Attentional Network Task - Centre for Research on Safe Driving (CRSD-ANT)

Background

The Attentional Network Task (ANT), originally introduced by Jin Fan and colleagues in 2002, is a cognitive behavioral assessment tool of different attentional components referred to as 'attentional networks': Alerting ('vigilance'), Orienting ('selective attention'), and Executive Attention (in the form of conflict resolution).

Bruce Weaver and colleagues published the 'Centre for Research on Safe Driving ANT' (CRSD-ANT) in 2013 as a shortened alternative for clinical and applied research settings, such as research on driving. Changes in design include the removal of the control flanker condition (that presents no flankers) and timing changes on the trial level. The CRSD-ANT can be completed in about half the time (10 minutes) of the original ANT. The original CRSD-ANT is programmed in Javascript specifically for Web research and publicly accessible on the CRSD website.

The Inquisit implementation of the task can be run with the original CRSD-ANT truck stimuli or the default ANT arrow stimuli.

Task Procedure

The participant sees a configuration of 5 trucks above or below a fixation cross and is asked to press as fast as possible the left response button if the central truck points to the left or the right response button if the central truck pointsto the right (irrespective of where the flanking arrows point). The truck configuration may be preceded by a brief visual cue. In the example below, the participant sees one "?" below the fixation cross, signaling that the trucks will soon appear below the fixation cross.

What it Measures

The 'Centre for Research on Safe Driving ANT' (CRSD-ANT) is a cognitive behavioral test to measure the effects of three attentional networks on accuracy and response times.

Psychological domains

• Attention: Assessment of Attentional Networks
• Vigilance: Measures the ability to achieve and maintain a state of high sensitivity to incoming stimuli
• Selective Attention: Measures the ability to select information from sensory input by directing attention to a specific location in space
• Executive Control: Measures the ability to resolve conflict among competing stimuli, involving response inhibition and decision-making

Main Performance Metrics

• alertingEffect: The effect of alerting signals on response speed and performance
• orientingEffect: The effect of orientation signals on response speed and performance
• conflictEffect: The cost effect of flanker incongruence on response speed and performance

Psychiatric Conditions

ANT performance tends to be impaired in patients with the following psychiatric conditions.

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Schizophrenia
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Anxiety Disorders
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)