Previous work has shown that the core symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, were related to increased spontaneous mind wandering even at trait (non-clinical) levels in an experimental setting. These findings contrast with the fact that mind wandering is only referenced as a symptom of inattention in the DSM-V. In the present work we set out to further investigate the relationship between mind wandering and the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity by considering mind wandering in daily life in emerging adults. We conducted a survey study of 627 emerging adults measuring the tendencies of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity as well as daily life reports of mind wandering. Consistent with effects in an experimental setting, spontaneous mind wandering was linked to all three core symptoms of ADHD. A novel finding was that inattention and hyperactivity were also related to the reports of deliberate mind wandering. Our findings reveal a consistent link between mind wandering and the three core symptoms of ADHD, suggesting mind wandering is not associated with just the core symptom of inattention in emerging adulthood.

Studies shows that there is a relationship between internet addiction and ADHD symptoms, especially inattention. A study found that there is a unique relation between each core ADHD symptom and different types of internet activities. Another study found that deficits in inhibitory control moderate the relationship between internet addiction and inattention. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how specific online activities might modify the relationship between inattention, internet addiction and inhibitory control. 205 participants (79 females,126 males) between 18 and 49 years old took part in the study from a community sample. They completed the demographic information form, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom (ASRS-v1.1) Checklist, and Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) online. Then, they performed the Stroop Task. Consistent with previous research we show that inattention predicts internet addiction, and that this relationship is moderated by inhibitory control ability; the relationship between inattention and internet addiction strengthens as executive function impairment increases. These results indicate that ADHD symptoms and executive function impairments interact in a way that leads to real-life consequences, even when there is no relationship between those symptoms and executive function performance. Furthermore, we show that no single online activity is responsible for the relationship between inattention and internet addiction, nor does inhibitory control ability determine which online activity participants engage in.

Objective: By addressing numerous statistical, theoretical, and methodological weaknesses of existing research on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), this study attempted to examine closely whether cognitive dysfunction in CFS patients is restricted to slowed information processing or whether it extends to less efficient attentional selectivity. Method: In an online study, 83 CFS patients and 83 healthy controls (all French-speaking volunteers) first completed the Multidimensional Chronic Asthenia Scale and then performed the two-to-one version of the Stroop task known to carefully measure different components of the Stroop effect including the targeted Stroop interference (i.e., prima facie indicators of attentional selectivity). Results: Adequately powered analyses of raw reaction times pointed to differences in the magnitude of Stroop interference between CFS patients and healthy controls. However, these differences are entirely explained by generally slower processing speed in CFS patients. Indeed, no such differences were found when standardized (i.e., z scored) reaction times that take into account preexisting differences in processing speed were analyzed, and this absence of differences was attested-for the first time-by strong Bayesian evidence in favor of the null. Conclusion: Although the present study showed that attentional selectivity is not impaired in CFS patients and that their cognitive dysfunction is restricted to slowed information processing, other studies are still needed to fully understand cognitive impairments associated with CFS.

OBJECTIVE:The aim of the present research was to assess the relationship between the executive function of inhibition and hypnotic and placebo analgesia. METHODS:In a fully within-subjects experiment, 54 participants performed the Cold Pressor Task under 3 randomized conditions: (1) hypnotic analgesia; (2) placebo analgesia; and (3) a control condition. Pain threshold and pain tolerance were used as measures of pain perception in each condition. Analgesia was calculated by subtracting the control conditions from the 2 critical conditions (hypnosis and placebo). Following recent work indicating doubly-dissociated forms of inhibition, participants also completed: (1) the Stroop task; (2) the Hayling Sentence Completion Task (HSCT) and a matrix reasoning task, in a fixed order. RESULTS:Analyses revealed that both placebo analgesia (effect sizes rB >0.4) and hypnotic analgesia (effect sizes rB >0.7) suggestions were effective. The results also showed that HSCT performance predicted the magnitude of placebo pain threshold ( t(47) =3.448, p <.001, BF 10 =16.4), but not hypnotic pain threshold ( t(47) =0.537, p >.5, BF 01 =3.483). The results for placebo ( t(47) =3.126, p =.003) and hypnotic ( t(47) =0.295, p >.7) pain tolerance and HSCT performance were insensitive (BF 10 >0.3<3). Neither the Stroop task nor matrix reasoning scores predicted analgesic effects ( t s<1.6, p s>.1; BF 10 <0.3). CONCLUSION:The results highlight the efficacy of suggestion on pain perception and show a relationship between performance on the HSCT and the magnitude of the placebo effect. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The present study further explored the age-related changes in attentional selection, first reported by Jackson and Balota Jackson and Balota (Psychology and Aging 28:3, 2013). To this end, response stimulus interval (RSI) was manipulated in in a Stroop paradigm that allows to isolate different components of the overall Stroop effect. The originally reported reduction of the overall Stroop effect in short (vs. long) RSI was successfully replicated. In line with the original claim that the ability to maintain the relevant task set consistently across time is preserved in older adults, this reduction failed to interact again with age - a null result that was uniquely supported in the present study with Bayesian evidence. Although healthy aging affected all components of the overall Stroop effect, the present study further identified interference and a disproportionally larger semantic conflict effect, as being the primary mechanisms behind the larger overall Stroop effect that older adults produce compared to younger adults. These results therefore directly fuel the original conclusion of Jackson and Balota Jackson and Balota (Psychology and Aging 28:3, 2013) that age-related differences in attentional selection are due the degradation of task set quality, namely a lesser ability of older adults to control interference. The present study additionally showed this reduced control of interference directly and identified where in the processing stream it occurs. The immediate implication that challenges the dominant unitary models of Stroop performance, is that future interventions designed to boost interference control in older adults should most likely target semantic, as opposed to response conflict.

Goal neglect refers to when an aspect of task instructions is not utilised due to increased competition between goal representations, an attentional limit theoretically linked to working memory. In an attempt to alleviate goal neglect and to investigate the association between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-supported working memory and goal neglect, we used high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the left DLPFC whilst participants completed the letter-monitoring task, a measure of goal neglect, and an N3-back task, a working memory task known to be affected by rTMS of the left DLPFC, following 20 min of active and sham stimulation (run on separate days). We found increased accuracy on the N3-back task in addition to decreased goal neglect in the active compared to sham condition when controlling for age and fluid abilities (as assessed by matrix reasoning performance). Furthermore, analysis showed that active stimulation improvements on both the N3-back and letter-monitoring tasks were greater for those with higher fluid abilities. These findings provide support for the link between the DLPFC-support working memory and goal neglect. Increased performance on the N3-back task also supports the literature reporting a link between left DLPFC and verbal working memory. Results are evaluated in the context of potential use to alleviate symptoms of disorders related to goal neglect.

The role of the patient in hypnotherapy can be underestimated by both the therapist and the patient. This is likely due to the focus the hypnosis literature has had on the role played by the hypnotist/therapist and less on the phenomenological control (control over subjective experience) applied by the patient. Whilst early approaches to hypnosis and hypnotherapy included concepts such as autosuggestion and self-hypnosis, the role of the self has been largely overlooked. Here we aim to highlight the importance of the self in hypnotherapy and hypnosis by considering the concept of self-hypnosis and how it relates to hetero-hypnosis. We will show that: 1) historically the self was an important component of the concept of hypnosis; 2) extant theories emphasise the role of the self in hypnosis; 3) self-hypnosis is largely indistinguishable from hetero-hypnosis; 4) self-hypnosis is as effective as hetero-hypnosis. We also argue that highlighting the role of the self in hypnotherapy and hypnosis could increase feelings of self-efficacy, especially given that it can be considered a skill that can be advanced and implies self-control and not “mind-control”. Highlighting the role of phenomenological control by the patient could also increase the uptake of hypnotherapy as treatment for various disorders.

Internet addiction (IA) has been related to psychiatric problems such as ADHD. However, it is not known exactly how this relationship operates, although most research shows that both people with ADHD and IA have inhibitory control (IC) deficit. This study aimed to investigate whether IC mediates or moderates the relationship. 76 non-clinically diagnosed participants were recruited. They performed the Stroop task and completed the Young's Internet Addiction Test, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist and a Demographic Information Form. Consistent with previous research, the results show that while total ADHD/inattention was correlated with IA, hyperactivity/impulsivity was not. In contrast with some previous research, Stroop task performance (measured via reaction times and pupil dilation) did not differ between low and high IA groups, nor low and high inattention groups. Despite neither inattention nor IA between associated with IC impairments, the relationship between inattention and IA was shown to be moderated by Stroop task performance in that the relationship was present mainly in those who experience high and moderate IC deficits. This finding could have implications for both ADHD and IA at higher levels of severity and could help guide prevention and treatment options in those most vulnerable to IA.

Poor performance on cognitive assessment tasks may indicate a selective 'impairment'. However, it is unclear whether such difficulties separate the individual from the general population qualitatively (i.e., they form a discrete group) or quantitatively (i.e., they represent the lower end of a continuous distribution). Taxometric methods address this question but have rarely been applied to cognitive disorders. This study examined the latent structure of developmental prosopagnosia (DP) - a relatively selective deficit in face recognition that occurs in the absence of neurological injury. Multiple taxometric procedures were applied to dominant diagnostic indices of face recognition ability across two independent datasets. All analyses supported a categorical outcome, even for mild cases of DP, suggesting that it is a qualitatively distinct condition. This finding has significant implications for our understanding of DP given it has traditionally been viewed as a continuous impairment. In particular, existing (arbitrary) diagnostic cut-offs may be too conservative, underestimating prevalence rates and prohibiting big-data approaches to theoretical study. More broadly, these conclusions support application of the taxometric method to many other cognitive processes where weaknesses are predominantly assumed to reside on a continuous distribution.

Cognitive control is the ability to allocate attention away from stimuli that are irrelevant to achieving a goal, towards stimuli that are. When conflict is anticipated, attention is biased in a global, top-down manner called proactive control and this effortful type of cognitive control is engaged before stimulus onset. The list-wise congruency proportion (LWPC) effect, where the Stroop congruency effect is reduced when there are more incongruent than congruent trials compared to vice versa, has been viewed as one of the prime signatures of this type of cognitive control. However, there has been recent debate about the extent to which this effect should be attributed to proactive control instead of alternative explanations such as simpler associative learning or reactive control. Thus, by using pupillometry (i.e., an indicator of cognitive effort), the present study investigated the extent to which LWPC effects result from effortful proactive control. Experiment 1 employed a classic proportion congruency manipulation, while Experiment 2 replaced congruent trials with neutral trials to control for potential effects of associative learning. While in line with past findings, proportion congruency effects were obtained in response times of both experiments and pupillometry showed both proportion congruency and Stroop effects after stimulus onset, no differences in pupil sizes were found during the preparatory phase. Therefore, these results do not support the idea that the observed LWPC effects are due to participants engaging in effortful proactive control.

The study addressed the still-open issue of whether semantic (in addition to response) conflict does indeed contribute to Stroop interference (which along with facilitation contributes to the overall Stroop effect also known as Congruency effect). To this end, semantic conflict was examined across the entire response time (RT) distribution (as opposed to mean RTs). Three (out of four) reported experiments, along with cross-experimental analyses, revealed that semantic conflict was absent in the participants' faster responses. This result characterizes Stroop interference as a unitary phenomenon (i.e., driven uniquely by response conflict). When the same participants' responses were slower, Stroop interference became a composite phenomenon with an additional contribution of semantic conflict that was statistically independent of both response conflict and facilitation. While the present findings allow us to account for the fact that semantic conflict has not been consistently found in past studies, further empirical and theoretical efforts are still needed to explain why exactly it is restricted to longer responses. Indeed, since neither unitary nor composite models can account for this polymorphic nature of Stroop interference on their own, the implications for the current state of theory are outlined.

Numerous studies investigating the effects of a given laboratory or field intervention on attentional selectivity have evidenced their (positive) findings with improved performance in the Stroop task. In contrast to conclusions drawn in these studies, the present paper argues that the extent to which this improvement actually reflects an attentional/inhibitory boost is still relatively unknown. To evidence this claim, this paper first delimited conditions under which Stroop performance indicators can directly measure selective attention and its changes. It then assessed the use of these indicators in a specific and exemplary body of translational research investigating the link (correlational or causal) between physical activity/exercise and attentional selectivity with a result that only nine past studies (out of 52) actually used relevant indicators of physical activity/exercise-related changes in selective attention. The narrative review of these nine studies highlighted a substantial gap between what this body of research shows and the conclusions it draws. To mitigate this gap that is likely to concern all types of research aimed at boosting attentional selectivity, the paper also provided practical guidelines to allow future studies employing the Stroop task to draw more theoretically and empirically grounded inferences about the effects of any intervention on attentional selectivity.

Task sets have been argued to play an important role in cognition, giving rise to the notions of needing to switch between active task sets and to control competing task sets in selective attention tasks. For example, it has been argued that Stroop interference results from two categories of conflict: informational and task (set) conflict. Informational conflict arises from processing the word and is resolved by a late selection mechanism; task conflict arises when two task sets (i.e., word reading and colour identification) compete for activation and can be construed as involving an early selection mechanism. However, recent work has argued that task set control might not be needed to explain all of the switching cost in task switching studies. Here we consider whether task conflict plays a role in selective attention tasks. In particular, we consider whether S-R associations, which lead to informational conflict, are enough on their own to explain findings attributed to task set conflict. We review and critically evaluate both the findings that provided the original impetus for proposing task conflict in selective attention tasks and more recent findings reporting negative facilitation (longer RTs to congruent than to neutral stimuli) - a unique marker of task conflict. We then provide a tentative alternative account of negative facilitation based on poor control over informational conflict and apply it to a number of paradigms including the Colour-Object interference and Affordances tasks. It is argued that invoking competition between task sets in selective attention tasks might not be necessary.

OBJECTIVE:To examine the prevalence of pain catastrophising and identify whether it impacts on the timing of hospital admission when in labour. METHODS:A longitudinal cohort study. Nulliparous women, experiencing an uncomplicated pregnancy in England, were recruited between 25 and 33 weeks gestation. Participants completed two online questionnaires, (1) on recruitment, including the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (WDEQ-A) (2) at three weeks postnatal. RESULTS:A total of 389 eligible participants entered the study. The percentage of women who were pain catastrophisers (PCS ≥ 20) was 28.1 %, while 7.6 % had a high pain catastrophising score (PCS ≥ 30). There was no association between pain catastrophising and the timing of hospital admission. The percentage of women reporting fear of childbirth (WDEQ-A score of ≥ 85) was 10.6 %. Fear of childbirth was highly associated with PCS scores (p <.001) at both the lower (≥20) and higher (≥30) thresholds. CONCLUSION:Although not statistically significant, there was a tendency for women who pain catastrophise to present to hospital in the latent phase. The highly significant association between PCS and WDEQ-A scores has implications for the identification of these women and suggests that the PCS can be used as a screening tool to identify those women who have heightened fear around pain and who may also go on to develop clinically relevant fear of childbirth. Further studies are needed to confirm the acceptability of the PCS as a screening tool with women.

The present study examined the extent to which a key marker of task conflict, negative facilitation, is modified by onset complexity. Negative facilitation, slower reaction times (RTs) to congruent stimuli than to non-lexical neutral stimuli in the Stroop task, is thought to reflect competition between the task sets of colour naming and word reading in the Stroop task (also known as task conflict). That is, it reflects competition between whole task sets, over and above any competition between specific responses associated with a stimulus. An alternative account of negative facilitation argues that it reflects the specific phonological processing differences between pronounceable (e.g., congruent) and non-pronounceable (e.g., xxxx) stimuli that are magnified by the specific task contexts that produce negative facilitation (a mostly non-lexical trial context). Here we used onset complexity to manipulate pronounceability of the irrelevant words in the Stroop task to test this alternative account. However, before applying manipulations that produce negative facilitation, we initially tested whether there was an effect of onset complexity on Stroop task performance. The results from Experiment(s) 1 (and 3) showed that complex onsets led to larger positive facilitation and congruency effects relative to simple onsets, but did not modify incongruent or neutral-word RTs. Experiment 2 directly tested whether onset complexity modifies negative facilitation and provided strong evidence for no effect of onset complexity, contrary to the alternative account predictions. The implications of the results for task conflict theory, selective attention, and phonological processing in the manual response Stroop task are discussed.

An increasing number of studies have reported the existence of ADHD symptoms to be risk factors for technology addictions among young adults. In contrast to previous studies, the aim of the present study was to examine different dimensions of technology addiction in a community sample of adults and to examine their association with the individual trait-level ADHD symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. A community sample of one hundred and fifty adults were recruited to participate in this study via convenience sampling. Participants completed the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Smartphone Addiction Scale, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, the Compulsive Online Shopping Scale, and a Demographic Information Form. Composite ADHD score, inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity were positively associated with technology addictions (internet, social media, smartphone, and online shopping addiction). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity were predictors of social media addiction and smartphone addiction, whereas they were not for online shopping addiction. Furthermore, inattention was the only predictor of internet addiction. People with non-clinical, trait-level ADHD, especially those showing a preponderance of inattention symptoms appear to be more vulnerable to developing some forms of technology addiction.

The present study examined the extent to which a key marker of task conflict, negative facilitation, is modified by onset complexity. Negative facilitation, slower RTs to congruent stimuli than to non-lexical neutral stimuli in the Stroop task, is thought to reflect competition between the task sets of colour naming and word reading in the Stroop task (also known as task conflict). That is, it reflects competition between whole task sets, over and above any competition between specific responses associated with a stimulus. An alternative account of negative facilitation argues that it reflects the specific phonological processing differences between pronounceable (e.g., congruent) and non-pronounceable (e.g., xxxx) stimuli that are magnified by the specific task contexts that produce negative facilitation (a mostly non-lexical trial context). Here we used onset complexity to manipulate pronounceability of the irrelevant words in the Stroop task to test this alternative account. However, before applying manipulations that produce negative facilitation, we initially tested whether there was an effect of onset complexity on Stroop task performance. The results from Experiment 1 (and 3) showed that complex onsets led to larger positive facilitation and congruency effects relative to simple onsets, but did not modify incongruent or neutral word RTs. Experiment 2 directly tested whether onset complexity modifies negative facilitation and provided strong evidence for no effect of onset complexity, contrary to the alternative account predictions. The implications of the results for task conflict theory, selective attention and phonological processing in the manual response Stroop task are discussed.

A remarkable example of reducing Stroop interference is provided by the word blindness post-hypnotic suggestion (a suggestion to see words as meaningless during the Stroop task). This suggestion has been repeatedly demonstrated to halve Stroop interference when it is given to highly hypnotizable people. In order to explore how highly hypnotizable individuals manage to reduce Stroop interference when they respond to the word blindness suggestion, we tested four candidate strategies in two experiments outside of the hypnotic context. A strategy of looking away from the target words and a strategy of visual blurring demonstrated compelling evidence for substantially reducing Stroop interference in both experiments. However, the pattern of results produced by these strategies did not match those of the word blindness suggestion. Crucially, neither looking away nor visual blurring managed to speed up incongruent responses, suggesting that neither of these strategies is the likely underlying mechanism of the word blindness suggestion. Although the current results did not unravel the mystery of the word blindness suggestion, they showed that there are multiple voluntary ways through which participants can dramatically reduce Stroop interference.