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Park S, Serences JT. Relative precision of top-down attentional modulations is lower in early visual cortex compared to mid- and high-level visual areas. J Neurophysiol 2022; 127:504-518. [PMID: 35020526 PMCID: PMC8836715 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00300.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Top-down spatial attention enhances cortical representations of behaviorally relevant visual information and increases the precision of perceptual reports. However, little is known about the relative precision of top-down attentional modulations in different visual areas, especially compared with the highly precise stimulus-driven responses that are observed in early visual cortex. For example, the precision of attentional modulations in early visual areas may be limited by the relatively coarse spatial selectivity and the anatomical connectivity of the areas in prefrontal cortex that generate and relay the top-down signals. Here, we used functional MRI (fMRI) and human participants to assess the precision of bottom-up spatial representations evoked by high-contrast stimuli across the visual hierarchy. Then, we examined the relative precision of top-down attentional modulations in the absence of spatially specific bottom-up drive. Whereas V1 showed the largest relative difference between the precision of top-down attentional modulations and the precision of bottom-up modulations, midlevel areas such as V4 showed relatively smaller differences between the precision of top-down and bottom-up modulations. Overall, this interaction between visual areas (e.g., V1 vs. V4) and the relative precision of top-down and bottom-up modulations suggests that the precision of top-down attentional modulations is limited by the representational fidelity of areas that generate and relay top-down feedback signals.NEW & NOTEWORTHY When the relative precision of purely top-down and bottom-up signals were compared across visual areas, early visual areas like V1 showed higher bottom-up precision compared with top-down precision. In contrast, midlevel areas showed similar levels of top-down and bottom-up precision. This result suggests that the precision of top-down attentional modulations may be limited by the relatively coarse spatial selectivity and the anatomical connectivity of the areas generating and relaying the signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunyoung Park
- 1Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - John T. Serences
- 1Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California,2Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
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Kosovicheva A, Bex PJ. Gravitational effects of scene information in object localization. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11520. [PMID: 34075169 PMCID: PMC8169838 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91006-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
We effortlessly interact with objects in our environment, but how do we know where something is? An object's apparent position does not simply correspond to its retinotopic location but is influenced by its surrounding context. In the natural environment, this context is highly complex, and little is known about how visual information in a scene influences the apparent location of the objects within it. We measured the influence of local image statistics (luminance, edges, object boundaries, and saliency) on the reported location of a brief target superimposed on images of natural scenes. For each image statistic, we calculated the difference between the image value at the physical center of the target and the value at its reported center, using observers' cursor responses, and averaged the resulting values across all trials. To isolate image-specific effects, difference scores were compared to a randomly-permuted null distribution that accounted for any response biases. The observed difference scores indicated that responses were significantly biased toward darker regions, luminance edges, object boundaries, and areas of high saliency, with relatively low shared variance among these measures. In addition, we show that the same image statistics were associated with observers' saccade errors, despite large differences in response time, and that some effects persisted when high-level scene processing was disrupted by 180° rotations and color negatives of the originals. Together, these results provide evidence for landmark effects within natural images, in which feature location reports are pulled toward low- and high-level informative content in the scene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Kosovicheva
- grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada ,grid.261112.70000 0001 2173 3359Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 125 Nightingale Hall, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 USA
| | - Peter J. Bex
- grid.261112.70000 0001 2173 3359Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 125 Nightingale Hall, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 USA
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Changes in the distribution of sustained attention alter the perceived structure of visual space. Vision Res 2016; 131:26-36. [PMID: 28025055 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2016.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2016] [Revised: 11/07/2016] [Accepted: 12/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Visual spatial attention is a critical process that allows for the selection and enhanced processing of relevant objects and locations. While studies have shown attentional modulations of perceived location and the representation of distance information across multiple objects, there remains disagreement regarding what influence spatial attention has on the underlying structure of visual space. The present study utilized a method of magnitude estimation in which participants must judge the location of briefly presented targets within the boundaries of their individual visual fields in the absence of any other objects or boundaries. Spatial uncertainty of target locations was used to assess perceived locations across distributed and focused attention conditions without the use of external stimuli, such as visual cues. Across two experiments we tested locations along the cardinal and 45° oblique axes. We demonstrate that focusing attention within a region of space can expand the perceived size of visual space; even in cases where doing so makes performance less accurate. Moreover, the results of the present studies show that when fixation is actively maintained, focusing attention along a visual axis leads to an asymmetrical stretching of visual space that is predominantly focused across the central half of the visual field, consistent with an expansive gradient along the focus of voluntary attention. These results demonstrate that focusing sustained attention peripherally during active fixation leads to an asymmetrical expansion of visual space within the central visual field.
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Baruch O, Yeshurun Y. Attentional attraction of receptive fields can explain spatial and temporal effects of attention. VISUAL COGNITION 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2014.911235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Franciotti R, D’Ascenzo S, Di Domenico A, Onofrj M, Tommasi L, Laeng B. Focusing narrowly or broadly attention when judging categorical and coordinate spatial relations: a MEG study. PLoS One 2013; 8:e83434. [PMID: 24386197 PMCID: PMC3873295 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2013] [Accepted: 11/05/2013] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
We measured activity in the dorsal system of the human cortex with magnetoencephalography (MEG) during a matching-to-sample plus cueing paradigm, where participants judged the occurrence of changes in either categorical or coordinate spatial relations (e.g., exchanges of left versus right positions or changes in the relative distances) between images of pairs of animals. The attention window was primed in each trial to be either small or large by using cues that immediately preceded the matching image. In this manner, we could assess the modulatory effects of the scope of attention on the activity of the dorsal system of the human cortex during spatial relations processing. The MEG measurements revealed that large spatial cues yielded greater activations and longer peak latencies in the right inferior parietal lobe for coordinate trials, whereas small cues yielded greater activations and longer peak latencies in the left inferior parietal lobe for categorical trials. The activity in the superior parietal lobe, middle frontal gyrus, and visual cortex, was also modulated by the size of the spatial cues and by the type of spatial relation change. The present results support the theory that the lateralization of each kind of spatial processing hinges on differences in the sizes of regions of space attended to by the two hemispheres. In addition, the present findings are inconsistent with the idea of a right-hemispheric dominance for all kinds of challenging spatial tasks, since response times and accuracy rates showed that the categorical spatial relation task was more difficult than the coordinate task and the cortical activations were overall greater in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffaella Franciotti
- Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, G. d’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy
- ITAB, “G. d’Annunzio” University Foundation, Chieti, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Stefania D’Ascenzo
- Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, G. d’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy
| | - Alberto Di Domenico
- Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, G. d’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy
| | - Marco Onofrj
- Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, G. d’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychology, Humanities and Territory, G. d’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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When here becomes there: attentional distribution modulates foveal bias in peripheral localization. Atten Percept Psychophys 2011; 73:809-28. [PMID: 21264747 PMCID: PMC3063879 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-010-0075-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Much research concerning attention has focused on changes in the perceptual qualities of objects while attentional states were varied. Here, we address a complementary question—namely, how perceived location can be altered by the distribution of sustained attention over the visual field. We also present a new way to assess the effects of distributing spatial attention across the visual field. We measured magnitude judgments relative to an aperture edge to test perceived location across a large range of eccentricities (30°), and manipulated spatial uncertainty in target locations to examine perceived location under three different distributions of spatial attention. Across three experiments, the results showed that changing the distribution of sustained attention significantly alters known foveal biases in peripheral localization.
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Direction information in multiple object tracking is limited by a graded resource. Atten Percept Psychophys 2011; 72:1765-75. [PMID: 20952776 DOI: 10.3758/app.72.7.1765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Is multiple object tracking (MOT) limited by a fixed set of structures (slots), a limited but divisible resource, or both? Here, we answer this question by measuring the precision of the direction representation for tracked targets. The signature of a limited resource is a decrease in precision as the square root of the tracking load. The signature of fixed slots is a fixed precision. Hybrid models predict a rapid decrease to asymptotic precision. In two experiments, observers tracked moving disks and reported target motion direction by adjusting a probe arrow. We derived the precision of representation of correctly tracked targets using a mixture distribution analysis. Precision declined with target load according to the square-root law up to six targets. This finding is inconsistent with both pure and hybrid slot models. Instead, directional information in MOT appears to be limited by a continuously divisible resource.
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Laeng B, Okubo M, Saneyoshi A, Michimata C. Processing Spatial Relations With Different Apertures of Attention. Cogn Sci 2010; 35:297-329. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01139.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Prinzmetal W, Zvinyatskovskiy A, Gutierrez P, Dilem L. Voluntary and involuntary attention have different consequences: The effect of perceptual difficulty. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2009; 62:352-69. [PMID: 18609402 DOI: 10.1080/17470210801954892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
We propose that voluntary and involuntary attention affect different mechanisms and have different consequences for performance measured in reaction time. Voluntary attention enhances the perceptual representation whereas involuntary attention affects the tendency to respond to stimuli in one location or another. In a spatial-cueing paradigm, we manipulated perceptual difficulty and compared voluntary and involuntary attention. For the voluntary-attention condition, the spatial cue was predictive of the target location, whereas in the involuntary-attention condition it was not. Increasing perceptual difficulty increased the attention effect with voluntary attention, but decreased it with involuntary attention. Thus voluntary and involuntary attention have different consequences when perceptual difficulty is manipulated and hence are probably caused by different mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Leo Dilem
- University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
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11
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Abstract
Carrasco, Ling, and Read (2004) reported that involuntary attention increased perceived contrast. We replicated Carrasco et al. and then tested an alternative hypothesis: With stimuli near threshold, a peripheral cue biased observers to believe a stimulus had been presented in the cued location. Consistent with this hypothesis, the effect disappeared when we used higher-contrast stimuli. We further tested the guessing-bias hypothesis in three ways: (1) In a detection experiment, the cue affected bias, but did not increase d'; (2) when the cue followed the stimulus, we obtained the same results as when the cue preceded the stimulus; (3) in one experiment, some trials contained no stimulus, yet observers responded that the cued blank stimulus had higher contrast than the uncued blank stimulus. The results suggest that the effects of a noninformative peripheral cue are best described in terms of nonperceptual biases.
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Prinzmetal W, Taylor N. Color singleton pop-out does not always poop out: an alternative to visual search. Psychon Bull Rev 2007; 13:576-80. [PMID: 17201354 DOI: 10.3758/bf03193965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Folk psychology suggests that when an observer views a scene, a unique item will stand out and draw attention to itself. This belief stands in contrast to numerous studies in visual search that have found that a unique target item (e.g., a unique color) is not identified more quickly than a nonunique target. We hypothesized that this finding is the result of task demands of visual search, and that when the task does not involve visual search, uniqueness will pop out. We tested this hypothesis in a task in which observers were presented an array of letters and asked to respond aloud, as quickly as possible, with the identity of any one of the letters. The observers were significantly more likely to respond with a uniquely colored letter than would be expected by chance. In a task in which observers blurt out the first thing that they see, unique pop-out does not poop out.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Prinzmetal
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA.
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