball paradigm is feasible in microgravity conditions.Show less
This study compared the eye movement patterns of twenty-three children and adults while viewing five paintings at the Van Gogh Museum. The objectives of the study were two-fold. First, the study...Show moreThis study compared the eye movement patterns of twenty-three children and adults while viewing five paintings at the Van Gogh Museum. The objectives of the study were two-fold. First, the study determined the roles of top-down and bottom-up attentional processes during the aesthetic experience. Second, the development of these attentional processes was investigated by comparing adults and children. Bottom-up processes were measured by creating salience maps for every painting, whereas top-down processing was manipulated by letting the participants view the paintings in two phases. In the first phase, participants were allowed to freely view the paintings. Before the second phase, background information about each painting was provided to the participants. Eye-tracking technology was used to measure the participants' eye movements whilst they viewed the paintings. The salience analysis consisted of a linear mixed-effects model, which results showed that there was no significant difference between the two phases over the fixations. As earlier research suggested that the change from bottom-up to top-down processing happens within the first few fixations, this may suggest that the processes people rely on stay constant afterwards. A second model was constructed to investigate the effect of age on viewing processes, suggesting that over the entire aesthetic process, there was no effect of age on the processes used by the participants. Despite this, the results indicate that children are more influenced by bottom-up processes at the start of their viewing process, whilst adults switch from top-down to bottom-up processes near the end of their aesthetic experience. In between the first and last fixations, both adults and children seem to use top-down processes.Show less
Current literature suggests that certain traits are considered of higher value when selecting an individual to start any kind of relationship with, due to the evolutionary benefits these traits...Show moreCurrent literature suggests that certain traits are considered of higher value when selecting an individual to start any kind of relationship with, due to the evolutionary benefits these traits hold for the selecting individual. Attractiveness, dominance and social connections are considered of high value for survival. Dominance can be expressed through aggressive behaviour, while forming social connections can be expressed through grooming. These types of behaviour are contradicting to each other, yet both considered of great value for survival. Through an eye-tracking study we investigated the attentional bias towards either the initiator of aggressive behaviour (aggressor) or the recipient of aggressive behaviour (victim), as well as the attentional behaviour towards either the more dominant (groomee) or the more submissive (groomer) individual during grooming behaviour. Participants were presented with videos followed by corresponding still frames of aggressive (aggressor vs. victim) and grooming (groomer vs. groomee) interactions. Eye-tracking data was collected during the presentation of the still frame in the form of total looking time towards either of the individuals shown in the still frames. The results suggest that humans have an attentional bias towards the aggressor instead of the victim and have an attentional bias towards the groomee compared to the groomer. Both findings suggest that the more dominant person is considered of higher value for survival. Potential explanations and potential future researches are discussed in this paper.Show less
Previous studies have demonstrated that the speed and accuracy of visual spatial attention can be enhanced when one’s performance is incentivized with punishments or rewards toward oneself. The...Show morePrevious studies have demonstrated that the speed and accuracy of visual spatial attention can be enhanced when one’s performance is incentivized with punishments or rewards toward oneself. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether this motivational effect on exogenous attentional performance is extended to situations where others’ physical integrity is at risk. Second, we aimed to determine whether one’s sensitivity to punishments, as measured by the Behavioral Inhibition Scale (BIS), has an enhancing effect on attentional performance in threatening conditions. To probe these questions, we set up a dyad experiment, in which one participant completed an exogenous spatial cueing task. During the task, we manipulated participant motivation by the threat of electric shocks directed either toward the task performer, their co-participant, or neither. The shock delivery was based on the performer’s task performance. Our results showed no differences in performance between the three conditions. This contradicted our hypotheses and suggests that other-directed or self-directed threat does not lead to increased automatic attentional performance. Regarding BIS, we found that high-BIS individuals, relative to low-BIS individuals, have increased attentional reaction times during other-directed threat, but not during self-directed threat. This finding also contradicted our hypothesis. Therefore, we suggest that high sensitivity to punishments may lead to poorer attentional performance when others are at risk.Show less
Itch is a common unpleasant sensation that comes with the urge to scratch. Itch draws our attention and can be adaptive to humans in order to alert individuals to potential threats. At the same...Show moreItch is a common unpleasant sensation that comes with the urge to scratch. Itch draws our attention and can be adaptive to humans in order to alert individuals to potential threats. At the same time, itch can impair daily functioning and strongly disrupt an individual’s quality of life when it becomes chronic. Even though itch is a prevalent symptom, research investigating an attentional bias towards itch, the tendency to pay attention towards itch-related stimuli over other stimuli, is scarce. Findings in this field are mixed and the divergent results might be explained by individual characteristics. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of individual characteristics; namely neuroticism, catastrophizing and anxiety, on attentional bias towards itch by conducting a secondary analysis. Results from seven similar studies examining an attentional bias towards itch and individual characteristics were analyzed using a multilevel modeling analysis. All these studies used the dot-probe task to measure an attentional bias towards itch-related information (words or pictures). Additionally, several self-report questionnaires were administered, which were related to the individual characteristics. A total of 577 healthy participants were included. Results did not indicate an attentional bias towards itch-related words or pictures. Also, the individual characteristics, neuroticism, catastrophizing and anxiety, did not influence one’s attentional bias towards itch. This secondary analysis was a first step in combining findings on attentional bias towards itch and exploring its relationship with individual characteristics. Further research is warranted to optimize attentional bias measures and conduct more studies that focus on the influence of individual characteristics and attentional bias towards itch.Show less
This project investigated if there was any association between attentional bias (AB) towards itch-related stimuli and depression and anxiety scores in patients with chronic itch compared to healthy...Show moreThis project investigated if there was any association between attentional bias (AB) towards itch-related stimuli and depression and anxiety scores in patients with chronic itch compared to healthy controls. This study also explored if gender had an influence on any of these variables. An orientation dot-probe task with pictures adjusted to chronic itch was used as a measurement of AB. 16 pairings of a neutral image and an itch-related image which were displayed on screen for 500ms, either image was then replaced by two dots in either a horizontal or vertical orientation. Participants responded as quickly as possible to the orientation of the dots. The average reaction times were used to calculate an AB index for each participant. There were 6 participants in total: 5 with chronic itch and 1 healthy control. Patients with chronic itch were diagnosed with either psoriasis or atopic dermatitis(eczema). Participants also completed questionnaires including the DASS-21. Results showed that patients did not have higher levels of depression and anxiety symptomatology compared to the healthy control. There was no significant effect of group on AB indexes; the reaction times were not faster in patients with chronic itch compared to the healthy control. There was no significant effect of gender on depression and anxiety scores, or on AB. Future research is suggested to improve psychometric properties of AB paradigms. Likewise, this project calls for increased research into treatment possibilities for chronic itch, not only for somatic symptoms but for the emotional, cognitive, and behavioural consequences of these conditions.Show less
Smartphones are constant multifunctional companions for the majority of the population worldwide. Smartphone applications engage a wide spectrum of cognitive functions while accommodating our daily...Show moreSmartphones are constant multifunctional companions for the majority of the population worldwide. Smartphone applications engage a wide spectrum of cognitive functions while accommodating our daily routines. Thus, smartphones are powerful experimental tools to explore the underpinnings of cognition. Most importantly, assessing the neural correlates of smartphone usage is a probe into natural everyday behavior. Our goal was to explore the attentional modulations during smartphone use. We used the alpha band power modulations as a proxy to attention. The EEG activity of 28 university students was recorded during 3 conditions – smartphone use, interaction with a smartphone-like unresponsive object and resting state. Our exploration included 6 channel pairs over the prefrontal, sensory and visual cortex. No significant differences between alpha power modulation during the different conditions were found. There was an increase in alpha power during the resting state which is in line with mind-wandering and self-imagery processes during resting conditions. We suggest that by applying two well-researched in classical settings, EEG-derived cognitive metrics – the alpha band power and the frontal alpha asymmetry index, cognitive theories can be validated for scenarios of daily life interactions. Future larger-scale studies based on the full 64 channel data and exploring the interaction instead of a single band activity are still needed to reveal the potential influence of smartphones on neural activity.Show less
This study examined the interface design of an augmented reality (AR) system that was being developed by the Dutch Police Force to assist police officers on horseback in navigating unknown terrain....Show moreThis study examined the interface design of an augmented reality (AR) system that was being developed by the Dutch Police Force to assist police officers on horseback in navigating unknown terrain. The main research objective was to investigate the effect of visual notifications on the officers’ responsiveness to navigation-assisting stimuli (i.e. ‘user performance’). These stimuli consisted of buzzer sounds and direction indicators. Since navigation support was the primary goal of the interface, attention focused on navigation-supporting stimuli was regarded endogenous. Because information provision was a secondary goal, attention drawn to notifications was regarded exogenous. To investigate the influence of exogenous stimuli on the quality of endogenous information processing, a virtual environment was created. In this environment, ninety-nine participants walked both a route with notifications and a route without notifications. (Endogenous) response times of both conditions were compared to determine the effect of the exogenous stimuli. Subsequently, both the role of timing and the effect of endogenous-exogenous competition on travel speed were investigated. Several repeated measures analyses of variance have been conducted. Exogenous stimuli were found to have a significant negative effect on user performance, F(1,87) = 11.193, p = .001, η2 = .114. In addition, the range between approximately 600 and 1000 milliseconds before the appearance of endogenous stimuli is probably the region in which endogenous user performance starts to be prone to exogenous stimuli, F(1,9) = 10.005, p = .011, η2 = .526. Lastly, it turned out that notifications caused participants to run faster, F(1,86) = 8.162, p < .05, η2 = .087. This study showed that stimuli in AR interfaces can enhance the travel speed of users. This is a desirable effect, since it is important for police officers to arrive at their destination as quickly as possible. This study also showed that exogenous stimuli can decrease user performance, as a result of which they could jeopardize users and others in the (traffic) environment. However, this study also provided an indication of the timing range in which exogenous stimuli are most likely to cause this undesired effect. Based on this range, timing-related blockages of distracting stimuli can be built into AR systems in an effective and efficient way, through which the performance-reducing effect of exogenous stimuli could be avoided. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In deze studie is onderzoek gedaan naar een ‘augmented reality’ (AR) navigatie systeem dat de politie wil gebruiken bij evenementen. Met de AR technologie kan door middel van een digitale bril een virtuele laag over het gezichtsveld van politieagenten worden geplaatst. Deze laag bestaat deels uit richtingaanwijzers en deels uit notificaties. Hierdoor kunnen politieagenten worden geholpen met het vinden van de weg en kunnen zij daarnaast worden geïnformeerd over de omgeving of noodsituaties. Het effect van notificaties op de ‘gebruikersprestatie’, die aan de hand van reactietijden is gemeten, stond centraal in dit onderzoek. Het idee hierachter is dat de gebruikersprestatie iets zegt over de mate waarin iemand zich kan concentreren op de richtingaanwijzers en het verkeer. Dit is onderzocht aan de hand van een virtuele omgeving, waarin participanten zowel een route met notificaties als een route zonder notificaties hebben gelopen. Het onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat de snelheid waarmee de participanten door de virtuele omgeving liepen door de notificaties werd verhoogd. Dit is een gewenst effect, omdat het in noodsituaties van belang is dat politieagenten snel ter plaatse zijn. Ook is gebleken dat het tonen van notificaties de gebruikersprestatie verlaagt, hetgeen een ongewenst effect is omdat het in het kader van de navigatiedoelstelling en de verkeersveiligheid belangrijk is dat politieagenten snel op richtingaanwijzers en hun omgeving kunnen reageren. Echter kwam uit het onderzoek ook naar voren dat de gebruikersprestatie minder sterk werd beïnvloed wanneer een notificatie minimaal 1000 milliseconden na een navigatie-ondersteunend signaal werd weergegeven dan wanneer een notificatie maximaal 600 milliseconden na een dergelijk signaal werd weergegeven. Dit resultaat stelt ontwerpers van AR-systemen in staat om te voorkomen dat notificaties de gebruikersprestatie verlagen, omdat zij op basis van deze informatie een specifiek kader hebben waarmee zij notificaties afhankelijk van hun timing tijdelijk kunnen blokkeren. Zo kan op een effectieve en efficiënte manier worden voorkomen dat agenten op kwetsbare momenten worden afgeleid, zonder dat dit ten koste gaat van tijdige communicatie van informatie die de agenten nodig hebben om hun overige taken uit te voeren.Show less
Background: Parental verbal threat information is considered to play an important role in the development of childhood anxiety. Attentional biases induced by verbal threat information may increase...Show moreBackground: Parental verbal threat information is considered to play an important role in the development of childhood anxiety. Attentional biases induced by verbal threat information may increase the risk of developing social anxiety disorder. This study aims to investigate the effect of parental verbal threat information about strangers on children’s attention to these strangers. In addition, we explored the potential moderating role of child social anxiety. Method: The sample consisted of 75 9-to-14-year-old children (M= 11.51 years; 39 girls) and their primary caregivers from the community. The children filled in a questionnaire to measure their social anxiety levels. In the lab, the children had to give two speeches about shyness and confidence in front of two different strangers. Before the social performance, the caregiver verbally communicated threat or safety information about the two strangers. The duration of the looks measured the child’s attention to each stranger during the social performance. Results: The parental verbal information did not influence the child’s attention to the stranger during the social performance. No significant moderation of this effect by the child’s social anxiety was observed. Conclusions: Parental verbal threat information about strangers does not influence children’s attention to these strangers. In addition, child social anxiety does not affect the effect of parental verbal information on children’s attention to strangers.Show less
Research on optimism has increased in the past years. Optimism is known to have a positive relationship with several health outcomes. Additionally, optimism has also been established as a predictor...Show moreResearch on optimism has increased in the past years. Optimism is known to have a positive relationship with several health outcomes. Additionally, optimism has also been established as a predictor of various mental and physical health outcomes. Whilst the relationship between optimism and executive functioning has been discussed, little is known about optimism as a predictor of success in executive functioning. In this study, data from 250 respondents was collected through online questionnaires to study whether optimism is a significant predictor of success in executive functioning in general, as well as in separate aspects of attention, self-control and self-monitoring, and planning. The measuring instruments that were used were the Life-Orientation Test-Revised for optimism and the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory for executive functioning and its aspects. Four simple linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. The results showed that optimism is a significant predictor of executive functioning in general (b = .22, p < .001), as well as of attention (b = .13, p < .001) and planning (b = .06, p < .05), but not of self-control and self-monitoring (p > .05). The main limitation in this study was that data were collected cross-sectionally instead of longitudinal. For self-control and self-monitoring, further research could be beneficial to understand what made this outcome differ from the others. These outcomes could be helpful to further investigate possible implications for the treatment of neuropsychological problems.Show less
Childhood scarcity has long lasting effects that remain visible during adulthood. Much of the literature suggests that these effects are mostly negative, but some theories such as the Life History...Show moreChildhood scarcity has long lasting effects that remain visible during adulthood. Much of the literature suggests that these effects are mostly negative, but some theories such as the Life History Theory have inspired studies that show positive effects of childhood scarcity. The current work aims to highlight the effects of experiencing childhood scarcity on adult cognitive performance in a current financial scarcity situation. We hypothesized that people who experienced childhood scarcity performed better, on a memory and attention task during a situation of current financial scarcity, then people who had not experienced such scarcity. To test their memory we used a restaurant menu containing dishes with prices and calories that participants had to recall; further, to measure attentional shifting, the menu contained a discount code that participant could copy and paste in order to save money. In the experiment 190 participants were randomly assigned to two groups – respectively low budget and high budget condition. The hypotheses were not confirmed, however a significant effect of childhood scarcity on the memory of dishes’ prices and calories was found.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
open access
Attention plays a vital role in helping the brain adaptively disambiguate between relevant and irrelevant information in the environment. Lapses in attention can thus have important negative...Show moreAttention plays a vital role in helping the brain adaptively disambiguate between relevant and irrelevant information in the environment. Lapses in attention can thus have important negative consequences, varying from small mishaps to life-threatening mistakes and as such it is important to study their mechanisms. Neural entrainment appears to play an important role in attention and researchers have long tried to explore the relationship between the two. Unfortunately, a majority of studies on the topic relies heavily on animal and clinical studies, often using invasive measurement techniques. What is more, some of the non-invasive methods used (such as eye-tracking), sometimes offer contradicting results and lack methodological consensus. The current work is part of a larger study looking at the relationship between attentional lapses and neural entrainment using a multimodal oddball task. Here, we focused solely on eye tracking and set out to investigate whether lapses in attention correspond to changes in tonic pupil size and whether measures of attentional lapses suffer from time-on-task effects. Participants performed an oddball dual-modality task in which they were presented with two simultaneous streams of stimuli (visual and auditory) and had to attend and respond to either visual or auditory targets. We found that the number of false alarms reduced significantly over time and that pupil size showed a decreasing (albeit not significant) trend, while the number of hits did not appear to decrease as time passed. These findings seem to be in partial consensus with previous research on the topic. We also found a significant difference in pupil size between the two attending modalities (attend visual and attend auditory), suggesting that visual and auditory stimuli may influence attention (or at the very least pupil diameter) differently. There was however no difference in any of the behavioral measures based on the attended modality. Similarly, no effect of the pupil size was found for our behavioral measurements, suggesting that An investigation of the relationship between attentional lapses and pupil size 4 pupil size does not necessarily predict behavior. It must be noted however that while our results appear to contradict previous findings from the literature, our sample size is likely too small to draw any generalizable conclusions fromShow less
In this research the question was raised whether reading motivation was related to attentional processes during the reading of easy and difficult texts. Reading motivation was measured on a...Show moreIn this research the question was raised whether reading motivation was related to attentional processes during the reading of easy and difficult texts. Reading motivation was measured on a conscious and unconscious level. The unconscious reading motivation (measured with the attentional bias for reading related stimuli) and the conscious reading motivation were related negatively. People with a high attentional bias score for reading related stimuli did have lower scores for rating reading related stimuli. Although a relationship between the attentional bias scores and the frequency of mind wandering during reading hasn’t been found, there was a relationship between the scores for rating reading related stimuli and the amount of mind wandering while reading difficult texts. No relationship was found between participants’ rating of reading related stimuli and mind wandering while reading easy text. People who rated reading related stimuli more positive were mind wandering less often while reading difficult texts. Therefore, reading motivation seems to be related to the attention we have while reading difficult texts.Show less
In the last 100 years sleep duration of children declined with one hour a night. This is alarming, because it has been established that sleep duration has an influence on cognitive functions of...Show moreIn the last 100 years sleep duration of children declined with one hour a night. This is alarming, because it has been established that sleep duration has an influence on cognitive functions of children. To enhance the optimal development of boys and girls, we examined whether gender moderates the association between sleep duration and cognitive functioning. In this study 501 children, 229 boys and 272 girls, with an average age of 10.5 years participated. Parents kept a sleep diary for their child. The child completed various computer tasks which measure cognitive functions attention, inhibition and working memory. These were respectively the PVT, the PVT Go/No-Go and Digit Span. At home, the child did four Word pair tasks to measure declarative memory. Correlation analyses showed that shorter sleep duration was significantly associated with more attention (r = .18), less inhibition (r = .11) and better working memory (r = -.19), but not with declarative memory. Gender did not moderate the relations sleep duration and cognitive functions. However, girls performed significantly better than boys on the cognitive functions inhibition and working memory. Parents, teachers, social workers and children should know that short sleep duration as well as long sleep duration is associated with declined cognitive functioning, so the development of children can be advanced. It is also important to examine the best sleep duration for children of different ages, so they can use their best attention, working memory and inhibition and they can develop optimally.Show less
