• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.385-404
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• 2011

We examined how emotional background stimuli influence focused attention in a flanker task. An IAPS picture was presented for 1,000ms in advance, then a target and two flanker letters were presented against the IAPS picture for 200ms(Experiment 1). The flanking stimuli were simultaneously presented on the left and right sides of the target stimulus with distance of $0.5^{\circ}C$, $1^{\circ}C$, or $1.5^{\circ}C$ visual angle. We investigated the flanker compatibility effect that identification of target would be faster when they were flanked by identical(compatible) stimuli than when they were flanked by different(incompatible) stimuli. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that the flanker compatibility effect depended not only on the distance of flankers but also on the valence of a background IAPS pictures. Positive and neutral pictures showed distance effect that the flanker compatibility effect was decreased as the farther the distance was, while negative pictures showed no di stance effect. Positive and neutral pictures showed compatibility effects at all distance conditions, but negative pictures didn't showed compatibility effect at $1.5^{\circ}C$ distance condition. In Experiment 2, the SOA(Stimulus Onset Asynchrony) between the picture and the stimuli of flanker task was manipulated. The flanking stimuli were presented simultaneously on the left and right sides of the target stimulus with a distance of either $0.5^{\circ}C$ or $1.5^{\circ}C$ visual angle. The results of Experiment 2 showed that flanker compatibility effect depends on SOA. At long SOA(2800ms), negative pictures showed no distance effect, but positive or neutral pictures did. All valence conditions of background pictures showed compatibility effects at $0.5^{\circ}C$ distance condition, but didn't showed compatibility effect at $1.5^{\circ}C$ distance condition. At short SOA(100ms), all valence conditions of background pictures showed distance effect, and showed compatibility effects with the exception of negative background pictures at $1.5^{\circ}C$ distance condition. These findings suggest that the scope of visual attention becomes narrower when viewing negative emotional stimuli and becomes broadened when viewing positive emotional stimuli. The narrowed scope of attention in negative emotion lasts longer, while the broaden scope of attention in positive emotion lasts shorter.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2022

Lavie's perceptual load theory (Lavie, 1995) proposes that the influence of distractors would be blocked as the load gets higher. Studies of perceptual load have usually adopted the flanker task, developed by Eriksen and Eriksen (1974), which measures reaction time on the target flanked by distractors. In the post-cueing forced task, participants should report the identity of the target cued later, and negative repetition effect (NRE) has often been observed. NRE means the effect that the accuracy of identification is worse when the target is flanked by the same nontargets than when flanked by different nontargets. This study has tried to check whether perceptual load has an effect on identification rate and NRE. Experiment 1 manipulated the similarity between targets and a distractor, and observed a tendency of NRE, but not the effect of perceptual load. Experiment 2 used 4, 2 (in two kinds of diagonal arrangement), or none distractors of the same identity to burden more perceptual load. NRE was significant and perceptual load showed significance but not a linear trend. Experiment 3 checked again whether NRE would be varied according to two levels of perceptual load strengthened by positional variability of load stimuli, but did not find the effect of perceptual load. It is concluded that perceptual load might have a limited effect on the early stage of perceptual processing due to divided attentional processing of the targets briefly exposed. Implications of this study were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2017

Objectives: Executive dysfunction including working memory deficit has been suggested to be one of the major neuropsychological etiologies of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the augmentative effects of Cogmed working memory training on the symptoms and neurocognitive functions in medicated children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods: Twenty-five children with ADHD, aged 7 to 19 years, taking ADHD medication participated in this study. The participants were trained for 5 weeks with a commercially available and computerized working memory program ($Cogmed^{(R)}$) without any changes to their medication. The Korean version of the ADHD Rating Scale, Clinical Global Impression Scale, and Comprehensive Attention Test were administered before training and 4 weeks and 7 months after training, respectively. Results: After completing the training, the clinical symptoms and function, rated by the parents and clinician, were improved. In addition, the level of commission errors was significantly reduced in the selective attention (visual/auditory) task, sustained attention to response task, and flanker task. The untrained visuospatial short-term memory and working memory were also improved. These effects were still observed 7 months after the training. Conclusion: Cogmed working memory training can be a promising training option for the additional improvement of the symptoms and deficits in working memory and response inhibition in medicated children with ADHD.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.68-75
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• 2009

Objectives: This study was conducted in order to develop and obtain the nonnative data of the computerized Comprehensive Attention Test(CAT) in Korean children and adolescents. It also aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the CAT. Methods: We developed the computerized CAT which includes the selective attention task, the sustained attention to response task, the flanker task, the divided attention task, and the spatial working memory task. We investigated the test-retest reliability and the construction validity of this computerized version by using the data from 21 children, and gathered the nonnative data of 9l2 subjects, aged 4 to 15 years, dwelling in the Metropolitan Seoul area in 2008. Results: No statistical differences between means of the tests and retests of the CAT were observed. The mean of the correlation coefficient of the test-retest scores was 0.715. The results from the factor analyses explained 51.7% of the cumulative variance. In addition, the nonnative data for all of the CAT subtests were obtained. Conclusion: The computerized CAT can be used as a reliable and valid tool in both clinical and research settings for Korean children and adolescents with or without neuropsychiatric conditions such as attention deficit.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.19-29
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• 2021

High-performing athletes possess the ability to read the game, known as the "sports brain". However, a cognitive battery to measure such sports brain has not been developed yet. The purpose of the study, thus, is to develop a computerized cognitive test battery to measure athletes' cognitive function. Based on a systematic review, information processing speed, execution function, and spatial ability were selected as sports-related cognitive functions. Simple and choice response times test, trail-making test, Flanker test, and mental rotation task were developed. After providing manual and practice trials, main tests were executed and all primary variables were statistically processed and automatically saved. The test battery is expected to aid in the discovery and recruitment of athletes in the future after verifying the validity and reliability of this battery.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.365-391
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• 2013

Negative repetition effect (NRE) refers to the phenomenon that the accuracy of report is impaired when a target was flanked by the same distractor than when by alternative distractor. To probe the nature of NRE, this study introduced attention window(s) indicating the positions where a target might be presented, and non-attention window(s) where a target could not be presented. Attention windows are supposed to help participants detect targets readily. Two among three positions are indicated by attention windows in Exp. 1, and a single large attention window encompassing central two positions among four positions was used in Exp. 2, and either large or small attention window was used depending on the number of target candidates in Exp. 3. In the result of three experiments, NREs were consistently observed when both positions of a target and a distractor were indicated by previous attention windows. However, NREs (including its tendency) and its opposite, PREs were observed when a distractor was presented in the non-attention position, depending on its distance from the target and the size of attention window. It seems that this pattern of repetition effects is hard to be explained by repetition blindness hypothesis (Kanwisher, 1991), positional uncertainty hypothesis (Keren & Boer, 1985), and inhibitory attention capture hypothesis (Kwak et al., 1993). Instead it was proposed that shifting of spatial attention should be considered accordingly with the structure of stimulus display. The promising role of this task was discussed in studying the relation of attention and perception.