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EEG Correlates of Preparatory and Executive Attention during the Performance of Tasks with Various Directionalities of Attention

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Abstract—

EEG has been studied in the nonstationary mode of cognitive tasks. In this mode, cognitive task performance is reduced to seconds, cognitive activity is repeated many times, the stages of short-term dominance of externally oriented (sensory) attention are followed by stages of longer dominance of either sensory or internally oriented (mental) attention. Previously, the stationary mode was used, in which the subjects were for a long time either in the state of dominance of sensory attention or in the state of dominance of mental attention. The non-stationary mode is close to real learning modes, including the use of electronic education techniques. The non-stationary mode also allows the comparison of EEG correlates of mental and sensory attention dominance at different stages of cognitive task performance. An analysis of preliminary data shows that, at the stage of preparatory attention, the EEG differences between tasks with a dominance of mental attention and with a dominance of sensory attention are much smaller than the differences at the stage of executive attention, which suggests non-specificity of the nature of preparatory attention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Y. A. Boytsova, S. G. Danko & M. L. Solov’eva

  2. International Electronic Education Group of Companies, Moscow, Russia

    L. M. Kachalova & I. A. Kuperman

Authors
  1. Y. A. Boytsova
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  2. S. G. Danko
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  3. M. L. Solov’eva
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  4. L. M. Kachalova
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  5. I. A. Kuperman
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Correspondence to Y. A. Boytsova.

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Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement of compliance with standards of research involving humans as subjects. All studies were conducted in accordance with the principles of biomedical ethics formulated in the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments and approved by the local Ethics Committee of the Bekhtereva Institute of the Human Brain (St. Petersburg). Each study participant submitted voluntary informed consent signed by him after explaining to him the potential risks and benefits, as well as the nature of the forthcoming study.

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Translated by E. Babchenko

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Boytsova, Y.A., Danko, S.G., Solov’eva, M.L. et al. EEG Correlates of Preparatory and Executive Attention during the Performance of Tasks with Various Directionalities of Attention. Hum Physiol 46, 597–606 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119720050035

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119720050035

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