1
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Dietze N, Poth CH. Phasic alerting in visual search tasks. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:707-716. [PMID: 38240893 PMCID: PMC11062964 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02844-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
Many tasks require one to search for and find important objects in the visual environment. Visual search is strongly supported by cues indicating target objects to mechanisms of selective attention, which enable one to prioritise targets and ignore distractor objects. Besides selective attention, a major influence on performance across cognitive tasks is phasic alertness, a temporary increase of arousal induced by warning stimuli (alerting cues). Alerting cues provide no specific information on whose basis selective attention could be deployed, but have nevertheless been found to speed up perception and simple actions. It is still unclear, however, how alerting affects visual search. Therefore, in the present study, participants performed a visual search task with and without preceding visual alerting cues. Participants had to report the orientation of a target among several distractors. The target saliency was low in Experiment 1 and high in Experiment 2. In both experiments, we found that visual search was faster when a visual alerting cue was presented before the target display. Performance benefits occurred irrespective of how many distractors had been presented along with the target. Taken together, the findings reveal that visual alerting supports visual search independently of the complexity of the search process and the demands for selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas Dietze
- Department of Psychology, Neuro‑Cognitive Psychology and Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology, Bielefeld University, P.O. box 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
| | - Christian H Poth
- Department of Psychology, Neuro‑Cognitive Psychology and Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology, Bielefeld University, P.O. box 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany
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2
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Klein RM, Good SR, Christie JJ. Changes in the Networks of Attention across the Lifespan: A Graphical Meta-Analysis. J Intell 2024; 12:19. [PMID: 38392175 PMCID: PMC10889552 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence12020019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Three Posnerian networks of attention (alerting, orienting, and executive control) have been distinguished on the bases of behavioural, neuropsychological, and neuroscientific evidence. Here, we examined the trajectories of these networks throughout the human lifespan using the various Attention Network Tests (ANTs), which were specifically developed to measure the efficacy of these networks. The ANT Database was used to identify relevant research, resulting in the inclusion of 36 publications. We conducted a graphical meta-analysis using network scores from each study, based on reaction time plotted as a function of age group. Evaluation of attentional networks from childhood to early adulthood suggests that the alerting network develops relatively quickly, and reaches near-adult level by the age of 12. The developmental pattern of the orienting network seems to depend on the information value of the spatial cues. Executive control network scores show a consistent decrease (improvement) with age in childhood. During adulthood (ages 19-75), changes in alerting depend on the modality of the warning signal, while a moderate increase in orienting scores was seen with increasing age. Whereas executive control scores, as measured in reaction time, increase (deterioration) from young adulthood into later adulthood an opposite trend is seen when scores are based on error rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raymond M Klein
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Samantha R Good
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - John J Christie
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
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3
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Klein RM. Assessing the predictions from Posner's theory of phasic alertness using data from Los and Schut (2008). Mem Cognit 2024; 52:1-6. [PMID: 37389786 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-023-01438-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Alertness has been construed as one of three fundamental components of attention. When generated by a warning signal, phasic changes in alertness ubiquitously decrease reaction time. But how does it do so? Based on earlier findings, in 1975, Posner proposed a theory of phasic alertness with two postulates: (i) phasic alertness does not affect the accumulation of information; (ii) phasic alertness accelerates when a response based on the accumulating information will be generated. When targets are continuously presented, this theory predicts that alertness will reduce reaction at the expense of an increase in errors-that is, generate a speed-accuracy trade-off. Los and Schut, Cognitive Psychology, 57, 20-55, (2008), while endorsing Posner's theory, claimed to have failed to replicated the tell-tale trade-off reported by Posner et al. Memory and Cognition, 1, 2-12, (1973, Experiment 1). The primary goal of this commentary was to use all the data from Los and Schut to see if the predicted speed-accuracy trade-off would be verified or not. With the increased power, it was confirmed that the conditions that benefited the most in reaction time from alertness also had higher error rates. It is noteworthy that recent studies have generated replications and extensions of the methods and findings of Posner et al; thus, it appears that the empirical pattern predicted by Posner's theory of phasic alertness is relatively robust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raymond M Klein
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2, Canada.
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4
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Capizzi M, Chica AB, Lupiáñez J, Charras P. Attention to space and time: Independent or interactive systems? A narrative review. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:2030-2048. [PMID: 37407793 PMCID: PMC10728255 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02325-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023]
Abstract
While there is ample evidence for the ability to selectively attend to where in space and when in time a relevant event might occur, it remains poorly understood whether spatial and temporal attention operate independently or interactively to optimize behavior. To elucidate this important issue, we provide a narrative review of the literature investigating the relationship between the two. The studies were organized based on the attentional manipulation employed (endogenous vs. exogenous) and the type of task (detection vs. discrimination). Although the reviewed findings depict a complex scenario, three aspects appear particularly important in promoting independent or interactive effects of spatial and temporal attention: task demands, attentional manipulation, and their combination. Overall, the present review provides key insights into the relationship between spatial and temporal attention and identifies some critical gaps that need to be addressed by future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariagrazia Capizzi
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
| | - Ana B Chica
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Juan Lupiáñez
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Pom Charras
- Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPSYLON EA 4556, F34000, Montpellier, France
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5
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Kong M, Kim H, Hong T. An effective alerting strategy to facilitate occupants' perception of indoor air quality: By alarming concentration of indoor air pollution. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2023; 325:121428. [PMID: 36914153 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have proven that it is hard for occupants to perceive concentration of indoor air pollution (IAP) and resulting indoor air quality (IAQ) on their own. Therefore, a method is needed to encourage them to turn their attention to actual IAP, in this context, alerting is thus suggested. However, previous studies pose limitations in that they failed to analyze the effects of alerting concentration of IAP on occupants' IAQ perception. To fill the research gap, this study sought to explore a proper strategy to help occupants have a clearer perception of IAQ. A one-month observational experiment was conducted on nine subjects under three scenarios with different alerting strategies. In addition, the visual distance estimation method was used to quantitatively analyze similar tendencies between the subject's perceived IAQ and concentration of IAP for each scenario. The experimental results confirmed that when an alerting notification was not sent, the occupants could not clearly perceive IAQ as the visual distance was the highest at 0.332. On the other hand, when the alerting notification whether the concentration of IAP exceeded the standard or not was sent, the occupants could perceive IAQ relatively clearly as the visual distance was reduced to 0.291 and 0.236. In conclusion, not only installing a monitoring device but also establishing proper alerting strategies on the concentration of IAP is essential to facilitate occupants' IAQ perception and protect occupants' health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minjin Kong
- Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hakpyeong Kim
- Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Taehoon Hong
- Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
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6
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Dietze N, Recker L, Poth CH. Warning signals only support the first action in a sequence. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2023; 8:29. [PMID: 37171646 PMCID: PMC10182231 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-023-00484-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Acting upon target stimuli from the environment becomes faster when the targets are preceded by a warning (alerting) cue. Accordingly, alerting is often used to support action in safety-critical contexts (e.g., honking to alert others of a traffic situation). Crucially, however, the benefits of alerting for action have been established using laboratory tasks assessing only simple choice reactions. Real-world actions are considerably more complex and mainly consist of sensorimotor sequences of several sub-actions. Therefore, it is still unknown if the benefits of alerting for action transfer from simple choice reactions to such sensorimotor sequences. Here, we investigated how alerting affected performance in a sequential action task derived from the Trail-Making-Test, a well-established neuropsychological test of cognitive action control (Experiment 1). In addition to this task, participants performed a classic alerting paradigm including a simple choice reaction task (Experiment 2). Results showed that alerting sped up responding in both tasks, but in the sequential action task, this benefit was restricted to the first action of a sequence. This was the case, even when multiple actions were performed within a short time (Experiment 3), ruling out that the restriction of alerting to the first action was due to its short-lived nature. Taken together, these findings reveal the existence of an interface between phasic alertness and action control that supports the next action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas Dietze
- Department of Psychology, Neuro-Cognitive Psychology and Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology, Bielefeld University, P.O. box 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
| | - Lukas Recker
- Department of Psychology, Neuro-Cognitive Psychology and Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology, Bielefeld University, P.O. box 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Christian H Poth
- Department of Psychology, Neuro-Cognitive Psychology and Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology, Bielefeld University, P.O. box 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany
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7
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Kienitz R, Kouroupaki K, Schmid MC. Microstimulation of visual area V4 improves visual stimulus detection. Cell Rep 2022; 40:111392. [PMID: 36130494 PMCID: PMC9513802 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal activity in visual area V4 is well known to be modulated by selective attention, and there are reports on V4 lesions leading to attentional deficits. However, it remains unclear whether V4 microstimulation can elicit attentional benefits. To test this hypothesis, we performed local microstimulation in area V4 and explored its spatial and time dynamics in two macaque monkeys performing a visual detection task. Microstimulation was delivered via chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays. We found that microstimulation increases average performance by 35% and reduces luminance detection thresholds by −30%. This benefit critically depends on the onset of microstimulation relative to the stimulus, consistent with known dynamics of endogenous attention. These results show that local microstimulation of V4 can improve behavior and highlight the critical role of V4 for attention. Microstimulation of visual area V4 improves visual stimulus detection Effects of V4 microstimulation extend to the other hemifield Microstimulation effects are time dependent and consistent with attention dynamics
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo Kienitz
- Epilepsy Center Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Center of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Goethe University, Schleusenweg 2-16, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.
| | - Kleopatra Kouroupaki
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Michael C Schmid
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK; Department of Neuroscience and Movement Science, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
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8
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Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations. Cognition 2022; 225:105156. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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9
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Sghirripa S, Graetz L, Rogasch NC, Semmler JG, Goldsworthy MR. Does predictive cueing of presentation time modulate alpha power and facilitate visual working memory performance in younger and older adults? Brain Cogn 2022; 159:105861. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2021] [Revised: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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10
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Phasic Alertness is Unaffected by the Attentional Set for Orienting. J Cogn 2022; 5:46. [PMID: 36304587 PMCID: PMC9541150 DOI: 10.5334/joc.242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Warning stimuli preceding target stimuli for behaviour improve behavioural performance, which is referred to as phasic alerting. Similar benefits occur due to preceding orienting cues that draw spatial attention to the targets. It has long been assumed that alerting and orienting effects arise from separate attention systems, but recent views call this into question. As it stands, it remains unclear if the two systems are interdependent, or if they function independently. Here, we investigated whether the current attentional set for orienting modulates the effectiveness of alerting. In three experiments, participants classified visual stimuli in a speeded fashion. These target stimuli were preceded by orienting cues that could predict the target’s location, by alerting cues that were neutral regarding the target’s location, or by no cues. Alerting cues and orienting cues consisted of the same visual stimuli, linking alerting cues with the attentional set for orienting. The attentional set for orienting was manipulated in blocks, in which orienting cues were either informative or uninformative about the target’s location. Results showed that while alerting generally enhanced performance, alerting was unaffected by the informativeness of the orienting cues. These findings show that alerting does not depend on the attentional set that controls orienting based on the informational value of orienting cues. As such, the findings provide a simple dissociation of mechanisms underlying phasic alertness and spatial attentional orienting.
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11
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Ramirez LD, Foster JJ, Ling S. Temporal attention selectively enhances target features. J Vis 2021; 21:6. [PMID: 34115108 PMCID: PMC8196420 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.6.6] [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] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporal attention, the allocation of attention to a moment in time, improves perception. Here, we examined the computational mechanism by which temporal attention improves perception, under a divisive normalization framework. Under this framework, attention can improve perception of a target signal in three ways: stimulus enhancement (increasing gain across all sensory channels), signal enhancement (selectively increasing gain in channels that encode the target stimulus), or external noise exclusion (reducing the gain in channels that encode irrelevant features). These mechanisms make diverging predictions when a target is embedded in varying levels of noise: stimulus enhancement improves performance only when noise is low, signal enhancement improves performance at all noise intensities, and external noise exclusion improves performance only when noise is high. To date, temporal attention studies have used noise-free displays. Therefore, it is unclear whether temporal attention acts via stimulus enhancement (amplifying both target features and noise) or signal enhancement (selectively amplifying target features) because both mechanisms predict improved performance in the absence of noise. To tease these mechanisms apart, we manipulated temporal attention using an auditory cue while parametrically varying external noise in a fine-orientation discrimination task. Temporal attention improved perceptual thresholds across all noise levels. Formal model comparisons revealed that this cuing effect was best accounted for by a combination of signal enhancement and stimulus enhancement, suggesting that temporal attention improves perceptual performance, in part, by selectively increasing gain for target features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis D Ramirez
- Graduate Program for Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,
| | - Joshua J Foster
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,
| | - Sam Ling
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,
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12
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Tal-Perry N, Yuval-Greenberg S. Pre-target oculomotor inhibition reflects temporal orienting rather than certainty. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21478. [PMID: 33293658 PMCID: PMC7722715 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78189-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies suggested that eye movements are linked to temporal predictability. These studies manipulated predictability by setting the cue-target interval (foreperiod) to be fixed or random throughout the block. Findings showed that pre-target oculomotor behavior was reduced in the fixed relative to the random condition. This effect was interpreted as reflecting the formation of temporal expectation. However, it is unknown whether the effect is driven by target-specific temporal orienting, or rather a result of a more context-dependent state of certainty that participants may experience during blocks with a high predictability rate. In this study we dissociated certainty and orienting in a tilt-discrimination task. In each trial, a temporal cue (fixation color change) was followed by a tilted grating-patch. The foreperiod distribution was varied between blocks to be either fully fixed (same foreperiod in 100% of trials), mostly fixed (80% of trials with one foreperiod and 20% with another) or random (five foreperiods in equal probabilities). The two hypotheses led to different prediction models which were tested against the experimental data. Results were consistent with the orienting hypothesis and inconsistent with the certainty hypothesis, supporting the link between oculomotor inhibition and temporal orienting and its validity as a temporal expectations marker.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noam Tal-Perry
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. .,Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
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13
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Phasic alerting facilitates endogenous orienting of spatial attention: Evidence from event-related lateralizations of the EEG. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 82:1644-1653. [PMID: 31907836 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01958-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Alerting has been hypothesized to affect spatial orienting either by accelerating the speed of attentional shift toward the cued target location (the accelerating hypothesis) or by enhancing the orienting effect without changing its time course (the enhancing hypothesis). To investigate the neural underpinnings of the effect of phasic alerting on endogenous orienting, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) in a variant of the spatial cueing task with a tone presented 100 ms before the cue as a phasic alerting signal, and calculated cue-evoked event-related lateralizations (ERLs) providing a precise assessment of preparatory visuospatial attention. Behavioral results showed that the spatial orienting effect was increased under the phasic alerting condition, as expected. The EEG results showed that an orienting-related ERL component called a late directing attention positivity (LDAP) had shorter onset latency and larger amplitude in the alerting condition than in the no-alerting (no-tone) condition. In conclusion, phasic alerting seems to both accelerate and enhance orienting-related preparatory modulations within the ventral visual stream.
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14
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Oláh V, Knakker B, Trunk A, Lendvai B, Hernádi I. Dissociating cholinergic influence on alertness and temporal attention in primates in a simple reaction time paradigm. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 52:3776-3789. [PMID: 32516489 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The ability to promptly respond to behaviourally relevant events depends on both general alertness and phasic changes in attentional state driven by temporal expectations. Using a variable foreperiod simple reaction time (RT) task in four adult male rhesus macaques, we investigated the role of the cholinergic system in alertness and temporal expectation. Foreperiod effects on RT reflect temporal expectation, while alertness is quantified as overall response speed. We measured these RT parameters under vehicle treatment and systemic administration of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine. We also investigated whether and to what extent the effects of scopolamine were reversed by donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor widely used for the treatment of dementia. In the control condition, RT showed a continuous decrease as the foreperiod duration increased, which clearly indicated the effect of temporal expectation on RT. This foreperiod effect was mainly detectable on the faster tail of the RT distribution and was eliminated by scopolamine. Furthermore, scopolamine treatment slowed down the average RT. Donepezil treatment was efficient on the slower tail of the RT distribution and improved scopolamine-induced impairments only on the average RT reflecting a general beneficial effect on alertness without any improvement in temporal expectation. The present results highlight the role of the cholinergic system in temporal expectation and alertness in primates and help delineate the efficacy and scope of donepezil and other cholinomimetic agents as cognitive enhancers in present and future clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vilmos Oláh
- Grastyán Translational Research Center, University of Pécs & Gedeon Richter Plc., Pécs, Hungary.,Department of Experimental Zoology and Neurobiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Balázs Knakker
- Grastyán Translational Research Center, University of Pécs & Gedeon Richter Plc., Pécs, Hungary
| | - Attila Trunk
- Grastyán Translational Research Center, University of Pécs & Gedeon Richter Plc., Pécs, Hungary
| | - Balázs Lendvai
- Grastyán Translational Research Center, University of Pécs & Gedeon Richter Plc., Pécs, Hungary.,Department of Pharmacology and Drug Safety Research, Gedeon Richter Plc., Budapest, Hungary
| | - István Hernádi
- Grastyán Translational Research Center, University of Pécs & Gedeon Richter Plc., Pécs, Hungary.,Department of Experimental Zoology and Neurobiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.,Szentágothai Research Center, Center for Neuroscience, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.,Institute of Physiology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
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15
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Elbaz A, Yeshurun Y. Can rhythm-induced attention improve the perceptual representation? PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231200. [PMID: 32298272 PMCID: PMC7162507 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporal attention can be entrained exogenously to rhythms. Indeed, faster and more accurate responses were previously found when the target appeared in-phase with a preceding rhythm in comparison to when it was out of phase. However, the nature of this rhythm-induced attentional effect is not well understood. To better understand the processes underlying rhythm-induced attention, we employed a continuous measure of perceived orientation and a mixture-model analysis. A trial in our study started with a sequence of auditory beeps separated by a fixed inter-beeps interval in the regular (rhythmic) condition or by variable inter-beeps intervals in the irregular condition. A visual target–a line embedded in a circle–followed the sequence. The ‘critical’ interval between the last beep and the target was chosen randomly from several possible Inter-Onset Intervals (IOIs), of which only one was in-phase with the rhythm. The target was followed by a probe line, and the participants were asked to rotate it to reproduce the target’s orientation. The measure of performance for a given trial was the difference in degrees between the orientation of the target and that reproduced by the observer. We found that guessing rate was lower with regular than irregular rhythms. However, there was no effect of rhythm type (regular vs irregular) on the quality of representation (measured as the variability in reproducing the target). Furthermore, the rhythm effect was present only when rhythm type was fixed within a block, and it was found with all IOIs, not just the in-phase IOI. This lack of specificity suggests that these results reflect a general effect of rhythm on alertness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asaf Elbaz
- Department of Psychology & Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
- * E-mail:
| | - Yaffa Yeshurun
- Department of Psychology & Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
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16
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He M, Heindel WC, Nassar MR, Siefert EM, Festa EK. Age-related changes in the functional integrity of the phasic alerting system: a pupillometric investigation. Neurobiol Aging 2020; 91:136-147. [PMID: 32224065 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2020.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2018] [Revised: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Enhanced processing following a warning cue is thought to be mediated by a phasic alerting response involving the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic (LC-NA) system. We examined the effect of aging on phasic alerting using pupil dilation as a marker of LC-NA activity in conjunction with a novel assessment of task-evoked pupil dilation. While both young and older adults displayed behavioral and pupillary alerting effects, reflected in decreased RT and increased pupillary response under high (tone) versus low (no tone) alerting conditions, older adults displayed a weaker pupillary response that benefited more from the alerting tone. The strong association between dilation and speed displayed by older adults in both alerting conditions was reduced in young adults in the high alerting condition, suggesting that in young (but not older) adults the tone conferred relatively little behavioral benefit beyond that provided by the alerting effect elicited by the target. These findings suggest a functioning but deficient LC-NA alerting system in older adults, and help reconcile previous results concerning the effects of aging on phasic alerting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingjian He
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - William C Heindel
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Matthew R Nassar
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Elizabeth M Siefert
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Elena K Festa
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
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17
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Rimsky-Robert D, Störmer V, Sackur J, Sergent C. Retrospective auditory cues can improve detection of near-threshold visual targets. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18966. [PMID: 31831788 PMCID: PMC6908653 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55261-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that visually cueing attention towards a stimulus location after its disappearance can facilitate visual processing of the target and increase task performance. Here, we tested whether such retro-cueing effects can also occur across different sensory modalities, as cross-modal facilitation has been shown in pre-cueing studies using auditory stimuli prior to the onset of a visual target. In the present study, participants detected low-contrast Gabor patches in a speeded response task. These patches were presented in the left or right visual periphery, preceded or followed by a lateralized and task-irrelevant sound at 4 stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOA; -600 ms, -150 ms, +150 ms, +450 ms). We found that pre-cueing at the -150 ms SOA led to a general increase in detection performance irrespective of the sound's location relative to the target. On top of this temporal effect, sound-cues also had a spatially specific effect, with further improvement when cue and target originated from the same location. Critically, the temporal effect was absent, but the spatial effect was present in the short-SOA retro-cueing condition (+150 ms). Drift-diffusion analysis of the response time distributions allowed us to better characterize the evidenced effects. Overall, our results show that sounds can facilitate visual processing, both pre- and retro-actively, indicative of a flexible and multisensory attentional system that underlies our conscious visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daphné Rimsky-Robert
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center - UMR 8002 CNRS/Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
| | - Viola Störmer
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, USA
| | - Jérôme Sackur
- LSCP, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
| | - Claire Sergent
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center - UMR 8002 CNRS/Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
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18
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Phasic alertness reverses the beneficial effects of accessory stimuli on choice reaction. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 82:1196-1204. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01825-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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19
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Wiegand I, Sander MC. Cue-related processing accounts for age differences in phasic alerting. Neurobiol Aging 2019; 79:93-100. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.03.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Revised: 03/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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20
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Abstract
The influence of arousal on visual attention was examined in 6.5-month-old infants (N = 42) in the context of a visual search task. Phasic increases in arousal were induced with brief sounds and measured with pupil dilation. Evidence was found for an inverted U-shaped relation between pupil dilation amplitude and visual orienting, with highest likelihood of a target fixation at intermediate levels of arousal. Effects were similar for facial stimuli and simple objects. Together, these results contribute to our understanding of the relation between arousal and attention in infancy. The study also demonstrates that infants have a bias to orient to human eyes, even when presented in isolation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Terje Falck‐Ytter
- Uppsala University
- Karolinska Institutet
- Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies (SCAS)
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21
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Abstract
Temporal attention is the focusing of perceptual resources at a particular point in time. Valid temporal cue information has the capability to improve performance by reducing reaction times, while invalid information has the possibility of impairing performance. The performance difference between valid and invalid conditions is called a temporal cueing effect (TCE). We explored how different alerting mechanisms interact with a participant's ability to utilize temporal information cues, using the Kingstone (The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 44(1), 69-104, 1992) temporal cueing paradigm. Extracting the alerting procedure from Lawrence and Klein (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(2), 560-572, 2013), one of two different temporally contingent warning signals were presented to participants during a trial. The "hi-intensity" warning signal increases intensity and elicits both exogenous and endogenous alerting mechanisms. The "no-intensity" warning signal is isointense relative to baseline and elicits only endogenous alerting mechanisms. Two experiments conducted previously using a discrimination task showed interference between the signal intensity and task difficulty, where the "no-intensity" signal failed to elicit TCEs. In the present study, we implemented a detection task, reducing the mental effort required for a response. The results showed equal TCEs in both signal conditions. We argue for independence of these alerting mechanisms, by way of Sternberg's (Acta Psychologica, 30, 276-315, 1969) additive factor method. Arguments contrasting what mechanism is being impacted by this paradigm are further outlined.
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22
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Monocular channels have a functional role in phasic alertness and temporal expectancy. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 81:752-763. [PMID: 30628033 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-018-01653-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The literature has long emphasized the neocortex's role in the tangled phasic-alertness and temporal-expectancy processes. In this work, we examined whether subcortical, monocular mechanisms have a functional role in these processes. This was done by assessing phasic alertness and temporal expectancy independently using a cue-target eye-of-origin manipulation. Participants performed target detection tasks in which a central cue and its ensuing peripheral target were each presented either to the same eye or to a different eye. In Experiment 1, phasic alertness, independent of temporal expectancy, was manipulated by presenting an alerting cue prior to the target presentation. The alerting effect elicited by the cue lasted for a longer duration when the cue and target were presented to the same eye than when they were presented to different eyes, indicating the involvement of subcortical regions in phasic alertness. In Experiment 2, the cue's temporal predictability regarding the target's onset time was manipulated by changing the cue-target interval's foreperiod distribution. A modulation in temporal expectancy was found when both the cue and the target were presented to the same eye, demonstrating the importance of subcortical mechanisms in temporal expectancy. Together, the results demonstrate that monocular channels are functionally involved in both phasic alertness and temporal expectancy. This study suggests that both phasic alertness and temporal expectancy are functionally dependent on monocular channels of the visual stream, and highlights the importance of direct examination of primitive, subcortical regions in higher cognitive functioning (e.g., temporal expectancy).
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23
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Haupt M, Sorg C, Napiórkowski N, Finke K. Phasic alertness cues modulate visual processing speed in healthy aging. Neurobiol Aging 2018; 70:30-39. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.05.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2018] [Revised: 04/23/2018] [Accepted: 05/24/2018] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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24
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Temporal ambiguity of onsets in a cueing task prevents facilitation but not inhibition of return. Atten Percept Psychophys 2018; 80:106-117. [PMID: 29075992 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1435-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Cueing effects, i.e., early facilitation of reaction time and inhibition of return (IOR), are well-established and robust phenomena characterizing exogenous orienting and are widely observed in experiments with a traditional Posner cueing paradigm. Krüger, MacInnes, and Hunt (2014) proposed that facilitatory effects of peripheral cues are the result of a cue-target perceptual merging due to re-entrant visual processing. To test the role and timing of these feedback mechanisms in peripheral cueing effects, we modified the traditional cueing task in Experiments 1-3 by interleaving pre- and post-cue trials at the valid and invalid location and random cue-target onset asynchrony (CTOA) ranging from -300 to +1,000 ms. Analysis of the manual reaction time distribution over CTOA showed well-pronounced IOR in the valid pre-cue condition and a small cost of perceptual merging in the post-cue condition, but no early facilitation of reaction time was observed in the pre-cue condition. In Experiment 4, we tested directly whether temporal ambiguity eliminated facilitation by restricting CTOAs to only the pre-cue time range and including a between-subject manipulation of a) random, b) mixed discrete, and c) blocked discrete CTOAs. Results obtained in the continuous and binned conditions showed no facilitation but robust IOR. We found both early facilitation and IOR in the blocked condition. Overall, the present findings show a small perceptual merging result without accompanying facilitation, suggesting different underlying mechanisms. Second, they demonstrate that early facilitation is likely to be affected by the presence or absence of temporal expectations and that the early onset of IOR might be masked by stronger facilitation in traditional cueing experiments.
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25
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Schoeberl T, Ansorge U. The impact of temporal contingencies between cue and target onset on spatial attentional capture by subliminal onset cues. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 83:1416-1425. [PMID: 29766295 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1001-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 03/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Prior research suggested that attentional capture by subliminal abrupt onset cues is stimulus driven. In these studies, reacting was faster when a searched-for target appeared at the location of a preceding abrupt onset cue compared to when the same target appeared at a location away from the cue (cueing effect), although the earlier onset of the cue was subliminal, because it appeared as one out of three horizontally aligned placeholders with a lead time that was too short to be noticed by the participants. Because the cueing effects seemed to be independent of top-down search settings for target features, the effect was attributed to stimulus-driven attentional capture. However, prior studies did not investigate if participants experienced the cues as useful temporal warning signals and, therefore, attended to the cues in a top-down way. Here, we tested to which extent search settings based on temporal contingencies between cue and target onset could be responsible for spatial cueing effects. Cueing effects were replicated, and we showed that removing temporal contingencies between cue and target onset did not diminish the cueing effects (Experiments 1 and 2). Neither presenting the cues in the majority of trials after target onset (Experiment 1) nor presenting cue and target unrelated to one another (Experiment 2) led to a significant reduction of the spatial cueing effects. Results thus support the hypothesis that the subliminal cues captured attention in a stimulus-driven way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Schoeberl
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria
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26
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van Ede F, Chekroud SR, Stokes MG, Nobre AC. Decoding the influence of anticipatory states on visual perception in the presence of temporal distractors. Nat Commun 2018; 9:1449. [PMID: 29654312 PMCID: PMC5899132 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03960-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2017] [Accepted: 03/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Anticipatory states help prioritise relevant perceptual targets over competing distractor stimuli and amplify early brain responses to these targets. Here we combine electroencephalography recordings in humans with multivariate stimulus decoding to address whether anticipation also increases the amount of target identity information contained in these responses, and to ask how targets are prioritised over distractors when these compete in time. We show that anticipatory cues not only boost visual target representations, but also delay the interference on these target representations caused by temporally adjacent distractor stimuli—possibly marking a protective window reserved for high-fidelity target processing. Enhanced target decoding and distractor resistance are further predicted by the attenuation of posterior 8–14 Hz alpha oscillations. These findings thus reveal multiple mechanisms by which anticipatory states help prioritise targets from temporally competing distractors, and they highlight the potential of non-invasive multivariate electrophysiology to track cognitive influences on perception in temporally crowded contexts. Anticipation helps to prioritise the processing of task-relevant sensory targets over irrelevant distractors. Here the authors analyse visual EEG responses and show that anticipation may do so by enhancing the neural representation of the target and by delaying the interference caused by distractors that follow closely in time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Freek van Ede
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.
| | - Sammi R Chekroud
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
| | - Mark G Stokes
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.,Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Anna C Nobre
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.,Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
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27
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Hayward DA, Ristic J. Changes in Tonic Alertness but Not Voluntary Temporal Preparation Modulate the Attention Elicited by Task-Relevant Gaze and Arrow Cues. Vision (Basel) 2018; 2:E18. [PMID: 31735882 PMCID: PMC6835978 DOI: 10.3390/vision2020018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 04/01/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention is engaged differently depending on the type and utility of an attentional cue. Some cues like visual transients or social gaze engage attention effortlessly. Others like symbols or geometric shapes require task-relevant deliberate processing. In the laboratory, these effects are often measured using a cuing procedure, which typically manipulates cue type and its utility for the task. Recent research however has uncovered that in addition to spatial orienting, this popular paradigm also engages two additional processes-tonic alertness and voluntary temporal preparation-both of which have been found to modulate spatial orienting elicited by task-irrelevant cues but not task-relevant symbols. Here we assessed whether changes in tonic alertness and voluntary temporal preparation also modulated attentional orienting elicited by task-relevant social gaze and nonsocial arrow cues. Our results indicated that while the effects of spatial attention were reliable in all conditions and did not vary with cue type, the magnitude of orienting was larger under high tonic alertness. Thus, while the cue's task utility appears to have the power to robustly drive attentional orienting, changes in tonic alertness may modulate the magnitude of such deliberate shifts of attention elicited by task-relevant central social and nonsocial cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana A. Hayward
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
| | - Jelena Ristic
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada
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28
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Asutay E, Västfjäll D. Exposure to arousal-inducing sounds facilitates visual search. Sci Rep 2017; 7:10363. [PMID: 28871100 PMCID: PMC5583323 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-09975-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2017] [Accepted: 08/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Exposure to affective stimuli could enhance perception and facilitate attention via increasing alertness, vigilance, and by decreasing attentional thresholds. However, evidence on the impact of affective sounds on perception and attention is scant. Here, a novel aspect of affective facilitation of attention is studied: whether arousal induced by task-irrelevant auditory stimuli could modulate attention in a visual search. In two experiments, participants performed a visual search task with and without auditory-cues that preceded the search. Participants were faster in locating high-salient targets compared to low-salient targets. Critically, search times and search slopes decreased with increasing auditory-induced arousal while searching for low-salient targets. Taken together, these findings suggest that arousal induced by sounds can facilitate attention in a subsequent visual search. This novel finding provides support for the alerting function of the auditory system by showing an auditory-phasic alerting effect in visual attention. The results also indicate that stimulus arousal modulates the alerting effect. Attention and perception are our everyday tools to navigate our surrounding world and the current findings showing that affective sounds could influence visual attention provide evidence that we make use of affective information during perceptual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erkin Asutay
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-58183, Sweden.
| | - Daniel Västfjäll
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-58183, Sweden.,Decision Research, Eugene, OR, 97401, USA
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29
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Wiegand I, Petersen A, Bundesen C, Habekost T. Phasic alerting increases visual attention capacity in younger but not in older individuals. VISUAL COGNITION 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2017.1330791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Lifespan Development, Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anders Petersen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Claus Bundesen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas Habekost
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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30
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Wiegand I, Petersen A, Finke K, Bundesen C, Lansner J, Habekost T. Behavioral and Brain Measures of Phasic Alerting Effects on Visual Attention. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:176. [PMID: 28443009 PMCID: PMC5385325 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 03/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we investigated effects of phasic alerting on visual attention in a partial report task, in which half of the displays were preceded by an auditory warning cue. Based on the computational Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), we estimated parameters of spatial and non-spatial aspects of visual attention and measured event-related lateralizations (ERLs) over visual processing areas. We found that the TVA parameter sensory effectiveness a, which is thought to reflect visual processing capacity, significantly increased with phasic alerting. By contrast, the distribution of visual processing resources according to task relevance and spatial position, as quantified in parameters top-down control α and spatial bias windex, was not modulated by phasic alerting. On the electrophysiological level, the latencies of ERLs in response to the task displays were reduced following the warning cue. These results suggest that phasic alerting facilitates visual processing in a general, unselective manner and that this effect originates in early stages of visual information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark.,Center for Lifespan Development, Max-Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentBerlin, Germany.,Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing ResearchBerlin, Germany
| | - Anders Petersen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kathrin Finke
- General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) MunichMunich, Germany.,Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, Jena University HospitalJena, Germany
| | - Claus Bundesen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jon Lansner
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas Habekost
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
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31
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Tran TT, Hoffner NC, LaHue SC, Tseng L, Voytek B. Alpha phase dynamics predict age-related visual working memory decline. Neuroimage 2016; 143:196-203. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.08.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2016] [Revised: 08/22/2016] [Accepted: 08/24/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
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32
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Erel H, Levy DA. Orienting of visual attention in aging. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 69:357-80. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2015] [Revised: 08/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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33
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Toscano-Zapién AL, Velázquez-López D, Velázquez-Martínez DN. Attentional Mechanisms during the Performance of a Subsecond Timing Task. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0158508. [PMID: 27467762 PMCID: PMC4965134 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
There is evidence that timing processes in the suprasecond scale are modulated by attentional mechanisms; in addition, some studies have shown that attentional mechanisms also affect timing in the subsecond scale. Our aim was to study eye movements and pupil diameter during a temporal bisection task in the subsecond range. Subjects were trained to discriminate anchor intervals of 200 or 800 msec, and were then confronted with intermediate durations. Eye movements revealed that subjects used different cognitive strategies during the bisection timing task. When the stimulus to be timed appeared randomly at a central or 4 peripheral positions on a screen, some subjects choose to maintain their gaze toward the central area while other followed the peripheral placement of the stimulus; some others subjects used both strategies. The time of subjective equality did not differ between subjects who employed different attentional mechanisms. However, differences emerged in the timing variance and attentional indexes (time taken to initial fixation, latency to respond, pupil dilatation and duration and number of fixations to stimulus areas). Timing in the subsecond range seems invariant despite the use of different attentional strategies. Future research should determine whether the selection of attentional mechanisms is related to particular timing tasks or instructions or whether it represents idiosyncratic cognitive “styles”.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna L. Toscano-Zapién
- Departamento de Psicofisiologia, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F. México, 04510, México
| | - Daniel Velázquez-López
- Departamento de Matemáticas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F. México, 04510, México
| | - David N. Velázquez-Martínez
- Departamento de Psicofisiologia, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F. México, 04510, México
- * E-mail:
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34
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Automaticity of phasic alertness: Evidence for a three-component model of visual cueing. Atten Percept Psychophys 2016; 78:1948-67. [PMID: 27173487 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-016-1124-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The automaticity of phasic alertness is investigated using the attention network test. Results show that the cueing effect from the alerting cue-double cue-is strongly enhanced by the task relevance of visual cues, as determined by the informativeness of the orienting cue-single cue-that is being mixed (80 % vs. 50 % valid in predicting where the target will appear). Counterintuitively, the cueing effect from the alerting cue can be negatively affected by its visibility, such that masking the cue from awareness can reveal a cueing effect that is otherwise absent when the cue is visible. Evidently, then, top-down influences-in the form of contextual relevance and cue awareness-can have opposite influences on the cueing effect from the alerting cue. These findings lead us to the view that a visual cue can engage three components of attention-orienting, alerting, and inhibition-to determine the behavioral cueing effect. We propose that phasic alertness, particularly in the form of specific response readiness, is regulated by both internal, top-down expectation and external, bottom-up stimulus properties. In contrast to some existing views, we advance the perspective that phasic alertness is strongly tied to temporal orienting, attentional capture, and spatial orienting. Finally, we discuss how translating attention research to clinical applications would benefit from an improved ability to measure attention. To this end, controlling the degree of intraindividual variability in the attentional components and improving the precision of the measurement tools may prove vital.
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35
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Dalmaijer ES, Nijenhuis BG, Van der Stigchel S. Life is unfair, and so are racing sports: some athletes can randomly benefit from alerting effects due to inconsistent starting procedures. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1618. [PMID: 26579009 PMCID: PMC4623299 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2015] [Accepted: 10/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The Olympics are the world’s largest sporting events, attracting billions of viewers worldwide. Important parts are racing sports, such as running, swimming and speed skating. In these sports, athletes compete against each other in different heats to determine who wins the gold, or who is granted a place in the final. Of course, the gold goes to whoever is the most talented and has trained the hardest. Or does it? Here we argue that subtle differences between athletes’ starts can bias the competition, and demonstrate this in the results of speed skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics. This bias could be removed by simple alterations to current starting procedures. The proposed change would greatly improve racing sport fairness, which currently suffers from an injustice that disadvantages not only athletes, but entire nations rooting for them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin S Dalmaijer
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford , Oxford, UK
| | - Beorn G Nijenhuis
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University , Utrecht, Netherlands
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36
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Kranczioch C, Thorne JD. The beneficial effects of sounds on attentional blink performance: An ERP study. Neuroimage 2015; 117:429-38. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2014] [Revised: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 05/09/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
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37
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38
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Temporal expectancy modulates phasic alerting in both detection and discrimination tasks. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 22:235-41. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0664-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Rohenkohl G, Gould IC, Pessoa J, Nobre AC. Combining spatial and temporal expectations to improve visual perception. J Vis 2014; 14:8. [PMID: 24722562 PMCID: PMC3983934 DOI: 10.1167/14.4.8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2013] [Accepted: 02/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The importance of temporal expectations in modulating perceptual functions is increasingly recognized. However, the means through which temporal expectations can bias perceptual information processing remains ill understood. Recent theories propose that modulatory effects of temporal expectations rely on the co-existence of other biases based on receptive-field properties, such as spatial location. We tested whether perceptual benefits of temporal expectations in a perceptually demanding psychophysical task depended on the presence of spatial expectations. Foveally presented symbolic arrow cues indicated simultaneously where (location) and when (time) target events were more likely to occur. The direction of the arrow indicated target location (80% validity), while its color (pink or blue) indicated the interval (80% validity) for target appearance. Our results confirmed a strong synergistic interaction between temporal and spatial expectations in enhancing visual discrimination. Temporal expectation significantly boosted the effectiveness of spatial expectation in sharpening perception. However, benefits for temporal expectation disappeared when targets occurred at unattended locations. Our findings suggest that anticipated receptive-field properties of targets provide a natural template upon which temporal expectations can operate in order to help prioritize goal-relevant events from early perceptual stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Rohenkohl
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ian C. Gould
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jéssica Pessoa
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Anna C. Nobre
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Deiber MP, Ibañez V, Missonnier P, Rodriguez C, Giannakopoulos P. Age-associated modulations of cerebral oscillatory patterns related to attention control. Neuroimage 2013; 82:531-46. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2013] [Revised: 06/06/2013] [Accepted: 06/07/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
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The interaction between alerting and executive control: Dissociating phasic arousal and temporal expectancy. Atten Percept Psychophys 2013; 75:1374-81. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-013-0501-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Wenke D, Fischer R. Anticipation and the control of voluntary action. Front Psychol 2013; 4:341. [PMID: 23785348 PMCID: PMC3682156 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2013] [Accepted: 05/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Dorit Wenke
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Berlin, Germany
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Hayward DA, Ristic J. Measuring attention using the Posner cuing paradigm: the role of across and within trial target probabilities. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:205. [PMID: 23730280 PMCID: PMC3656349 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2013] [Accepted: 05/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous studies conducted within the recent decades have utilized the Posner cuing paradigm for eliciting, measuring, and theoretically characterizing attentional orienting. However, the data from recent studies suggest that the Posner cuing task might not provide an unambiguous measure of attention, as reflexive spatial orienting has been found to interact with extraneous processes engaged by the task's typical structure, i.e., the probability of target presence across trials, which affects tonic alertness, and the probability of target presence within trials, which affects voluntary temporal preparation. To understand the contribution of each of these two processes to the measurement of attentional orienting we assessed their individual and combined effects on reflexive attention elicited by a spatially nonpredictive peripheral cue. Our results revealed that the magnitude of spatial orienting was modulated by joint changes in the global probability of target presence across trials and the local probability of target presence within trials, while the time course of spatial orienting was susceptible to changes in the probability of target presence across trials. These data thus raise important questions about the choice of task parameters within the Posner cuing paradigm and their role in both the measurement and theoretical attributions of the observed attentional effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana A Hayward
- Department of Psychology, McGill University Montreal, QC, Canada
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Fischer R, Plessow F, Ruge H. Priming of visual cortex by temporal attention? The effects of temporal predictability on stimulus(-specific) processing in early visual cortical areas. Neuroimage 2013; 66:261-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.10.091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2012] [Revised: 10/29/2012] [Accepted: 10/30/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
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