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Roumani D, Moutoussis K. Inattentional aftereffects: The role of attention on the strength of the motion aftereffect. Perception 2024; 53:544-562. [PMID: 38826086 DOI: 10.1177/03010066241252390] [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] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
The way that attention affects the processing of visual information is one of the most intriguing fields in the study of visual perception. One way to examine this interaction is by studying the way perceptual aftereffects are modulated by attention. In the present study, we have manipulated attention during adaptation to translational motion generated by coherently moving random dots, in order to investigate the effect of the distraction of attention on the strength of the peripheral dynamic motion aftereffect (MAE). A foveal rapid serial visual presentation task (RSVP) of varying difficulty was introduced during the adaptation period while the adaptation and test stimuli were presented peripherally. Furthermore, to examine the interaction between the physical characteristics of the stimulus and attention, we have manipulated the motion coherence level of the adaptation stimuli. Our results suggested that the removal of attention through an irrelevant task modulated the MAE's magnitude moderately and that such an effect depends on the stimulus strength. We also showed that the MAE still persists with subthreshold and unattended stimuli, suggesting that perhaps attention is not required for the complete development of the MAE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daphne Roumani
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Ilissia Athens, Greece
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2
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Sawetsuttipan P, Phunchongharn P, Ounjai K, Salazar A, Pongsuwan S, Intrachooto S, Serences JT, Itthipuripat S. Perceptual Difficulty Regulates Attentional Gain Modulations in Human Visual Cortex. J Neurosci 2023; 43:3312-3330. [PMID: 36963848 PMCID: PMC10162463 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0519-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Revised: 02/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Perceptual difficulty is sometimes used to manipulate selective attention. However, these two factors are logically distinct. Selective attention is defined by priority given to specific stimuli based on their behavioral relevance, whereas perceptual difficulty is often determined by perceptual demands required to discriminate relevant stimuli. That said, both perceptual difficulty and selective attention are thought to modulate the gain of neural responses in early sensory areas. Previous studies found that selectively attending to a stimulus or increasing perceptual difficulty enhanced the gain of neurons in visual cortex. However, some other studies suggest that perceptual difficulty can have either a null or even reversed effect on gain modulations in visual cortex. According to Yerkes-Dodson's Law, it is possible that this discrepancy arises because of an interaction between perceptual difficulty and attentional gain modulations yielding a nonlinear inverted-U function. Here, we used EEG to measure modulations in the visual cortex of male and female human participants performing an attention-cueing task where we systematically manipulated perceptual difficulty across blocks of trials. The behavioral and neural data implicate a nonlinear inverted-U relationship between selective attention and perceptual difficulty: a focused-attention cue led to larger response gain in both neural and behavioral data at intermediate difficulty levels compared with when the task was more or less difficult. Moreover, difficulty-related changes in attentional gain positively correlated with those predicted by quantitative modeling of the behavioral data. These findings suggest that perceptual difficulty mediates attention-related changes in perceptual performance via selective neural modulations in human visual cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Both perceptual difficulty and selective attention are thought to influence perceptual performance by modulating response gain in early sensory areas. That said, less is known about how selective attention interacts with perceptual difficulty. Here, we measured neural gain modulations in the visual cortex of human participants performing an attention-cueing task where perceptual difficulty was systematically manipulated. Consistent with Yerkes-Dodson's Law, our behavioral and neural data implicate a nonlinear inverted-U relationship between selective attention and perceptual difficulty. These results suggest that perceptual difficulty mediates attention-related changes in perceptual performance via selective neural modulations in visual cortex, extending our understanding of the attentional operation under different levels of perceptual demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prapasiri Sawetsuttipan
- Neuroscience Center for Research and Innovation, Learning Institute, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
- Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
- Big Data Experience Center, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
| | - Phond Phunchongharn
- Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
- Big Data Experience Center, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
| | - Kajornvut Ounjai
- Neuroscience Center for Research and Innovation, Learning Institute, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
- Biological Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
| | - Annalisa Salazar
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-1090
| | - Sarigga Pongsuwan
- Happiness Science Hub, Research & Innovation for Sustainability Center (RISC), Bangkok 10260, Thailand
| | - Singh Intrachooto
- Happiness Science Hub, Research & Innovation for Sustainability Center (RISC), Bangkok 10260, Thailand
| | - John T Serences
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-1090
- Neurosciences Graduate Program and Kavli Foundation for the Brain and Mind, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-1090
| | - Sirawaj Itthipuripat
- Neuroscience Center for Research and Innovation, Learning Institute, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
- Big Data Experience Center, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
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3
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Hess RF, Hyun Min S. Is ocular dominance plasticity a special case of contrast adaptation? Vision Res 2023; 207:108212. [PMID: 36963276 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 03/26/2023]
Abstract
The visual system can regulate its sensitivity depending on the prevailing contrast conditions. This is known as contrast adaptation and reflects contrast gain changes at different stages along the visual pathway. Recently, it has been shown that depriving an eye of visual stimulation for a short period of time can lead to neuroplastic changes in ocular dominance as the result of homeostatic changes in contrast gain. Here we examine, on the basis of previously published results, whether the neuroplastic ocular dominance changes are just manifestation of the mechanism responsible for contrast adaptation. The evidence suggests that these two visual processes are separate and do not have a common neural substrate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert F Hess
- McGill Vision Research, Department of Vision Sciences and Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - Seung Hyun Min
- McGill Vision Research, Department of Vision Sciences and Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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4
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Fernández A, Hanning NM, Carrasco M. Transcranial magnetic stimulation to frontal but not occipital cortex disrupts endogenous attention. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2219635120. [PMID: 36853947 PMCID: PMC10013745 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219635120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Covert endogenous (voluntary) attention improves visual performance. Human neuroimaging studies suggest that the putative human homolog of macaque frontal eye fields (FEF+) is critical for this improvement, whereas early visual areas are not. Yet, correlational MRI methods do not manipulate brain function. We investigated whether rFEF+ or V1/V2 plays a causal role in endogenous attention. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to alter activity in the visual cortex or rFEF+ when observers performed an orientation discrimination task while attention was manipulated. On every trial, they received double-pulse TMS at a predetermined site (stimulated region) around V1/V2 or rFEF+. Two cortically magnified gratings were presented, one in the stimulated region (contralateral to the stimulated area) and another in the symmetric (ipsilateral) nonstimulated region. Grating contrast was varied to measure contrast response functions (CRFs) for all attention and stimulation combinations. In experiment 1, the CRFs were similar at the stimulated and nonstimulated regions, indicating that early visual areas do not modulate endogenous attention during stimulus presentation. In contrast, occipital TMS eliminates exogenous (involuntary) attention effects on performance [A. Fernández, M. Carrasco,Curr. Biol. 30, 4078-4084 (2020)]. In experiment 2, rFEF+ stimulation decreased the overall attentional effect; neither benefits at the attended location nor costs at the unattended location were significant. The frequency and directionality of microsaccades mimicked this pattern: Whereas occipital stimulation did not affect microsaccades, rFEF+ stimulation caused a higher microsaccade rate directed toward the stimulated hemifield. These results provide causal evidence of the role of this frontal region for endogenous attention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nina M. Hanning
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY10003
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489Berlin, Germany
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY10003
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5
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Jing C, Jin H, Li W, Wu Z, Chen Y, Huang D. Temporal attention affects contrast response function by response gain. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 16:1020260. [PMID: 36760226 PMCID: PMC9905113 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.1020260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Orienting attention to a specific point in time has been shown to improve the contrast sensitivity at the attended time point and impair it earlier or later. This phenomenon could be explained by temporal attention increasing the effective contrast of the target presented at the attended time point which leads to changes in contrast psychometric function by contrast gain. Another explanation is that temporal attention multiplicatively amplifies the amplitude of behavioral or neural response to contrast, resulting in alterations in contrast psychometric function by response gain. To explore the underlying mechanism, we adopted a temporal cueing orientation discrimination task using audio pre-cues composed of different frequency components to induce different attentional allocations in the time domain and targets of various contrast intensities to measure contrast psychometric functions. Obtained psychometric functions for contrast sensitivity were fitted for different conditions with discrepant attentional states in time. We found that temporal attention manipulated by cue affected contrast psychometric function by response gain, indicating that multiplying the contrast response of the visual target occurring at the selected point in time by a fixed factor is a crucial way for temporal attention to modulate perceptual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengxu Jing
- School of Automation and Electronic Information, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China,Artificial Intelligence Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China
| | - Hongyuan Jin
- School of Automation and Electronic Information, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China
| | - Wenxia Li
- School of Automation and Electronic Information, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China
| | - Zhouhao Wu
- School of Automation and Electronic Information, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China
| | - Yao Chen
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dan Huang
- School of Automation and Electronic Information, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China,Artificial Intelligence Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Sichuan, China,*Correspondence: Dan Huang ✉
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6
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Perception of the non-dominant hand as larger after non-judgmental focus on its details. Sci Rep 2022; 12:15670. [PMID: 36123432 PMCID: PMC9485221 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19919-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether brief non-judgmental focus on the details of one's non-dominant hand might lead to changes in perception of its size, and if such a change would be related to central coherence, body dissatisfaction, or how much participants liked their hand. After two pilot experiments (N = 28 and N = 30 respectively: Appendix 1), a within-subject experiment (N = 82) was conducted. Subjects were mainly university students. They were asked to rate the size of their non-dominant hand and how much they liked it, and the size of an external object (a X-box controller) on a visual-analog scale before and after focusing on their details for 5 min, as well as the size of another object (a calculator) before and after a 5 min long distraction task. After completing the tasks, they were asked to respond to a brief questionnaire on body dissatisfaction. A s significant interaction between time and factors (non-dominant hand, X-box controller and calculator) emerged (F(2, 78) = 6.41, p = .003). Participants rated their hand as larger after focusing on its details compared to baseline, and this change was significantly larger than those reported for the X-box controller. No significant change in how they liked their hand was observed, and contrary to the pilot experiments, the perceived change in size of the hand was not related to body dissatisfaction. The significant change in reporting of the size of the hand after focusing on its details seems to be an interesting finding, worth further replications.
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7
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Zhou Y, Curtis CE, Sreenivasan KK, Fougnie D. Common Neural Mechanisms Control Attention and Working Memory. J Neurosci 2022; 42:7110-7120. [PMID: 35927036 PMCID: PMC9480871 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0443-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2022] [Revised: 07/10/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Although previous studies point to qualitative similarities between working memory (WM) and attention, the degree to which these two constructs rely on shared neural mechanisms remains unknown. Focusing on one such potentially shared mechanism, we tested the hypothesis that selecting an item within WM utilizes similar neural mechanisms as selecting a visible item via a shift of attention. We used fMRI and machine learning to decode both the selection among items visually available and the selection among items stored in WM in human subjects (both sexes). Patterns of activity in visual, parietal, and to a lesser extent frontal cortex predicted the locations of the selected items. Critically, these patterns were strikingly interchangeable; classifiers trained on data during attentional selection predicted selection from WM, and classifiers trained on data during selection from memory predicted attentional selection. Using models of voxel receptive fields, we visualized topographic population activity that revealed gain enhancements at the locations of the externally and internally selected items. Our results suggest that selecting among perceived items and selecting among items in WM share a common mechanism. This common mechanism, analogous to a shift of spatial attention, controls the relative gains of neural populations that encode behaviorally relevant information.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How we allocate our attention to external stimuli that we see and to internal representations of stimuli stored in memory might rely on a common mechanism. Supporting this hypothesis, we demonstrated that not only could patterns of human brain activity predict which items were selected during perception and memory, but that these patterns were interchangeable during external and internal selection. Additionally, this generalized selection mechanism operates by changes in the gains of the neural populations both encoding attended sensory representations and storing relevant memory representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Zhou
- Program in Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 129188
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Clayton E Curtis
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Kartik K Sreenivasan
- Program in Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 129188
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003
- Program in Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 129188
| | - Daryl Fougnie
- Program in Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 129188
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003
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8
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Krajbich I, Mitsumasu A, Polania R, Ruff CC, Fehr E. A causal role for the right frontal eye fields in value comparison. eLife 2021; 10:e67477. [PMID: 34779767 PMCID: PMC8592572 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested close functional links between overt visual attention and decision making. This suggests that the corresponding mechanisms may interface in brain regions known to be crucial for guiding visual attention - such as the frontal eye field (FEF). Here, we combined brain stimulation, eye tracking, and computational approaches to explore this possibility. We show that inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the right FEF has a causal impact on decision making, reducing the effect of gaze dwell time on choice while also increasing reaction times. We computationally characterize this putative mechanism by using the attentional drift diffusion model (aDDM), which reveals that FEF inhibition reduces the relative discounting of the non-fixated option in the comparison process. Our findings establish an important causal role of the right FEF in choice, elucidate the underlying mechanism, and provide support for one of the key causal hypotheses associated with the aDDM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Krajbich
- Departments of Psychology, Economics, The Ohio State UniversityColumbusUnited States
| | - Andres Mitsumasu
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Rafael Polania
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Depterment of Heatlh Sciences and Technology, ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Christian C Ruff
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Ernst Fehr
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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9
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Adibi M, Lampl I. Sensory Adaptation in the Whisker-Mediated Tactile System: Physiology, Theory, and Function. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:770011. [PMID: 34776857 PMCID: PMC8586522 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.770011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
In the natural environment, organisms are constantly exposed to a continuous stream of sensory input. The dynamics of sensory input changes with organism's behaviour and environmental context. The contextual variations may induce >100-fold change in the parameters of the stimulation that an animal experiences. Thus, it is vital for the organism to adapt to the new diet of stimulation. The response properties of neurons, in turn, dynamically adjust to the prevailing properties of sensory stimulation, a process known as "neuronal adaptation." Neuronal adaptation is a ubiquitous phenomenon across all sensory modalities and occurs at different stages of processing from periphery to cortex. In spite of the wealth of research on contextual modulation and neuronal adaptation in visual and auditory systems, the neuronal and computational basis of sensory adaptation in somatosensory system is less understood. Here, we summarise the recent finding and views about the neuronal adaptation in the rodent whisker-mediated tactile system and further summarise the functional effect of neuronal adaptation on the response dynamics and encoding efficiency of neurons at single cell and population levels along the whisker-mediated touch system in rodents. Based on direct and indirect pieces of evidence presented here, we suggest sensory adaptation provides context-dependent functional mechanisms for noise reduction in sensory processing, salience processing and deviant stimulus detection, shift between integration and coincidence detection, band-pass frequency filtering, adjusting neuronal receptive fields, enhancing neural coding and improving discriminability around adapting stimuli, energy conservation, and disambiguating encoding of principal features of tactile stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehdi Adibi
- Department of Physiology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
- Department of Neuroscience and Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Ilan Lampl
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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10
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Grasso PA, Anobile G, Caponi C, Arrighi R. Implicit visuospatial attention shapes numerosity adaptation and perception. J Vis 2021; 21:26. [PMID: 34448819 PMCID: PMC8399318 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.8.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The perception of numerical quantities is susceptible to adaptation: after inspecting a numerous dot array for a few seconds a subsequent dot array is grossly underestimated. In a recent work we showed that the mere appearance of an additional numerically neutral stimulus significantly reduces the adaptation magnitude. Here we demonstrate that this reduction is likely due to a numerosity underestimation of the adaptor caused by a change of numerosity-related attentional resources deployed on the adapting stimulus. In Experiment 1 we replicated previous findings revealing a robust reduction of numerosity adaptation when an additional adaptor (even if neutral) was displayed. In Experiment 2 we used the method of magnitude estimation to demonstrate that numerosity is underestimated whenever a second task-irrelevant numerical stimulus appears on screen. Furthermore we demonstrated that the same experimental manipulations were not effective in modulating orientation adaptation magnitude as well as orientation estimation accuracy. Our results support the hypothesis of a tight relationship between numerosity perception and implicit visuospatial attention and corroborate the notion that numerosity adaptation depends on perceived rather than physical numerosity. However the lack of an effect of visuospatial attentional deployment for orientation perception suggests that attention might differently shape adaptation aftereffects for different features along the visual hierarchy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo A Grasso
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,
| | - Giovanni Anobile
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,
| | - Camilla Caponi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,
| | - Roberto Arrighi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,
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11
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Li HH, Hanning NM, Carrasco M. To look or not to look: dissociating presaccadic and covert spatial attention. Trends Neurosci 2021; 44:669-686. [PMID: 34099240 PMCID: PMC8552810 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2021.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 04/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Attention is a central neural process that enables selective and efficient processing of visual information. Individuals can attend to specific visual information either overtly, by making an eye movement to an object of interest, or covertly, without moving their eyes. We review behavioral, neuropsychological, neurophysiological, and computational evidence of presaccadic attentional modulations that occur while preparing saccadic eye movements, and highlight their differences from those of covert spatial endogenous (voluntary) and exogenous (involuntary) attention. We discuss recent studies and experimental procedures on how these different types of attention impact visual performance, alter appearance, differentially modulate the featural representation of basic visual dimensions (orientation and spatial frequency), engage different neural computations, and recruit partially distinct neural substrates. We conclude that presaccadic attention and covert attention are dissociable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsin-Hung Li
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Nina M Hanning
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
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12
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Cui Y, Jing J, Dong C, Qi M, Gao H. The influence of SOA on working memory guidance of attention. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1950735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yicen Cui
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
- School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jingyan Jing
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Chengwen Dong
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Mingming Qi
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Heming Gao
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
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13
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De Lestrange-Anginieur E, Leung TW, Kee CS. Joint effect of defocus blur and spatial attention. Vision Res 2021; 185:88-97. [PMID: 33964585 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Revised: 04/04/2021] [Accepted: 04/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Defocus blur and spatial attention both act on our ability to see clearly over time. However, it is currently unknown how these two factors interact because studies on spatial resolution only focused on the separate effects of attention and defocus blurs. In this study, eleven participants performed a resolution acuity task along the diagonal 135˚/315˚ with horizontal, at 8˚ eccentricity for clear and blurred Landolt C images under various manipulations of covert endogenous attention. All the conditions were interleaved and viewed binocularly on a visual display. We observed that attention not just improves the resolution of clear stimuli, but also modulates the resolution of defocused stimuli for compensating the loss of resolution caused by retinal blur. Our results show, however, that as the degree of attention decreases, the differences between clear and blurred images largely diminish, thus limiting the benefit of an image quality enhancement. It also appeared that attention tends to enhance the resolution of clear targets more than blurred targets, suggesting potential variations in the gain of vision correction with the level of attention. This demonstrates that the interaction between spatial attention and defocus blur can play a role in the way we see things. In view of these findings, the development of adaptive interventions, which adjust the eye's defocus to attention, may hold promise.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - T W Leung
- School of Optometry, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
| | - C S Kee
- School of Optometry, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China; Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
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14
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Li HH, Pan J, Carrasco M. Different computations underlie overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention. Nat Hum Behav 2021; 5:1418-1431. [PMID: 33875838 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01099-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Perception and action are tightly coupled: visual responses at the saccade target are enhanced right before saccade onset. This phenomenon, presaccadic attention, is a form of overt attention-deployment of visual attention with concurrent eye movements. Presaccadic attention is well-documented, but its underlying computational process remains unknown. This is in stark contrast to covert attention-deployment of visual attention without concurrent eye movements-for which the computational processes are well characterized by a normalization model. Here, a series of psychophysical experiments reveal that presaccadic attention modulates visual performance only via response gain changes. A response gain change was observed even when attention field size increased, violating the predictions of a normalization model of attention. Our empirical results and model comparisons reveal that the perceptual modulations by overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention are mediated through different computations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsin-Hung Li
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA. .,Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Jasmine Pan
- 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, New York, NY, USA
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15
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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: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [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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16
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Fernández A, Carrasco M. Extinguishing Exogenous Attention via Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Curr Biol 2020; 30:4078-4084.e3. [PMID: 32795447 PMCID: PMC7577948 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2020] [Revised: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Orienting covert exogenous (involuntary) attention to a target location improves performance in many visual tasks [1, 2]. It is unknown whether early visual cortical areas are necessary for this improvement. To establish a causal link between these areas and attentional modulations, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to briefly alter cortical excitability and determine whether early visual areas mediate the effect of exogenous attention on performance. Observers performed an orientation discrimination task. After a peripheral valid, neutral, or invalid cue, two cortically magnified gratings were presented, one in the stimulated region and the other in the symmetric region in the opposite hemifield. Observers received two successive TMS pulses around their occipital pole while the stimuli were presented. Shortly after, a response cue indicated the grating whose orientation observers had to discriminate. The response cue either matched-target stimulated-or did not match-distractor stimulated-the stimulated side. Grating contrast was varied to measure contrast response functions (CRF) for all combinations of attention and TMS conditions. When the distractor was stimulated, exogenous attention yielded response gain-performance benefits in the valid-cue condition and costs in the invalid-cue condition compared with the neutral condition at the high contrast levels. Crucially, when the target was stimulated, this response gain was eliminated. Therefore, TMS extinguished the effect of exogenous attention. These results establish a causal link between early visual areas and the modulatory effect of exogenous attention on performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Fernández
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA; Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
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17
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Attention amplifies neural representations of changes in sensory input at the expense of perceptual accuracy. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2128. [PMID: 32358494 PMCID: PMC7195455 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15989-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Attention enhances the neural representations of behaviorally relevant stimuli, typically by a push-pull increase of the neuronal response gain to attended vs. unattended stimuli. This selectively improves perception and consequently behavioral performance. However, to enhance the detectability of stimulus changes, attention might also distort neural representations, compromising accurate stimulus representation. We test this hypothesis by recording neural responses in the visual cortex of rhesus monkeys during a motion direction change detection task. We find that attention indeed amplifies the neural representation of direction changes, beyond a similar effect of adaptation. We further show that humans overestimate such direction changes, providing a perceptual correlate of our neurophysiological observations. Our results demonstrate that attention distorts the neural representations of abrupt sensory changes and consequently perceptual accuracy. This likely represents an evolutionary adaptive mechanism that allows sensory systems to flexibly forgo accurate representation of stimulus features to improve the encoding of stimulus change.
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18
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Lindsay GW. Attention in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Machine Learning. Front Comput Neurosci 2020; 14:29. [PMID: 32372937 PMCID: PMC7177153 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2020.00029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 04/23/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Attention is the important ability to flexibly control limited computational resources. It has been studied in conjunction with many other topics in neuroscience and psychology including awareness, vigilance, saliency, executive control, and learning. It has also recently been applied in several domains in machine learning. The relationship between the study of biological attention and its use as a tool to enhance artificial neural networks is not always clear. This review starts by providing an overview of how attention is conceptualized in the neuroscience and psychology literature. It then covers several use cases of attention in machine learning, indicating their biological counterparts where they exist. Finally, the ways in which artificial attention can be further inspired by biology for the production of complex and integrative systems is explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace W. Lindsay
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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19
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Brooks KR, Keen E, Sturman D, Mond J, Stevenson RJ, Stephen ID. Muscle and fat aftereffects and the role of gender: Implications for body image disturbance. Br J Psychol 2019; 111:742-761. [PMID: 31880827 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12439] [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] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Body image disturbance - a cause of distress amongst the general population and those diagnosed with various disorders - is often attributed to the media's unrealistic depiction of ideal bodies. These ideals are strongly gendered, leading to pronounced fat concern amongst females, and a male preoccupation with muscularity. Recent research suggests that visual aftereffects may be fundamental to the misperception of body fat and muscle mass - the perceptual component of body image disturbance. This study sought to establish the influence of gender on these body aftereffects. Male and female observers were randomly assigned to one of four adaptation conditions (low-fat, high-fat, low-muscle, and high-muscle bodies) and were asked to adjust the apparent fat and muscle levels of male and female bodies to make them appear as 'normal' as possible both before adaptation and after adaptation. While neither the gender of observers nor of body stimuli had a direct effect, aftereffect magnitude was significantly larger when observers viewed own-gender (compared with other-gender) stimuli. This effect, which may be due to attentional factors, could have implications for the development of body image disturbance, given the preponderance of idealized own-gender bodies in media marketed to male and female consumers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin R Brooks
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Body Image and Ingestion Group (BIIG), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Edwina Keen
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Daniel Sturman
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jonathan Mond
- Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.,Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Richard J Stevenson
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Body Image and Ingestion Group (BIIG), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ian D Stephen
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Body Image and Ingestion Group (BIIG), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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20
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Clarke EL, Brettle D, Sykes A, Wright A, Boden A, Treanor D. Development and Evaluation of a Novel Point-of-Use Quality Assurance Tool for Digital Pathology. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2019; 143:1246-1255. [DOI: 10.5858/arpa.2018-0210-oa] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Context.—
Flexible working at diverse or remote sites is a major advantage when reporting using digital pathology, but currently there is no method to validate the clinical diagnostic setting within digital microscopy.
Objective.—
To develop a preliminary Point-of-Use Quality Assurance (POUQA) tool designed specifically to validate the diagnostic setting for digital microscopy.
Design.—
We based the POUQA tool on the red, green, and blue (RGB) values of hematoxylin-eosin. The tool used 144 hematoxylin-eosin–colored, 5×5-cm patches with a superimposed random letter with subtly lighter RGB values from the background color, with differing levels of difficulty. We performed an initial evaluation across 3 phases within 2 pathology departments: 1 in the United Kingdom and 1 in Sweden.
Results.—
In total, 53 experiments were conducted across all phases resulting in 7632 test images viewed in all. Results indicated that the display, the user's visual system, and the environment each independently impacted performance. Performance was improved with reduction in natural light and through use of medical-grade displays.
Conclusions.—
The use of a POUQA tool for digital microscopy is essential to afford flexible working while ensuring patient safety. The color-contrast test provides a standardized method of comparing diagnostic settings for digital microscopy. With further planned development, the color-contrast test may be used to create a “Verified Login” for diagnostic setting validation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily L. Clarke
- From the Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (Dr Clarke, Mr Sykes, Mr Wright, and Dr Treanor); Histopathology Department (Drs Clarke and Treanor) and Medical Physics Department (Dr Brettle), Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, United Kingdom; and the Division of Neurobiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health
| | - David Brettle
- From the Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (Dr Clarke, Mr Sykes, Mr Wright, and Dr Treanor); Histopathology Department (Drs Clarke and Treanor) and Medical Physics Department (Dr Brettle), Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, United Kingdom; and the Division of Neurobiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health
| | - Alexander Sykes
- From the Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (Dr Clarke, Mr Sykes, Mr Wright, and Dr Treanor); Histopathology Department (Drs Clarke and Treanor) and Medical Physics Department (Dr Brettle), Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, United Kingdom; and the Division of Neurobiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health
| | - Alexander Wright
- From the Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (Dr Clarke, Mr Sykes, Mr Wright, and Dr Treanor); Histopathology Department (Drs Clarke and Treanor) and Medical Physics Department (Dr Brettle), Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, United Kingdom; and the Division of Neurobiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health
| | - Anna Boden
- From the Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (Dr Clarke, Mr Sykes, Mr Wright, and Dr Treanor); Histopathology Department (Drs Clarke and Treanor) and Medical Physics Department (Dr Brettle), Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, United Kingdom; and the Division of Neurobiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health
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21
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Cue frequency modulates cuing effect either in the presence or in the absence of distractors. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2019; 193:73-79. [PMID: 30597422 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.12.008] [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: 05/28/2018] [Revised: 12/08/2018] [Accepted: 12/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A novel, salient stimulus, even though it is not related to a concurrent goal-directed behavior, powerfully captures people's attention. While this stimulus-driven attentional capture has long been presumed to take place in a purely bottom-up or automatic manner, growing evidence shows that a number of top-down factors modulate the stimulus-driven capture of attention. Recent studies pointed out the cue presentation frequency is such a factor; the capture of attention by a salient, task-irrelevant cue increased as its presentation frequency decreased. Expanding these studies, we investigated how the modulatory effect of the cue frequency differs depending on the level of competition between multiple stimuli. As results, we found that an infrequently presented cue exerted stronger capture effect than a frequently presented cue, either in the presence or in the absence of distractors. Importantly, in the absence of distractors, performance difference elicited by the frequently present cue was due to non-attentional sensory artifacts or decisional noise. However, the same frequent cue evoked genuine attentional effect when multiple distractors accompanied the target, evoking stimulus-driven competition. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the effect of attentional cue is modulated by cue frequency, and this modulation is also affected by stimulus-driven competition.
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22
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Berga D, Fdez-Vidal XR, Otazu X, Leborán V, Pardo XM. Psychophysical evaluation of individual low-level feature influences on visual attention. Vision Res 2018; 154:60-79. [PMID: 30408434 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2018] [Revised: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In this study we provide the analysis of eye movement behavior elicited by low-level feature distinctiveness with a dataset of synthetically-generated image patterns. Design of visual stimuli was inspired by the ones used in previous psychophysical experiments, namely in free-viewing and visual searching tasks, to provide a total of 15 types of stimuli, divided according to the task and feature to be analyzed. Our interest is to analyze the influences of low-level feature contrast between a salient region and the rest of distractors, providing fixation localization characteristics and reaction time of landing inside the salient region. Eye-tracking data was collected from 34 participants during the viewing of a 230 images dataset. Results show that saliency is predominantly and distinctively influenced by: 1. feature type, 2. feature contrast, 3. temporality of fixations, 4. task difficulty and 5. center bias. This experimentation proposes a new psychophysical basis for saliency model evaluation using synthetic images.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Berga
- Computer Vision Center, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain; Computer Science Department, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Xosé R Fdez-Vidal
- Centro de Investigacion en Tecnoloxias da Informacion, Universidade Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Xavier Otazu
- Computer Vision Center, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain; Computer Science Department, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
| | - Víctor Leborán
- Centro de Investigacion en Tecnoloxias da Informacion, Universidade Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Xosé M Pardo
- Centro de Investigacion en Tecnoloxias da Informacion, Universidade Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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23
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Donovan I, Carrasco M. Endogenous spatial attention during perceptual learning facilitates location transfer. J Vis 2018; 18:7. [PMID: 30347094 PMCID: PMC6181190 DOI: 10.1167/18.11.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Covert attention and perceptual learning enhance perceptual performance. The relation between these two mechanisms is largely unknown. Previously, we showed that manipulating involuntary, exogenous spatial attention during training improved performance at trained and untrained locations, thus overcoming the typical location specificity. Notably, attention-induced transfer only occurred for high stimulus contrasts, at the upper asymptote of the psychometric function (i.e., via response gain). Here, we investigated whether and how voluntary, endogenous attention, the top-down and goal-based type of covert visual attention, influences perceptual learning. Twenty-six participants trained in an orientation discrimination task at two locations: half of participants received valid endogenous spatial precues (attention group), while the other half received neutral precues (neutral group). Before and after training, all participants were tested with neutral precues at two trained and two untrained locations. Within each session, stimulus contrast varied on a trial basis from very low (2%) to very high (64%). Performance was fit by a Weibull psychometric function separately for each day and location. Performance improved for both groups at the trained location, and unlike training with exogenous attention, at the threshold level (i.e., via contrast gain). The neutral group exhibited location specificity: Thresholds decreased at the trained locations, but not at the untrained locations. In contrast, participants in the attention group showed significant location transfer: Thresholds decreased to the same extent at both trained and untrained locations. These results indicate that, similar to exogenous spatial attention, endogenous spatial attention induces location transfer, but influences contrast gain instead of response gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Donovan
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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24
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The perceptual enhancement by spatial attention is impaired during the attentional blink. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 190:150-158. [PMID: 30119048 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2018] [Revised: 06/19/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
Abstract
A salient, but task-irrelevant stimulus has long been known to capture attention in an automatic, involuntary manner. However, the automaticity of involuntary attention has recently been challenged. While some studies showed that the effect of involuntary attention depended on top-down attentional resources, other studies did not. To reconcile this conflict, we suggest to consider that attentional effect is not homogenous. Specifically, we hypothesized that the dependence of involuntary attention on top-down attention interacts with the presence/absence of the target location uncertainty and distractor interference. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that when the attentional resources were depleted, the involuntary attention did not affect the perception of a single target stimulus (Experiment 1). However, when the target was accompanied by multiple distractors, evoking uncertainty regarding the target location, the involuntary attentional effect was observed, regardless of the availability of attentional resource (Experiment 2). This was so, even when the target location was always marked by a response cue, minimizing the target location uncertainty (Experiment 3). These findings provide a reconciliation for the theoretical debate regarding the dependence of involuntary attention on top-down attention and clarifies how perception is modulated by involuntary attention.
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25
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Mihali A, Young AG, Adler LA, Halassa MM, Ma WJ. A Low-Level Perceptual Correlate of Behavioral and Clinical Deficits in ADHD. COMPUTATIONAL PSYCHIATRY (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2018; 2:141-163. [PMID: 30381800 PMCID: PMC6184361 DOI: 10.1162/cpsy_a_00018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
In many studies of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stimulus encoding and processing (perceptual function) and response selection (executive function) have been intertwined. To dissociate deficits in these functions, we introduced a task that parametrically varied low-level stimulus features (orientation and color) for fine-grained analysis of perceptual function. It also required participants to switch their attention between feature dimensions on a trial-by-trial basis, thus taxing executive processes. Furthermore, we used a response paradigm that captured task-irrelevant motor output (TIMO), reflecting failures to use the correct stimulus-response rule. ADHD participants had substantially higher perceptual variability than controls, especially for orientation, as well as higher TIMO. In both ADHD and controls, TIMO was strongly affected by the switch manipulation. Across participants, the perceptual variability parameter was correlated with TIMO, suggesting that perceptual deficits are associated with executive function deficits. Based on perceptual variability alone, we were able to classify participants into ADHD and controls with a mean accuracy of about 77%. Participants' self-reported General Executive Composite score correlated not only with TIMO but also with the perceptual variability parameter. Our results highlight the role of perceptual deficits in ADHD and the usefulness of computational modeling of behavior in dissociating perceptual from executive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andra Mihali
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Allison G. Young
- Department of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Lenard A. Adler
- Department of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Michael M. Halassa
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, MIT, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Wei Ji Ma
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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26
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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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27
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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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28
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Avella Gonzalez OJ, Tsotsos JK. Short and Long-Term Attentional Firing Rates Can Be Explained by ST-Neuron Dynamics. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:123. [PMID: 29551961 PMCID: PMC5840210 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2017] [Accepted: 02/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention modulates neural selectivity and optimizes the allocation of cortical resources during visual tasks. A large number of experimental studies in primates and humans provide ample evidence. As an underlying principle of visual attention, some theoretical models suggested the existence of a gain element that enhances contrast of the attended stimuli. In contrast, the Selective Tuning model of attention (ST) proposes an attentional mechanism based on suppression of irrelevant signals. In this paper, we present an updated characterization of the ST-neuron proposed by the Selective Tuning model, and suggest that the inclusion of adaptation currents (Ih) to ST-neurons may explain the temporal profiles of the firing rates recorded in single V4 cells during attentional tasks. Furthermore, using the model we show that the interaction between stimulus-selectivity of a neuron and attention shapes the profile of the firing rate, and is enough to explain its fast modulation and other discontinuities observed, when the neuron responds to a sudden switch of stimulus, or when one stimulus is added to another during a visual task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar J Avella Gonzalez
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Laboratory for Active and Attentive Vision, Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - John K Tsotsos
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Laboratory for Active and Attentive Vision, Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
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29
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Visual attention mediates the relationship between body satisfaction and susceptibility to the body size adaptation effect. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0189855. [PMID: 29385137 PMCID: PMC5791942 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 12/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Body size misperception–the belief that one is larger or smaller than reality–affects a large and growing segment of the population. Recently, studies have shown that exposure to extreme body stimuli results in a shift in the point of subjective normality, suggesting that visual adaptation may be a mechanism by which body size misperception occurs. Yet, despite being exposed to a similar set of bodies, some individuals within a given geographical area will develop body size misperception and others will not. The reason for these individual difference is currently unknown. One possible explanation stems from the observation that women with lower levels of body satisfaction have been found to pay more attention to images of thin bodies. However, while attention has been shown to enhance visual adaptation effects in low (e.g. rotational and linear motion) and high level stimuli (e.g., facial gender), it is not known whether this effect exists in visual adaptation to body size. Here, we test the hypothesis that there is an indirect effect of body satisfaction on the direction and magnitude of the body fat adaptation effect, mediated via visual attention (i.e., selectively attending to images of thin over fat bodies or vice versa). Significant mediation effects were found in both men and women, suggesting that observers’ level of body satisfaction may influence selective visual attention to thin or fat bodies, which in turn influences the magnitude and direction of visual adaptation to body size. This may provide a potential mechanism by which some individuals develop body size misperception–a risk factor for eating disorders, compulsive exercise behaviour and steroid abuse–while others do not.
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30
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Challinor KL, Mond J, Stephen ID, Mitchison D, Stevenson RJ, Hay P, Brooks KR. Body size and shape misperception and visual adaptation: An overview of an emerging research paradigm. J Int Med Res 2017; 45:2001-2008. [PMID: 29076380 PMCID: PMC5805224 DOI: 10.1177/0300060517726440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Although body size and shape misperception (BSSM) is a common feature of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa
and muscle dysmorphia, little is known about its underlying
neural mechanisms. Recently, a new approach has emerged, based on the long-established
non-invasive technique of perceptual adaptation, which allows for inferences about the
structure of the neural apparatus responsible for alterations in visual appearance. Here,
we describe several recent experimental examples of BSSM, wherein exposure to “extreme”
body stimuli causes visual aftereffects of biased perception. The implications of these
studies for our understanding of the neural and cognitive representation of human bodies,
along with their implications for clinical practice are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten L Challinor
- 1 School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jonathan Mond
- 2 Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,3 Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Ian D Stephen
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,5 ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,6 Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Deborah Mitchison
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,7 Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,8 School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Richard J Stevenson
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,6 Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Phillipa Hay
- 8 School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kevin R Brooks
- 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,5 ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,6 Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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31
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Abstract
Frequently, we use expectations about likely locations of a target to guide the allocation of our attention. Despite the importance of this attentional process in everyday tasks, examination of pre-cueing effects on attention, particularly endogenous pre-cueing effects, has been relatively little explored outside an eccentricity of 20°. Given the visual field has functional subdivisions that attentional processes can differ significantly among the foveal, perifoveal, and more peripheral areas, how endogenous pre-cues that carry spatial information of targets influence our allocation of attention across a large visual field (especially in the more peripheral areas) remains unclear. We present two experiments examining how the expectation of the location of the target shapes the distribution of attention across eccentricities in the visual field. We measured participants’ ability to pick out a target among distractors in the visual field after the presentation of a highly valid cue indicating the size of the area in which the target was likely to occur, or the likely direction of the target (left or right side of the display). Our first experiment showed that participants had a higher target detection rate with faster responses, particularly at eccentricities of 20° and 30°. There was also a marginal advantage of pre-cueing effects when trials of the same size cue were blocked compared to when trials were mixed. Experiment 2 demonstrated a higher target detection rate when the target occurred at the cued direction. This pre-cueing effect was greater at larger eccentricities and with a longer cue-target interval. Our findings on the endogenous pre-cueing effects across a large visual area were summarized using a simple model to assist in conceptualizing the modifications of the distribution of attention over the visual field. We discuss our finding in light of cognitive penetration of perception, and highlight the importance of examining attentional process across a large area of the visual field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Feng
- Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, RaleighNC, United States
| | - Ian Spence
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, TorontoON, Canada
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32
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Fernandes TMDP, Almeida NLD, Santos NAD. Effects of smoking and smoking abstinence on spatial vision in chronic heavy smokers. Sci Rep 2017; 7:1690. [PMID: 28490803 PMCID: PMC5431787 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01877-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2017] [Accepted: 04/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Cigarette smoke is a complex chemical mixture, involving health-damaging components such as carbon monoxide, ammonia, pyridine, toluene and nicotine. While cognitive functions have been well documented in heavy smokers, spatial vision has been less characterized. In the article, we investigated smoking effects through contrast sensitivity function (CSF), a rigorous procedure that measures the spatial vision. Data were recorded from 48 participants, a group of non-smokers (n = 16), a group of chronic and heavy cigarette smokers (n = 16) and deprived smokers (n = 16); age range 20-45 years. Sinewave gratings with spatial frequencies ranging from 0.25 to 20 cycles per degree were used. All subjects were free from any neurological disorder, identifiable ocular disease and had normal acuity. No abnormalities were detected in the fundoscopic examination and in the optical coherence tomography exam. Contrary to expectations, performance on CSF differed between groups. Both smokers and deprived smokers presented a loss of contrast sensitivity compared to non-smokers. Post-hoc analyses suggest that deprived smokers were less sensitive at all spatial frequencies. These results suggest that not only chronic exposure to cigarette compounds but also withdrawal from nicotine affected spatial vision. This highlights the importance of understanding diffuse effects of smoking compounds on visual spatial processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago Monteiro de Paiva Fernandes
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil.
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil.
| | | | - Natanael Antonio Dos Santos
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
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33
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Fernandes TMDP, Almeida NL, Dos Santos NA. Comparison of color discrimination in chronic heavy smokers and healthy subjects. F1000Res 2017; 6:85. [PMID: 28928940 PMCID: PMC5580434 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.10714.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Cigarette smoke is probably the most significant source of exposure to toxic chemicals for humans, involving health-damaging components, such as nicotine, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of chronic heavy smoking on color discrimination (CD). Methods: All subjects were free of any neuropsychiatric disorder, identifiable ocular disease and had normal acuity. No abnormalities were detected in the fundoscopic examination and in the optical coherence tomography exam. We assessed color vision for healthy heavy smokers ( n = 15; age range, 20-45 years), deprived smokers ( n = 15, age range 20-45 years) and healthy non-smokers ( n = 15; age range, 20-45 years), using the psychophysical forced-choice method. All groups were matched for gender and education level. In this test, the volunteers had to choose the pseudoisochromatic stimulus containing a test frequency at four directions (e.g., up, down, right and left) in the subtest of Cambridge Colour Test (CCT): Trivector. Results: Performance on CCT differed between groups, and the observed pattern was that smokers had lower discrimination compared to non-smokers. In addition, deprived smokers presented lower discrimination to smokers and non-smokers. Contrary to expectation, the largest differences were observed for medium and long wavelengths. Conclusions: These results suggests that cigarette smoking, chronic exposure to its compounds, and withdrawal from nicotine affect color discrimination. This highlights the importance of understanding the diverse effects of nicotine on attentional bias.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Natanael Antonio Dos Santos
- Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil.,Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraíba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil
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34
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Stephen ID, Bickersteth C, Mond J, Stevenson RJ, Brooks KR. No Effect of Featural Attention on Body Size Aftereffects. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1223. [PMID: 27597835 PMCID: PMC4992704 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2016] [Accepted: 08/02/2016] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Prolonged exposure to images of narrow bodies has been shown to induce a perceptual aftereffect, such that observers' point of subjective normality (PSN) for bodies shifts toward narrower bodies. The converse effect is shown for adaptation to wide bodies. In low-level stimuli, object attention (attention directed to the object) and spatial attention (attention directed to the location of the object) have been shown to increase the magnitude of visual aftereffects, while object-based attention enhances the adaptation effect in faces. It is not known whether featural attention (attention directed to a specific aspect of the object) affects the magnitude of adaptation effects in body stimuli. Here, we manipulate the attention of Caucasian observers to different featural information in body images, by asking them to rate the fatness or sex typicality of male and female bodies manipulated to appear fatter or thinner than average. PSNs for body fatness were taken at baseline and after adaptation, and a change in PSN (ΔPSN) was calculated. A body size adaptation effect was found, with observers who viewed fat bodies showing an increased PSN, and those exposed to thin bodies showing a reduced PSN. However, manipulations of featural attention to body fatness or sex typicality produced equivalent results, suggesting that featural attention may not affect the strength of the body size aftereffect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian D Stephen
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia; Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia
| | - Chloe Bickersteth
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia
| | - Jonathan Mond
- Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW Australia
| | - Richard J Stevenson
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia; Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia
| | - Kevin R Brooks
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia; Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSWAustralia
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35
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Harris DA, Ciaramitaro VM. Interdependent Mechanisms for Processing Gender and Emotion: The Special Status of Angry Male Faces. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1046. [PMID: 27471482 PMCID: PMC4943965 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2016] [Accepted: 06/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
While some models of how various attributes of a face are processed have posited that face features, invariant physical cues such as gender or ethnicity as well as variant social cues such as emotion, may be processed independently (e.g., Bruce and Young, 1986), other models suggest a more distributed representation and interdependent processing (e.g., Haxby et al., 2000). Here, we use a contingent adaptation paradigm to investigate if mechanisms for processing the gender and emotion of a face are interdependent and symmetric across the happy–angry emotional continuum and regardless of the gender of the face. We simultaneously adapted participants to angry female faces and happy male faces (Experiment 1) or to happy female faces and angry male faces (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, we found evidence for contingent adaptation, with simultaneous aftereffects in opposite directions: male faces were biased toward angry while female faces were biased toward happy. Interestingly, in the complementary Experiment 2, we did not find evidence for contingent adaptation, with both male and female faces biased toward angry. Our results highlight that evidence for contingent adaptation and the underlying interdependent face processing mechanisms that would allow for contingent adaptation may only be evident for certain combinations of face features. Such limits may be especially important in the case of social cues given how maladaptive it may be to stop responding to threatening information, with male angry faces considered to be the most threatening. The underlying neuronal mechanisms that could account for such asymmetric effects in contingent adaptation remain to be elucidated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel A Harris
- Developmental and Brain Sciences Program, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston MA, USA
| | - Vivian M Ciaramitaro
- Developmental and Brain Sciences Program, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston MA, USA
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36
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Low attention impairs optimal incorporation of prior knowledge in perceptual decisions. Atten Percept Psychophys 2016; 77:2021-36. [PMID: 25836765 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-015-0897-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
When visual attention is directed away from a stimulus, neural processing is weak and strength and precision of sensory data decreases. From a computational perspective, in such situations observers should give more weight to prior expectations in order to behave optimally during a discrimination task. Here we test a signal detection theoretic model that counter-intuitively predicts subjects will do just the opposite in a discrimination task with two stimuli, one attended and one unattended: when subjects are probed to discriminate the unattended stimulus, they rely less on prior information about the probed stimulus' identity. The model is in part inspired by recent findings that attention reduces trial-by-trial variability of the neuronal population response and that they use a common criterion for attended and unattended trials. In five different visual discrimination experiments, when attention was directed away from the target stimulus, subjects did not adjust their response bias in reaction to a change in stimulus presentation frequency despite being fully informed and despite the presence of performance feedback and monetary and social incentives. This indicates that subjects did not rely more on the priors under conditions of inattention as would be predicted by a Bayes-optimal observer model. These results inform and constrain future models of Bayesian inference in the human brain.
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37
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Carrasco M, Barbot A. How Attention Affects Spatial Resolution. COLD SPRING HARBOR SYMPOSIA ON QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY 2015; 79:149-60. [PMID: 25948640 PMCID: PMC4698156 DOI: 10.1101/sqb.2014.79.024687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
We summarize and discuss a series of psychophysical studies on the effects of spatial covert attention on spatial resolution, our ability to discriminate fine patterns. Heightened resolution is beneficial in most, but not all, visual tasks. We show how endogenous attention (voluntary, goal driven) and exogenous attention (involuntary, stimulus driven) affect performance on a variety of tasks mediated by spatial resolution, such as visual search, crowding, acuity, and texture segmentation. Exogenous attention is an automatic mechanism that increases resolution regardless of whether it helps or hinders performance. In contrast, endogenous attention flexibly adjusts resolution to optimize performance according to task demands. We illustrate how psychophysical studies can reveal the underlying mechanisms of these effects and allow us to draw linking hypotheses with known neurophysiological effects of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisa Carrasco
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003 Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Antoine Barbot
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003
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38
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Venkataraman AP, Winter S, Unsbo P, Lundström L. Blur adaptation: Contrast sensitivity changes and stimulus extent. Vision Res 2015; 110:100-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2015.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2014] [Revised: 03/13/2015] [Accepted: 03/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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39
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Donohue SE, Green JJ, Woldorff MG. The effects of attention on the temporal integration of multisensory stimuli. Front Integr Neurosci 2015; 9:32. [PMID: 25954167 PMCID: PMC4407588 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2015.00032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In unisensory contexts, spatially-focused attention tends to enhance perceptual processing. How attention influences the processing of multisensory stimuli, however, has been of much debate. In some cases, attention has been shown to be important for processes related to the integration of audio-visual stimuli, but in other cases such processes have been reported to occur independently of attention. To address these conflicting results, we performed three experiments to examine how attention interacts with a key facet of multisensory processing: the temporal window of integration (TWI). The first two experiments used a novel cued-spatial-attention version of the bounce/stream illusion, wherein two moving visual stimuli with intersecting paths tend to be perceived as bouncing off rather than streaming through each other when a brief sound occurs near in time. When the task was to report whether the visual stimuli appeared to bounce or stream, attention served to narrow this measure of the TWI and bias perception toward “streaming”. When the participants’ task was to explicitly judge the simultaneity of the sound with the intersection of the moving visual stimuli, however, the results were quite different. Specifically, attention served to mainly widen the TWI, increasing the likelihood of simultaneity perception, while also substantially increasing the simultaneity judgment accuracy when the stimuli were actually physically simultaneous. Finally, in Experiment 3, where the task was to judge the simultaneity of a simple, temporally discrete, flashed visual stimulus and the same brief tone pip, attention had no effect on the measured TWI. These results highlight the flexibility of attention in enhancing multisensory perception and show that the effects of attention on multisensory processing are highly dependent on the task demands and observer goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E Donohue
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany ; Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Jessica J Green
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Marty G Woldorff
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany ; Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Magdeburg, Germany ; Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Durham, NC, USA
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40
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Quentin R, Elkin Frankston S, Vernet M, Toba MN, Bartolomeo P, Chanes L, Valero-Cabré A. Visual Contrast Sensitivity Improvement by Right Frontal High-Beta Activity Is Mediated by Contrast Gain Mechanisms and Influenced by Fronto-Parietal White Matter Microstructure. Cereb Cortex 2015; 26:2381-90. [PMID: 25899709 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral and electrophysiological studies in humans and non-human primates have correlated frontal high-beta activity with the orienting of endogenous attention and shown the ability of the latter function to modulate visual performance. We here combined rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and diffusion imaging to study the relation between frontal oscillatory activity and visual performance, and we associated these phenomena to a specific set of white matter pathways that in humans subtend attentional processes. High-beta rhythmic activity on the right frontal eye field (FEF) was induced with TMS and its causal effects on a contrast sensitivity function were recorded to explore its ability to improve visual detection performance across different stimulus contrast levels. Our results show that frequency-specific activity patterns engaged in the right FEF have the ability to induce a leftward shift of the psychometric function. This increase in visual performance across different levels of stimulus contrast is likely mediated by a contrast gain mechanism. Interestingly, microstructural measures of white matter connectivity suggest a strong implication of right fronto-parietal connectivity linking the FEF and the intraparietal sulcus in propagating high-beta rhythmic signals across brain networks and subtending top-down frontal influences on visual performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Quentin
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
| | - Seth Elkin Frankston
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Laboratory for Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity and Rehabilitation, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Marine Vernet
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
| | - Monica N Toba
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Laboratory of Functional Neurosciences (EA 4559), University Hospital of Amiens, France University of Picardy Jules Verne, France
| | - Paolo Bartolomeo
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Department of Psychology, Catholic University, Milan, Italy
| | - Lorena Chanes
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
| | - Antoni Valero-Cabré
- Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Möelle Epinière, ICM, CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM UMRS 1127 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Laboratory for Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity and Rehabilitation, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA Cognitive Neuroscience and Information Technology Research Program, Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Barcelona, Spain
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41
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Donovan I, Szpiro S, Carrasco M. Exogenous attention facilitates location transfer of perceptual learning. J Vis 2015; 15:11. [PMID: 26426818 PMCID: PMC4594468 DOI: 10.1167/15.10.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2015] [Accepted: 08/15/2015] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Perceptual skills can be improved through practice on a perceptual task, even in adulthood. Visual perceptual learning is known to be mostly specific to the trained retinal location, which is considered as evidence of neural plasticity in retinotopic early visual cortex. Recent findings demonstrate that transfer of learning to untrained locations can occur under some specific training procedures. Here, we evaluated whether exogenous attention facilitates transfer of perceptual learning to untrained locations, both adjacent to the trained locations (Experiment 1) and distant from them (Experiment 2). The results reveal that attention facilitates transfer of perceptual learning to untrained locations in both experiments, and that this transfer occurs both within and across visual hemifields. These findings show that training with exogenous attention is a powerful regime that is able to overcome the major limitation of location specificity.
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42
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Quek GL, Finkbeiner M. Gaining the upper hand: evidence of vertical asymmetry in sex-categorisation of human hands. Adv Cogn Psychol 2014; 10:131-43. [PMID: 25674193 PMCID: PMC4313869 DOI: 10.5709/acp-0164-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual perception is characterised by asymmetries arising from the brain's preferential response to particular stimulus types at different retinal locations. Where the lower visual field (LVF) holds an advantage over the upper visual field (UVF) for many tasks (e.g., hue discrimination, contrast sensitivity, motion processing), face-perception appears best supported at above-fixation locations (Quek & Finkbeiner, 2014a). This finding is consistent with Previc's (1990) suggestion that vision in the UVF has become specialised for object recognition processes often required in "extrapersonal" space. Outside of faces, however, there have been very few investigations of vertical asymmetry effects for higher-level objects. Our aim in the present study was, thus, to determine whether the UVF advantage reported for face-perception would extend to a nonface object - human hands. Participants classified the sex of hand images presented above or below central fixation by reaching out to touch a left or right response panel. On each trial, a briefly presented spatial cue captured the participant's spatial attention to either the location where the hand was about to appear (valid cue) or the opposite location (invalid cue). We observed that cue validity only modulated the efficiency of the sex-categorisation response for targets in the LVLVF and not the UVF, just as we have reported previously for face-sex categorisation (Quek & Finkbeiner, 2014a). Taken together, the data from these studies provide some empirical support for Previc's (1990) speculation that object recognition processes may enjoy an advantage in the upper-hemifield.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genevieve L Quek
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Macquarie University, Sydney ARCRC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (CCD)
| | - Matthew Finkbeiner
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Macquarie University, Sydney ARCRC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (CCD)
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43
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Pack W, Klein SA, Carney T. Bias corrected double judgment accuracy during spatial attention cueing: Unmasked stimuli with non-predictive and semi-predictive cues. Vision Res 2014; 105:213-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2014.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2013] [Revised: 07/27/2014] [Accepted: 07/29/2014] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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44
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Hetley R, Dosher BA, Lu ZL. Generating a taxonomy of spatially cued attention for visual discrimination: effects of judgment precision and set size on attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 2014; 76:2286-304. [PMID: 24939234 PMCID: PMC4927301 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0705-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Attention precues improve the performance of perceptual tasks in many but not all circumstances. These spatial attention effects may depend upon display set size or workload, and have been variously attributed to external noise filtering, stimulus enhancement, contrast gain, or response gain, or to uncertainty or other decision effects. In this study, we document systematically different effects of spatial attention in low- and high-precision judgments, with and without external noise, and in different set sizes in order to contribute to the development of a taxonomy of spatial attention. An elaborated perceptual template model (ePTM) provides an integrated account of a complex set of effects of spatial attention with just two attention factors: a set-size dependent exclusion or filtering of external noise and a narrowing of the perceptual template to focus on the signal stimulus. These results are related to the previous literature by classifying the judgment precision and presence of external noise masks in those experiments, suggesting a taxonomy of spatially cued attention in discrimination accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Hetley
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-5100, USA
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45
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Han SW, Marois R. The effects of stimulus-driven competition and task set on involuntary attention. J Vis 2014; 14:14.7.14. [PMID: 24970921 DOI: 10.1167/14.7.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well established that involuntary attention—the exogenous capture of attention by salient but task-irrelevant stimuli—can strongly modulate target detection and discrimination performance. There is an ongoing debate, however, about how involuntary attention affects target performance. Some studies suggest that it results from enhanced perception of the target, whereas others indicate instead that it affects decisional stages of information processing. From a review of these studies, we hypothesized that the presence of distractors and task sets are key factors in determining the effect of involuntary attention on target perception. Consistent with this hypothesis, here we found that noninformative cues summoning involuntary attention affected perceptual identification of a target when distractors were present. This cuing effect could not be attributed to reduced target location uncertainty or decision bias. The only condition under which involuntary attention improved target perception in the absence of distractors occurred when observers did not adopt a task set to focus attention on the target location. We conclude that the perceptual effects of involuntary attention depend on distractor interference and the adoption of a task set to resolve such stimulus competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suk Won Han
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neurosciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USADepartment of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, Republic of Korea
| | - René Marois
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neurosciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USADepartment of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, Republic of Korea
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46
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Abstract
Over the last several decades, spatial attention has been shown to influence the activity of neurons in visual cortex in various ways. These conflicting observations have inspired competing models to account for the influence of attention on perception and behavior. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) in human subjects and showed that highly focused spatial attention primarily enhanced neural responses to high-contrast stimuli (response gain), whereas distributed attention primarily enhanced responses to medium-contrast stimuli (contrast gain). Together, these data suggest that different patterns of neural modulation do not reflect fundamentally different neural mechanisms, but instead reflect changes in the spatial extent of attention.
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47
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Abstract
Prolonged adaptation to a stimulus, such as a drifting grating, lowers sensitivity for detecting similar stimuli, and changes their appearance, for example, making gratings of the same orientation appear of lower contrast and move more slowly. It has been suggested that adaptation is increased by sustained attention to the adapting stimulus and is decreased by distracting attention with a competing task. This paper describes a novel 2AFC (spatial) measure of adaptation in which adaptation and bias are carefully distinguished by the random interleaving of different test conditions. The experiment revealed significant adaptation of perceived velocity, but no effect of attentional distraction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Morgan
- Max-Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Köln, Germany.
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48
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White AL, Lunau R, Carrasco M. The attentional effects of single cues and color singletons on visual sensitivity. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2013; 40:639-52. [PMID: 23875570 DOI: 10.1037/a0033775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Sudden changes in the visual periphery can automatically draw attention to their locations. For example, the brief flash of a single object (a "cue") rapidly enhances contrast sensitivity for subsequent stimuli in its vicinity. Feature singletons (e.g., a red circle among green circles) can also capture attention in a variety of tasks. Here, we evaluate whether a peripheral cue that enhances contrast sensitivity when it appears alone has a similar effect when it appears as a color singleton, with the same stimuli and task. In four experiments we asked observers to report the orientation of a target Gabor stimulus, which was preceded by an uninformative cue array consisting either of a single disk or of 16 disks containing a color or luminance singleton. Accuracy was higher and contrast thresholds lower when the single cue appeared at or near the target's location, compared with farther away. The color singleton also modulated performance but to a lesser degree and only when it appeared exactly at the target's location. Thus, this is the first study to demonstrate that cueing by color singletons, like single cues, can enhance sensory signals at an early stage of processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rasmus Lunau
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen
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49
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Attentional enhancement of spatial resolution: linking behavioural and neurophysiological evidence. Nat Rev Neurosci 2013; 14:188-200. [PMID: 23422910 DOI: 10.1038/nrn3443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 163] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Attention allows us to select relevant sensory information for preferential processing. Behaviourally, it improves performance in various visual tasks. One prominent effect of attention is the modulation of performance in tasks that involve the visual system's spatial resolution. Physiologically, attention modulates neuronal responses and alters the profile and position of receptive fields near the attended location. Here, we develop a hypothesis linking the behavioural and electrophysiological evidence. The proposed framework seeks to explain how these receptive field changes enhance the visual system's effective spatial resolution and how the same mechanisms may also underlie attentional effects on the representation of spatial information.
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50
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Abstract
Visual adaptation is expected to improve visual performance in the new environment. This expectation has been contradicted by evidence that adaptation sometimes decreases sensitivity for the adapting stimuli, and sometimes it changes sensitivity for stimuli very different from the adapting ones. We hypothesize that this pattern of results can be explained by a process that optimizes sensitivity for many stimuli, rather than changing sensitivity only for those stimuli whose statistics have changed. To test this hypothesis, we measured visual sensitivity across a broad range of spatiotemporal modulations of luminance, while varying the distribution of stimulus speeds. The manipulation of stimulus statistics caused a large-scale reorganization of visual sensitivity, forming the orderly pattern of sensitivity gains and losses. This pattern is predicted by a theory of distribution of receptive field characteristics in the visual system.
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