Modern concepts of attention systems

A three-component model of neural networks of human attention, including modules of maintaining vigilance (alerting), orientation (orienting) and executive control (executive attention), summarizes the data of a large number of studies concerning the function of human attention in norm and in pathological conditions. This article describes the main provisions of this theory and discusses the experimental evidence in its favor. Despite the widespread dissemination of this model in the past decade, relatively small number of works devoted to the study of the development of attention operations and their brain mechanisms in childhood. The article attempts to summarize the data on the development of neural networks of attention. The results showed that the development of attention operations in ontogenesis occurs in different terms, and this heterochrony partially determines the degree of their plasticity in relation to the shaping influences. Consideration of experiments aimed at modification of attention processes, finalizing the review, shows a wide range of areas for application of knowledge and new research in relevant to modern science directions.

1. Berger A., Kofman O., Livneh U. Multidisciplinary perspectives on attention and the development of self-regulation. Progress in Neurobiology, 2007. Vol. 82, no. 5, pp. 256–286. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2007.06.004
2. Berger A., Tzur G., Posner M.I. Infant brains detect arithmetic errors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2006. Vol. 103, no. 33, pp. 12649–12653. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0605350103
3. Brown J.W. Beyond conflict monitoring: Cognitive control and the neural basis of thinking before you act. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2013. Vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 179–185. doi: 10.1177/0963721412470685
4. Cuevas K., Bell M.A. Infant attention and early childhood executive function. Child Development, 2014. Vol. 85, no. 2, pp. 397–404. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12126
5. Drechsler R., Brandeis D., Foldenyi M. The course of neuropsychological functions in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from late childhood to early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2005. Vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 824–836. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00384.x
6. Fan J., Flombaum J.I., McCandliss B.D. Cognitive and brain consequences of conflict. Neuroimage, 2003. Vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 42–57. doi:  10.1006/nimg.2002.1319
7. Fan J., McCandliss B.D., Sommer T. Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2002. Vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 340–347. doi: 10.1162/089892902317361886
8. Fernandez-Duque D., Posner M.I. Brain imaging of attentional networks in normal and pathological. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 2001. Vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 74–93. doi: 10.1076/jcen.23.1.74.1217
9. Gerardi-Caulton G. Sensitivity to spatial conflict and the development of self – regulation in children 24–36 months of age. Developmental Science, 2000. Vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 397–404
10. Gillam R.B., Loeb D.F., Hoffman L.M. The efficacy of Fast ForWord Language intervention in school-age children with language impairment: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2008. Vol. 51, pp. 97–119. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/007)
11. Johnson K.A., Robertson I.H., Barry E. Impaired conflict resolution and alerting in children with ADHD: evidence from the Attention Network Task (ANT). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2008. Vol. 49, no. 12, pp. 1339–1347. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01936.x
12. Jones L.B., Rothbart M.K., Posner M.I. Development of executive attention in preschool children. Developmental Science, 2003. Vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 498–504. doi: 10.1111/1467-7687.00307
13. Klingberg T. Training and plasticity of working memory. Trends in cognitive sciences, 2010. Vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 317–324.
14. Lupiáñez J., Klein R.M., Bartolomeo P. Inhibition of return: Twenty years after. Cognitive neuropsychology, 2006. Vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 1003–1014. doi:  10.1080/02643290600588095
15. Lutcke H., Frahm J. Lateralized anterior cingulate function during error processing and conflict monitoring as revealed by high-resolution fMRI. Cereb Cortex, 2008. Vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 508–515. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhm090
16. McBurnett K., Pfiffner L. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Concepts, controversies, new directions. 2007: CRC Press. 426 p.
17. Mercuri E., Baranello G., Romeo D.M. The development of vision. Early Hum Dev, 2007. Vol. 83, no. 12, pp. 795–800. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2007.09.014
18. Nobre A.C., Gitelman D.R., Dias E.C. Covert visual spatial orienting and saccades: overlapping neural systems. Neuroimage, 2000. Vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 210–216. doi: 10.1006/nimg.2000.0539
19. Parris B.A., Thai N.J., Benattayallah A. The role of the lateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate in stimulus-response association reversals. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2007. Vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 13–24. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.1.13
20. Penkman L. Remediation of attention deficits in children: a focus on childhood cancer, traumatic brain injury and attention deficit disorder. Pediatric Rehabilitation, 2004. Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 111–123. doi: 10.1080/13638490310001649417
21. Posner M.I., Rothbart M.K. Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of psychological science. Annual Review of Psychology, 2007. Vol. 58, pp. 1–23. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085516
22. Querne L., Vernier-Hauvette M.-P., Berquin P. Development of phasic attention in children: Temporal analysis of alert during a detection task [Elektronnyi resurs]. Current psychology letters. Behaviour, brain & cognition, 2009. Vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 1–18. URL: http://cpl.revues.org/4800 (Accessed 18.01.2017).
23. Ristic J.,Kingstone A. Rethinking attentional development: reflexive and volitional orienting in children and adults. Developmental Science, 2009. Vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 289–296. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00756.x
24. Rothbart M.K., Ellis L.K., Rueda M.R. Developing mechanisms of temperamental effortful control. Journal of Personality, 2003. Vol. 71, no. 6, pp. 1113–1143. doi: 10.1111/1467-6494.7106009
25. Rubia K., Smith A.B., Brammer M.J. Right inferior prefrontal cortex mediates response inhibition while mesial prefrontal cortex is responsible for error detection. Neuroimage, 2003. Vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 351–358. doi:  10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00275-1
26. Rueda M.R., Fan J., McCandliss B.D. Development of attentional networks in childhood. Neuropsychologia, 2004. Vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 1029–1040. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.12.012
27. Rueda M.R., Rothbart M.K., McCandliss B.D. Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the development of executive attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2005. Vol. 102, no. 41, pp. 14931–14936. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0506897102
28. Shalev L., Tsal Y., Mevorach C. Computerized progressive attentional training (CPAT) program: effective direct intervention for children with ADHD. Child neuropsychology, 2007. Vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 382–388. doi: 10.1080/09297040600770787
29. Sohlberg M.M., McLaughlin K.A., Pavese A. Evaluation of attention process training and brain injury education in persons with acquired brain injury. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 2000. Vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 656–676. doi: 10.1076/1380-3395(200010)22:5;1-9;FT656
30. Strong G.K., Torgerson C.J., Torgerson D. A systematic meta-analytic review of evidence for the effectiveness of the 'Fast ForWord' language intervention program. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2011. Vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 224–235. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02329.x
31. Sylvester C.Y., Wager T.D., Lacey S.C. Switching attention and resolving interference: fMRI measures of executive functions. Neuropsychologia, 2003. Vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 357–370. doi: 10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00167-7
32. Tamm L., Epstein J.N., Peugh J.L. Preliminary data suggesting the efficacy of attention training for school-aged children with ADHD. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2013. Vol. 4, pp. 16–28. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2012.11.004
33. Tanji J.,Hoshi E. Role of the lateral prefrontal cortex in executive behavioral control. Physiological Reviews, 2008. Vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 37–57. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00014.2007
34. Temple E., Deutsch G.K., Poldrack R.A. Neural deficits in children with dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation: evidence from functional MRI. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2003. Vol. 100, no. 5, pp. 2860–2865. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0030098100
35. Turatto M., Sandrini M., Miniussi C. The role of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in visual change awareness. Neuroreport, 2004. Vol. 15, no. 16, pp. 2549–2552
36. Wainwright A., Bryson S.E. The development of exogenous orienting: mechanisms of control. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2002. Vol. 82, no. 2, pp. 141–155. doi: 10.1016/S0022-0965(02)00002-4
37. Wang Z., Klein R.M. Searching for inhibition of return in visual search: a review. Vision Research, 2010. Vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 220–228. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2009.11.013
38. Woods A.J., Goksun T., Chatterjee A. The development of organized visual search. Acta Psychologica, 2013. Vol. 143, no. 2, pp. 191–199. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.03.008