2026-11-092026-11-09https://scholars.csmu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/38640Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistic (1999) reported that about 1.5 million Taiwanese are betel nuts users, and about 30% of these users chew betel nuts for refreshment. An average of 14 to 23 betel nuts is chewed per day by one Taiwanese chewer. Betel nut chewing has been shown to play an important role in central nervous system. The changes observed in the central nervous system owing to betel nut chewing plausibly suggest changes in visual information processing. Visual information processing is a theoretical framework that refers to a series of stages or modules from the lower level (e.g., the mangocellular and parvocellular pathways) to higher level (e.g., the extrastriate and frontal areas) to process visual stimuli in real world. These stages or modules could interact (inhibit or excite) with each other and the information processing could be bidirectional (e.g., from high level to low level). The changes in the visual information processing could result in changes in many aspects of such processing. We have two purposes in this three-year proposed study. First, we investigate the betel nut chewing effect on visual information processing. We first investigate on which levels in visual information processing the betel nut chewing effects work. Particularly, we investigate how betel nut chewing affects the lower-level sensory processing and the higher-level attentional processing (Experiment 1). We further examine betel nut chewing effect mainly on components of the attention system. Posner and Petersen (1990) proposed three inter-related components underlie the attention system: selection, sustained attention and orienting. We will follow their framework and examine each of these components by employing different well-developed paradigms. We first examine chewers’ useful field of view (Experiment 1) that is highly associated with concept of selection proposed by Posner and Petersen. Then we investigate chewers’ sustained attention (Experiment 1). Finally we examine whether chewers are biased to orient their attention to areca-related cues (Experiments 2 and 3). Our second purpose is to examine the effects of betel nut chewing on the useful field of view and sustained attention under sleep deprivation condition and normal sleep condition (Experiments 4, 5 and 6). The long driving hour of bus and truck drivers has been a serious problem for driving safety. Many studies have shown that sleepiness due to sleep deprivation is crucial for car driving. In order to keep awake while driving, many long-distance bus and truck drivers in Taiwan chew betel nuts. However, few studies emphasize on the refreshment effects of betel nut chewing at the cognitive and perceptual level. It is crucial to examine behaviorally whether betel nut chewing can affect attention under sleep deprivation and normal sleep conditions.主計處在民國88 年統計發現有150 萬台灣人是檳榔嚼食者，其中有30%的嚼食者將檳 榔視為提神食品。每位嚼食者平均每天大約嚼14 到23 顆檳榔。許多研究已經發現檳榔 成分（檳榔鹼，三種生物鹼，和多酚類化合物）會影響中樞神經系統，而此生理影響也 會造成視覺訊息處理的改變。視覺訊息處理是一理論架構，包括一系列由低階到高階的 視覺刺激處理階段或模組。這些階段或模組能夠抑制或興奮其他階段或模組，且視覺資 訊處理可以是雙向的（由上而下以及由下而上）。在此三年計畫中，我們有兩個主要研 究目的。一、我們檢驗嚼食檳榔在視覺訊息處理各方面的影響。首先我們檢驗嚼食檳榔 如何影響低階感覺歷程以及高階注意力歷程（實驗一）。更進一步，我們根據Posner and Petersen (1990)的注意力系統架構，來檢驗檳榔嚼食對注意力系統各面向（選擇性、持 續性與方向性）的影響。我們檢驗嚼食檳榔如何影響有效視覺區與持續性注意力（實驗 一）。我們也檢驗嚼食者是否會對檳榔相關線索有方向性的偏誤（實驗二和三）。二、我 們檢驗在睡眠剝奪以及正常睡眠的情況下，嚼檳榔對有效視覺區以及持續性注意力的影 響（實驗四、五和六）。我們預測在睡眠剝奪情況下，嚼檳榔可以促進有效視覺區與持 續性注意力。檳榔視覺訊息處理有效視覺區持續性注意力方向性睡眠剝奪betel nutvisual information processinguseful field of viewsustained attentionorientingsleep deprivationProject