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Popular sentiment suggests that boredom ought to lead to creativity despite a lack of research investigating the relationship explicitly. Across two experiments the relation between boredom and creativity was examined via a mood induction and surveys (Experiment 1) and behavioural tasks (Experiments 1 and 2). Results from Experiment 1 indicated that state boredom was in fact associated with poorer performance on the divergent thinking task and that trait boredom proneness was associated with both diminished belief in one’s creative potential and lower levels of engagement of everyday creative pursuits. Results from Experiment 2 again found no relation between state or trait boredom and creativity on a novel creativity task. Clearly, these findings indicate that neither state nor trait boredom promote increased creativity., {"references":["Abraham, A. (2016). The imaginative mind. Human Brain Mapping, 37(11), 4197–4211. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23300","Bench, S. W., and Lench, H. C. (2013). On the function of boredom. Behavioral Sciences, 3, 459–472. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs3030459","Bench, S. W., and Lench, H. C. (2019). Boredom as a seeking state: Boredom prompts the pursuit of novel (even negative) experiences. Emotion, 19(2), 242–254. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000433","Brosowsky, N., Barr, N., Mugon, J., Scholer, A., Seli, P., and Danckert, J. (2022). Creativity, boredom proneness and well-being in the pandemic. Behavioural Sciences, 12(3), 68. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12030068","Danckert, J. (2019). Boredom: Managing the delicate balance between exploration and exploitation. In J. R. Velasco (Ed.), Boredom is in your mind: A shared psychological philosophical approach (pp. 37–53). Springer.","Danckert, J. and Eastwood, J. D. (2020). Out of my skull: the psychology of boredom. Harvard University Press.","Danckert, J., Mugon, J., Struk, A., and Eastwood, J. (2018). Boredom: What Is It Good For? In Heather C. Lench (Ed.), The Function of Emotions (pp. 93–119). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77619-4_6","DeCoster, J. (2007). Applied linear regression notes set 1. Retrieved from http://www.stat-help.com/notes.html.","Dietrich, A. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(6), 1011–1026. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196731","Dietrich, A. (2019). Types of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1517-7","Dollinger, S. J. (2003). Need for uniqueness, need for cognition, and creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 37, 99–116.","Eastwood, J. D., Frischen, A., Fenske, M. J., and Smilek, D. (2012). The unengaged mind. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 482-495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612456044","Elpidorou, A. (2014). The bright side of boredom. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01245","Elpidorou, A. (2018). The bored mind is a guiding mind: toward a regulatory theory of boredom. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 17(3), 455–484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-017-9515-1","Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., and Lang, A.-G. (2009). Statistical Power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/brm.41.4.1149","Fink, A., Grabner, R. H., Benedek, M., Reishofer, G., Hauswirth, V., Fally, M., Neuper, C., Ebner, F., and Neubauer, A. C. (2009). The creative brain: Investigation of brain activity during creative problem solving by means of EEG and FMRI. Human Brain Mapping, 30(3), 734–748. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20538","Gasper, K., and Middlewood, B. L. (2014). Approaching novel thoughts: Understanding why elation and boredom promote associative thought more than distress and relaxation. 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A. P., and Igou, E. R. (2019). Risk‐taking increases under boredom. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 33(3), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2160","Landis, J. R., and Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159. https://doi.org/10.2307/2529310","Larson, R. W. (1990). Emotions and the creative process; anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment as predictors of creative writing. Imagination, cognition and personality, 9(4), 275-292.","Lee, C. M., Neighbors, C., and Woods, B. A. (2007). Marijuana motives: Young adults' reasons for using marijuana. Addictive Behaviors, 32(7), 1384–1394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.09.010","LePera, N. (2011). Relationships between boredom proneness, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, and substance use. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e741452011-003","Liang, Z., Zhao, Q., Zhou, Z., Yu, Q., Li, S., and Chen, S. (2020). The effect of \"novelty input\" and \"novelty output\" on boredom during home quarantine in the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating effects of trait creativity. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601548","Malkovsky, E., Merrifield, C., Goldberg, Y., and Danckert, J. (2012). Exploring the relationship between boredom and sustained attention. Experimental Brain Research, 221(1), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3147-z","Mann, S., and Cadman, R. (2014). Does being bored make us more creative?. Creativity Research Journal, 26(2), 165-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2014.901073","Mercer, K. B., and Eastwood, J. D. (2010). Is boredom associated with problem gambling behaviour? it depends on what you mean by 'boredom.' International Gambling Studies, 10(1), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459791003754414","Merrifield, C., and Danckert, J. (2014). Characterizing the psychophysiological signature of boredom. 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Perception is thought to rely upon evolving activity within a recurrent, distributed thalamocortical network whose interconnections are modulated by bursts of ascending neuromodulatory neurotransmitters, such as noradrenaline. To test this hypothesis, we leveraged a combination of pupillometry, fMRI and recurrent neural network modelling of an ambiguous figures task. Qualitative shifts in the perceptual interpretation of an ambiguous image were associated with peaks in pupil diameter, an indirect readout of phasic noradrenergic bursts. Based on previous modelling work, we hypothesized that increases in neuromodulatory tone led to neural gain alteration so as to causally mediate perceptual switches. To test this hypothesis, we trained a recurrent neural network to perform an analogous perceptual categorisation task, and then manipulated the gain of the RNN to mimic the effect of neuromodulators, such as noradrenaline. As predicted, we observed an earlier perceptual shift as a function of heightened gain. Leveraging a low-dimensional readout of the RNN dynamics, and a measure of the energy landscape traversed by the dynamics, we developed two novel predictions: perceptual switches should co-occur with peaks in low-dimensional brain state velocity and with flattened energy landscape dynamics. We used whole-brain fMRI data to confirm these predictions. These results confirm the core role of the neuromodulatory system in the large-scale network reconfigurations that mediate perceptual switches.

Each cerebellar hemisphere projects to the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. Previous research suggests a lateralization of cognitive functions in the cerebellum that mirrors the cerebral cortex, with attention/visuospatial functions represented in the left cerebellar hemisphere, and language functions in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Although there is good evidence supporting the role of the right cerebellum with language functions, the evidence supporting the notion that attention and visuospatial functions are left lateralized is less clear. Given that spatial neglect is one of the most common disorders arising from right cortical damage, we reasoned that damage to the left cerebellum would result in increased spatial neglect-like symptoms, without necessarily leading to an official diagnosis of spatial neglect. To examine this disconnection hypothesis, we analyzed neglect screening data (line bisection, cancellation, figure copying) from 20 patients with isolated unilateral cerebellar stroke. Results indicated that left cerebellar patients (n=9) missed significantly more targets on the left side of cancellation tasks compared to a normative sample. No significant effects were observed for right cerebellar patients (n=11). A lesion overlap analysis indicated that Crus II (78% overlap), and lobules VII and IX (66% overlap) were the regions most commonly damaged in left cerebellar patients. Our results are consistent with the notion that the left cerebellum may be important for attention and visuospatial functions. Given the poor prognosis typically associated with neglect, we suggest that screening for neglect symptoms, and visuospatial deficits more generally, may be important for tailoring rehabilitative efforts to help maximize recovery in cerebellar patients.

Perception is thought to rely upon evolving activity within a recurrent, distributed thalamocortical network whose interconnections are modulated by bursts of noradrenaline. To test this hypothesis, we leveraged a combination of pupillometry, fMRI and recurrent neural network modelling of an ambiguous figures task. Shifts in the perceptual interpretation of an ambiguous image were associated with peaks in pupil diameter, implicating noradrenergic gain alteration in the perceptual switch. We trained a recurrent neural network to perform an analogous perceptual categorisation task, and then manipulated the gain of the RNN to mimic the effect of noradrenaline. We observed an earlier perceptual shift as a function of heightened gain. Leveraging a low-dimensional readout of the RNN dynamics, and a measure of the energy landscape traversed by the dynamics, we developed two novel predictions: perceptual switches should co-occur with peaks in low-dimensional brain state velocity and with flattened energy landscape dynamics. We used whole-brain fMRI data to confirm these predictions. These results confirm the core role of the noradrenergic system in the large-scale network reconfigurations that mediate perception.

Research recently showed that boredom proneness was associated with increased social distancing rule-breaking in a sample collected early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we explore data collected early in the pandemic to examine what factors might drive this relation. We focus on political affiliation. Given the functional account of boredom as a call to action, we hypothesized that this urge to act may drive individuals towards outlets replete with symbolic value (e.g., ideology, identity). In addition, given the politicization of some social distancing rules (e.g., mask wearing), we explored whether those who adhere to strong political ideologies—particularly conservative ideologies—would be more likely to rule-break. Moderation analyses indicated that boredom proneness and social (but not fiscal) conservatism were indeed predictive of rule-breaking. These results highlight the need for both clear messaging emphasizing the strength of communal identity and action (i.e., that “We are all in this together”) and for interventions that emphasize shared collective values in contexts that appeal directly to social conservatives.

Two experiments investigated what eye movements can reveal about how we process surprising information and how we update mental models in dynamic and unstructured environments. Participants made saccades to visual targets presented one at a time, radially, around an invisible perimeter. Target locations were normally distributed and shifted at an unannounced point during the task. Trials following the shift were considered surprising and unexpected. These unexpected and surprising events prompted the need to update. Slower saccadic latencies were observed for surprising/unexpected events, perhaps indicative of the need to reorient attention to the unexpected target location. Longer dwell times were observed for events that signaled a change in the distribution. These data show that eye movement metrics provide a reliable indicator of mental model updating when contingencies change even in the absence of explicit change signals.

Mindfulness based interventions (MBI) are becoming increasingly popular. Given their nature (i.e., training of focused attention and cognitive control), efforts have been made to study their potential benefits to different aspects of cognition, resulting in mixed results. In light of the inconsistent findings, concerns regarding the methodological quality of such studies, and recent surge in randomized controlled trials of mindfulness interventions, we conducted a meta-analysis focused on MBIs effects on attention, working-memory and executive control in healthy adults. We limited the included studies to randomized controlled trials of mindfulness-based interventions in healthy adults, resulting in 27 included studies (N = 1632). We found an overall effect of g = 0.2, with significant effects on attention (g = 0.18) and executive control (g = 0.18), but not on working-memory. Moderation analyses showed that the type of control group included in the study or the dosage (total hours of intervention) did not modulate these effects, but the number of in-class sessions did: the more sessions, the stronger the effect. MBIs have limited positive effects on attention and executive control in healthy adults. More studies are needed to address how participants’ motivation may account for this effect, and clarify whether the smaller effects we found are due to our focus on healthy adults, or due to overestimation of effect sizes in previous meta-analyses.

We examined the hypothesis that boredom is likely to occur when opportunity costs are high; that is, when there is a high potential value of engaging in activities other than the researcher-assigned activity. To this end, participants were either placed in a room with many possible affordances (e.g. a laptop, puzzle, etc.; affordances condition; n = 121), or they were ushered into an empty room (control condition; n = 107). In both conditions participants were instructed to entertain themselves with only their thoughts (hence, participants in the affordances condition were to refrain from engaging with the available options). As predicted, participants in the affordances condition reported higher levels of boredom compared with those in the control condition. Results suggest that under some conditions, environments that afford alternative activities may be more boring than those that are void of such activities.

Morphological features of the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in late childhood and early adolescence may provide important clues as to the developmental etiology of clinical conditions such as obesity. Body composition measurements and structural brain imaging were performed on 11 226 youth at baseline (age 9 or 10 years) and follow-up (age 11 or 12 years). Baseline morphological features of the lateral PFC were examined as predictors of body composition. Findings revealed reliable associations between middle frontal gyrus volume, thickness and surface area and multiple indices of body composition. These findings were consistent across both time points and remained significant after covariate adjustment. Cortical thicknesses of the inferior frontal gyrus and lateral orbitofrontal cortex were also reliable predictors. Morphology effects on body composition were mediated by performance on a non-verbal reasoning task. Modest but reliable moderation effects were observed with respect to environmental self-regulatory demand after controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, income and methodological variables. Overall findings suggest that PFC morphology is a reliable predictor of body composition in early adolescence, as mediated through select cognitive functions and partially moderated by environmental characteristics.

Early adolescence is a critical period for eating behaviors as children gain autonomy around food choice and peer influences increase in potency. From a neurodevelopmental perspective, significant structural changes take place in the prefrontal cortex during this time, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is involved in socially contextualized decision-making. We examined the morphological features of the OFC in relation to food choice in a sample of 10 309 early adolescent children from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study. Structural parameters of the OFC and insula were examined for relationships with two important aspects of food choice: limiting the consumption of fast/fried food and maximizing the consumption of nutritious foods. Raw, partially adjusted and fully adjusted models were evaluated. Findings revealed that a larger surface area of the lateral OFC was associated with higher odds of limiting fast/fried food consumption in raw [odds ratio (OR) = 1.07, confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 1.12, P = 0.002, PFDR = 0.012], partially adjusted (OR = 1.11, CI: 1.03, 1.19, P = 0.004, PFDR = 0.024) and fully adjusted models (OR = 1.11, CI: 1.03, 1.19, P = 0.006, PFDR = 0.036). In contrast, a larger insula volume was associated with lower odds of maximizing healthy foods in raw (OR = 0.94, CI: 0.91, 0.97, P

Conditions of low and high perceived control often lead to boredom, albeit for different reasons. Whereas, high perceived control may be experienced as boring because the situation lacks challenge, low perceived control may be experienced as boring because the situation precludes effective engagement. In two experiments we test this proposed quadratic relationship. In the first experiment we had participants play different versions of the children's game “rock-paper-scissors” in which they arbitrarily won (intended to maximize feelings of control) or lost (to induce feelings of low control). Despite having only dichotomous conditions, participants reported experiencing a broad range of levels of perceived control. Consistent with our predictions, boredom was highest at low and high levels of perceived control (i.e., a quadratic relation between perceived control and felt boredom). Experiment 2 tested the notion that the mere prospect of gaining control may mitigate boredom. Participants given to believe (erroneously) that they could gain control over the game of rock, paper, scissors were less bored than those who believed there was no possibility of winning at greater than chance levels. This suggests that beliefs concerning prospective control, rather than a given level of perceived control per se, may predict engagement and boredom.

Foraging is a goal-directed behavior that balances the need to explore the environment for resources with the need to exploit those resources. In Drosophila melanogaster, distinct phenotypes have been observed in relation to the foraging gene (for), labeled the rover and sitter. Adult rovers explore their environs more extensively than do adult sitters. We explored whether this distinction would be conserved in humans. We made use of a distinction from regulatory mode theory between those who “get on with it,” so-called locomotors, and those who prefer to ensure they “do the right thing,” so-called assessors. In this logic, rovers and locomotors share similarities in goal pursuit, as do sitters and assessors. We showed that genetic variation in PRKG1, the human ortholog of for, is associated with preferential adoption of a specific regulatory mode. Next, participants performed a foraging task to see whether genetic differences associated with distinct regulatory modes would be associated with distinct goal pursuit patterns. Assessors tended to hug the boundary of the foraging environment, much like behaviors seen in Drosophila adult sitters. In a patchy foraging environment, assessors adopted more cautious search strategies maximizing exploitation. These results show that distinct patterns of goal pursuit are associated with particular genotypes of PRKG1, the human ortholog of for.

For over a century, research has demonstrated that damage to primary visual cortex does not eliminate all capacity for visual processing in the brain. From Riddoch's (1917) early demonstration of intact motion processing for blind field stimuli, to the iconic work of Weiskrantz et al. (1974) showing reliable spatial localization, it is clear that secondary visual pathways that bypass V1 carry information to the visual brain that in turn influences behavior. In this chapter, we briefly outline the history and phenomena associated with blindsight, before discussing the nature of the secondary visual pathways that support residual visual processing in the absence of V1. We finish with some speculation as to the functional characteristics of these secondary pathways.

Boredom, the unfulfilled desire to be engaged in a satisfying mental activity, is an aversive state characterized by poor self-regulation. There is ample evidence that both state and trait boredom are associated with failures of attention in both experimental and everyday settings. The neural correlates of boredom, however, remain underexplored. We recorded electroencephalographic signal from 83 participants during a resting state and while performing a go/no-go task. We found a negative correlation between trait boredom proneness and power in the alpha and theta bands during the resting state. Furthermore, higher levels of task-induced boredom were associated with reduced amplitudes for the P3 and error-related negativity event-related potentials. Increased commission error rates were also associated with higher levels of task-induced boredom. We conclude that state and trait boredom are associated with inadequate engagement of attentional resources.

Children until the age of five are only able to reverse an ambiguous figure when they are informed about the second interpretation. In two experiments, we examined whether children’s difficulties would extend to a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task. Children (Experiment 1: 66 3- to 5-year olds; Experiment 2: 54 4- to 9-year olds) and adult controls saw line drawings of animals gradually morph—through well-known ambiguous figures—into other animals. Results show a relatively late developing ability to recognize the target animal, with difficulties extending beyond preschool-age. This delay can neither be explained with improvements in theory of mind, inhibitory control, nor individual differences in eye movements. Even the best achieving children only started to approach adult level performance at the age of 9, suggesting a fundamentally different processing style in children and adults. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00426-019-01278-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

For over a century research has demonstrated that damage to primary visual cortex does not eliminate all capacity for visual processing in the brain. From Riddoch’s (1917) early demonstration of intact motion processing for blind field stimuli, to the iconic work of Weiskrantz and colleagues (1974) showing reliable spatial localization, it is clear that secondary visual pathways that bypass V1 carry information to the visual brain that in turn influences behavior. In this chapter we briefly outline the history and phenomena associated with blindsight, before discussing the nature of the secondary visual pathways that support residual visual processing in the absence of V1. We finish with some speculation as to the functional characteristics of these secondary pathways.

The state of boredom arises when we have the desire to be engaged in goal pursuit, but for whatever reason we cannot fulfil that desire. Boredom proneness is characterized by both frequent and intense feelings of boredom and is an enduring individual difference trait associated with a raft of negative outcomes. There has been some work in educational settings, but relatively little is known about the consequences of boredom proneness for learning. Here we explored the unique contributions of boredom proneness, self-control and self-esteem to undergraduate self-reported higher grade point average (GPA). Within educational settings, prior research has shown self-control and self-esteem to be associated with better academic performance. In contrast, boredom proneness is associated with lower levels of self-control and self-esteem. Our analyses replicate those previous findings showing that self-control acts as a positive predictor of GPA. Importantly, we further demonstrated, for the first time, that boredom proneness has a unique contribution to GPA over and above the contribution of self-control, such that as boredom proneness increases, GPA decreases. We discuss potential mechanisms through which boredom proneness may influence academic performance.

Previous research shows that individuals who tend to get bored frequently and intensely—the highly boredom prone—are more likely to engage in risky behaviors. However, these studies are based largely on self-reports. Here we address this gap and suggest that noisy decision-making (DM) is a potential driver for this relationship between boredom proneness and risk-taking. In Study 1, eighty-six participants completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) while EEG was recorded. We found blunted feedback processing with higher boredom proneness, as indexed by reduced feedback-P3 amplitudes. Risk taking, as indexed by the BART, was not higher in the highly boredom prone. In Study 2a (N = 404) we directly tested the noisy DM hypothesis in an online sample using a binary choice task, and found that with higher boredom proneness, participants were more likely to alternate between choices on a trial-to-trial basis, but were not more likely to choose the risky alternative. These findings were replicated in a new sample (Study 2b), and extended to the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Study 3). In the IGT we found increased choice switching and reduced feedback sensitivity with higher boredom proneness. Once again, higher risk taking as indexed by the IGT was not evident in the highly boredom prone. Overall, our findings suggest that boredom proneness is associated with noisy decision-making (i.e., a tendency to alternate more between choice options regardless of risk level), and not risk-seeking per se. That is, the highly boredom prone are not necessarily attracted to risks, but rather, may be insensitive to risks due to reduced feedback sensitivity.

The state of boredom presents a conundrum: When bored, we want to engage with an activity, but we don't want to engage with whatever is currently available. This conflict is exacerbated when external factors impose restrictions on the range of behaviors we can engage in, which is precisely the scenario we are currently facing, at a global level, during this period of social isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data from 924 North American participants (530 Male, Mean age = 37.7 years) using the internet-based Mturk platform to examine the relation between self-reports of boredom proneness (using the Short Boredom-Proneness Scale) and individual responses to questions about compliance with social-distancing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our sample replicated recent findings in boredom research, including a negative correlation between boredom proneness and self-control. We also provide novel evidence that highly boredom prone people have been more likely to break the rules of social isolation in a variety of ways (e.g., fewer hours spent in social isolation, poor adherence to social distancing as evidenced by increased likelihood of holding a social gathering and coming into proximity with more people than recommended). We further demonstrated that boredom proneness substantially mediates the association between self-control and rule-breaking. These results indicate that boredom proneness is a critical factor to consider when encouraging adherence to social isolation.

State boredom presents a conundrum: When bored, we want to engage with something, but we don’t want whatever is currently available. This is exacerbated when external factors impose restrictions on what we can engage in, which is precisely the scenario we are currently facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed 924 participants to examine the relation between boredom proneness and responses to social isolation. We provide novel evidence that highly boredom prone people have been more likely to break the rules of social isolation (e.g., fewer hours spent in social isolation, poor adherence to social distancing as evidenced by the increased likelihood of holding a social gathering and coming into proximity with more people than recommended). We further demonstrated that boredom proneness substantially mediates the association between self-control and rule-breaking. These results indicate that boredom proneness is a critical factor to consider when encouraging adherence to social isolation.

Visual working memory (VWM) involves the encoding and maintenance of visual information over time, with the requirement that object features be accurately bound to spatial locations. We and others have shown that damage to the right hemisphere leads to impaired spatial working memory. Here, we test the notion that right brain damage (RBD) may have consequences for domain general VWM. We had eight RBD patients and a group of healthy control participants perform a VWM task under different loads (1 to 3 items to recall) and spatial competition (high vs. low). All participants were asked to remember the colour of target items presented on the right side of space. Patients showed impaired encoding of information evident in poor precision of memory representations and increased guessing rates even at a set size of only one item. Our data suggests that VWM capacity is severely limited following RBD. Although five of the eight patients presented with neglect, it is not clear whether this deficit in VWM is unique to the syndrome. We suggest that future work should directly pit attention and VWM demands against one another in the same patients to determine whether the confluence of deficits in these domains is the critical determinant of the neglect syndrome. Regardless of the implications for the neglect syndrome, however, our data show that VWM deficits in RBD patients extend into non-spatial feature space.

We have shown recently that damage to the right hemisphere impairs the ability to update mental models when evidence suggests an old model is no longer appropriate. We argue that this deficit is generic in the sense that it crosses multiple cognitive and perceptual domains. Here, we examined the nature of this updating impairment to determine more precisely the underlying mechanisms. We had right (RBD, N = 12) and left brain damaged (LBD, N = 10) patients perform versions of our picture-morphing task in which pictures gradually morph from one object (e.g., shark) to another (e.g., plane). Performance was contrasted against two groups of healthy older controls, one matched on age (HCO-age-matched, N = 9) and another matched on general level of cognitive ability (HCO-cognitively-matched, N = 9). We replicated our earlier findings showing that RBD patients took longer than LBD patients and HCOs to report seeing the second object in a sequence of morphing images. The groups did not differ when exposed to a morphing sequence a second time, or when responding to ambiguous images outside the morphing context. This indicates that RBD patients have little difficulty alternating between known representations or labeling ambiguous images. Instead, the difficulty lies in generating alternate hypotheses for ambiguous information. Lesion overlay analyses, although speculative given the sample size, are consistent with our fMRI work in healthy individuals in implicating the anterior insular cortex as critical for updating mental models.

In a constantly changing environment we must adapt to both abrupt and gradual changes to incoming information. Previously, we demonstrated that a distributed network (including the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex) was active when participants updated their initial representations (e.g., it's a cat) in a gradually morphing picture task (e.g., now it's a rabbit; Stöttinger et al., 2015). To shed light on whether these activations reflect the proactive decisions to update or perceptual uncertainty, we introduced two additional conditions. By presenting picture morphs twice we controlled for uncertainty in perceptual decision making. Inducing an abrupt shift in a third condition allowed us to differentiate between a proactive decision in uncertainty-driven updating and a reactive decision in surprise-based updating. We replicated our earlier result, showing the robustness of the effect. In addition, we found activation in the anterior insula (bilaterally) and the mid frontal area/ACC in all three conditions, indicative of the importance of these areas in updating of all kinds. When participants were naïve as to the identity of the second object, we found higher activations in the mid-cingulate cortex and cuneus – areas typically associated with task difficulty, in addition to higher activations in the right TPJ most likely reflecting the shift to a new perspective. Activations associated with the proactive decision to update to a new interpretation were found in a network including the dorsal ACC known to be involved in exploration and the endogenous decision to switch to a new interpretation. These findings suggest a general network commonly engaged in all types of perceptual decision making supported by additional networks associated with perceptual uncertainty or updating provoked by either proactive or reactive decision making.

The current study represents the first comprehensive examination of spatial, temporal and sustained attention following cerebellar damage. Results indicated that, compared to controls, cerebellar damage resulted in a larger cueing effect at the longest SOA – possibly reflecting a slowed the onset of inhibition of return (IOR) during a reflexive covert attention task, and reduced the ability to detect successive targets during an attentional blink task. However, there was little evidence to support the notion that cerebellar damage disrupted voluntary covert attention or the sustained attention to response task (SART). Lesion overlay data and supplementary voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) analyses indicated that impaired performance on the reflexive covert attention and attentional blink tasks were related to damage to Crus II of the left posterior cerebellum. In addition, subsequent analyses indicated our results are not due to either general motor impairments or to damage to the deep cerebellar nuclei. Collectively these data demonstrate, for the first time, that the same cerebellar regions may be involved in both spatial and temporal visual attention.