Psychology Labs and Resources

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Department of Psychology

Attentional Network Task

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Description

The Attention Network Test (ANT) is a task designed to evaluate three different attentional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control. The ANT incorporates attentional and spatial cues in conjunction with a flanker task, where a central target stimulus is surrounded by distractors that can either indicate the same or opposite response as the target stimulus.

During each trial, a spatial cue is presented, followed by an array of five arrows displayed at the top or bottom of the computer screen. The participant's task is to indicate the direction of the central arrow within the array of five. The cue preceding the arrows can take various forms, such as being nonexistent, a cue in the center, or a spatial cue that consistently indicates the upcoming target location.

Each attentional network is evaluated by measuring reaction times (RTs). The alerting network is assessed by comparing performance with and without cues, the orienting network by contrasting performance with or without a reliable spatial cue, and executive control (conflict) is evaluated by measuring interference from flankers..

Procedure

The task begins with a 24 x 24 px fixation cross presented for 500ms. 72 trials are performed, evenly split between neutral primes, congruent prime-targets, and incongruent prime-targets. Primes are presented for 33ms (2 frames in PsychoPy Builder). The target word is presented for 1000 ms.

Figure 1: A single trial in the Attentional Network Task
Figure to show a single trial in the experiment
Figure 2: Possible Cues in the Attentional Network Task
Figure to show all possible cues in the task
Figure 3: Examples of congruent and incongruent targets in the ANT
Figure to show examplar targets

Reference

Fan, Jin, Bruce D. McCandliss, John Fossella, Jonathan I. Flombaum, and Michael I. Posner. "The activation of attentional networks." Neuroimage 26, no. 2 (2005): 471-479.