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Dolci C, Rashal E, Santandrea E, Ben Hamed S, Chelazzi L, Macaluso E, Boehler CN. The dynamics of statistical learning in visual search and its interaction with salience processing: An EEG study. Neuroimage 2024; 286:120514. [PMID: 38211706 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120514] [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: 09/23/2023] [Revised: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual attention can be guided by statistical regularities in the environment, that people implicitly learn from past experiences (statistical learning, SL). Moreover, a perceptually salient element can automatically capture attention, gaining processing priority through a bottom-up attentional control mechanism. The aim of our study was to investigate the dynamics of SL and if it shapes attentional target selection additively with salience processing, or whether these mechanisms interact, e.g. one gates the other. In a visual search task, we therefore manipulated target frequency (high vs. low) across locations while, in some trials, the target was salient in terms of colour. Additionally, halfway through the experiment, the high-frequency location changed to the opposite hemifield. EEG activity was simultaneously recorded, with a specific interest in two markers related to target selection and post-selection processing, respectively: N2pc and SPCN. Our results revealed that both SL and saliency significantly enhanced behavioural performance, but also interacted with each other, with an attenuated saliency effect at the high-frequency target location, and a smaller SL effect for salient targets. Concerning processing dynamics, the benefit of salience processing was more evident during the early stage of target selection and processing, as indexed by a larger N2pc and early-SPCN, whereas SL modulated the underlying neural activity particularly later on, as revealed by larger late-SPCN. Furthermore, we showed that SL was rapidly acquired and adjusted when the spatial imbalance changed. Overall, our findings suggest that SL is flexible to changes and, combined with salience processing, jointly contributes to establishing attentional priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carola Dolci
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Strada le Grazie, 8, Verona 37134, Italy.
| | - Einat Rashal
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; School of Psychology, Keele University, United Kingdom
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Strada le Grazie, 8, Verona 37134, Italy
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc-Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, 1, Lyon, France
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Strada le Grazie, 8, Verona 37134, Italy
| | - Emiliano Macaluso
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, (CRNL), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, U1028 UMR5292, IMPACT, Bron F-69500, France
| | - C Nico Boehler
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Lidström A. Serial dependence in facial identity perception and visual working memory. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:2226-2241. [PMID: 37794301 PMCID: PMC10584723 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02799-x] [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] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Serial dependence (SD) refers to the effect in which a person's current perceptual judgment is attracted toward recent stimulus history. Perceptual and memory processes, as well as response and decisional biases, are thought to contribute to SD effects. The current study examined the processing stages of SD facial identity effects in the context of task-related decision processes and how such effects may differ from visual working memory (VWM) interactions. In two experiments, participants were shown a series of two sequentially presented face images. In Experiment 1, the two faces were separated by an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 1, 3, 6, or 10 s, and participants were instructed to reproduce the second face after a varying response delay of 0, 1, 3, 6, or 10 s. Results showed that SD effects occurred most consistently at ISI of 1 s and response delays of 1 and 6 s consistent with early and late stages of processing. In Experiment 2, the ISI was held constant at 1 s, and to separate SD from VWM interactions participants were post-cued to reproduce either the first or the second face. When the second face was the target, SD effects again occurred at response delays of 1 and 6 s, but not when the first face was the target. Together, the results demonstrates that SD facial identity effects occur independently of task-related processes in a distinct temporal fashion and suggest that SD and VWM interactions may rely on separate underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anette Lidström
- Department of Psychology, Lund University, Allhelgona kyrkogata 16A, 223 50, Lund, Sweden.
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Wang A, Chen E, Zhang H, Borjigin CH, Wang H. The Time Sequence of Face Spatial Frequency Differs During Working Memory Encoding and Retrieval Stages. Front Psychol 2022; 13:853992. [PMID: 35668961 PMCID: PMC9165599 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.853992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have found that P1 and P2 components were more sensitive to configural and featural face processing, respectively, when attentional resources were sufficient, suggesting that face processing follows a coarse-to-fine sequence. However, the role of working memory (WM) load in the time course of configural and featural face processing is poorly understood, especially whether it differs during encoding and retrieval stages. This study employed a delayed recognition task with varying WM load and face spatial frequency (SF). Our behavioral and ERP results showed that WM load modulated face SF processing. Specifically, for the encoding stage, P1 and P2 were more sensitive to broadband SF (BSF) faces, while N170 was more sensitive to low SF (LSF) and BSF faces. For the retrieval stage, P1 on the right hemisphere was more sensitive to BSF faces relative to HSF faces, N170 was more sensitive to LSF faces than HSF faces, especially under the load 1 condition, while P2 was more sensitive to high SF (HSF) faces than HSF faces, especially under load 3 condition. These results indicate that faces are perceived less finely during the encoding stage, whereas face perception follows a coarse-to-fine sequence during the retrieval stage, which is influenced by WM load. The coarse and fine information were processed especially under the low and high load conditions, respectively.
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Attention is prioritised for proximate and approaching fearful faces. Cortex 2020; 134:52-64. [PMID: 33249300 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Attention is an important function that allows us to selectively enhance the processing of relevant stimuli in our environment. Fittingly, a number of studies have revealed that potentially threatening/fearful stimuli capture attention more efficiently. Interestingly, in separate fMRI studies, threatening stimuli situated close to viewers were found to enhance brain activity in fear-relevant areas more than stimuli that were further away. Despite these observations, few studies have examined the effect of personal distance on attentional capture by emotional stimuli. Using electroencephalography (EEG), the current investigation addressed this question by investigating attentional capture of emotional faces that were either looming/receding, or were situated at different distances from the viewer. In Experiment 1, participants carried out an incidental task while looming or receding fearful and neutral faces were presented bilaterally. A significant lateralised N170 and N2pc were found for a looming upright fearful face, however no significant components were found for a looming upright neutral face or inverted fearful and neutral faces. In Experiment 2, participants made gender judgements of emotional faces that appeared on a screen situated within or beyond peripersonal space (respectively 50 cm or 120 cm). Although response times did not differ, significantly more errors were made when faces appeared in near as opposed to far space. Importantly, ERPs revealed a significant N2pc for fearful faces presented in peripersonal distance, compared to the far distance. Our findings show that personal distance markedly affects neural responses to emotional stimuli, with increased attention towards fearful upright faces that appear in close distance.
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Burra N, Kerzel D. Task Demands Modulate Effects of Threatening Faces on Early Perceptual Encoding. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2400. [PMID: 31708839 PMCID: PMC6821787 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The threat capture hypothesis states that threatening stimuli are automatically processed with higher priority than non-threatening stimuli, irrespective of observer intentions or focus of attention. We evaluated the threat capture hypothesis with respect to the early perceptual stages of face processing. We focused on an electrophysiological marker of face processing (the lateralized N170) in response to neutral, happy, and angry facial expressions displayed in competition with a non-face stimulus (a house). We evaluated how effects of facial expression on the lateralized N170 were modulated by task demands. In the pixel task, participants were required to identify the gender of the face, which made the face task-relevant and entailed structural encoding of the face stimulus. In the pixel task, participants identified the location of a missing pixel in the fixation cross, which made the face task-irrelevant and placed it outside the focus of attention. When faces were relevant, the lateralized N170 to angry faces was enhanced compared to happy and neutral faces. When faces were irrelevant, facial expression had no effect. These results reveal the critical role of task demands on the preference for threatening faces, indicating that top-down, voluntary processing modulates the prioritization of threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Burra
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Éducation, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Dirk Kerzel
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Éducation, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
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Towler J, Fisher K, Eimer M. Holistic face perception is impaired in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex 2018; 108:112-126. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Revised: 03/21/2018] [Accepted: 07/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Stasch J, Mohr B, Neuhaus AH. Disentangling the interaction of sex differences and hemispheric specialization for face processing – Evidence from ERPs. Biol Psychol 2018; 136:144-150. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2017] [Revised: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Fisher K, Towler J, Eimer M. Face identity matching is selectively impaired in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex 2017; 89:11-27. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2016] [Revised: 11/09/2016] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Abstract
In visual search, observers try to find known target objects among distractors in visual scenes where the location of the targets is uncertain. This review article discusses the attentional processes that are active during search and their neural basis. Four successive phases of visual search are described. During the initial preparatory phase, a representation of the current search goal is activated. Once visual input has arrived, information about the presence of target-matching features is accumulated in parallel across the visual field (guidance). This information is then used to allocate spatial attention to particular objects (selection), before representations of selected objects are activated in visual working memory (recognition). These four phases of attentional control in visual search are characterized both at the cognitive level and at the neural implementation level. It will become clear that search is a continuous process that unfolds in real time. Selective attention in visual search is described as the gradual emergence of spatially specific and temporally sustained biases for representations of task-relevant visual objects in cortical maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Eimer
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK
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