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Balta G, Akyürek EG. The effect of object perception on event integration and segregation. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-024-02922-6. [PMID: 39294325 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02922-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024]
Abstract
The perceptual system must integrate information from various points in time and space to interpret continuous sensory input into meaningful units, such as visual objects or events. To explore the relationship between the perception of spatial objects and temporal events, we modified the missing element task, a typical temporal integration task, by inserting a simple spatial object. The aim was to determine whether the perceptual processing of the object would have an impact on the frequency of temporal integration and segregation. Temporal integration was most successful when the missing element was located within the object, less successful when there was no object, and least successful when the missing element appeared outside the object. The advantage of the location of the missing element within the object was observed at display durations from 30 ms to 150 ms. Interestingly, the object provided the same benefit for integration and segregation despite their opposing perceptual demands. This study demonstrates the relationship that exists between the processing of temporal events and spatial objects, and shows how such spatial information can facilitate temporal integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gülşen Balta
- Department of Psychology, Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS, Groningen, The Netherlands.
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Elkan G Akyürek
- Department of Psychology, Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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2
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Schulz MC, Bartsch MV, Merkel C, Strumpf H, Schoenfeld MA, Hopf JM. Parallel gain modulation mechanisms set the resolution of color selectivity in human visual cortex. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadm7385. [PMID: 39259799 PMCID: PMC11389780 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adm7385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 09/13/2024]
Abstract
Color discrimination is fundamental to human behavior. We find bananas by coarsely searching for yellow but then differentiate nuances of yellow to pick the best exemplars. How does the brain adjust the resolution of color selectivity to our changing needs? Here, we analyze the brain magnetic response in the human visual cortex to show that color selectivity is adaptively set by coarse- and fine-resolving processes running in parallel at different hierarchical levels. Those include a gain enhancement in the higher-lever cortex of color units tuned away from the target to resolve very similar colors and a coarsely resolving gain enhancement in the mid-level cortex of units tuned to the target. Our findings suggest that attention operates on a form of multiresolution representation of color at different levels in the visual hierarchy, which keeps selectivity adaptive to a changing resolution context.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mandy V Bartsch
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6500HB, Netherlands
| | | | | | - Mircea A Schoenfeld
- Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg 39120, Germany
- Kliniken Schmieder, Heidelberg 69117, Germany
- Center for Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Magdeburg 39120, Germany
| | - Jens-Max Hopf
- Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg 39120, Germany
- Center for Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Magdeburg 39120, Germany
- Leibniz-Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg 39118, Germany
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3
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Luo ZX, Pan WN, Zeng XJ, Gong LY, Cai YC. Endogenous attention enhances contrast appearance regardless of stimulus contrast. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:1883-1896. [PMID: 38992320 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02929-z] [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: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024]
Abstract
There has been enduring debate on how attention alters contrast appearance. Recent research indicates that exogenous attention enhances contrast appearance for low-contrast stimuli but attenuates it for high-contrast stimuli. Similarly, one study has demonstrated that endogenous attention heightens perceived contrast for low-contrast stimuli, yet none have explored its impact on high-contrast stimuli. In this study, we investigated how endogenous attention alters contrast appearance, with a specific focus on high-contrast stimuli. In Experiment 1, we utilized the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm to direct endogenous attention, revealing that contrast appearance was enhanced for both low- and high-contrast stimuli. To eliminate potential influences from the confined attention field in the RSVP paradigm, Experiment 2 adopted the letter identification paradigm, deploying attention across a broader visual field. Results consistently indicated that endogenous attention increased perceived contrast for high-contrast stimuli. Experiment 3 employed equiluminant chromatic letters as stimuli in the letter identification task to eliminate potential interference from contrast adaption, which might have occurred in Experiment 2. Remarkably, the boosting effect of endogenous attention persisted. Combining the results from these experiments, we propose that endogenous attention consistently enhances contrast appearance, irrespective of stimulus contrast levels. This stands in contrast to the effects of exogenous attention, suggesting that mechanisms through which endogenous attention alters contrast appearance may differ from those of exogenous attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zi-Xi Luo
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University (Zijingang Campus), Yuhangtang Road No. 866, Zhejiang Province, 310058, People's Republic of China
| | - Wang-Nan Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University (Zijingang Campus), Yuhangtang Road No. 866, Zhejiang Province, 310058, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiang-Jun Zeng
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University (Zijingang Campus), Yuhangtang Road No. 866, Zhejiang Province, 310058, People's Republic of China
| | - Liang-Yu Gong
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University (Zijingang Campus), Yuhangtang Road No. 866, Zhejiang Province, 310058, People's Republic of China
| | - Yong-Chun Cai
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University (Zijingang Campus), Yuhangtang Road No. 866, Zhejiang Province, 310058, People's Republic of China.
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4
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Karvat G, Ofir N, Landau AN. Sensory Drive Modifies Brain Dynamics and the Temporal Integration Window. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:614-631. [PMID: 38010294 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Perception is suggested to occur in discrete temporal windows, clocked by cycles of neural oscillations. An important testable prediction of this theory is that individuals' peak frequencies of oscillations should correlate with their ability to segregate the appearance of two successive stimuli. An influential study tested this prediction and showed that individual peak frequency of spontaneously occurring alpha (8-12 Hz) correlated with the temporal segregation threshold between two successive flashes of light [Samaha, J., & Postle, B. R. The speed of alpha-band oscillations predicts the temporal resolution of visual perception. Current Biology, 25, 2985-2990, 2015]. However, these findings were recently challenged [Buergers, S., & Noppeney, U. The role of alpha oscillations in temporal binding within and across the senses. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 732-742, 2022]. To advance our understanding of the link between oscillations and temporal segregation, we devised a novel experimental approach. Rather than relying entirely on spontaneous brain dynamics, we presented a visual grating before the flash stimuli that is known to induce continuous oscillations in the gamma band (45-65 Hz). By manipulating the contrast of the grating, we found that high contrast induces a stronger gamma response and a shorter temporal segregation threshold, compared to low-contrast trials. In addition, we used a novel tool to characterize sustained oscillations and found that, for half of the participants, both the low- and high-contrast gratings were accompanied by a sustained and phase-locked alpha oscillation. These participants tended to have longer temporal segregation thresholds. Our results suggest that visual stimulus drive, reflected by oscillations in specific bands, is related to the temporal resolution of visual perception.
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5
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Krug A, Eberhardt LV, Huckauf A. Transient attention does not alter the eccentricity effect in estimation of duration. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:392-403. [PMID: 37550478 PMCID: PMC10806013 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02766-6] [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: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
Previous research investigating the influence of stimulus eccentricity on perceived duration showed an increasing duration underestimation with increasing eccentricity. Based on studies showing that precueing the stimulus location prolongs perceived duration, one might assume that this eccentricity effect is influenced by spatial attention. In the present study, we assessed the influence of transient covert attention on the eccentricity effect in duration estimation in two experiments, one online and one in a laboratory setting. In a duration estimation task, participants judged whether a comparison stimulus presented near or far from fixation with a varying duration was shorter or longer than a standard stimulus presented foveally with a constant duration. To manipulate transient covert attention, either a transient luminance cue was used (valid cue) to direct attention to the position of the subsequent peripheral comparison stimulus or all positions were marked by luminance (neutral cue). Results of both experiments yielded a greater underestimation of duration for the far than for the near stimulus, replicating the eccentricity effect. Although cueing was effective (i.e., shorter response latencies for validly cued stimuli), cueing did not alter the eccentricity effect on estimation of duration. This indicates that cueing leads to covert attentional shifts but does not account for the eccentricity effect in perceived duration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Krug
- Department of General Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89069, Ulm, Germany.
| | - Lisa Valentina Eberhardt
- Department of General Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89069, Ulm, Germany
| | - Anke Huckauf
- Department of General Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89069, Ulm, Germany
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6
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Kobayashi M, Ichikawa M. Emotional response evoked by viewing facial expression pictures leads to higher temporal resolution. Iperception 2023; 14:20416695231152144. [PMID: 36845026 PMCID: PMC9943968 DOI: 10.1177/20416695231152144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/12/2023] Open
Abstract
We examined the effects of emotional response, with different levels of valence and arousal, on the temporal resolution of visual processing by using photos of various facial expressions. As an index of the temporal resolution of visual processing, we measured the minimum lengths of the noticeable durations for desaturated photographs using the method of constant stimuli by switching colorful facial expression photographs to desaturated versions of the same photographs. Experiments 1 and 2 used facial photographs that evoke various degrees of arousal and valence. Those photographs were prepared not only in an upright orientation but also in an inverted orientation to reduce emotional response without changing the photographs' image properties. Results showed that the minimum duration to notice monochrome photographs for anger, fear, and joy was shorter than that for a neutral face when viewing upright face photographs but not when viewing inverted face photographs. For Experiment 3, we used facial expression photographs to evoke various degrees of arousal. Results showed that the temporal resolution of visual processing increased with the degree of arousal. These results suggest that the arousal of emotional responses evoked by viewing facial expressions might increase the temporal resolution of visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Misa Kobayashi
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
- Japan Society for the Promotion
of Science, Chiyoda-ku, Japan
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7
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Oishi H, Takemura H, Amano K. Macromolecular tissue volume mapping of lateral geniculate nucleus subdivisions in living human brains. Neuroimage 2023; 265:119777. [PMID: 36462730 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 11/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is a key thalamic nucleus in the visual system, which has an important function in relaying retinal visual input to the visual cortex. The human LGN is composed mainly of magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) subdivisions, each of which has different stimulus selectivity in neural response properties. Previous studies have discussed the potential relationship between LGN subdivisions and visual disorders based on psychophysical data on specific types of visual stimuli. However, these relationships remain speculative because non-invasive measurements of these subdivisions are difficult due to the small size of the LGN. Here we propose a method to identify these subdivisions by combining two structural MR measures: high-resolution proton-density weighted images and macromolecular tissue volume (MTV) maps. We defined the M and P subdivisions based on MTV fraction data and tested the validity of the definition by (1) comparing the data with that from human histological studies, (2) comparing the data with functional magnetic resonance imaging measurements on stimulus selectivity, and (3) analyzing the test-retest reliability. The findings demonstrated that the spatial organization of the M and P subdivisions was consistent across subjects and in line with LGN subdivisions observed in human histological data. Moreover, the difference in stimulus selectivity between the subdivisions identified using MTV was consistent with previous physiology literature. The definition of the subdivisions based on MTV was shown to be robust over measurements taken on different days. These results suggest that MTV mapping is a promising approach for evaluating the tissue properties of LGN subdivisions in living humans. This method potentially will enable neuroscientific and clinical hypotheses about the human LGN subdivisions to be tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroki Oishi
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, United States.
| | - Hiromasa Takemura
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Division of Sensory and Cognitive Brain Mapping, Department of System Neuroscience, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Life Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Hayama 240-0193, Japan.
| | - Kaoru Amano
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
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8
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Yates TS, Skalaban LJ, Ellis CT, Bracher AJ, Baldassano C, Turk-Browne NB. Neural event segmentation of continuous experience in human infants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2200257119. [PMID: 36252007 PMCID: PMC9618143 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2200257119] [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] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
How infants experience the world is fundamental to understanding their cognition and development. A key principle of adult experience is that, despite receiving continuous sensory input, we perceive this input as discrete events. Here we investigate such event segmentation in infants and how it differs from adults. Research on event cognition in infants often uses simplified tasks in which (adult) experimenters help solve the segmentation problem for infants by defining event boundaries or presenting discrete actions/vignettes. This presupposes which events are experienced by infants and leaves open questions about the principles governing infant segmentation. We take a different, data-driven approach by studying infant event segmentation of continuous input. We collected whole-brain functional MRI (fMRI) data from awake infants (and adults, for comparison) watching a cartoon and used a hidden Markov model to identify event states in the brain. We quantified the existence, timescale, and organization of multiple-event representations across brain regions. The adult brain exhibited a known hierarchical gradient of event timescales, from shorter events in early visual regions to longer events in later visual and associative regions. In contrast, the infant brain represented only longer events, even in early visual regions, with no timescale hierarchy. The boundaries defining these infant events only partially overlapped with boundaries defined from adult brain activity and behavioral judgments. These findings suggest that events are organized differently in infants, with longer timescales and more stable neural patterns, even in sensory regions. This may indicate greater temporal integration and reduced temporal precision during dynamic, naturalistic perception.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Cameron T. Ellis
- bDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Angelika J. Bracher
- cInternational Max Planck Research School NeuroCom, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04303 Leipzig, Germany
- dDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
- aDepartment of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
- fWu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510
- 1To whom correspondence may be addressed.
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9
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Pavan A, Koc Yilmaz S, Kafaligonul H, Battaglini L, Blurton SP. Motion processing impaired by transient spatial attention: Potential implications for the magnocellular pathway. Vision Res 2022; 199:108080. [PMID: 35749832 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2022.108080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Spatial cues presented prior to the presentation of a static stimulus usually improve its perception. However, previous research has also shown that transient exogenous cues to direct spatial attention to the location of a forthcoming stimulus can lead to reduced performance. In the present study, we investigated the effects of transient exogenous cues on the perception of briefly presented drifting Gabor patches. The spatial and temporal frequencies of the drifting Gabors were chosen to mainly engage the magnocellular pathway. We found better performance in the motion direction discrimination task when neutral cues were presented before the drifting target compared to a valid spatial cue. The behavioral results support the hypothesis that transient attention prolongs the internal response to the attended stimulus, thus reducing the temporal segregation of visual events. These results were complemented by applying a recently developed model for perceptual decisions to rule out a speed-accuracy trade-off and to further assess cueing effects on visual performance. In a model-based assessment, we found that valid cues initially enhanced processing but overall resulted in less efficient processing compared to neutral cues, possibly caused by reduced temporal segregation of visual events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Pavan
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
| | - Seyma Koc Yilmaz
- National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
| | - Hulusi Kafaligonul
- National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
| | - Luca Battaglini
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Steven P Blurton
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353 København, Denmark
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10
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Effects of spatial attention on spatial and temporal acuity: A computational account. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:1886-1900. [PMID: 35729455 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02527-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In our daily lives, the visual system receives a plethora of visual information that competes for the brain's limited processing capacity. Nevertheless, not all visual information is useful for our cognitive, emotional, social, and ultimately survival purposes. Therefore, the brain employs mechanisms to select critical information and thereby optimizes its limited resources. Attention is the selective process that serves such a function. In particular, covert spatial attention - attending to a particular location in the visual field without eye movements - improves spatial resolution and paradoxically deteriorates temporal resolution. The neural correlates underlying these attentional effects still remainelusive. In this work, we tested a neural model's predictions that explain these phenomena based on interactions between channels with different spatiotemporal sensitivities - namely, the magnocellular (transient) and parvocellular (sustained) channels. More specifically, our model postulates that spatial attention enhances activities in the parvocellular pathway, thereby producing improved performance in spatial resolution tasks. However, the enhancement of parvocellular activities leads to decreased magnocellular activities due to parvo-magno inhibitory interactions. As a result, spatial attention hampers temporal resolution. We compared the predictions of the model to psychophysical data, and show that our model can account qualitatively and quantitatively for the effects of spatial attention on spatial and temporal acuity.
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Krüger A, Scharlau I. The time course of salience: not entirely caused by salience. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022; 86:234-251. [PMID: 33599818 PMCID: PMC8821086 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01470-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Visual salience is a key component of attentional selection, the process that guards the scarce resources needed for conscious recognition and perception. In previous works, we proposed a measure of visual salience based on a formal theory of visual selection. However, the strength of visual salience depends on the time course as well as local physical contrasts. Evidence from multiple experimental designs in the literature suggests that the strength of salience rises initially and declines after approximately 150 ms. The present article amends the theory-based salience measure beyond local physical contrasts to the time course of salience. It does so through a first experiment which reveals that-contrary to expectations-salience is not reduced during the first 150 ms after onset. Instead, the overall visual processing capacity is severely reduced, which corresponds to a reduced processing speed of all stimuli in the visual field. A second experiment confirms this conclusion by replicating the result. We argue that the slower stimulus processing may have been overlooked previously because the attentional selection mechanism had not yet been modeled in studies on the time course of salience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Krüger
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn University, Warburger Straße 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany.
| | - Ingrid Scharlau
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn University, Warburger Straße 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany
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12
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Purokayastha S, Roberts M, Carrasco M. Voluntary attention improves performance similarly around the visual field. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:2784-2794. [PMID: 34036535 PMCID: PMC8514247 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02316-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Performance as a function of polar angle at isoeccentric locations across the visual field is known as a performance field (PF) and is characterized by two asymmetries: the HVA (horizontal-vertical anisotropy) and VMA (vertical meridian asymmetry). Exogenous (involuntary) spatial attention does not affect the shape of the PF, improving performance similarly across polar angle. Here we investigated whether endogenous (voluntary) spatial attention, a flexible mechanism, can attenuate these perceptual asymmetries. Twenty participants performed an orientation discrimination task while their endogenous attention was either directed to the target location or distributed across all possible locations. The effects of attention were assessed either using the same stimulus contrast across locations or equating difficulty across locations using individually titrated contrast thresholds. In both experiments, endogenous attention similarly improved performance at all locations, maintaining the canonical PF shape. Thus, despite its voluntary nature, like exogenous attention, endogenous attention cannot alleviate perceptual asymmetries at isoeccentric locations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mariel Roberts
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 970, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
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13
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Inter-individual variations in internal noise predict the effects of spatial attention. Cognition 2021; 217:104888. [PMID: 34450395 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2021] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Individuals differ considerably in the degree to which they benefit from attention allocation. Thus far, such individual differences were attributed to post-perceptual factors such as working-memory capacity. This study examined whether a perceptual factor - the level of internal noise - also contributes to this inter-individual variability in attentional effects. To that end, we estimated individual levels of internal noise from behavioral variability in an orientation discrimination task (with tilted gratings) using the double-pass procedure and the perceptual-template model. We also measured the effects of spatial attention in an acuity task: the participants reported the side of a square on which a small aperture appeared. Central arrows were used to engage sustained attention and peripheral cues to engage transient attention. We found reliable correlations between individual levels of internal noise and the effects of both types of attention, albeit of opposite directions: positive correlation with sustained attention and negative correlation with transient attention. These findings demonstrate that internal noise - a fundamental characteristic of visual perception - can predict individual differences in the effects of spatial attention, highlighting the intricate relations between perception and attention.
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14
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Han Y, Tan Z, Zhuang H, Qian J. Contrasting effects of exogenous and endogenous attention on size perception. BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY (LONDON, ENGLAND : 1953) 2021; 113:153-175. [PMID: 34435351 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Although neuroimaging studies have shown that exogenous and endogenous attention are dissociable, only a few behavioural studies have explored their differential effects on visual sensitivity, and none have directly focused on visual appearance. Here, we show that exogenous and endogenous attention produces contrasting effects on apparent size. Participants performed a spatial pre-cueing comparative judgement task that had been frequently used to test the attentional effects on visual perception. The results showed that a smaller stimulus within the focus of exogenous attention was perceived to be equal in size as a larger unattended stimulus, whereas a larger stimulus within the focus of endogenous attention was perceived to be equal in size as a smaller unattended stimulus. In other words, exogenous attention increased the perceived size while endogenous attention decreased the perceived size. The contrasting effects may be attributed to the mechanism that exogenous attention favours parvocellular processing for which more neurons with smaller receptive fields (RFs) are activated for a given size, whereas endogenous attention favours magnocellular processing for which fewer neurons with larger RFs are activated. This finding shows that exogenous and endogenous attention acts differentially on size perception, and provides supportive evidence for the distinct mechanisms underlying the two types of attentional processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifei Han
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.,State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhihao Tan
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Huang Zhuang
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiehui Qian
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
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15
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Jigo M, Heeger DJ, Carrasco M. An image-computable model of how endogenous and exogenous attention differentially alter visual perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2106436118. [PMID: 34389680 PMCID: PMC8379934 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106436118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention alters perception across the visual field. Typically, endogenous (voluntary) and exogenous (involuntary) attention similarly improve performance in many visual tasks, but they have differential effects in some tasks. Extant models of visual attention assume that the effects of these two types of attention are identical and consequently do not explain differences between them. Here, we develop a model of spatial resolution and attention that distinguishes between endogenous and exogenous attention. We focus on texture-based segmentation as a model system because it has revealed a clear dissociation between both attention types. For a texture for which performance peaks at parafoveal locations, endogenous attention improves performance across eccentricity, whereas exogenous attention improves performance where the resolution is low (peripheral locations) but impairs it where the resolution is high (foveal locations) for the scale of the texture. Our model emulates sensory encoding to segment figures from their background and predict behavioral performance. To explain attentional effects, endogenous and exogenous attention require separate operating regimes across visual detail (spatial frequency). Our model reproduces behavioral performance across several experiments and simultaneously resolves three unexplained phenomena: 1) the parafoveal advantage in segmentation, 2) the uniform improvements across eccentricity by endogenous attention, and 3) the peripheral improvements and foveal impairments by exogenous attention. Overall, we unveil a computational dissociation between each attention type and provide a generalizable framework for predicting their effects on perception across the visual field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Jigo
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003;
| | - David J Heeger
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
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16
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Singhal I, Srinivasan N. Time and time again: a multi-scale hierarchical framework for time-consciousness and timing of cognition. Neurosci Conscious 2021; 2021:niab020. [PMID: 34394957 PMCID: PMC8358708 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niab020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Revised: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporality and the feeling of 'now' is a fundamental property of consciousness. Different conceptualizations of time-consciousness have argued that both the content of our experiences and the representations of those experiences evolve in time, or neither have temporal extension, or only content does. Accounting for these different positions, we propose a nested hierarchical model of multiple timescales that accounts for findings on timing of cognition and phenomenology of temporal experience. This framework hierarchically combines the three major philosophical positions on time-consciousness (i.e. cinematic, extensional and retentional) and presents a common basis for temporal experience. We detail the properties of these hierarchical levels and speculate how they could coexist mechanistically. We also place several findings on timing and temporal experience at different levels in this hierarchy and show how they can be brought together. Finally, the framework is used to derive novel predictions for both timing of our experiences and time perception. The theoretical framework offers a novel dynamic space that can bring together sub-fields of cognitive science like perception, attention, action and consciousness research in understanding and describing our experiences both in and of time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ishan Singhal
- Department of Cognitive Science, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
- Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, India
| | - Narayanan Srinivasan
- Department of Cognitive Science, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
- Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, India
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17
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Edwards M, Goodhew SC, Badcock DR. Using perceptual tasks to selectively measure magnocellular and parvocellular performance: Rationale and a user's guide. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 28:1029-1050. [PMID: 33742424 PMCID: PMC8367893 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-020-01874-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The visual system uses parallel pathways to process information. However, an ongoing debate centers on the extent to which the pathways from the retina, via the Lateral Geniculate nucleus to the visual cortex, process distinct aspects of the visual scene and, if they do, can stimuli in the laboratory be used to selectively drive them. These questions are important for a number of reasons, including that some pathologies are thought to be associated with impaired functioning of one of these pathways and certain cognitive functions have been preferentially linked to specific pathways. Here we examine the two main pathways that have been the focus of this debate: the magnocellular and parvocellular pathways. Specifically, we review the results of electrophysiological and lesion studies that have investigated their properties and conclude that while there is substantial overlap in the type of information that they process, it is possible to identify aspects of visual information that are predominantly processed by either the magnocellular or parvocellular pathway. We then discuss the types of visual stimuli that can be used to preferentially drive these pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Edwards
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
| | - Stephanie C Goodhew
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - David R Badcock
- School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia
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18
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Jigo M, Carrasco M. Differential impact of exogenous and endogenous attention on the contrast sensitivity function across eccentricity. J Vis 2020; 20:11. [PMID: 32543651 PMCID: PMC7416906 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.6.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Both exogenous and endogenous covert spatial attention enhance contrast sensitivity, a fundamental measure of visual function that depends substantially on the spatial frequency and eccentricity of a stimulus. Whether and how each type of attention systematically improves contrast sensitivity across spatial frequency and eccentricity are fundamental to our understanding of visual perception. Previous studies have assessed the effects of spatial attention at individual spatial frequencies and, separately, at different eccentricities, but this is the first study to do so parametrically with the same task and observers. Using an orientation discrimination task, we investigated the effect of attention on contrast sensitivity over a wide range of spatial frequencies and eccentricities. Targets were presented alone or among distractors to assess signal enhancement and distractor suppression mechanisms of spatial attention. At each eccentricity, we found that exogenous attention preferentially enhanced spatial frequencies higher than the peak frequency in the baseline condition. In contrast, endogenous attention similarly enhanced a broad range of lower and higher spatial frequencies. The presence or absence of distractors did not alter the pattern of enhancement by each type of attention. Our findings reveal how the two types of covert spatial attention differentially shape how we perceive basic visual dimensions across the visual field.
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19
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Ichikawa M, Miyoshi M. Perceived Duration Depends Upon Target Detection in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Sequence. Iperception 2020; 11:2041669520981996. [PMID: 33489076 PMCID: PMC7768581 DOI: 10.1177/2041669520981996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well known that the perceived duration for a given time period decreases with the reduction of the number of perceived events. We examined whether target detection failures in viewing Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) sequence, caused by attentional blink, affect this reduction of perceived duration. In two experiments, trials consisted of displays of two series of RSVP sequences; in the first sequence (the comparison), two, one, or no numerals were presented as targets embedded within the string of letters, while in the second sequence (the standard), only alphabetic letters were presented. In each trial, participants judged whether the duration of the comparison is perceived as longer than that of the standard (Experiment 1), or whether the number of frames in the comparison is perceived as more than that in the standard (Experiment 2). Results showed that perceived duration was inflated with target detection, but not with the increment of presented frames although number of perceived frames was inflated with both target detection and increment of presented frames. These results suggest that perceived duration in viewing RSVP sequences is determined by the cognitive load necessary to accomplish target detection rather than by the number of perceived frames.
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20
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Pan Y. Visual working memory modulates the temporal resolution of visual perception. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2020; 73:1719-1728. [DOI: 10.1177/1747021820925799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The present study examined how visual working memory affects temporal resolution of visual stimuli that match the memorised nontemporal information about stimulus features (e.g., shapes). The results show that active maintenance of a sample shape in visual working memory impaired the concurrent detection of a sufficiently brief temporal gap within a matching visual target stimulus. The impairment of temporal gap detection was not likely due to the mechanism of visual priming from the presentation of the sample shape, because there was no evidence for priming effects when the sample was only passively viewed without working memory demands or when the sample was initially encoded into memory but did not need to be actively maintained in mind by the time the target stimulus appeared. These findings demonstrate that visual working memory can lower the temporal resolution of visual perception and thereby impair performance in the temporal gap detection task that requires fine temporal segregation of visual information, and they suggest the existence of a previously unknown downside to the interplay between working memory and visual perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Pan
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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21
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Gmeindl L, Jefferies LN, Yantis S. Attention scaling modulates the effective capacity of visual sensory memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 84:881-889. [PMID: 30368559 PMCID: PMC6486882 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1114-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Accepted: 10/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Visual sensory memory (VSM) has a high capacity, but its contents are fleeting. Recent evidence that the breadth of attention strongly influences the efficiency of visual processing suggests that it might also modulate the effective capacity of VSM. We manipulated the breadth of attention with different cue sizes and used the partial-report technique to estimate the capacity of VSM. Whether attention was deployed voluntarily or captured by a salient cue, narrowly focused attention increased the effective capacity of VSM. This study reveals, for the first time, a direct influence of the breadth of attention on the effective capacity of VSM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leon Gmeindl
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD, 21218-2686, USA.
| | - Lisa N Jefferies
- School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Southport, QLD, 4222, Australia
| | - Steven Yantis
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD, 21218-2686, USA
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22
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Abstract
Orienting covert spatial attention to a target location enhances visual sensitivity and benefits performance in many visual tasks. How these attention-related improvements in performance affect the underlying visual representation of low-level visual features is not fully understood. Here we focus on characterizing how exogenous spatial attention affects the feature representations of orientation and spatial frequency. We asked observers to detect a vertical grating embedded in noise and performed psychophysical reverse correlation. Doing so allowed us to make comparisons with previous studies that utilized the same task and analysis to assess how endogenous attention and presaccadic modulations affect visual representations. We found that exogenous spatial attention improved performance and enhanced the gain of the target orientation without affecting orientation tuning width. Moreover, we found no change in spatial frequency tuning. We conclude that covert exogenous spatial attention alters performance by strictly boosting gain of orientation-selective filters, much like covert endogenous spatial attention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hsin-Hung Li
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology & Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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23
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How voluntary spatial attention influences feature biases in object correspondence. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 82:1024-1037. [PMID: 31254261 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01801-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Our visual system is able to establish associations between corresponding images across space and time and to maintain the identity of objects, even though the information our retina receives is ambiguous. It has been shown that lower level factors-as, for example, spatiotemporal proximity-can affect this correspondence problem. In addition, higher level factors-as, for example, semantic knowledge-can influence correspondence, suggesting that correspondence might also be solved at a higher object-based level of processing, which could be mediated by attention. To test this hypothesis, we instructed participants to voluntarily direct their attention to individual elements in the Ternus display. In this ambiguous apparent motion display, three elements are aligned next to each other and shifted by one position from one frame to the next. This shift can be either perceived as all elements moving together (group motion) or as one element jumping across the others (element motion). We created a competitive Ternus display, in which the color of the elements was manipulated in such a way that the percept was biased toward element motion for one color and toward group motion for another color. If correspondence can be established at an object-based level, attending toward one of the biased elements should increase the likelihood that this element determines the correspondence solution and thereby that the biased motion is perceived. Our results were in line with this hypothesis providing support for an object-based correspondence process that is based on a one-to-one mapping of the most similar elements mediated via attention.
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24
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Banerjee S, Grover S, Sridharan D. Unraveling Causal Mechanisms of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Visuospatial Attention with Non-invasive Brain Stimulation. J Indian Inst Sci 2019; 97:451-475. [PMID: 31231154 PMCID: PMC6588534 DOI: 10.1007/s41745-017-0046-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 09/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Attention is a process of selection that allows us to intelligently navigate the abundance of information in our world. Attention can be either directed voluntarily based on internal goals-"top-down" or goal-directed attention-or captured automatically, by salient stimuli-"bottom-up" or stimulus-driven attention. Do these two modes of attention control arise from same or different brain circuits? Do they share similar or distinct neural mechanisms? In this review, we explore this dichotomy between the neural bases of top-down and bottom-up attention control, with a special emphasis on insights gained from non-invasive neurostimulation techniques, specifically, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS enables spatially focal and temporally precise manipulation of brain activity. We explore a significant literature devoted to investigating the role of fronto-parietal brain regions in top-down and bottom-up attention with TMS, and highlight key areas of convergence and debate. We also discuss recent advances in combinatorial paradigms that combine TMS with other imaging modalities, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalography. These paradigms are beginning to bridge essential gaps in our understanding of the neural pathways by which TMS affects behavior, and will prove invaluable for unraveling mechanisms of attention control, both in health and in disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanjna Banerjee
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012 India
| | - Shrey Grover
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012 India
| | - Devarajan Sridharan
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012 India
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25
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Jovanovic L. When an Event Is Perceived Depends on Where We Attend. Iperception 2019; 10:2041669519858096. [PMID: 31258884 PMCID: PMC6587391 DOI: 10.1177/2041669519858096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Does the moment when an event is perceived depends on where it is presented? To measure when participants perceived events, they were first familiarized with trial duration, by watching the hand of a clock rotating. Then, the hand was removed, and stimuli were presented at a random time from the trial onset. Participants indicated the location where the hand would have been when the stimulus was presented. The stimuli's eccentricity, the appearance, and location of the spatial features of the clock were varied. The targets were reported earlier if they were presented in spatial proximity to the clock outline, even when it was not presented during the trial. The effect was replicated with stimuli presented at the same distance from fixation but at different distances from the spatial features. In summary, the time of an event is perceived earlier if it is presented near attended features in the visual scene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ljubica Jovanovic
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France; Neuropsychologie Cognitive, Physiopathologie de la Schizophrénie, Inserm UR 1114, University of Strasbourg, France
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26
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Abstract
Constructing useful representations of our visual environment requires the ability to selectively pay attention to particular locations at specific moments. Whilst there has been much investigation on the influence of selective attention on spatial discrimination, less is known about its influence on temporal discrimination. In particular, little is known about how endogenous attention influences two fundamental and opposing temporal processes: segregation - the parsing of the visual scene over time into separate features, and integration - the binding together of related elements. In four experiments, we tested how endogenous cueing to a location influences each of these opposing processes. Results demonstrate a strong cueing effect on both segregation and integration. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that endogenous attention can influence both of these opposing processes in a flexible manner. The finding has implications for arbitrating between accounts of the multiple modulatory mechanisms comprising selective attention.
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27
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Li HH, Pan J, Carrasco M. Presaccadic attention improves or impairs performance by enhancing sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies. Sci Rep 2019; 9:2659. [PMID: 30804358 PMCID: PMC6389934 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-38262-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2018] [Accepted: 12/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Right before we move our eyes, visual performance and neural responses for the saccade target are enhanced. This effect, presaccadic attention, is considered to prioritize the saccade target and to enhance behavioral performance for the saccade target. Recent evidence has shown that presaccadic attention modulates the processing of feature information. Hitherto, it remains unknown whether presaccadic modulations on feature information are flexible, to improve performance for the task at hand, or automatic, so that they alter the featural representation similarly regardless of the task. Using a masking procedure, here we report that presaccadic attention can either improve or impair performance depending on the spatial frequency content of the visual input. These counterintuitive modulations were significant at a time window right before saccade onset. Furthermore, merely deploying covert attention within the same temporal interval without preparing a saccade did not affect performance. This study reveals that presaccadic attention not only prioritizes the saccade target, but also automatically modifies its featural representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsin-Hung Li
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.
| | - Jasmine Pan
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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28
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Goodhew SC, Edwards M. Translating experimental paradigms into individual-differences research: Contributions, challenges, and practical recommendations. Conscious Cogn 2019; 69:14-25. [PMID: 30685513 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2018] [Revised: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Psychological science has long been cleaved by a fundamental divide between researchers who experimentally manipulate variables and those who measure existing individual-differences. Increasingly, however, researchers are appreciating the value of integrating these approaches. Here, we used visual attention research as a case-in-point for how this gap can be bridged. Traditionally, researchers have predominately adopted experimental approaches to investigating visual attention. Increasingly, however, researchers are integrating individual-differences approaches with experimental approaches to answer novel and innovative research questions. However, individual differences research challenges some of the core assumptions and practices of experimental research. The purpose of this review, therefore, is to provide a timely summary and discussion of the key issues. While these are contextualised in the field of visual attention, the discussion of these issues has implications for psychological research more broadly. In doing so, we provide eight practical recommendations for proposed solutions and novel avenues for research moving forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie C Goodhew
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Australia.
| | - Mark Edwards
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Australia
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29
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Günel B, Thiel CM, Hildebrandt KJ. Effects of Exogenous Auditory Attention on Temporal and Spectral Resolution. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1984. [PMID: 30405479 PMCID: PMC6206225 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2018] [Accepted: 09/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research in the visual domain suggests that exogenous attention in form of peripheral cueing increases spatial but lowers temporal resolution. It is unclear whether this effect transfers to other sensory modalities. Here, we tested the effects of exogenous attention on temporal and spectral resolution in the auditory domain. Eighteen young, normal-hearing adults were tested in both gap and frequency change detection tasks with exogenous cuing. Benefits of valid cuing were only present in the gap detection task while costs of invalid cuing were observed in both tasks. Our results suggest that exogenous attention in the auditory system improves temporal resolution without compromising spectral resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Basak Günel
- Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Christiane M Thiel
- Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.,Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - K Jannis Hildebrandt
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.,Department of Neuroscience, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
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30
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Agaoglu S, Breitmeyer B, Ogmen H. Effects of Exogenous and Endogenous Attention on Metacontrast Masking. Vision (Basel) 2018; 2:vision2040039. [PMID: 31735902 PMCID: PMC6836134 DOI: 10.3390/vision2040039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2018] [Revised: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 09/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
To efficiently use its finite resources, the visual system selects for further processing only a subset of the rich sensory information. Visual masking and spatial attention control the information transfer from visual sensory-memory to visual short-term memory. There is still a debate whether these two processes operate independently or interact, with empirical evidence supporting both arguments. However, recent studies pointed out that earlier studies showing significant interactions between common-onset masking and attention suffered from ceiling and/or floor effects. Our review of previous studies reporting metacontrast-attention interactions revealed similar artifacts. Therefore, we investigated metacontrast-attention interactions by using an experimental paradigm, in which ceiling/floor effects were avoided. We also examined whether metacontrast masking is differently influenced by endogenous and exogenous attention. We analyzed mean absolute-magnitude of response-errors and their statistical distribution. When targets are masked, our results support the hypothesis that manipulations of the levels of metacontrast and of endogenous/exogenous attention have largely independent effects. Moreover, statistical modeling of the distribution of response-errors suggests weak interactions modulating the probability of "guessing" behavior for some observers in both types of attention. Nevertheless, our data suggest that any joint effect of attention and metacontrast can be adequately explained by their independent and additive contributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sevda Agaoglu
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005, USA
- Center for Neuroengineering & Cognitive Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005, USA
| | - Bruno Breitmeyer
- Center for Neuroengineering & Cognitive Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5022, USA
| | - Haluk Ogmen
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005, USA
- Center for Neuroengineering & Cognitive Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005, USA
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-303-871-2621
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31
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Abstract
Endogenous and exogenous visuospatial attention both alter spatial resolution, but they operate via distinct mechanisms. In texture segmentation tasks, exogenous attention inflexibly increases resolution even when detrimental for the task at hand and does so by modulating second-order processing. Endogenous attention is more flexible and modulates resolution to benefit performance according to task demands, but it is unknown whether it also operates at the second-order level. To answer this question, we measured performance on a second-order texture segmentation task while independently manipulating endogenous and exogenous attention. Observers discriminated a second-order texture target at several eccentricities. We found that endogenous attention improved performance uniformly across eccentricity, suggesting a flexible mechanism that can increase or decrease resolution based on task demands. In contrast, exogenous attention improved performance in the periphery but impaired it at central retinal locations, consistent with an inflexible resolution enhancement. Our results reveal that endogenous and exogenous attention both alter spatial resolution by differentially modulating second-order processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Jigo
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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32
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Abstract
Visual attention is essential for visual perception. Spatial attention allows us to grant priority in processing and selectively process information at a given location. In this paper, I explain how two kinds of spatial attention: covert (allocated to the target location, without accompanying eye movements) and presaccadic (allocated to the location of the upcoming saccade's target) affect performance and alter appearance. First, I highlight some behavioral and neuroimaging research on covert attention, which alters performance and appearance in many basic visual tasks. Second, I review studies showing that presaccadic attention improves performance and alters appearance at the saccade target location. Further, these modulations change the processing of feature information automatically, even when it is detrimental to the task at hand. We propose that saccade preparation may support transsaccadic integration. Systematically investigating the common and differential characteristics of covert attention and presaccadic attention will continue to further our understanding of the pervasive selective processing of information, which enables us to make sense of our complex visual world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, USA.
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33
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Modality-specific temporal constraints for state-dependent interval timing. Sci Rep 2018; 8:10043. [PMID: 29968783 PMCID: PMC6030088 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-28258-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2017] [Accepted: 06/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to discriminate temporal intervals in the milliseconds-to-seconds range has been accounted for by proposing that duration is encoded in the dynamic change of a neuronal network state. A critical limitation of such networks is that their activity cannot immediately return to the initial state, a restriction that could hinder the processing of intervals presented in rapid succession. Empirical evidence in the literature consistently shows impaired duration discrimination performance for 100 ms intervals demarked by short auditory stimuli immediately preceded by a similar interval. Here we tested whether a similar interference is present with longer intervals (300 ms) demarked either by auditory or by visual stimuli. Our results show that while temporal estimates of auditory stimuli in this range are not affected by the interval between them, duration discrimination with this duration is significantly impaired with visual intervals presented in rapid succession. The difference in performance between modalities is overall consistent with state-dependent temporal computations, as it suggests that the limits due to slow neuronal dynamics greatly depends on the sensory modality with which the intervals are demarked, in line with the idea of intrinsic, modality-specific neural mechanisms for interval timing.
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34
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Hochmitz I, Lauffs MM, Herzog MH, Yeshurun Y. Sustained spatial attention can affect feature fusion. J Vis 2018; 18:20. [PMID: 30029230 DOI: 10.1167/18.6.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
When two verniers are presented in rapid succession at the same location, feature fusion occurs. Instead of perceiving two separate verniers, participants typically report perceiving one fused vernier, whose offset is a combination of the two previous verniers, with the later one slightly dominating. Here, we examined the effects of sustained attention-the voluntary component of spatial attention-on feature fusion. One way to manipulate sustained attention is via the degree of certainty regarding the stimulus location. In the attended condition, the stimulus appeared always in the same location, and in the unattended condition it could appear in one of two possible locations. Participants had to report the offset of the fused vernier. Experiments 1 and 2 measured attentional effects on feature fusion with and without eye-tracking. In both experiments, we found a higher rate of reports corresponding to the offset of the second vernier with focused attention than without focused attention, suggesting that attention strengthened the final percept emerging from the fusion operation. In Experiment 3, we manipulated the stimulus duration to encourage a final fused percept that is dominated by either the first or second vernier. We found that attention strengthened the already dominant percept, regardless of whether it corresponded to the offset of the first or second vernier. These results are consistent with an attentional mechanism of signal enhancement at the encoding stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilanit Hochmitz
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Marc M Lauffs
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Michael H Herzog
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Yaffa Yeshurun
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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35
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Zhou B, Feng G, Chen W, Zhou W. Olfaction Warps Visual Time Perception. Cereb Cortex 2018; 28:1718-1728. [PMID: 28334302 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Our perception of the world builds upon dynamic inputs from multiple senses with different temporal resolutions, and is threaded with the passing of subjective time. How time is extracted from multisensory inputs is scantly known. Utilizing psychophysical testing and electroencephalography, we show in healthy human adults that odors modulate object visibility around critical flicker-fusion frequency (CFF)-the limit at which chromatic flickers become perceived as a stable color-and effectively alter CFF in a congruency-based manner, despite that they afford no clear environmental temporal information. The behavioral gain produced by a congruent relative to an incongruent odor is accompanied by elevated neural oscillatory power around the object's flicker frequency in the right temporal region ~150-300 ms after object onset, and is not mediated by visual awareness. In parallel, odors bias the subjective duration of visual objects without affecting one's temporal sensitivity. These findings point to a neuronal network in the right temporal cortex that executes flexible temporal filtering of upstream visual inputs based on olfactory information. Moreover, they collectively indicate that the very process of sensory integration at the stage of object processing twists time perception, hence casting new insights into the neural timing of multisensory events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Zhou
- Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Guo Feng
- Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Wei Chen
- Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Wen Zhou
- Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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36
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Barbot A, Carrasco M. Emotion and anxiety potentiate the way attention alters visual appearance. Sci Rep 2018; 8:5938. [PMID: 29651048 PMCID: PMC5897558 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23686-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2018] [Accepted: 03/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to swiftly detect and prioritize the processing of relevant information around us is critical for the way we interact with our environment. Selective attention is a key mechanism that serves this purpose, improving performance in numerous visual tasks. Reflexively attending to sudden information helps detect impeding threat or danger, a possible reason why emotion modulates the way selective attention affects perception. For instance, the sudden appearance of a fearful face potentiates the effects of exogenous (involuntary, stimulus-driven) attention on performance. Internal states such as trait anxiety can also modulate the impact of attention on early visual processing. However, attention does not only improve performance; it also alters the way visual information appears to us, e.g. by enhancing perceived contrast. Here we show that emotion potentiates the effects of exogenous attention on both performance and perceived contrast. Moreover, we found that trait anxiety mediates these effects, with stronger influences of attention and emotion in anxious observers. Finally, changes in performance and appearance correlated with each other, likely reflecting common attentional modulations. Altogether, our findings show that emotion and anxiety interact with selective attention to truly alter how we see.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Barbot
- Department of Psychology, New York University, NY, New York, USA. .,Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, NY, Rochester, USA.
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology, New York University, NY, New York, USA.,Center for Neural Science, New York University, NY, New York, USA
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37
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Wutz A, Melcher D, Samaha J. Frequency modulation of neural oscillations according to visual task demands. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:1346-1351. [PMID: 29358390 PMCID: PMC5819398 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1713318115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporal integration in visual perception is thought to occur within cycles of occipital alpha-band (8-12 Hz) oscillations. Successive stimuli may be integrated when they fall within the same alpha cycle and segregated for different alpha cycles. Consequently, the speed of alpha oscillations correlates with the temporal resolution of perception, such that lower alpha frequencies provide longer time windows for perceptual integration and higher alpha frequencies correspond to faster sampling and segregation. Can the brain's rhythmic activity be dynamically controlled to adjust its processing speed according to different visual task demands? We recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) while participants switched between task instructions for temporal integration and segregation, holding stimuli and task difficulty constant. We found that the peak frequency of alpha oscillations decreased when visual task demands required temporal integration compared with segregation. Alpha frequency was strategically modulated immediately before and during stimulus processing, suggesting a preparatory top-down source of modulation. Its neural generators were located in occipital and inferotemporal cortex. The frequency modulation was specific to alpha oscillations and did not occur in the delta (1-3 Hz), theta (3-7 Hz), beta (15-30 Hz), or gamma (30-50 Hz) frequency range. These results show that alpha frequency is under top-down control to increase or decrease the temporal resolution of visual perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Wutz
- Center for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of Trento, I-38068 Rovereto, Italy;
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - David Melcher
- Center for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of Trento, I-38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Jason Samaha
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
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39
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Grzymisch A, Grimsen C, Ernst UA. Contour Integration in Dynamic Scenes: Impaired Detection Performance in Extended Presentations. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1501. [PMID: 28928692 PMCID: PMC5591827 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2017] [Accepted: 08/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Since scenes in nature are highly dynamic, perception requires an on-going and robust integration of local information into global representations. In vision, contour integration (CI) is one of these tasks, and it is performed by our brain in a seemingly effortless manner. Following the rule of good continuation, oriented line segments are linked into contour percepts, thus supporting important visual computations such as the detection of object boundaries. This process has been studied almost exclusively using static stimuli, raising the question of whether the observed robustness and "pop-out" quality of CI carries over to dynamic scenes. We investigate contour detection in dynamic stimuli where targets appear at random times by Gabor elements aligning themselves to form contours. In briefly presented displays (230 ms), a situation comparable to classical paradigms in CI, performance is about 87%. Surprisingly, we find that detection performance decreases to 67% in extended presentations (about 1.9-3.8 s) for the same target stimuli. In order to observe the same reduction with briefly presented stimuli, presentation time has to be drastically decreased to intervals as short as 50 ms. Cueing a specific contour position or shape helps in partially compensating this deterioration, and only in extended presentations combining a location and a shape cue was more efficient than providing a single cue. Our findings challenge the notion of CI as a mainly stimulus-driven process leading to pop-out percepts, indicating that top-down processes play a much larger role in supporting fundamental integration processes in dynamic scenes than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Axel Grzymisch
- Department of Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of BremenBremen, Germany
| | - Cathleen Grimsen
- Institute for Human Neurobiology, University of BremenBremen, Germany
| | - Udo A. Ernst
- Department of Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of BremenBremen, Germany
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40
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Goodhew SC, Edwards M. Objects but not concepts modulate the size of the attended region. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2017; 70:1353-1365. [DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1183687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Here we investigated the types of stimuli that modulate the size of the attentional spotlight. In particular, it has been previously shown that conceptual cues that either directly refer to or are semantically related to particular spatial locations can shift attention to that location (known as “ conceptual cueing”). For example, reading the word sun or joy can shift attention upward whereas the word boot or hostile can shift attention downward. Here, therefore, we tested whether words could modulate the size of the attended area. Across five experiments, we found that words that either directly referred to, or were abstractly associated with, particular sizes (small versus large) did not change the size of the attentional spotlight, whereas the presence of differently sized stimuli did, as evidenced by faster responses to targets when the spotlight is small than when it is large. This suggests that physical but not conceptual inducers can modulate the size of the attentional spotlight. This highlights an important difference between the regulation of spotlight size and shifts of attention, supporting the notion that they are subserved by distinct mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie C. Goodhew
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Mark Edwards
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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41
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Howard CJ, Rollings V, Hardie A. Sustained attention to objects' motion sharpens position representations: Attention to changing position and attention to motion are distinct. Vision Res 2017; 135:43-53. [PMID: 28454895 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2017.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2016] [Revised: 04/02/2017] [Accepted: 04/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
In tasks where people monitor moving objects, such the multiple object tracking task (MOT), observers attempt to keep track of targets as they move amongst distracters. The literature is mixed as to whether observers make use of motion information to facilitate performance. We sought to address this by two means: first by superimposing arrows on objects which varied in their informativeness about motion direction and second by asking observers to attend to motion direction. Using a position monitoring task, we calculated mean error magnitudes as a measure of the precision with which target positions are represented. We also calculated perceptual lags versus extrapolated reports, which are the times at which positions of targets best match position reports. We find that the presence of motion information in the form of superimposed arrows made no difference to position report precision nor perceptual lag. However, when we explicitly instructed observers to attend to motion, we saw facilitatory effects on position reports and in some cases reports that best matched extrapolated rather than lagging positions for small set sizes. The results indicate that attention to changing positions does not automatically recruit attention to motion, showing a dissociation between sustained attention to changing positions and attention to motion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina J Howard
- Nottingham Trent University, Room 4010, Chaucer Building, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, United Kingdom.
| | - Victoria Rollings
- Nottingham Trent University, Room 4010, Chaucer Building, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, United Kingdom
| | - Amy Hardie
- Nottingham Trent University, Room 4010, Chaucer Building, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, United Kingdom
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42
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Testing the generality of the zoom-lens model: Evidence for visual-pathway specific effects of attended-region size on perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 79:1147-1164. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1306-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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43
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey R. W. Mounts
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Geneseo, Geneseo, NY, USA
| | - Ashley A. Edwards
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Geneseo, Geneseo, NY, USA
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44
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Abstract
How does visual attention affect spatial resolution? In texture-segmentation tasks, exogenous (involuntary) attention automatically increases resolution at the attended location, which improves performance where resolution is too low (at the periphery) but impairs performance where resolution is already too high (at central locations). Conversely, endogenous (voluntary) attention improves performance at all eccentricities, which suggests a more flexible mechanism. Here, using selective adaptation to spatial frequency, we investigated the mechanism by which endogenous attention benefits performance in resolution tasks. Participants detected a texture target that could appear at several eccentricities. Adapting to high or low spatial frequencies selectively affected performance in a manner consistent with changes in resolution. Moreover, adapting to high, but not low, frequencies mitigated the attentional benefit at central locations where resolution was too high; this shows that attention can improve performance by decreasing resolution. Altogether, our results indicate that endogenous attention benefits performance by modulating the contribution of high-frequency information in order to flexibly adjust spatial resolution according to task demands.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- 1 Department of Psychology, New York University.,2 Center for Neural Science, New York University
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45
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Osugi T, Takeda Y, Murakami I. Inhibition of return shortens perceived duration of a brief visual event. Vision Res 2016; 128:39-44. [PMID: 27665071 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2016.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2016] [Revised: 08/19/2016] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the influence of attentional inhibition on the perceived duration of a brief visual event. Although attentional capture by an exogenous cue is known to prolong the perceived duration of an attended visual event, it remains unclear whether time perception is also affected by subsequent attentional inhibition at the location previously cued by an exogenous cue, an attentional phenomenon known as inhibition of return. In this study, we combined spatial cuing and duration judgment. After one second from the appearance of an uninformative peripheral cue either to the left or to the right, a target appeared at a cued side in one-third of the trials, which indeed yielded inhibition of return, and at the opposite side in another one-third of the trials. In the remaining trials, a cue appeared at a central box and one second later, a target appeared at either the left or right side. The target at the previously cued location was perceived to last shorter than the target presented at the opposite location, and shorter than the target presented after the central cue presentation. Therefore, attentional inhibition produced by a classical paradigm of inhibition of return decreased the perceived duration of a brief visual event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takayuki Osugi
- Department of Psychology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Yuji Takeda
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Ikuya Murakami
- Department of Psychology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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46
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Wang B, Zhao J, Wu Z, Shang W, Xiang J, Cao R, Li H, Chen J, Zhang H, Yan T. Eccentricity Effects on the Efficiency of Attentional Networks: Evidence From a Modified Attention Network Test. Perception 2016; 45:1375-1386. [PMID: 27383393 DOI: 10.1177/0301006616658307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
The effects of eccentricity on the attentional modulation of visual discrimination have been widely studied; however, the substrate of this complex phenomenon is poorly understood. Here, we provided a measure of the effects of eccentricity on three attentional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Participants ( N = 63) were tested with a modified attention network test that included an additional eccentricity variation; this test allowed us to investigate the efficiency of the attentional networks at near and far eccentricities. Compared with targets at the near eccentricity, targets at the far eccentricity generally elicited significantly longer reaction times. We also found the far eccentricity was associated with smaller orienting effect scores and larger executive control scores than the near eccentricity. Interestingly, at the near eccentricity, executive control scores were larger when the spatial information was neutral (no cue, center cue, and double cue), but at the far eccentricity, the scores were larger when the spatial information was valid (spatial cue). We propose that the allocation of attentional resources differed among these cue conditions and influenced the interference caused by conflicting information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Wang
- Department of Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Jingjing Zhao
- Acupuncture and Massage Department, Taiyuan City Central Hospital, China
| | - Zheng Wu
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Wei Shang
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Jie Xiang
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Rui Cao
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Haifang Li
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Junjie Chen
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, China
| | - Hui Zhang
- Department of Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Ting Yan
- Key Laboratory of Cellular Physiology, Ministry of Education, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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47
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Srinivasan N, Brown JM. Effects of Endogenous Spatial Attention on the Detection and Discrimination of Spatial Frequencies. Perception 2016; 35:193-200. [PMID: 16583765 DOI: 10.1068/p5314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Two experiments were designed to explore the relationship between visual attention and spatial-frequency processing using a cuing paradigm. In both experiments, the targets were a sharp-edged line segment with high spatial frequencies present and a blurred line segment with only low spatial frequencies present. In each trial an endogenous cue appeared at fixation indicating the probable location, left or right, in which a stimulus would appear. In experiment 1, a typical cuing effect was found with simple reaction times (RTs) for detecting the stimuli being faster when they appeared at a cued (ie attended) compared to an uncued (ie unattended) location. In experiment 2, choice RTs were measured, with participants indicating whether the sharp-edged line segment or the blurred line segment was presented in each trial. In this case, when it was necessary to process the spatial-frequency content of the stimuli, RTs were significantly faster at the attended location only for the sharp-edged line segment. For the blurred line segment without high spatial frequencies, RTs did not differ for attended and unattended locations. The results indicate that endogenous spatial attention interacts differently with high-spatial-frequency and low-spatial-frequency selective mechanisms depending on whether the task is to detect a stimulus or identify it on the basis of its spatial-frequency content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narayanan Srinivasan
- Centre for Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, India.
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48
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Selective spatial enhancement: Attentional spotlight size impacts spatial but not temporal perception. Psychon Bull Rev 2016; 23:1144-9. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-015-0904-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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49
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Contributions of parvocellular and magnocellular pathways to visual perception near the hands are not fixed, but can be dynamically altered. Psychon Bull Rev 2015; 23:156-62. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-015-0844-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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50
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Constable MD, Pratt J, Gozli DG, Welsh TN. Do you see what I see? Co-actor posture modulates visual processing in joint tasks. VISUAL COGNITION 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2015.1078426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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