Paying Attention to What Matters: Individual Differences in Neural Correlates of Spatial Selective Attention in Heterogeneous Populations and Increasing Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Justice in STEM

In life, we try to pay attention to what is important, whether it’s effortfully listening in a noisy environment or simply taking the time to care for another person. In this dissertation, I explore both the neuroscience of spatial selective attention and briefly highlight issues of social

justice in STEM fields. Selective attention is used in complex sensory environments where, in order to hear or see an object of focus, one must effortfully attend to it and willfully ignore any sudden or ongoing distractions. Individual variability in performance on selective attention tasks can be large and often correlates with how strongly attention modulates neural responses. These processes rely

upon both intact sensory systems and higher order cognitive systems (such as executive functioning) which tend to vary in the general population. In this dissertation, I seek to characterize inherent individual differences in selective attention and explore its neural basis using electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral tasks.

First, I compare performance during auditory and visual tasks that require subjects to sustain spatial selective attention. Despite matching the task characteristics, we find that differences in the noise characteristics of auditory and visually evoked neural responses have important consequences on measurement reliability and thus the appropriate neural metric to extract for each modality. In

the end, spatial attention, in both modalities, changes neural responses, and these changes significantly predict performance on the task. Next, I compare neurotypical and ADHD adults on a spatial listening task to explore the role

of global cognitive deficits on selective attention. Subjects are cued to either only focus on a target voice amidst distractor voices or be prepared to switch attention quickly to an interrupting voice. We observe that neural responses to the interrupting voice is attentionally modulated by neurotypical but not ADHD subjects. And, as in the first experiment, the changes in these neural responses predict performance on the task. Finally, I talk about a different kind of attention: the care, protection, and promotion of

underrepresented thinkers in STEM. I highlight three types of engagement that I believe will make the scientific enterprise a more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and just space. I explain barriers to access and exposure holding back students of color in STEM, particularly Black and low-income students and women. Then, I highlight retention and inclusion strategies at the university level that help maintain mental health and community bonds.