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Trost JM, Gibson BS. Attention shifts in the spatial cueing paradigm reflect direct influences of experience and not top-down goals. Psychon Bull Rev 2024; 31:1536-1547. [PMID: 38114779 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02429-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
The spatial cueing effect (SCE) that is elicited by informative spatial cues serves as an empirical marker of attention shifts in the spatial cueing paradigm, and it has been widely interpreted to reflect a relatively pure form of top-down attention control. Contrary to this interpretation, the present study examined the extent to which the magnitude of the SCE could be due to learned associations between specific cues and shifts of attention to the corresponding location, while attempting to track potential changes in participants' task goals across the experiment. This was accomplished by using a novel two-choice, spatial cueing paradigm in which participants chose between two spatial validity contexts. One spatial validity context always involved a 25%-valid (uninformative) arrow cue - called the "test" context; whereas the alternate context - called the "inducing" context - was varied between groups. In particular, associations between specific cues and shifts of attention to the corresponding cued location were perfectly predictable in the "strong inducing" context (100%-valid arrow cues) and imperfectly predictable in the "weak inducing" context (70%-valid arrow cues). Consistent with the experience-dependent account, the results showed that the magnitude of the SCE observed in the test context increased as an individual's experience with the strong inducing context increased. Furthermore, these context effects were observed using both overlearned (arrow) and arbitrary (number) cues, as well as when eye movements were controlled. Altogether, these findings suggest that the magnitude of the SCE can be influenced directly by experience, and not by the top-down goals of the individual.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie M Trost
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 390 Corbett Family Hall, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Bradley S Gibson
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 390 Corbett Family Hall, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
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2
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Haque MT, Segreti M, Giuffrida V, Ferraina S, Brunamonti E, Pani P. Attentional spatial cueing of the stop-signal affects the ability to suppress behavioural responses. Exp Brain Res 2024; 242:1429-1438. [PMID: 38652274 PMCID: PMC11108874 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-024-06825-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
The ability to adapt to the environment is linked to the possibility of inhibiting inappropriate behaviours, and this ability can be enhanced by attention. Despite this premise, the scientific literature that assesses how attention can influence inhibition is still limited. This study contributes to this topic by evaluating whether spatial and moving attentional cueing can influence inhibitory control. We employed a task in which subjects viewed a vertical bar on the screen that, from a central position, moved either left or right where two circles were positioned. Subjects were asked to respond by pressing a key when the motion of the bar was interrupted close to the circle (go signal). In about 40% of the trials, following the go signal and after a variable delay, a visual target appeared in either one of the circles, requiring response inhibition (stop signal). In most of the trials the stop signal appeared on the same side as the go signal (valid condition), while in the others, it appeared on the opposite side (invalid condition). We found that spatial and moving cueing facilitates inhibitory control in the valid condition. This facilitation was observed especially for stop signals that appeared within 250ms of the presentation of the go signal, thus suggesting an involvement of exogenous attentional orienting. This work demonstrates that spatial and moving cueing can influence inhibitory control, providing a contribution to the investigation of the relationship between spatial attention and inhibitory control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md Tanbeer Haque
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Mariella Segreti
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
- Behavioral Neuroscience PhD Program, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Valentina Giuffrida
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
- Behavioral Neuroscience PhD Program, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Ferraina
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Pierpaolo Pani
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
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Liu J, Bartolomeo P. Probing the unimaginable: The impact of aphantasia on distinct domains of visual mental imagery and visual perception. Cortex 2023; 166:338-347. [PMID: 37481856 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
Different individuals experience varying degrees of vividness in their visual mental images. The distribution of these variations across different imagery domains, such as object shape, color, written words, faces, and spatial relationships, remains unknown. To address this issue, we conducted a study with 117 healthy participants who reported different levels of imagery vividness. Of these participants, 44 reported experiencing absent or nearly absent visual imagery, a condition known as "aphantasia". These individuals were compared to those with typical (N = 42) or unusually vivid (N = 31) imagery ability. We used an online version of the French-language Battérie Imagination-Perception (eBIP), which consists of tasks tapping each of the above-mentioned domains, both in visual imagery and in visual perception. We recorded the accuracy and response times (RTs) of participants' responses. Aphantasic participants reached similar levels of accuracy on all tasks compared to the other groups (Bayesian repeated measures ANOVA, BF = .02). However, their RTs were slower in both imagery and perceptual tasks (BF = 266), and they had lower confidence in their responses on perceptual tasks (BF = 7.78e5). A Bayesian regression analysis revealed that there was an inverse correlation between subjective vividness and RTs for the entire participant group: higher levels of vividness were associated with faster RTs. The pattern was similar in all the explored domains. The findings suggest that individuals with congenital aphantasia experience a slowing in processing visual information in both imagery and perception, but the precision of their processing remains unaffected. The observed performance pattern lends support to the hypotheses that congenital aphantasia is primarily a deficit of phenomenal consciousness, or that it employs alternative strategies other than visualization to access preserved visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianghao Liu
- Sorbonne Université, Inserm, CNRS, Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris, France; Dassault Systèmes, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France.
| | - Paolo Bartolomeo
- Sorbonne Université, Inserm, CNRS, Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris, France
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4
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Ke SC, Gupta A, Lo YH, Ting CC, Tseng P. The hidden arrow in the FedEx logo: Do we really unconsciously "see" it? Cogn Res Princ Implic 2023; 8:40. [PMID: 37395853 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-023-00494-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/18/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The FedEx logo makes clever use of figure-ground ambiguity to create an "invisible" arrow in the background space between "E" and "x". Most designers believe the hidden arrow can convey an unconscious impression of speed and precision about the FedEx brand, which may influence subsequent behavior. To test this assumption, we designed similar images with hidden arrows to serve as endogenous (but camouflaged) directional cues in a Posner's orienting task, where a cueing effect would suggest subliminal processing of the hidden arrow. Overall, we observed no cue congruency effect, unless the arrow is explicitly highlighted (Experiment 4). However, there was a general effect of prior knowledge: when people were under pressure to suppress background information, those who knew about the arrow could do so faster in all congruence conditions (i.e., neutral, congruent, incongruent), although they fail to report seeing the arrow during the experiment. This was true in participants from North America who had heard of the FedEx arrow before (Experiment 1 & 3), and also in our Taiwanese sample who were just informed of such design (Experiment 2). These results can be well explained by the Biased Competition Model in figure-ground research, and together suggest: (1) people do not unconsciously perceive the FedEx arrow, at least not enough to exhibit a cueing effect in attention, but (2) knowing about the arrow can fundamentally change the way we visually process these negative-space logos in the future, making people react faster to images with negative space regardless of the hidden content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shih-Chiang Ke
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ankit Gupta
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Hui Lo
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Chung Ting
- Institute of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Philip Tseng
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
- Cross College Elite Program, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
- Psychiatric Research Center, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
- Research Center for Mind, Brain & Learning, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan.
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Lim A, Eng V, Osborne C, Janssen SMJ, Satel J. Inhibitory and Facilitatory Cueing Effects: Competition between Exogenous and Endogenous Mechanisms. Vision (Basel) 2019; 3:vision3030040. [PMID: 31735841 PMCID: PMC6802798 DOI: 10.3390/vision3030040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Revised: 08/12/2019] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Inhibition of return is characterized by delayed responses to previously attended locations when the cue-target onset asynchrony (CTOA) is long enough. However, when cues are predictive of a target’s location, faster reaction times to cued as compared to uncued targets are normally observed. In this series of experiments investigating saccadic reaction times, we manipulated the cue predictability to 25% (counterpredictive), 50% (nonpredictive), and 75% (predictive) to investigate the interaction between predictive endogenous facilitatory (FCEs) and inhibitory cueing effects (ICEs). Overall, larger ICEs were seen in the counterpredictive condition than in the nonpredictive condition, and no ICE was found in the predictive condition. Based on the hypothesized additivity of FCEs and ICEs, we reasoned that the null ICEs observed in the predictive condition are the result of two opposing mechanisms balancing each other out, and the large ICEs observed with counterpredictive cueing can be attributed to the combination of endogenous facilitation at uncued locations with inhibition at cued locations. Our findings suggest that the endogenous activity contributed by cue predictability can reduce the overall inhibition observed when the mechanisms occur at the same location, or enhance behavioral inhibition when the mechanisms occur at opposite locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfred Lim
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih 43500, Malaysia
| | - Vivian Eng
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih 43500, Malaysia
| | - Caitlyn Osborne
- Division of Psychology, School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania 7248, Australia
| | - Steve M. J. Janssen
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih 43500, Malaysia
| | - Jason Satel
- Division of Psychology, School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania 7248, Australia
- Correspondence:
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Cona G, Scarpazza C. Where is the "where" in the brain? A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on spatial cognition. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:1867-1886. [PMID: 30600568 PMCID: PMC6865398 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Spatial representations are processed in the service of several different cognitive functions. The present study capitalizes on the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) method of meta-analysis to identify: (a) the shared neural activations among spatial functions to reveal the "core" network of spatial processing; (b) the specific neural activations associated with each of these functions. Following PRISMA guidelines, a total of 133 fMRI and PET studies were included in the meta-analysis. The overall analysis showed that the core network of spatial processing comprises regions that are symmetrically distributed on both hemispheres and that include dorsal frontoparietal regions, presupplementary motor area, anterior insula, and frontal operculum. The specific analyses revealed the brain regions that are selectively recruited for each spatial function, such as the right temporoparietal junction for shift of spatial attention, the right parahippocampal gyrus, and the retrosplenial cortex for navigation and spatial long-term memory. The findings are integrated within a systematic review of the neuroimaging literature and a new neurocognitive model of spatial cognition is proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgia Cona
- Department of General PsychologyUniversity of PaduaPaduaItaly
- Padova Neuroscience CenterUniversity of PaduaPaduaItaly
| | - Cristina Scarpazza
- Department of General PsychologyUniversity of PaduaPaduaItaly
- Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & NeuroscienceKing's College Health Partners, King's College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
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Berchicci M, Ten Brink AF, Quinzi F, Perri RL, Spinelli D, Di Russo F. Electrophysiological evidence of sustained spatial attention effects over anterior cortex: Possible contribution of the anterior insula. Psychophysiology 2019; 56:e13369. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2018] [Revised: 02/11/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Marika Berchicci
- Department of Movement, Human, and Health Sciences University of Rome “Foro Italico” Rome Italy
| | - Antonia Francisca Ten Brink
- Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus University Medical Center Utrecht, and De Hoogstraat Rehabilitation Utrecht the Netherlands
| | - Federico Quinzi
- Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia) Rome Italy
| | | | - Donatella Spinelli
- Department of Movement, Human, and Health Sciences University of Rome “Foro Italico” Rome Italy
| | - Francesco Di Russo
- Department of Movement, Human, and Health Sciences University of Rome “Foro Italico” Rome Italy
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8
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Girardi G, Nico D. Associative cueing of attention through implicit feature-location binding. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2017; 179:54-60. [PMID: 28715694 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2017] [Revised: 07/03/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to assess associative learning between two task-irrelevant features in cueing spatial attention, we devised a task in which participants have to make an identity comparison between two sequential visual stimuli. Unbeknownst to them, location of the second stimulus could be predicted by the colour of the first or a concurrent sound. Albeit unnecessary to perform the identity-matching judgment the predictive features thus provided an arbitrary association favouring the spatial anticipation of the second stimulus. A significant advantage was found with faster responses at predicted compared to non-predicted locations. Results clearly demonstrated an associative cueing of attention via a second-order arbitrary feature/location association but with a substantial discrepancy depending on the sensory modality of the predictive feature. With colour as predictive feature, significant advantages emerged only after the completion of three blocks of trials. On the contrary, sound affected responses from the first block of trials and significant advantages were manifest from the beginning of the second. The possible mechanisms underlying the associative cueing of attention in both conditions are discussed.
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9
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Herreros L, Lambert AJ, Chica AB. Orienting of attention with and without cue awareness. Neuropsychologia 2017; 99:165-171. [PMID: 28284987 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.03.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2016] [Revised: 03/07/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Many cognitive processes operate without consciousness, and exogenous attentional capture seems to be one of them. While endogenously attending to the opposite location of a cue cannot occur without cue awareness, attending the cued location in an exogenous or stimulus driven form can occur even when participants are not aware of the presence of the cue (McCormick, 1997). Orienting attention to a specific location shortens reaction times to supra-threshold stimuli, and increases the likelihood of consciously perceiving near-threshold stimuli in that location. Effects of unconscious cues have mostly been demonstrated in reaction times to supra-threshold targets. In some studies, unconscious cues were perceptually less salient than conscious cues, which introduced a confound between cue awareness and cue saliency. In the present study, we used near-threshold cues and targets, which were titrated to be consciously perceived in ~50% of the trials, therefore eliminating the cue saliency confound. Moreover, we explored for the first time the effects of cue awareness on the conscious perception of subsequently presented near-threshold targets. Our results demonstrate that when cues and targets did not spatially overlap, conscious cues enhanced target localization when they appeared near the target location. In contrast, non-consciously perceived cues impaired target localization when they appeared near the target location, producing a cost in detecting subsequently presented near-threshold targets. This indicates that attentional orienting by unconscious cues cannot be accounted for by the idea that attention modulates perceptual representations, boosting them nearer to the conscious threshold. Rather, the effect of unconscious cues on target localization is qualitatively different to that elicited by conscious cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Herreros
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Brain, Mind, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Spain.
| | - Anthony J Lambert
- School of Psychology, and Research Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Ana B Chica
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Brain, Mind, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Spain.
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10
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Cue-target contingencies modulate voluntary orienting of spatial attention: dissociable effects for speed and accuracy. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2016; 82:272-283. [PMID: 27770287 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-016-0818-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2016] [Accepted: 10/10/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Voluntary orienting of spatial attention is typically investigated by visually presented directional cues, which are called predictive when they indicate where the target is more likely to appear. In this study, we investigated the nature of the potential link between cue predictivity (the proportion of valid trials) and the strength of the resulting covert orienting of attention. Participants judged the orientation of a unilateral Gabor grating preceded by a centrally presented, non-directional, color cue, arbitrarily prompting a leftwards or rightwards shift of attention. Unknown to them, cue predictivity was manipulated across blocks, whereby the cue was only predictive for either the first or the second half of the experiment. Our results show that the cueing effects were strongly influenced by the change in predictivity. This influence differently emerged in response speed and accuracy. The speed difference between valid and invalid trials was significantly larger when cues were predictive, and the amplitude of this effect was modulated at the single trial level by the recent trial history. Complementary to these findings, accuracy revealed a robust effect of block history and also a different time-course compared with speed, as if it mainly mirrored voluntary processes. These findings, obtained with a new manipulation and using arbitrary non-directional cueing, demonstrate that cue-target contingencies strongly modulate the way attention is deployed in space.
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11
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Resolving the controversy of the proportion validity effect: Volitional attention is not required, but may have an effect. Atten Percept Psychophys 2016; 77:2611-21. [PMID: 26178857 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-015-0956-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Response time (RT) is facilitated when a target appears at a cued (valid) location versus an uncued (invalid) location. Interestingly, this valid-versus-invalid RT difference increases as the percentage of valid trials increases. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism responsible for this proportion valid cueing effect (PVE). The PVE is thought to reflect changes in voluntary attentional allocation, with greater attention being committed endogenously to the cued location as the percentage of valid trials increases. However, recent research has suggested that the PVE may reflect a form of implicit learning between the cue and the target location that is developed outside of awareness, and that this determines how attention is allocated. This lack of convergence may be due to methodological differences in how voluntary processing has been inferred. To test this issue, we generated a method that would allow the measurement of different degrees of volitional attention. In addition, we manipulated whether participants were instructed to attend to the cue-target relationship and determined whether this explicit engagement of attention influenced the PVE. We found that for both peripheral and central cues, volitional control is not required for a PVE; however, volitional control can modulate a PVE that is produced by central cues. Thus, a PVE is not a reliable indicator of volitional control, but its sensitivity to volitional control varies across cues. The present data shed light on the mechanism subserving the PVE and lend support to the theory that different cues engage, to some degree, qualitatively different forms of visuospatial attention.
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12
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Implicit learning: A way to improve visual search in spatial neglect? Conscious Cogn 2016; 43:102-12. [PMID: 27262690 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2015] [Revised: 05/25/2016] [Accepted: 05/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Studies have shown that neglect patients are able to use stimulus regularities to orient faster toward the neglected side, without necessarily being aware of that information, or at the very least without being able to verbalize their knowledge. In order to better control for the involvement of explicit processes, the present study sought to test neglect patients' ability to detect more complex associations between stimuli using tasks similar to those used in implicit learning studies. Our results demonstrate that neglect patients had difficulties implicitly learning complex associations, contrary to what we found with controls. The possible influence of attentional and working memory impairments are discussed.
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Can the exploration of left space be induced implicitly in unilateral neglect? Conscious Cogn 2014; 31:115-23. [PMID: 25460245 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2014] [Revised: 10/05/2014] [Accepted: 11/07/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to explore the ability of neglect patients to detect and exploit the predictive value of a cue to respond more quickly and accurately to targets on their contralesional side in a Posner spatial cueing task. The majority of the cues (i.e. 80%) were invalid, indicating that the target would appear on the opposite side, although patients were not informed of this bias. Our results demonstrate that some neglect patients were able to extract the cue's predictability and use it to orient faster toward the left. This cueing effect was present even in patients who were subsequently unable to describe the predictive character of the cues, and thus was not modulated by reportable awareness of the cue-target relation.
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14
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Gough A, Garcia J, Torres-Quesada M, Milliken B. Control of spatial orienting: Context-specific proportion cued effects in an exogenous spatial cueing task. Conscious Cogn 2014; 30:220-33. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2013] [Revised: 09/23/2014] [Accepted: 09/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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15
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The Spatial Orienting paradigm: How to design and interpret spatial attention experiments. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2014; 40:35-51. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 121] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2013] [Revised: 12/03/2013] [Accepted: 01/07/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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16
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Chica AB, Bartolomeo P, Lupiáñez J. Two cognitive and neural systems for endogenous and exogenous spatial attention. Behav Brain Res 2012; 237:107-23. [PMID: 23000534 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 188] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2012] [Revised: 09/12/2012] [Accepted: 09/16/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Orienting of spatial attention is a family of phylogenetically old mechanisms developed to select information for further processing. Information can be selected via top-down or endogenous mechanisms, depending on the goals of the observers or on the task at hand. Moreover, salient and potentially dangerous events also attract spatial attention via bottom-up or exogenous mechanisms, allowing a rapid and efficient reaction to unexpected but important events. Fronto-parietal brain networks have been demonstrated to play an important role in supporting spatial attentional orienting, although there is no consensus on whether there is a single attentional system supporting both endogenous and exogenous attention, or two anatomical and functionally different attentional systems. In the present paper we review behavioral evidence emphasizing the differential characteristics of both systems, as well as their possible interactions for the control of the final orienting response. Behavioral studies reporting qualitative differences between the effects of both systems as well as double dissociations of the effects of endogenous and exogenous attention on information processing, suggest that they constitute two independent attentional systems, rather than a single one. Recent models of attentional orienting in humans have put forward the hypothesis of a dorsal fronto-parietal network for orienting spatial attention, and a more ventral fronto-parietal network for detecting unexpected but behaviorally relevant events. Non-invasive neurostimulation techniques, as well as neuropsychological data, suggest that endogenous and exogenous attention are implemented in overlapping, although partially segregated, brain circuits. Although more research is needed in order to refine our anatomical and functional knowledge of the brain circuits underlying spatial attention, we conclude that endogenous and exogenous spatial orienting constitute two independent attentional systems, with different behavioral effects, and partially distinct neural substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana B Chica
- INSERM-UPMC UMRS 975, Brain and Spine Institute, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
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Contingency blindness: Location-identity binding mismatches obscure awareness of spatial contingencies and produce profound interference in visual working memory. Mem Cognit 2012; 40:932-45. [DOI: 10.3758/s13421-012-0193-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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18
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Marchetti G. Against the View that Consciousness and Attention are Fully Dissociable. Front Psychol 2012; 3:36. [PMID: 22363307 PMCID: PMC3279725 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2011] [Accepted: 01/31/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, I will try to show that the idea that there can be consciousness without some form of attention, and high-level top-down attention without consciousness, originates from a failure to notice the varieties of forms that top-down attention and consciousness can assume. I will present evidence that: there are various forms of attention and consciousness; not all forms of attention produce the same kind of consciousness; not all forms of consciousness are produced by the same kind of attention; there can be low-level attention (or preliminary attention), whether of an endogenous or exogenous kind, without consciousness; attention cannot be considered the same thing as consciousness.
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Larger IOR effects following forget than following remember instructions depend on exogenous attentional withdrawal and target localization. Atten Percept Psychophys 2011; 73:1790-814. [PMID: 21618066 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-011-0146-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
When words are onset in the visual periphery, inhibition of return (IOR) for a subsequent target is larger when those words receive an intervening forget instruction than when they receive a remember instruction Taylor (Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 613-629, 2005). The present study manipulated the allocation of endogenous and exogenous attention to assess the source of the forget > remember IOR difference. We determined that the forget > remember IOR difference likely arises from the differential withdrawal of exogenous-rather than endogenous-attention. Furthermore, this forget > remember IOR difference occurs only when a spatially compatible localization response is required; it does not occur when a simple detection response or a perceptual discrimination is required. This suggests that the forget > remember difference in the magnitude of IOR is not due to differences in perceptual/attentional processing. Instead, an instruction to remember or forget biases spatial responses in accordance with whether a location has previously contained relevant or irrelevant information. We suggest that directed forgetting in an item-method paradigm is not accomplished by changes in attention; rather, the changes in attention are coincident with changes in memory and may serve to bias later responses away from a source of unreliable information.
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Peterson SA, Gibson TN. Implicit attentional orienting in a target detection task with central cues. Conscious Cogn 2011; 20:1532-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2011] [Revised: 06/15/2011] [Accepted: 07/08/2011] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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21
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Proulx MJ. Individual differences and metacognitive knowledge of visual search strategy. PLoS One 2011; 6:e27043. [PMID: 22066030 PMCID: PMC3205003 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2011] [Accepted: 10/09/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A crucial ability for an organism is to orient toward important objects and to ignore temporarily irrelevant objects. Attention provides the perceptual selectivity necessary to filter an overwhelming input of sensory information to allow for efficient object detection. Although much research has examined visual search and the ‘template’ of attentional set that allows for target detection, the behavior of individual subjects often reveals the limits of experimental control of attention. Few studies have examined important aspects such as individual differences and metacognitive strategies. The present study analyzes the data from two visual search experiments for a conjunctively defined target (Proulx, 2007). The data revealed attentional capture blindness, individual differences in search strategies, and a significant rate of metacognitive errors for the assessment of the strategies employed. These results highlight a challenge for visual attention studies to account for individual differences in search behavior and distractibility, and participants that do not (or are unable to) follow instructions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Proulx
- Biological and Experimental Psychology Group, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
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22
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López-Ramón MF, Chica AB, Bartolomeo P, Lupiáñez J. Attentional orienting and awareness: Evidence from a discrimination task. Conscious Cogn 2011; 20:745-55. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2010.10.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2010] [Revised: 10/08/2010] [Accepted: 10/29/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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23
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Berryhill ME, Richmond LL, Shay CS, Olson IR. Shifting attention among working memory representations: testing cue type, awareness, and strategic control. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2011; 65:426-38. [PMID: 21846267 PMCID: PMC6730540 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2011.604786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that visual working memory (VWM) performance is modulated by attentional cues presented during encoding. Interestingly, retrospective cues presented after encoding, but prior to the test phase also improve performance. This improvement in performance is termed the retro-cue benefit. We investigated whether the retro-cue benefit is sensitive to cue type, whether participants were aware of their improvement in performance due to the retro-cue, and whether the effect was under strategic control. Experiment 1 compared the potential cueing benefits of abrupt onset retro-cues relying on bottom-up attention, number retro-cues relying on top-down attention, and arrow retro-cues, relying on a mixture of both. We found a significant retro-cue effect only for arrow retro-cues. In Experiment 2, we tested participants' awareness of their use of the informative retro-cue and found that they were aware of their improved performance. In Experiment 3, we asked whether participants have strategic control over the retro-cue. The retro-cue was difficult to ignore, suggesting that strategic control is low. The retro-cue effect appears to be within conscious awareness but not under full strategic control.
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24
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Contingent capture and inhibition of return: a comparison of mechanisms. Exp Brain Res 2011; 214:47-60. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-011-2805-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2011] [Accepted: 07/13/2011] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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25
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Shin MJ, Marrett N, Lambert AJ. Visual orienting in response to attentional cues: Spatial correspondence is critical, conscious awareness is not. VISUAL COGNITION 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2011.582053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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26
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ERP evidence for selective drop in attentional costs in uncertain environments: challenging a purely premotor account of covert orienting of attention. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49:2648-57. [PMID: 21640737 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2011] [Revised: 05/13/2011] [Accepted: 05/17/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have proved that the reliability of endogenous spatial cues linearly modulates the reaction time advantage in the processing of targets at validly cued vs. invalidly cued locations, i.e. the "validity effect". This would imply that with non-predictive cues, no "validity effect" should be observed. However, contrary to this prediction, one could hypothesize that attentional benefits by valid cuing (i.e. the RT advantage for validly vs. neutrally cued targets) can still be maintained with non-predictive cues, if the brain were endowed with mechanisms allowing the selective reduction in costs of reorienting from invalidly cued locations (i.e. the reduction of the RT disadvantage for invalidly vs. neutrally cued targets). This separated modulation of attentional benefits and costs would be adaptive in uncertain contexts where cues predict at chance level the location of targets. Through the joint recording of manual reaction times and event-related cerebral potentials (ERPs), we have found that this is the case and that relying on non-predictive endogenous cues results in abatement of attentional costs and the difference in the amplitude of the P1 brain responses evoked by invalidly vs. neutrally cued targets. In contrast, the use of non-predictive cues leaves unaffected attentional benefits and the difference in the amplitude of the N1 responses evoked by validly vs. neutrally cued targets. At the individual level, the drop in costs with non-predictive cues was matched with equivalent lateral biases in RTs to neutrally and invalidly cued targets presented in the left and right visual field. During the cue period, the drop in costs with non-predictive cues was preceded by reduction of the Early Directing Attention Negativity (EDAN) on posterior occipital sites and by enhancement of the frontal Anterior Directing Attention Negativity (ADAN) correlated to preparatory voluntary orienting. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that the segregation of mechanisms regulating attentional benefits and costs helps efficiency of orienting in "uncertain" visual spatial contexts characterized by poor probabilistic association between cues and targets.
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Trujillo LT, Schnyer DM. Neurobehavioral correlates of the rapid formation of the symbolic control of visuospatial attention. Psychophysiology 2011; 48:1227-41. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01193.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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28
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Marote CFO, Xavier GF. Endogenous-like orienting of visual attention in rats. Anim Cogn 2011; 14:535-44. [PMID: 21369759 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-011-0388-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2010] [Revised: 02/08/2011] [Accepted: 02/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the orienting of visual attention in rats using a 3-hole nose-poke task analogous to Posner, Information processing in cognition: the Loyola Symposium, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, (1980) covert attention task for humans. The effects of non-predictive (50% valid and 50% invalid) and predictive (80% valid and 20% invalid) peripheral visual cues on reaction times and response accuracy to a target stimulus, using Stimuli-Onset Asynchronies (SOAs) varying between 200 and 1,200 ms, were investigated. The results showed shorter reaction times in valid trials relative to invalid trials for both subjects trained in the non-predictive and predictive conditions, particularly when the SOAs were 200 and 400 ms. However, the magnitude of this validity effect was significantly greater for subjects exposed to predictive cues, when the SOA was 800 ms. Subjects exposed to invalid predictive cues exhibited an increase in omission errors relative to subjects exposed to invalid non-predictive cues. In contrast, valid cues reduced the proportion of omission errors for subjects trained in the predictive condition relative to subjects trained in the non-predictive condition. These results are congruent with those usually reported for humans and indicate that, in addition to the exogenous capture of attention promoted by both predictive and non-predictive peripheral cues, rats exposed to predictive cues engaged an additional slower process equivalent to human's endogenous orienting of attention. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an endogenous-like process of covert orienting of visual attention in rats.
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Feldman H, Friston KJ. Attention, uncertainty, and free-energy. Front Hum Neurosci 2010; 4:215. [PMID: 21160551 PMCID: PMC3001758 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2010.00215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 677] [Impact Index Per Article: 48.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2010] [Accepted: 10/18/2010] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We suggested recently that attention can be understood as inferring the level of uncertainty or precision during hierarchical perception. In this paper, we try to substantiate this claim using neuronal simulations of directed spatial attention and biased competition. These simulations assume that neuronal activity encodes a probabilistic representation of the world that optimizes free-energy in a Bayesian fashion. Because free-energy bounds surprise or the (negative) log-evidence for internal models of the world, this optimization can be regarded as evidence accumulation or (generalized) predictive coding. Crucially, both predictions about the state of the world generating sensory data and the precision of those data have to be optimized. Here, we show that if the precision depends on the states, one can explain many aspects of attention. We illustrate this in the context of the Posner paradigm, using the simulations to generate both psychophysical and electrophysiological responses. These simulated responses are consistent with attentional bias or gating, competition for attentional resources, attentional capture and associated speed-accuracy trade-offs. Furthermore, if we present both attended and non-attended stimuli simultaneously, biased competition for neuronal representation emerges as a principled and straightforward property of Bayes-optimal perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harriet Feldman
- The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London London, UK
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30
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Unconscious strategies? Commentary on Risko and Stolz (2010): “The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: Strategic control or implicit learning?”. Conscious Cogn 2010; 19:443-4. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2009.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2009] [Accepted: 09/18/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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31
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Risko EF, Stolz JA. The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: strategic control or implicit learning? Conscious Cogn 2010; 19:432-42. [PMID: 20189414 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2009.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2008] [Revised: 07/08/2009] [Accepted: 07/20/2009] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that the difference in performance between valid and invalid trials in the covert orienting paradigm (i.e., the cueing effect) increases as the proportion of valid trials increases. This proportion valid effect is widely assumed to reflect "strategic" control over the distribution of attention. In the present experiments we determine if this effect results from an explicit strategy or implicit learning by probing participant's awareness of the proportion of valid trials. Results support the idea that the proportion valid effect in the covert orienting paradigm reflects implicit learning not an explicit strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan F Risko
- Psychology Department, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada.
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32
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The effects of endogenous and exogenous spatial cueing in a sustained attention task. Cogn Process 2009; 10 Suppl 2:S302-4. [PMID: 19693595 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-009-0316-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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33
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Doricchi F, Macci E, Silvetti M, Macaluso E. Neural correlates of the spatial and expectancy components of endogenous and stimulus-driven orienting of attention in the Posner task. Cereb Cortex 2009; 20:1574-85. [PMID: 19846472 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhp215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 171] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Voluntary orienting of visual attention is conventionally measured in tasks with predictive central cues followed by frequent valid targets at the cued location and by infrequent invalid targets at the uncued location. This implies that invalid targets entail both spatial reorienting of attention and breaching of the expected spatial congruency between cues and targets. Here, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to separate the neural correlates of the spatial and expectancy components of both endogenous orienting and stimulus-driven reorienting of attention. We found that during endogenous orienting with predictive cues, there was a significant deactivation of the right Temporal-Parietal Junction (TPJ). We also discovered that the lack of an equivalent deactivation with nonpredictive cues was matched to drop in attentional costs and preservation of attentional benefits. The right TPJ showed equivalent responses to invalid targets following predictive and nonpredictive cues. On the contrary, infrequent-unexpected invalid targets following predictive cues specifically activated the right Middle and Inferior Frontal Gyrus (MFG-IFG). Additional comparisons with spatially neutral trials demonstrated that, independently of cue predictiveness, valid targets activate the left TPJ, whereas invalid targets activate both the left and right TPJs. These findings show that the selective right TPJ activation that is found in the comparison between invalid and valid trials results from the reciprocal cancelling of the different activations that in the left TPJ are related to the processing of valid and invalid targets. We propose that left and right TPJs provide "matching and mismatching to attentional template" signals. These signals enable reorienting of attention and play a crucial role in the updating of the statistical contingency between cues and targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrizio Doricchi
- Fondazione Santa Lucia Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, 309-00179 Rome, Italy
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34
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Lin JY, Murray SO, Boynton GM. Capture of attention to threatening stimuli without perceptual awareness. Curr Biol 2009; 19:1118-22. [PMID: 19523828 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2009] [Revised: 05/07/2009] [Accepted: 05/07/2009] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Visual images that convey threatening information can automatically capture attention. One example is an object looming in the direction of the observer-presumably because such a stimulus signals an impending collision. A critical question for understanding the relationship between attention and conscious awareness is whether awareness is required for this type of prioritized attentional selection. Although it has been suggested that visual spatial attention can only be affected by consciously perceived events, we show that automatic allocation of attention can occur even without conscious awareness of impending threat. We used a visual search task to show that a looming stimulus on a collision path with an observer captures attention but a looming stimulus on a near-miss path does not. Critically, observers were unaware of any difference between collision and near-miss stimuli even when explicitly asked to discriminate between them in separate experiments. These results counter traditional salience-based models of attentional capture, demonstrating that in the absence of perceptual awareness, the visual system can extract behaviorally relevant details from a visual scene and automatically categorize threatening versus nonthreatening images at a level of precision beyond our conscious perceptual capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey Y Lin
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1525, USA.
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35
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Prinzmetal W, Zvinyatskovskiy A, Gutierrez P, Dilem L. Voluntary and involuntary attention have different consequences: The effect of perceptual difficulty. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2009; 62:352-69. [PMID: 18609402 DOI: 10.1080/17470210801954892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
We propose that voluntary and involuntary attention affect different mechanisms and have different consequences for performance measured in reaction time. Voluntary attention enhances the perceptual representation whereas involuntary attention affects the tendency to respond to stimuli in one location or another. In a spatial-cueing paradigm, we manipulated perceptual difficulty and compared voluntary and involuntary attention. For the voluntary-attention condition, the spatial cue was predictive of the target location, whereas in the involuntary-attention condition it was not. Increasing perceptual difficulty increased the attention effect with voluntary attention, but decreased it with involuntary attention. Thus voluntary and involuntary attention have different consequences when perceptual difficulty is manipulated and hence are probably caused by different mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Leo Dilem
- University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
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36
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Couette M, Bachoud-Levi AC, Brugieres P, Sieroff E, Bartolomeo P. Orienting of spatial attention in Huntington's Disease. Neuropsychologia 2008; 46:1391-400. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.12.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2007] [Revised: 11/12/2007] [Accepted: 12/19/2007] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
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37
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Reaction time inhibition from subliminal cues: is it related to inhibition of return? Neuropsychologia 2007; 46:810-9. [PMID: 18206184 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2007] [Revised: 10/02/2007] [Accepted: 11/02/2007] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Task-irrelevant visual cues with near zero visibility proved apt to retard reaction time for the detection of supraliminal visual targets presented at the cued location. The time course of the effect was similar to that of the so-called inhibition-of return (IOR), which is assumed to be due to the withdrawal of attention from the inhibited location. However the present subliminal cues consistently failed to induce an RT facilitation prior to the RT inhibition, contrary to what would be expected if the cue were able to attract attention to the cued location. Since the RT inhibition from subliminal cues could not be attributed to the withdrawal of attention from the cued location, it can be argued that such cues acted both outside of consciousness and without the influence of attention. Therefore, the RT inhibitory effect seems best accounted for by an automatic, unconscious and attention-independent self-inhibition of response tendencies instructed by irrelevant information, akin to that postulated by (Eimer, M., & Schlaghecken, F. (1998). Effects of masked stimuli on motor activation: behavioural and electrophysiological evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception and Performance, 24, 1737-1747.) to explain the negative compatibility effect.
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38
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Bartolomeo P, Zieren N, Vohn R, Dubois B, Sturm W. Neural correlates of primary and reflective consciousness of spatial orienting. Neuropsychologia 2007; 46:348-61. [PMID: 17963799 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2007] [Revised: 07/05/2007] [Accepted: 07/08/2007] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked participants to perform a visual target detection task with peripheral cues. In the first part of the experiment, cues were not predictive of the side of occurrence of the incoming target. In the second part of the experiment, unbeknownst to the participants, cues became 80% predictive, thus inducing an endogenous orienting of spatial attention. Confirming previous results, in the second part response times (RTs) decreased for validly cued trials and increased for invalid trials. Half of the participants were subsequently able to correctly describe the cue-target relationships ('verbalizers'), thus demonstrating reflective consciousness of endogenous orienting. Also non-verbalizer participants showed a similar RT pattern, indicating the occurrence of endogenous orienting without reflective consciousness. Both groups of participants showed fronto-parietal activity typically observed in spatial attention tasks. Verbalizers, in addition, demonstrated stronger activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), consistent with the proposed role of this structure in purposeful behaviour and in the monitoring of its consequences. The extensive pattern of connectivity of the ACC is ideally suited to integrate the activity of the large neural assemblies necessary for reflective consciousness to emerge.
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