On the allocation of attention in space and time

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Attention is a pivotal cognitive function and efforts to understand its properties and operations are fundamental. Like memory, attention refers to multiple systems with related functions. In the most noteworthy attempt to integrate, functionally and neuroscientifically, the variety of psychological concepts that fall under the rubric of attention, Posner & colleagues proposed by that isolable, but connected and interacting, neural networks mediate orienting, alerting and executive control and created the Attention Network Test (ANT) for measuring the efficacy of these networks. The research we propose to conduct with funds from an NSERC Discovery Grant is designed to improve our basic knowledge about attention which provides a necessary foundation for applications to improve human welfare, mental health and safety. We have created a publicly searchable database with the results of over 800 studies that have used any version of the ANT for any purpose. By analyzing the results from groups of studies in this database about the same question, we have used, will continue to use, and are encouraging others to use this database to reveal fundamental truths about attention. We have developed and are in the process of perfecting a game-like version of the ANT (AttentionTrip). We have shown AttentionTrip to be more engaging than the ANT and we propose to generate normative attention network scores from this task which will encourage its use by researchers and clinicians. Building on the important distinction between voluntary and reflexive control, we have proposed a revised taxonomy in which attention can be allocated by these two modes of control in the domains of time (alerting), space (orienting) and task/activity (executive). We have developed the Combined Attention Systems Test (CAST) that, in children and young adults, provided robust and reliable measures of the six forms of attention implied by our revised taxonomy. We will next apply this test to older adults. We propose to continue conducting cutting edge experiments to explore how voluntary and reflexive control of attention in time and in space affect human performance with a focus on the speed and accuracy of responding. In some of these studies we will use physiological data to provide converging evidence about the neural implementation of the form of attention being explored. Several of our experimental tasks have been programmed so that they can be performed remotely by participants on their home computers. And the AttentionTrip is implemented on the i-pad as a downloadable app. So long as the COVID-pandemic makes in-person research difficult if not impossible, these developments will allow us to continue much of our research. Although this is an individual discovery grant application, "we" has been used deliberately because my RAs, students and other trainees are a team whose successes depend on intellectual collaboration, cross-training and the sharing of ideas.