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Directing Attention (directing + attention)
Selected AbstractsNovelty detector neurons in the mammalian auditory midbrainEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 11 2005David Pérez-González Abstract Novel stimuli in all sensory modalities are highly effective in attracting and focusing attention. Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) and brain activity evoked by novel stimuli have been studied using population measures such as imaging and event-related potentials, but there have been few studies at the single-neuron level. In this study we compare SSA across different populations of neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) of the rat and show that a subclass of neurons with rapid and pronounced SSA respond selectively to novel sounds. These neurons, located in the dorsal and external cortex of the IC, fail to respond to multiple repetitions of a sound but briefly recover their excitability when some stimulus parameter is changed. The finding of neurons that respond selectively to novel stimuli in the mammalian auditory midbrain suggests that they may contribute to a rapid subcortical pathway for directing attention and/or orienting responses to novel sounds. [source] Gaze Following in NewbornsINFANCY, Issue 1 2004Teresa Farroni Eye gaze has been shown to be an effective cue for directing attention in adults. Whether this ability operates from birth is unknown. Three experiments were carried out with 2- to 5-day-old newborns. The first experiment replicated the previous finding that newborns are able to discriminate between direct and averted gaze, and extended this finding from real to schematic faces. In Experiments 2 and 3 newborns were faster to make saccades to peripheral targets cued by the direction of eye movement of a central schematic face, but only when the motion of the pupils was visible. These results suggest that newborns may show a rudimentary form of gaze following. [source] The Governance Approach to European IntegrationJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2001Markus Jachtenfuchs This article argues that the study of European integration is divided into two distinct approaches: classical integration theory for which the shape of the Euro-polity is the dependent variable; and the governance approach for which it is the independent variable. An historical and conceptual overview of the approach focuses on the efficiency side of governance and excludes issues of democracy and legitimacy. From a sociology of knowledge perspective, the first part traces the roots of the present discussion back to three bodies of literature, namely studies on Europeanization, regulatory policy-making and network concepts. The second part presents the achievements of the approach: putting EU studies in a comparative perspective, directing attention towards democratic governance and bypassing old dichotomies on the future of the nation-state. The final section evaluates present shortcomings, most notably a bias toward problem-solving, the proliferation of case studies and the lack of a coherent theoretical perspective. [source] Incentive compensation: Bridging theory and practiceJOURNAL OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 3 2008Joseph G. Fisher This article discusses the four roles that compensation and reward programs serve in organizations,motivating effort, directing attention, extracting information, and attracting able individuals. The article highlights the delicate interplay between compensation theory and practice,and the importance of matching the compensation program to the needs at hand. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Directed Attention in Normal and High-Risk PregnancyJOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 2 2006Mary Ann Stark Objective:, To compare the ability to direct attention in women having a high-risk pregnancy with those having an uncomplicated pregnancy. Design:, Descriptive comparative. Setting:, A tertiary-care hospital. Participants:, Women in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy receiving care from perinatologists were recruited for this study and comprised the high-risk group (n= 67). Women in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy with uncomplicated pregnancies and enrolled in prenatal classes were the comparison group (n= 57). Main outcome measures:, Objective measures of directed attention included digit span forward, digit span backward, Trailmaking A, and Trailmaking B. Subjective measures included the Attentional Function Index and Mental Effort in Tasks. Results:, Women having a complicated pregnancy had significantly more difficulty directing attention on all measures than women having normal pregnancies. When all covariates were considered, women having a high-risk pregnancy had significantly more difficulty directing attention as measured by Trailmaking A, Trailmaking B, and Mental Effort in Tasks. Conclusions:, Women having high-risk pregnancies may have more difficulty with activities that require directed attention than women having normal pregnancies. Learning new information and skills, problem solving, and planning may require additional effort for women having complicated pregnancies. JOGNN, 35, 241-249; 2006. DOI: 10.1111/J.1552-6909.2006.00035.x [source] Global,Local Interference is Related to Callosal Compromise in Alcoholism: A Behavior-DTI Association StudyALCOHOLISM, Issue 3 2009Eva M. Müller-Oehring Background:, Visuospatial ability is a multifactorial process commonly impaired in chronic alcoholism. Identification of which features of visuospatial processing are affected and which are spared in alcoholism, however, has not been clearly determined. We used a global,local paradigm to assess component processes of visuospatial ability and MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine whether alcoholism-related microstructural degradation of the corpus callosum contributes to disruption of selective lateralized visuospatial and attention processes. Methods:, A hierarchical letter paradigm was devised, where large global letters were composed of small local letters. The task required identification of target letters among distractors presented at global, local, both, or neither level. Attention was either selectively directed to global or local levels or divided between levels. Participants were 18 detoxified chronic alcoholics and 22 age-matched healthy controls. DTI provided quantitative assessment of the integrity of corpus callosal white matter microstructure. Results:, Alcoholics generally had longer reaction times than controls but obtained similar accuracy scores. Both groups processed local targets faster than global targets and showed interference from targets at the unattended level. Alcoholics exhibited moderate compromise in selectively attending to the global level when the global stimuli were composed of local targets. Such local interference was less with longer abstinence. Callosal microstructural integrity compromise predicted degree of interference from stimulus incongruency in the alcoholic group. This relationship was not observed for lateral or third ventricular volumes, which are measures of nonspecific cortical volume deficits. Conclusion:, Global,local feature perception was generally spared in abstinent chronic alcoholics, but impairments were observed when directing attention to global features and when global and local information interfered at stimulus or response levels. Furthermore, the interference-callosal integrity relationship in alcoholics indicates that compromised visuospatial functions include those requiring bilateral integration of information. [source] The Interlocutor's Dilemma: The Place of Strategy in Dialogic TheoryCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 1 2008William J. White This essay discusses the implications of a concept of strategy for dialogical perspectives on communication. It begins by locating in the dialogical perspective a "longing for the other" that equates communication with communion or mutuality. It draws from the theory of communicative action of Jürgen Habermas to discuss strategy as the "other" of communication and explores the paradox of Habermas's idea of communicative rationality in terms of the prisoner's dilemma of game theory. The essay considers the extent to which the strategic and the dialogic are woven together in communication and argues that the communicative orientations of interlocutors at any given instance are rightfully regarded as the product of situational logics conditioned by social and cultural commitments extant in that instance. Given that the impetus for strategy stems in part from concerns about social solidarity in the face of the exigences of everyday life, the essay concludes by directing attention to the interplay of the management of social fears and the expression of otherness in shaping the course of communicative encounters. Résumé Le dilemme de l,interlocuteur : La place de la stratégie dans la théorie dialogique Cet article commente les implications d'un concept de stratégie pour des perspectives dialogiques sur la communication. Il localise d,abord dans la perspective dialogique un « grand désir pour l'autre » qui compare la communication à la communion ou l,interdépendance. Il s'inspire de l,ouvrage Theory of Communicative Action de Jürgen Habermas pour traiter la stratégie comme étant « l'autre » de la communication, et il explore le paradoxe de l,idée habermassienne de la rationalité communicationnelle en lien avec le dilemme du prisonnier de la théorie des jeux. L'article explore à quel point le stratégique et le dialogique sont liés dans la communication, et soumet que les orientations communicationnelles des interlocuteurs dans un cas donné sont légitimement perçues comme étant le produit d,une logique situationnelle conditionnée par des engagements sociaux et culturels existants dans ce cas. Puisque l'impulsion pour la stratégie provient en partie de préoccupations envers la solidarité sociale en dépit des exigences de la vie quotidienne, l,article conclut en se concentrant sur l'interaction entre la gestion des peurs sociales et l,expression de l'altérité dans l'influence de l'évolution des rencontres communicationnelles. Abstract Das Dilemma des Gesprächspartnern: Ein Platz für Strategie in der Dialogtheorie Dieser Aufsatz diskutiert die Implikationen eines Konzepts der Strategie für dialogische Perspektiven in der Kommunikation. Es beginnt mit der Verortung innerhalb der dialogischen Perspektive eines "Ersehnen des Anderen", welches Kommunikation gleichsetzt mit Kommunion oder Gegenseitigkeit. Das Konzept, basierend auf der Theorie des Kommunikativen Handelns von Jürgen Habermas, diskutiert Strategie als das "andere" der Kommunikation und untersucht das Paradox der Habermasschen Idee einer Kommunikativen Rationalität im Sinne des Gefangenendilemma der Spieltheorie. Dieser Aufsatz berücksichtigt das Ausmaß zu welchem das Strategische und das Dialogische in der Kommunikation miteinander verbunden sind und argumentiert, dass kommunikative Orientierungen von Gesprächspartnern bei jeder Gelegenheit als ein Produkt der situationalen Logik, beeinflusst durch spezifische soziale und kulturelle Verpflichtungen dieser Gelegenheit, gesehen werden müssen. Unter der Annahme, dass der Impetus für Strategie teilweise aus den Bedenken hinsichtlich sozialer Solidarität im Angesicht der Notwendigkeiten des täglichen Lebens stammt, lenkt dieser Aufsatz am Ende die Aufmerksamkeit auf das Spiel zwischen dem Management sozialer Ängste und dem Ausdruck des Anderssein im Gestalten kommunikativer Begegnungen. Resumen El Dilema del Interlocutor: El Espacio de la Estrategia en la Teoría Dialógica Este ensayo discute las implicancias de un concepto de estrategia para las perspectivas dialógicas en la comunicación. Comienza localizando la perspectiva dialógica como una "nostalgia por el otro" que equipara a la comunicación con la comunión ó la mutualidad. Recurre a la Teoría de la Acción Comunicativa de Jürgen Habermas para discutir la estrategia del "otro" de la comunicación, y explora la paradoja de la idea de racionalidad comunicativa de Habermas en términos del dilema del prisionero de la teoría del juego. El ensayo considera hasta qué punto la estratégica y la dialógica están entretejidas juntas en la comunicación, y arguye que las orientaciones comunicativas de los interlocutores en una instancia dada son percibidas justamente como el producto de lógicas situacionales condicionadas por los compromisos sociales y culturales existentes en esa instancia. Dado que el ímpetu por la estrategia implica en parte una preocupación por la solidaridad social en la cara de las exigencias cotidianas, el ensayo concluye direccionando la atención hacia la relación entre el manejo de los miedos sociales y la expresión del otro que da forma al curso de los encuentros comunicativos. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source] | |||||||||||||