J. Allan Cheyne

Anatomy of an error: A bidirectional state model of task engagement/disengagement and attention-related errors

We present arguments and evidence for a three-state attentional model of task engagement/disengagement. The model postulates three states of mind-wandering: occurrent task inattention, generic task inattention, and response disengagement. We hypothesize that all three states are both causes and consequences of task performance outcomes and apply across a variety of experimental and real-world tasks. We apply this model to the analysis of a widely used GO/NOGO task, the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). We identify three performance characteristics of the SART that map onto the three states of the model: RT variability, anticipations, and omissions. Predictions based on the model are tested, and largely corroborated, via regression and lag-sequential analyses of both successful and unsuccessful withholding on NOGO trials as well as self-reported mind-wandering and everyday cognitive errors. The results revealed theoretically consistent temporal associations among the state indicators and between these and SART errors as well as with self-report measures. Lag analysis was consistent with the hypotheses that temporal transitions among states are often extremely abrupt and that the association between mind-wandering and performance is bidirectional. The bidirectional effects suggest that errors constitute important occasions for reactive mind-wandering. The model also enables concrete phenomenological, behavioral, and physiological predictions for future research.

Everyday attention lapses and memory failures: The affective consequences of mindlessness

We examined the affective consequences of everyday attention lapses and memory failures. Significant associations were found between self-report measures of attention lapses (MAAS-LO), attention-related cognitive errors (ARCES), and memory failures (MFS), on the one hand, and boredom (BPS) and depression (BDI-II), on the other. Regression analyses confirmed previous findings that the ARCES partially mediates the relation between the MAAS-LO and MFS. Further regression analyses also indicated that the association between the ARCES and BPS was entirely accounted for by the MAAS-LO and MFS, as was that between the ARCES and BDI-II. Structural modeling revealed the associations to be optimally explained by the MAAS-LO and MFS influencing the BPS and BDI-II, contrary to current conceptions of attention and memory problems as consequences of affective dysfunction. A lack of conscious awareness of ones actions, signaled by the propensity to experience brief lapses of attention and related memory failures, is thus seen as having significant consequences in terms of long-term affective well-being.

Out of Mind, Out of Sight Eye Blinking as Indicator and Embodiment of Mind Wandering

Mind wandering, in which cognitive processing of the external environment decreases in favor of internal processing (Small-wood & Schooler, 2006), has been consistently associated with errors on tasks requiring sustained attention and continu-ous stimulus monitoring (e.g., Cheyne, Carriere, & Smilek, 2006; Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997; Smallwood et al., 2004). Consistent with this finding, recent neuroimaging studies suggest that mind wandering engages the default neural network (Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Smith, & Schooler, 2009; Mason et al., 2007; Smallwood, Beach, Schooler, & Handy, 2008; Weissman, Roberts, Viss-cher, & Woldorff, 2006) and is associated with decreased neu-ral analysis of incoming information (Christoff et al., 2009; Smallwood, Beach, et al., 2008; Weissman et al., 2006). Here, we propose that mind wandering also involves overt embodied components whereby external input is blocked at the sensory endings. We demonstrate that during an extended period of reading, episodes of mind wandering, compared with on-task periods, contain more eye closures (blinks) and fewer fixa-tions on the text―even as subjects continue to scan the text.The present investigation is based on the idea that blink rate might serve to modulate trade-offs between attention to mind-wandering thoughts and to external task-related stimuli. Blinks reduce processing of external stimuli in two ways―by physi-cally closing the eyelid and by generating cortical suppression of visual processing both before and after the time of actual lid closure (Bristow, Frith, & Rees, 2005; Bristow, Haynes, Syl-vester, Frith, & Rees, 2005; Ridder & Tomlinson, 1997; Volk-mann, 1986). Increasing the rate of such visual interruptions may facilitate a shift in the balance of processing from exter-nal stimuli to internal thoughts. Consistent with these consid-erations, evidence suggests that an increase in eye blinks is associated with errors in vigilance to external stimuli (Papadelis et al., 2007; Poulton & Gregory, 1952; Van Orden, Jung, & Makeig, 2000) and with conflict between internal and external workload (Recarte, Perez, Conchillo, & Nunes, 2008).To assess the relation between eye blinks and mind wandering, we compared blink rates during probe-caught epi-sodes of mind wandering and on-task periods of reading. Mind-wandering episodes during reading are relatively fre-quent; everyone has experienced interfering thoughts that compromise reading (Reichle, Reineberg, & Schooler, in press; Schooler, Reichle, & Halpern, 2004; Smallwood, McSpadden, & Schooler, 2008), and it is possible to even find oneself at the end of a page with no recollection of having processed the material just “read.” Such

Failures of sustained attention in life, lab, and brain: Ecological validity of the SART

The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) is a widely used tool in cognitive neuroscience increasingly employed to identify brain regions associated with failures of sustained attention. An important claim of the SART is that it is significantly related to real-world problems of sustained attention such as those experienced by TBI and ADHD patients. This claim is largely based on its association with the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), but recently concerns have been expressed about the reliability of the SART-CFQ association. Based on a review of the literature, meta-analysis of prior research, and analysis of original data, we conclude that, across studies sampling diverse populations and contexts, the SART is reliably associated with the CFQ. The CFQ-SART relation also holds for patients with TBI. We note, however, conceptual limitations of using the CFQ, which was designed as a measure of general cognitive failures, to validate the SART, which was specifically designed to assess sustained attention. To remedy this limitation, we report on associations between the SART and a specific Attention-Related Cognitive Errors Scale (ARCES) and a Mindful Awareness of Attention Scale-Lapses Only (MAAS-LO).

Relations among hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences associated with sleep paralysis

The Waterloo Sleep Experiences Scale was developed to assess the prevalence of sleep paralysis and a variety of associated hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinoid experiences: sensed presence, felt pressure, floating sensations, auditory and visual hallucinations, and fear. Consistent with results of recent surveys, almost 30% of 870 university students reported at least one experience of sleep paralysis. Approximately three‐quarters of those also reported at least one hallucinoid experience, and slightly more than 10% experienced three or more. Fear was positively associated with hallucinoid experiences, most clearly with sensed presence. Regression analyses lend support to the hypothesis that sensed presence and fear are primitive associates of sleep paralysis and contribute to the elaboration of further hallucinoid experiences, especially those involving visual experiences.

Age trends for failures of sustained attention.

Recent research has revealed an age-related reduction in errors in a sustained attention task, suggesting that sustained attention abilities improve with age. Such results seem paradoxical in light of the well-documented age-related declines in cognitive performance. In the present study, performance on the sustained attention to response task (SART) was assessed in a supplemented archival sample of 638 individuals between 14 and 77 years old. SART errors and response speed appeared to decline in a linear fashion as a function of age throughout the age span studied. In contrast, other measures of sustained attention (reaction time coefficient of variation), anticipation, and omissions) showed a decrease early in life and then remained unchanged for the rest of the life span. Thus, sustained attention shows improvements with maturation in early adulthood but then does not change with aging in older adults. On the other hand, aging across the entire life span leads to a more strategic (i.e., slower) response style that reduces the overt and critical consequences (i.e., SART errors) of momentary task disengagement.

The body unbound: vestibular-motor hallucinations and out-of-body experiences.

Among the varied hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis (SP), out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and vestibular-motor (V-M) sensations represent a distinct factor. Recent studies of direct stimulation of vestibular cortex report a virtually identical set of bodily-self hallucinations. Both programs of research agree on numerous details of OBEs and V-M experiences and suggest similar hypotheses concerning their association. In the present study, self-report data from two on-line surveys of SP-related experiences were employed to assess hypotheses concerning the causal structure of relations among V-M experiences and OBEs during SP episodes. The results complement neurophysiological evidence and are consistent with the hypothesis that OBEs represent a breakdown in the normal binding of bodily-self sensations and suggest that out-of-body feelings (OBFs) are consequences of anomalous V-M experiences and precursors to a particular form of autoscopic experience, out-of-body autoscopy (OBA). An additional finding was that vestibular and motor experiences make relatively independent contributions to OBE variance. Although OBEs are superficially consistent with universal dualistic and supernatural intuitions about the nature of the soul and its relation to the body, recent research increasingly offers plausible alternative naturalistic explanations of the relevant phenomenology.

Dyadic peer interaction and task orientation in attention-deficit-disordered children

A sequential observational approach was used to compare peer interactions in 10 mixed dyads of ADD-H and non-Add-H boys and 10 dyads of non-ADD-H boys in laboratory cooperative and school classroom task analogue activities. Mixed dyads were found to have a greater frequency of aggression and less joint activity than control dyads in specific situations. No differences were found for measures of functional attention as measured by frequency, duration, and mean duration of task-oriented behavior. Lag sequential analyses revealed two major sequences that differentiated mixed from normal dyads. These were Verbal Reciprocity (a measure of reciprocal verbal interaction) and Retreat (a measure of social withdrawal following aggression).

Intensity of punishment, timing of punishment, and cognitive structure as determinants of response inhibition

Abstract Eighty-four Grade 1 boys were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 experimental or two control conditions. Experimental subjects were trained under one of six punishment conditions, varying in respect to intensity of punishment, timing of punishment, and cognitive structure. Results indicated that when cognitive structure was low, response inhibition was stronger after early, than after late punishment and that high-intensity punishment was a more effective inhibitor than low-intensity punishment. The provision of highcognitive structure was very effective for inducing response inhibition, especially when punishment was delivered late. Telemetered heart-rate data secured throughout the experiment further support the suggestion that, under certain conditions, response inhibition may be produced primarily by emotional arousal, and, under other conditions, by the availability of prohibition rules.

Paranoid delusions and threatening hallucinations: A prospective study of sleep paralysis experiences☆

Previously we reported a three-factor structure for hallucinations accompanying sleep paralysis (SP). These earlier analyses were, however, based on retrospective accounts. In a prospective study, 383 individuals reported individual episodes online providing further evidence for the three-factor structure as well as clearer conceptually meaningful relations among factors than retrospective studies. In addition, reports of individual episodes permitted a more fine-grained analysis of the internal structure of factors to assess predictions based on the hypothesis that a sensed or felt presence (FP) is a core experience affecting other SP hallucinations. Results were generally consistent with this hypothesis. In particular, associations among, and temporal stability of, sensory hallucinations were largely explained by their common association with FP. The findings are consistent with REM initiation of a threat activated vigilance system with pervasive effects on the SP experience and suggest a potential model for the thematic organization of nightmares and dreams more generally.