UNASSIGNED: Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) is a well-studied intervention known for its positive effects on emotional, cognitive, and physiological well-being, including relief from depressive symptoms. However, its practical use is hampered by high costs and a lack of trained professionals. Smartphone-based HRVB, which eliminates the need for external devices, offers a promising alternative, albeit with limited research. Additionally, premenstrual symptoms are highly prevalent among menstruating individuals, and there is a need for low-cost, accessible interventions with minimal side effects. With this pilot study, we aim to test, for the first time, the influence of smartphone-based HRVB on depressive and premenstrual symptoms, as well as anxiety/stress symptoms and attentional control.
UNASSIGNED: Twenty-seven participants with above-average premenstrual or depressive symptoms underwent a 4-week photoplethysmography smartphone-based HRVB intervention using a waitlist-control design. Laboratory sessions were conducted before and after the intervention, spaced exactly 4 weeks apart. Assessments included resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), attentional control via the revised attention network test (ANT-R), depressive symptoms assessed with the BDI-II questionnaire, and stress/anxiety symptoms measured using the DASS questionnaire. Premenstrual symptomatology was recorded through the PAF questionnaire if applicable. Data analysis employed linear mixed models.
UNASSIGNED: We observed improvements in premenstrual, depressive, and anxiety/stress symptoms, as well as the Executive Functioning Score of the ANT-R during the intervention period but not during the waitlist phase. However, we did not find significant changes in vmHRV or the Orienting Score of the ANT-R.
UNASSIGNED: These findings are promising, both in terms of the effectiveness of smartphone-based HRVB and its potential to alleviate premenstrual symptoms. Nevertheless, to provide a solid recommendation regarding the use of HRVB for improving premenstrual symptoms, further research with a larger sample size is needed to replicate these effects.

Simulated (sim) racing is an emerging esport that has garnered much interest in recent years and has been a relatively under-researched field in terms of expertise and performance. When examining expertise, visual attention has been of particular interest to researchers, with eye tracking technology commonly used to assess visual attention. In this study, we examined the overt visual attention allocation of high- and low-skilled sim racers during a time trial task using Tobii 3 glasses. In the study, 104 participants were tested on one occasion, with 88 included in the analysis after exclusions. Participants were allocated to either group according to their fastest lap times. Independent t-tests were carried out with sidak corrections to test our hypotheses. Our results indicate that when eye tracking metrics were normalised to the lap time and corner sector time, there was a difference in the relative length of overt attention allocation (fixation behaviour) as lower-skilled racers had significantly greater total fixation durations in laps overall and across corner sectors when normalised (p = 0.013; p = 0.018). Interestingly, high- and low-skilled sim racers differed in where they allocated their attention during the task, with high-skilled sim racers allocating significantly less overt attention to the track relative to other areas of the display (p = 0.003). This would allow for higher-skilled racers to obtain relatively more information from heads-up display elements in-game, all whilst driving at faster speeds. This study provides evidence that high-skilled sim racers appear to need significantly less overt attention throughout a fast lap, and that high- and low-skilled sim racers differ in where they allocate their attention while racing.

Over the past few years, several studies have explored the relationship between resting-state baseline pupil size and cognitive abilities, including fluid intelligence, working memory capacity, and attentional control. However, the results have been inconsistent. Here we present the findings from two experiments designed to replicate and expand previous research, with the aim of clarifying previous mixed findings. In both experiments, we measured baseline pupil size while participants were not engaged in any tasks, and assessed fluid intelligence using a matrix task. In one experiment we also measured working memory capacity (letter-number-sequencing task) and attentional control (attentional-capture task). We controlled for several personal and demographic variables known to influence pupil size, such as age and nicotine consumption. Our analyses revealed no relationship between resting-state pupil size (average or variability) and any of the measured constructs, neither before nor after controlling for confounding variables. Taken together, our results suggest that any relationship between resting-state pupil size and cognitive abilities is likely to be weak or non-existent.

Our study examined the complex relationships among reading performance (decoding, comprehension) and language, visuo-spatial, and attentional control abilities in 115 Italian-speaking children. Latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct clusters of participants showcasing quantitative differences in decoding skills, including word, pseudo-word, text reading speed and accuracy. Then, we used this classification to investigate group differences in a variety of linguistic, working memory, and visuo-spatial tasks, as well as in reading comprehension skills, by means of multivariate and univariate tests. Our results reveal significant links between reading proficiency and several key factors: language skills, visuo-spatial abilities, and attentional control. These findings illuminate the nuanced impact of domain-general processes that govern a series of linguistic and visuo-perceptive subcomponents during reading tasks. Additionally, using dominance analysis, predictors of written text comprehension were identified. Our findings suggest that effective reading comprehension relies on a synergistic interplay of adequate reading speed, attentional control, working memory, and verbal fluency, accounting for 23% of the explained variance. This study highlights the multifaceted nature of reading proficiency and suggests that a broader perspective is necessary to fully understand reading development and support its improvement.

People tend to employ suboptimal attention control strategies during visual search. Here we question why people are suboptimal, specifically investigating how knowledge of the optimal strategies and the time available to apply such strategies affect strategy use. We used the Adaptive Choice Visual Search (ACVS), a task designed to assess attentional control optimality. We used explicit strategy instructions to manipulate explicit strategy knowledge, and we used display previews to manipulate time to apply the strategies. In the first two experiments, the strategy instructions increased optimality. However, the preview manipulation did not significantly boost optimality for participants who did not receive strategy instruction. Finally, in Experiments 3A and 3B, we jointly manipulated preview and instruction with a larger sample size. Preview and instruction both produced significant main effects; furthermore, they interacted significantly, such that the beneficial effect of instructions emerged with greater preview time. Taken together, these results have important implications for understanding the strategic use of attentional control. Individuals with explicit knowledge of the optimal strategy are more likely to exploit relevant information in their visual environment, but only to the extent that they have the time to do so.

Past studies have shown that spontaneous electroencephalography indicators-namely, the theta/beta power ratio and alpha oscillation-may measure individuals\' attentional control processes. However, there is lack of research distinguishing these differences. This study investigated whether the theta/beta power ratio and alpha oscillation were separately related to the objective and subjective criteria of attentional control in eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. The results showed two main findings: (1) In the eyes-open condition, the theta/beta power ratio at the Fz and Pz electrode sites were significantly negatively correlated with the attentional control scale score; the alpha power at the Pz electrode site was significantly negatively correlated with flanker RT interference effect; (2) In the eyes-closed condition, the alpha power at the Cz and Pz electrode sites were significantly positively correlated with flanker P3d. In summary, this study showed that the eyes-open spontaneous theta/beta power ratio may reflect individuals\' beliefs in their attentional control ability, and the alpha oscillation may be related to individuals\' attentional control ability.

Previous research has shown that state anxiety facilitates stimulus-driven attentional capture and impairs goal-directed attentional control by increasing sensitivity to salient distractors or threat cues or narrowing spatial attention. However, recent findings in this area have been mixed, and less is known about how state-dependent anxiety may affect attentional performance. Here, we employed a novel dual-target search paradigm to investigate this relationship. This paradigm allowed us to investigate attentional control and how focus narrows under different anxiety states. Participants watched a short movie-either anxiety-inducing or neutral-before engaging in the dual-target visual search task. We found that they performed faster and more accurately in trials without the salient distractor compared to those with distractors, and they performed better in tasks presented on the center than the periphery. However, despite a significant increase in self-reported anxiety in the anxiety-inducing session, participants\' performance in terms of speed and accuracy remain comparable across both anxious and neutral sessions. This resilience is likely due to compensatory mechanisms that offset anxiety, a result of the high demands and working memory load inherent in the dual-target task.

Humans and several other species of animals have demonstrated the ability to use familiarity to recognize that they have seen images before. In prior experiments, orangutans failed to show use of familiarity in memory tasks, even when other solutions were not available. We tested for evidence of habituation, a decreased response to repeated stimuli, as a behavioral indicator that repeated images were familiar to subjects. Monkeys and orangutans selected the smallest target out of four while computerized images were presented as distractors. Latency to complete the target-finding task was compared between conditions in which the distractor image was a familiar, repeating image, a novel, never-before-seen image, or no distractor was present. Rhesus macaques showed significant habituation, and significantly more habituation than orangutans, in each of four experiments. Orangutans showed statistically reliable habituation in only one of the four experiments. These results are consistent with previous research in which orangutans failed to demonstrate familiarity. Because we expect that familiarity and habituation are evolutionarily ancient memory processes, we struggle to explain these surprising, but consistent findings. Future research is needed to determine why orangutans respond to computerized images in this peculiar way.

OBJECTIVE: The percentage of adolescents with test anxiety is increasing rapidly. Working memory (WM) training has been demonstrated to reduce anxiety levels and enhance attentional control in individuals. Therefore, we investigated whether adaptive dual n-back WM training could lower test anxiety level and improve attentional control in adolescents.
METHODS: Forty adolescents were allocated to either adaptive dual n-back WM training (n = 21) or non-adaptive dual 1-back WM training (n = 19) for 10 days. The Test Anxiety Scale was applied to measure individuals\' test anxiety symptoms. The Attentional Control Scale (ACS), the flanker task, and the Go/Nogo task were used to measure attentional control.
RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the training group reported significantly relief of test anxiety symptoms; however, there were no significant differences between the two groups in pre-to-post changes in ACS scores or performance on the flanker task and Go/Nogo task.
CONCLUSIONS: In sum, adaptive dual n-back WM training effectively reduced adolescents\' level of test anxiety but did not improve their attentional control.

Representations of task-relevant object attributes (attentional templates) control the adaptive selectivity of visual processing. Previous studies have demonstrated that templates involved in the guidance of attention during visual search are activated in a preparatory fashion prior to the arrival of visual search displays. The current study investigated whether such proactive mechanisms are also triggered in non-search tasks, where attentional templates do not mediate the guidance of attention towards targets amongst distractors but are still necessary for subsequent target recognition processes. Participants either searched for colour-defined targets among multiple distractors or performed two other non-search tasks where imperative stimuli appeared without competing distractors (a colour-based Go/NoGo task, and a shape discrimination task where target colour was constant and could thus be ignored). Preparatory activation of colour-selective templates was tracked by measuring N2pc components (markers of attention allocation) to task-irrelevant colour singleton probes flashed every 200 ms during the interval between target displays. As expected, N2pcs were triggered by target-coloured probes in the search task, indicating that a corresponding guidance template was triggered proactively. Critically, clear probe N2pcs were also observed in the Go/NoGo task, and even in the shape discrimination task in an attenuated fashion. These findings demonstrate that the preparatory activation of feature-selective attentional task settings is not uniquely associated with the guidance of visual search but is also present in other types of visual selection tasks where guidance is not required.