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When we cannot concentrate on reading a book, we have problems with voluntary attention. When we stand up andstumble on a chair leg, we have a problem with involuntary attention. A bimanual Stroop task (ST) and the Ericson’s flankertask (EFT) were used for the analysis of voluntary and involuntary attention, respectively. Electrophysiological markers ofattention were applied in adult ADHD patients and yoked control individuals. Behavioral incongruence effects were strongerin patients than in controls in the EFT. P3 latency in the incongruent condition was identical in patients and controls in ST butstrongly delayed in patients compared with controls in EFT. A significant positive lateralized readiness potential indicating theactivation of the false response channel was obtained in the incongruent condition of EFT, being significantly larger in patientsthan controls. The data indicate a disorder of automatic attentional control in ADHD adults despite nearly normal voluntaryattention.

The paper briefly reviews the contribution of recentneuroscience findings to our understanding of our humannature – more exactly, to the understanding of the threeproperties that we conceive of as highly-specifically human:consciousness, freedom, and language. The analysis yieldsrather surprising results. Self-consciousness is possibly notthe highpoint of our sophisticated cognitive functions, butrather the basic pre-reflective self-other distinction intimatelyrelated to body control and affective states, within whoselimits cognitive processes become possible. Freedom is not aviolation of natural (biological) laws, but, in contrast, anecessary attribute of complex behavior; it roots in thefundamental biomechanical freedom of biologicalmovements. Language comprehension is neither an instinctnor a set of complex inferences, but a behavior based onlearnt hierarchy of predictive, anticipatory processes. Thus theanswer to the question formulated in the title is positive: yes,it can change. From the author’s viewpoint, these changesemphasize embodied, enacted nature of the specificallyhuman functions.

Brain oscillations likely play a significant role in the storage of information in working memory (WM). Despite the wide popularity of the topic, current attempts to summarize the research in the field are narrative reviews. We address this gap by providing a descriptive systematic review, in which we investigated oscillatory correlates of maintenance of verbal and visual information in WM. The systematic approach enabled us to challenge some common views popularized by previous research. The identified literature (100 EEG/MEG studies) highlighted the importance of theta oscillations in verbal WM: frontal midline theta enhanced with load in most verbal studies, while more equivocal results have been obtained in visual studies. Increasing WM load affected alpha activity in most studies, but the direction of the effect was inconsistent: the ratio of studies that found alpha increase versus decrease with increasing load was 80/20% in the verbal WM domain and close to 60/40% in the visual domain. Alpha asymmetry (left < right) was a common finding in both verbal and visual WM studies. Beta and gamma activity studies yielded the least convincing data: a diversity in the spatial and frequency distribution of beta activity prevented us from making a coherent conclusion; gamma rhythm was virtually neglected in verbal WM studies with no systematic support for sustained gamma changes during the delay in EEG studies in general. The review is the first attempt to systematically assess findings in the area of working memory and brain oscillations. A comprehensive, descriptive review of the extant findings is an essential contribution to the field where current views are shaped by narrative reviews and very selective introduction/discussion sections of research articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]