Functional Imaging of Audio-Visual Selective Attention in Monkeys and Humans: How do Lapses in Monkey Performance Affect Cross-Species Correspondences?

PubMed

Rinne, Teemu; Muers, Ross S; Salo, Emma; Slater, Heather; Petkov, Christopher I

2017-06-01

The cross-species correspondences and differences in how attention modulates brain responses in humans and animal models are poorly understood. We trained 2 monkeys to perform an audio-visual selective attention task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), rewarding them to attend to stimuli in one modality while ignoring those in the other. Monkey fMRI identified regions strongly modulated by auditory or visual attention. Surprisingly, auditory attention-related modulations were much more restricted in monkeys than humans performing the same tasks during fMRI. Further analyses ruled out trivial explanations, suggesting that labile selective-attention performance was associated with inhomogeneous modulations in wide cortical regions in the monkeys. The findings provide initial insights into how audio-visual selective attention modulates the primate brain, identify sources for "lost" attention effects in monkeys, and carry implications for modeling the neurobiology of human cognition with nonhuman animals. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Functional Imaging of Audio–Visual Selective Attention in Monkeys and Humans: How do Lapses in Monkey Performance Affect Cross-Species Correspondences?

PubMed Central

Muers, Ross S.; Salo, Emma; Slater, Heather; Petkov, Christopher I.

2017-01-01

Abstract The cross-species correspondences and differences in how attention modulates brain responses in humans and animal models are poorly understood. We trained 2 monkeys to perform an audio–visual selective attention task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), rewarding them to attend to stimuli in one modality while ignoring those in the other. Monkey fMRI identified regions strongly modulated by auditory or visual attention. Surprisingly, auditory attention-related modulations were much more restricted in monkeys than humans performing the same tasks during fMRI. Further analyses ruled out trivial explanations, suggesting that labile selective-attention performance was associated with inhomogeneous modulations in wide cortical regions in the monkeys. The findings provide initial insights into how audio–visual selective attention modulates the primate brain, identify sources for “lost” attention effects in monkeys, and carry implications for modeling the neurobiology of human cognition with nonhuman animals. PMID:28419201

Early auditory evoked potential is modulated by selective attention and related to individual differences in visual working memory capacity.

PubMed

Giuliano, Ryan J; Karns, Christina M; Neville, Helen J; Hillyard, Steven A

2014-12-01

A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual's capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70-90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals.

The Focus of Attention in Visual Working Memory: Protection of Focused Representations and Its Individual Variation.

PubMed

Heuer, Anna; Schubö, Anna

2016-01-01

Visual working memory can be modulated according to changes in the cued task relevance of maintained items. Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying this modulation. In particular, we studied the consequences of attentional selection for selected and unselected items, and the role of individual differences in the efficiency with which attention is deployed. To this end, performance in a visual working memory task as well as the CDA/SPCN and the N2pc, ERP components associated with visual working memory and attentional processes, were analysed. Selection during the maintenance stage was manipulated by means of two successively presented retrocues providing spatial information as to which items were most likely to be tested. Results show that attentional selection serves to robustly protect relevant representations in the focus of attention while unselected representations which may become relevant again still remain available. Individuals with larger retrocueing benefits showed higher efficiency of attentional selection, as indicated by the N2pc, and showed stronger maintenance-associated activity (CDA/SPCN). The findings add to converging evidence that focused representations are protected, and highlight the flexibility of visual working memory, in which information can be weighted according its relevance.

Anatomical constraints on attention: Hemifield independence is a signature of multifocal spatial selection

PubMed Central

Alvarez, George A; Gill, Jonathan; Cavanagh, Patrick

2012-01-01

Previous studies have shown independent attentional selection of targets in the left and right visual hemifields during attentional tracking (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2005) but not during a visual search (Luck, Hillyard, Mangun, & Gazzaniga, 1989). Here we tested whether multifocal spatial attention is the critical process that operates independently in the two hemifields. It is explicitly required in tracking (attend to a subset of object locations, suppress the others) but not in the standard visual search task (where all items are potential targets). We used a modified visual search task in which observers searched for a target within a subset of display items, where the subset was selected based on location (Experiments 1 and 3A) or based on a salient feature difference (Experiments 2 and 3B). The results show hemifield independence in this subset visual search task with location-based selection but not with feature-based selection; this effect cannot be explained by general difficulty (Experiment 4). Combined, these findings suggest that hemifield independence is a signature of multifocal spatial attention and highlight the need for cognitive and neural theories of attention to account for anatomical constraints on selection mechanisms. PMID:22637710

A Componential Analysis of Visual Attention in Children With ADHD.

PubMed

McAvinue, Laura P; Vangkilde, Signe; Johnson, Katherine A; Habekost, Thomas; Kyllingsbæk, Søren; Bundesen, Claus; Robertson, Ian H

2015-10-01

Inattentive behaviour is a defining characteristic of ADHD. Researchers have wondered about the nature of the attentional deficit underlying these symptoms. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine this attentional deficit using a novel paradigm based upon the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA). The TVA paradigm enabled a componential analysis of visual attention through the use of a mathematical model to estimate parameters relating to attentional selectivity and capacity. Children's ability to sustain attention was also assessed using the Sustained Attention to Response Task. The sample included a comparison between 25 children with ADHD and 25 control children aged 9-13. Children with ADHD had significantly impaired sustained attention and visual processing speed but intact attentional selectivity, perceptual threshold and visual short-term memory capacity. The results of this study lend support to the notion of differential impairment of attentional functions in children with ADHD. © 2012 SAGE Publications.

Selective maintenance in visual working memory does not require sustained visual attention.

PubMed

Hollingworth, Andrew; Maxcey-Richard, Ashleigh M

2013-08-01

In four experiments, we tested whether sustained visual attention is required for the selective maintenance of objects in visual working memory (VWM). Participants performed a color change-detection task. During the retention interval, a valid cue indicated the item that would be tested. Change-detection performance was higher in the valid-cue condition than in a neutral-cue control condition. To probe the role of visual attention in the cuing effect, on half of the trials, a difficult search task was inserted after the cue, precluding sustained attention on the cued item. The addition of the search task produced no observable decrement in the magnitude of the cuing effect. In a complementary test, search efficiency was not impaired by simultaneously prioritizing an object for retention in VWM. The results demonstrate that selective maintenance in VWM can be dissociated from the locus of visual attention. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Selective Attention and Sensory Modality in Aging: Curses and Blessings.

PubMed

Van Gerven, Pascal W M; Guerreiro, Maria J S

2016-01-01

The notion that selective attention is compromised in older adults as a result of impaired inhibitory control is well established. Yet it is primarily based on empirical findings covering the visual modality. Auditory and especially, cross-modal selective attention are remarkably underexposed in the literature on aging. In the past 5 years, we have attempted to fill these voids by investigating performance of younger and older adults on equivalent tasks covering all four combinations of visual or auditory target, and visual or auditory distractor information. In doing so, we have demonstrated that older adults are especially impaired in auditory selective attention with visual distraction. This pattern of results was not mirrored by the results from our psychophysiological studies, however, in which both enhancement of target processing and suppression of distractor processing appeared to be age equivalent. We currently conclude that: (1) age-related differences of selective attention are modality dependent; (2) age-related differences of selective attention are limited; and (3) it remains an open question whether modality-specific age differences in selective attention are due to impaired distractor inhibition, impaired target enhancement, or both. These conclusions put the longstanding inhibitory deficit hypothesis of aging in a new perspective.

Age-equivalent top-down modulation during cross-modal selective attention.

PubMed

Guerreiro, Maria J S; Anguera, Joaquin A; Mishra, Jyoti; Van Gerven, Pascal W M; Gazzaley, Adam

2014-12-01

Selective attention involves top-down modulation of sensory cortical areas, such that responses to relevant information are enhanced whereas responses to irrelevant information are suppressed. Suppression of irrelevant information, unlike enhancement of relevant information, has been shown to be deficient in aging. Although these attentional mechanisms have been well characterized within the visual modality, little is known about these mechanisms when attention is selectively allocated across sensory modalities. The present EEG study addressed this issue by testing younger and older participants in three different tasks: Participants attended to the visual modality and ignored the auditory modality, attended to the auditory modality and ignored the visual modality, or passively perceived information presented through either modality. We found overall modulation of visual and auditory processing during cross-modal selective attention in both age groups. Top-down modulation of visual processing was observed as a trend toward enhancement of visual information in the setting of auditory distraction, but no significant suppression of visual distraction when auditory information was relevant. Top-down modulation of auditory processing, on the other hand, was observed as suppression of auditory distraction when visual stimuli were relevant, but no significant enhancement of auditory information in the setting of visual distraction. In addition, greater visual enhancement was associated with better recognition of relevant visual information, and greater auditory distractor suppression was associated with a better ability to ignore auditory distraction. There were no age differences in these effects, suggesting that when relevant and irrelevant information are presented through different sensory modalities, selective attention remains intact in older age.

Irrelevant reward and selection histories have different influences on task-relevant attentional selection.

PubMed

MacLean, Mary H; Giesbrecht, Barry

2015-07-01

Task-relevant and physically salient features influence visual selective attention. In the present study, we investigated the influence of task-irrelevant and physically nonsalient reward-associated features on visual selective attention. Two hypotheses were tested: One predicts that the effects of target-defining task-relevant and task-irrelevant features interact to modulate visual selection; the other predicts that visual selection is determined by the independent combination of relevant and irrelevant feature effects. These alternatives were tested using a visual search task that contained multiple targets, placing a high demand on the need for selectivity, and that was data-limited and required unspeeded responses, emphasizing early perceptual selection processes. One week prior to the visual search task, participants completed a training task in which they learned to associate particular colors with a specific reward value. In the search task, the reward-associated colors were presented surrounding targets and distractors, but were neither physically salient nor task-relevant. In two experiments, the irrelevant reward-associated features influenced performance, but only when they were presented in a task-relevant location. The costs induced by the irrelevant reward-associated features were greater when they oriented attention to a target than to a distractor. In a third experiment, we examined the effects of selection history in the absence of reward history and found that the interaction between task relevance and selection history differed, relative to when the features had previously been associated with reward. The results indicate that under conditions that demand highly efficient perceptual selection, physically nonsalient task-irrelevant and task-relevant factors interact to influence visual selective attention.

The Spatial Resolution of Visual Attention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Intriligator, James; Cavanaugh, Patrick

2001-01-01

Used two tasks to evaluate the grain of visual attention, the minimum spacing at which attention can select individual items. Results for eight adults on a tracking task and five adults on an individuation task show that selection has a coarser grain than visual resolution and suggest that the parietal area is the most likely locus of the…

Feature-Based Memory-Driven Attentional Capture: Visual Working Memory Content Affects Visual Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivers, Christian N. L.; Meijer, Frank; Theeuwes, Jan

2006-01-01

In 7 experiments, the authors explored whether visual attention (the ability to select relevant visual information) and visual working memory (the ability to retain relevant visual information) share the same content representations. The presence of singleton distractors interfered more strongly with a visual search task when it was accompanied by…

Splitting Attention across the Two Visual Fields in Visual Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delvenne, Jean-Francois; Holt, Jessica L.

2012-01-01

Humans have the ability to attentionally select the most relevant visual information from their extrapersonal world and to retain it in a temporary buffer, known as visual short-term memory (VSTM). Research suggests that at least two non-contiguous items can be selected simultaneously when they are distributed across the two visual hemifields. In…

Feature-selective attention in healthy old age: a selective decline in selective attention?

PubMed

Quigley, Cliodhna; Müller, Matthias M

2014-02-12

Deficient selection against irrelevant information has been proposed to underlie age-related cognitive decline. We recently reported evidence for maintained early sensory selection when older and younger adults used spatial selective attention to perform a challenging task. Here we explored age-related differences when spatial selection is not possible and feature-selective attention must be deployed. We additionally compared the integrity of feedforward processing by exploiting the well established phenomenon of suppression of visual cortical responses attributable to interstimulus competition. Electroencephalogram was measured while older and younger human adults responded to brief occurrences of coherent motion in an attended stimulus composed of randomly moving, orientation-defined, flickering bars. Attention was directed to horizontal or vertical bars by a pretrial cue, after which two orthogonally oriented, overlapping stimuli or a single stimulus were presented. Horizontal and vertical bars flickered at different frequencies and thereby elicited separable steady-state visual-evoked potentials, which were used to examine the effect of feature-based selection and the competitive influence of a second stimulus on ongoing visual processing. Age differences were found in feature-selective attentional modulation of visual responses: older adults did not show consistent modulation of magnitude or phase. In contrast, the suppressive effect of a second stimulus was robust and comparable in magnitude across age groups, suggesting that bottom-up processing of the current stimuli is essentially unchanged in healthy old age. Thus, it seems that visual processing per se is unchanged, but top-down attentional control is compromised in older adults when space cannot be used to guide selection.

Splitting attention across the two visual fields in visual short-term memory.

PubMed

Delvenne, Jean-Francois; Holt, Jessica L

2012-02-01

Humans have the ability to attentionally select the most relevant visual information from their extrapersonal world and to retain it in a temporary buffer, known as visual short-term memory (VSTM). Research suggests that at least two non-contiguous items can be selected simultaneously when they are distributed across the two visual hemifields. In two experiments, we show that attention can also be split between the left and right sides of internal representations held in VSTM. Participants were asked to remember several colors, while cues presented during the delay instructed them to orient their attention to a subset of memorized colors. Experiment 1 revealed that orienting attention to one or two colors strengthened equally participants' memory for those colors, but only when they were from separate hemifields. Experiment 2 showed that in the absence of attentional cues the distribution of the items in the visual field per se had no effect on memory. These findings strongly suggest the existence of independent attentional resources in the two hemifields for selecting and/or consolidating information in VSTM. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An impaired attentional dwell time after parietal and frontal lesions related to impaired selective attention not unilateral neglect.

PubMed

Correani, Alessia; Humphreys, Glyn W

2011-07-01

The attentional blink, a measure of the temporal dynamics of visual processing, has been documented to be more pronounced following brain lesions that are associated with visual neglect. This suggests that, in addition to their spatial bias in attention, neglect patients may have a prolonged dwell time for attention. Here the attentional dwell time was examined in patients with damage focused on either posterior parietal or frontal cortices. In three experiments, we show that there is an abnormally pronounced attentional dwell time, which does not differ in patients with posterior parietal and with frontal lobe lesions, and this is associated with a measure of selective attention but not with measures of spatial bias in selection. These data occurred both when we attempted to match patients and controls for overall differences in performance and when a single set stimulus exposure was used across participants. In Experiments 1 and 2, requiring report of colour-form conjunctions, there was evidence that the patients were also impaired at temporal binding, showing errors in feature combination across stimuli and in reporting in the correct temporal order. In Experiment 3, requiring only the report of features but introducing task switching led to similar results. The data suggest that damage to a frontoparietal network can compromise temporal selection of visual stimuli; however, this is not necessarily related to a deficit in hemispatial visual attention but it is to impaired target selection. We discuss the implications for understanding visual selection.

Attentional modulation of cell-class specific gamma-band synchronization in awake monkey area V4

PubMed Central

Vinck, Martin; Womelsdorf, Thilo; Buffalo, Elizabeth A.; Desimone, Robert; Fries, Pascal

2013-01-01

Summary Selective visual attention is subserved by selective neuronal synchronization, entailing precise orchestration among excitatory and inhibitory cells. We tentatively identified these as broad (BS) and narrow spiking (NS) cells and analyzed their synchronization to the local field potential in two macaque monkeys performing a selective visual attention task. Across cells, gamma phases scattered widely but were unaffected by stimulation or attention. During stimulation, NS cells lagged BS cells on average by ~60° and gamma synchronized twice as strongly. Attention enhanced and reduced the gamma locking of strongly and weakly activated cells, respectively. During a pre-stimulus attentional cue period, BS cells showed weak gamma synchronization, while NS cells gamma synchronized as strongly as with visual stimulation. These analyses reveal the cell-type specific dynamics of the gamma cycle in macaque visual cortex and suggest that attention affects neurons differentially depending on cell type and activation level. PMID:24267656

Effects of feature-selective and spatial attention at different stages of visual processing.

PubMed

Andersen, Søren K; Fuchs, Sandra; Müller, Matthias M

2011-01-01

We investigated mechanisms of concurrent attentional selection of location and color using electrophysiological measures in human subjects. Two completely overlapping random dot kinematograms (RDKs) of two different colors were presented on either side of a central fixation cross. On each trial, participants attended one of these four RDKs, defined by its specific combination of color and location, in order to detect coherent motion targets. Sustained attentional selection while monitoring for targets was measured by means of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by the frequency-tagged RDKs. Attentional selection of transient targets and distractors was assessed by behavioral responses and by recording event-related potentials to these stimuli. Spatial attention and attention to color had independent and largely additive effects on the amplitudes of SSVEPs elicited in early visual areas. In contrast, behavioral false alarms and feature-selective modulation of P3 amplitudes to targets and distractors were limited to the attended location. These results suggest that feature-selective attention produces an early, global facilitation of stimuli having the attended feature throughout the visual field, whereas the discrimination of target events takes place at a later stage of processing that is only applied to stimuli at the attended position.

Neural practice effect during cross-modal selective attention: Supra-modal and modality-specific effects.

PubMed

Xia, Jing; Zhang, Wei; Jiang, Yizhou; Li, You; Chen, Qi

2018-05-16

Practice and experiences gradually shape the central nervous system, from the synaptic level to large-scale neural networks. In natural multisensory environment, even when inundated by streams of information from multiple sensory modalities, our brain does not give equal weight to different modalities. Rather, visual information more frequently receives preferential processing and eventually dominates consciousness and behavior, i.e., visual dominance. It remains unknown, however, the supra-modal and modality-specific practice effect during cross-modal selective attention, and moreover whether the practice effect shows similar modality preferences as the visual dominance effect in the multisensory environment. To answer the above two questions, we adopted a cross-modal selective attention paradigm in conjunction with the hybrid fMRI design. Behaviorally, visual performance significantly improved while auditory performance remained constant with practice, indicating that visual attention more flexibly adapted behavior with practice than auditory attention. At the neural level, the practice effect was associated with decreasing neural activity in the frontoparietal executive network and increasing activity in the default mode network, which occurred independently of the modality attended, i.e., the supra-modal mechanisms. On the other hand, functional decoupling between the auditory and the visual system was observed with the progress of practice, which varied as a function of the modality attended. The auditory system was functionally decoupled with both the dorsal and ventral visual stream during auditory attention while was decoupled only with the ventral visual stream during visual attention. To efficiently suppress the irrelevant visual information with practice, auditory attention needs to additionally decouple the auditory system from the dorsal visual stream. The modality-specific mechanisms, together with the behavioral effect, thus support the visual dominance model in terms of the practice effect during cross-modal selective attention. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Object-based attentional selection modulates anticipatory alpha oscillations

PubMed Central

Knakker, Balázs; Weiss, Béla; Vidnyánszky, Zoltán

2015-01-01

Visual cortical alpha oscillations are involved in attentional gating of incoming visual information. It has been shown that spatial and feature-based attentional selection result in increased alpha oscillations over the cortical regions representing sensory input originating from the unattended visual field and task-irrelevant visual features, respectively. However, whether attentional gating in the case of object based selection is also associated with alpha oscillations has not been investigated before. Here we measured anticipatory electroencephalography (EEG) alpha oscillations while participants were cued to attend to foveal face or word stimuli, the processing of which is known to have right and left hemispheric lateralization, respectively. The results revealed that in the case of simultaneously displayed, overlapping face and word stimuli, attending to the words led to increased power of parieto-occipital alpha oscillations over the right hemisphere as compared to when faces were attended. This object category-specific modulation of the hemispheric lateralization of anticipatory alpha oscillations was maintained during sustained attentional selection of sequentially presented face and word stimuli. These results imply that in the case of object-based attentional selection—similarly to spatial and feature-based attention—gating of visual information processing might involve visual cortical alpha oscillations. PMID:25628554

Early Auditory Evoked Potential Is Modulated by Selective Attention and Related to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

PubMed Central

Giuliano, Ryan J.; Karns, Christina M.; Neville, Helen J.; Hillyard, Steven A.

2015-01-01

A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual’s capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70–90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals. PMID:25000526

Auditory Selective Attention to Speech Modulates Activity in the Visual Word Form Area

PubMed Central

Yoncheva, Yuliya N.; Zevin, Jason D.; Maurer, Urs

2010-01-01

Selective attention to speech versus nonspeech signals in complex auditory input could produce top-down modulation of cortical regions previously linked to perception of spoken, and even visual, words. To isolate such top-down attentional effects, we contrasted 2 equally challenging active listening tasks, performed on the same complex auditory stimuli (words overlaid with a series of 3 tones). Instructions required selectively attending to either the speech signals (in service of rhyme judgment) or the melodic signals (tone-triplet matching). Selective attention to speech, relative to attention to melody, was associated with blood oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) increases during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in left inferior frontal gyrus, temporal regions, and the visual word form area (VWFA). Further investigation of the activity in visual regions revealed overall deactivation relative to baseline rest for both attention conditions. Topographic analysis demonstrated that while attending to melody drove deactivation equivalently across all fusiform regions of interest examined, attending to speech produced a regionally specific modulation: deactivation of all fusiform regions, except the VWFA. Results indicate that selective attention to speech can topographically tune extrastriate cortex, leading to increased activity in VWFA relative to surrounding regions, in line with the well-established connectivity between areas related to spoken and visual word perception in skilled readers. PMID:19571269

Selective attention modulates visual and haptic repetition priming: effects in aging and Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Ballesteros, Soledad; Reales, José M; Mayas, Julia; Heller, Morton A

2008-08-01

In two experiments, we examined the effect of selective attention at encoding on repetition priming in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients for objects presented visually (experiment 1) or haptically (experiment 2). We used a repetition priming paradigm combined with a selective attention procedure at encoding. Reliable priming was found for both young adults and healthy older participants for visually presented pictures (experiment 1) as well as for haptically presented objects (experiment 2). However, this was only found for attended and not for unattended stimuli. The results suggest that independently of the perceptual modality, repetition priming requires attention at encoding and that perceptual facilitation is maintained in normal aging. However, AD patients did not show priming for attended stimuli, or for unattended visual or haptic objects. These findings suggest an early deficit of selective attention in AD. Results are discussed from a cognitive neuroscience approach.

Selective Attention Modulates the Direction of Audio-Visual Temporal Recalibration

PubMed Central

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2014-01-01

Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging), was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes. PMID:25004132

Selective attention modulates the direction of audio-visual temporal recalibration.

PubMed

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2014-01-01

Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging), was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes.

Modality-specificity of Selective Attention Networks.

PubMed

Stewart, Hannah J; Amitay, Sygal

2015-01-01

To establish the modality specificity and generality of selective attention networks. Forty-eight young adults completed a battery of four auditory and visual selective attention tests based upon the Attention Network framework: the visual and auditory Attention Network Tests (vANT, aANT), the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), and the Test of Attention in Listening (TAiL). These provided independent measures for auditory and visual alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution networks. The measures were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis to assess underlying attention constructs. The analysis yielded a four-component solution. The first component comprised of a range of measures from the TEA and was labeled "general attention." The third component was labeled "auditory attention," as it only contained measures from the TAiL using pitch as the attended stimulus feature. The second and fourth components were labeled as "spatial orienting" and "spatial conflict," respectively-they were comprised of orienting and conflict resolution measures from the vANT, aANT, and TAiL attend-location task-all tasks based upon spatial judgments (e.g., the direction of a target arrow or sound location). These results do not support our a-priori hypothesis that attention networks are either modality specific or supramodal. Auditory attention separated into selectively attending to spatial and non-spatial features, with the auditory spatial attention loading onto the same factor as visual spatial attention, suggesting spatial attention is supramodal. However, since our study did not include a non-spatial measure of visual attention, further research will be required to ascertain whether non-spatial attention is modality-specific.

Selective Maintenance in Visual Working Memory Does Not Require Sustained Visual Attention

PubMed Central

Hollingworth, Andrew; Maxcey-Richard, Ashleigh M.

2012-01-01

In four experiments, we tested whether sustained visual attention is required for the selective maintenance of objects in VWM. Participants performed a color change-detection task. During the retention interval, a valid cue indicated the item that would be tested. Change detection performance was higher in the valid-cue condition than in a neutral-cue control condition. To probe the role of visual attention in the cuing effect, on half of the trials, a difficult search task was inserted after the cue, precluding sustained attention on the cued item. The addition of the search task produced no observable decrement in the magnitude of the cuing effect. In a complementary test, search efficiency was not impaired by simultaneously prioritizing an object for retention in VWM. The results demonstrate that selective maintenance in VWM can be dissociated from the locus of visual attention. PMID:23067118

Effects of Spatial and Feature Attention on Disparity-Rendered Structure-From-Motion Stimuli in the Human Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Ip, Ifan Betina; Bridge, Holly; Parker, Andrew J.

2014-01-01

An important advance in the study of visual attention has been the identification of a non-spatial component of attention that enhances the response to similar features or objects across the visual field. Here we test whether this non-spatial component can co-select individual features that are perceptually bound into a coherent object. We combined human psychophysics and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate the ability to co-select individual features from perceptually coherent objects. Our study used binocular disparity and visual motion to define disparity structure-from-motion (dSFM) stimuli. Although the spatial attention system induced strong modulations of the fMRI response in visual regions, the non-spatial system’s ability to co-select features of the dSFM stimulus was less pronounced and variable across subjects. Our results demonstrate that feature and global feature attention effects are variable across participants, suggesting that the feature attention system may be limited in its ability to automatically select features within the attended object. Careful comparison of the task design suggests that even minor differences in the perceptual task may be critical in revealing the presence of global feature attention. PMID:24936974

More insight into the interplay of response selection and visual attention in dual-tasks: masked visual search and response selection are performed in parallel.

PubMed

Reimer, Christina B; Schubert, Torsten

2017-09-15

Both response selection and visual attention are limited in capacity. According to the central bottleneck model, the response selection processes of two tasks in a dual-task situation are performed sequentially. In conjunction search, visual attention is required to select the items and to bind their features (e.g., color and form), which results in a serial search process. Search time increases as items are added to the search display (i.e., set size effect). When the search display is masked, visual attention deployment is restricted to a brief period of time and target detection decreases as a function of set size. Here, we investigated whether response selection and visual attention (i.e., feature binding) rely on a common or on distinct capacity limitations. In four dual-task experiments, participants completed an auditory Task 1 and a conjunction search Task 2 that were presented with an experimentally modulated temporal interval between them (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, SOA). In Experiment 1, Task 1 was a two-choice discrimination task and the conjunction search display was not masked. In Experiment 2, the response selection difficulty in Task 1 was increased to a four-choice discrimination and the search task was the same as in Experiment 1. We applied the locus-of-slack method in both experiments to analyze conjunction search time, that is, we compared the set size effects across SOAs. Similar set size effects across SOAs (i.e., additive effects of SOA and set size) would indicate sequential processing of response selection and visual attention. However, a significantly smaller set size effect at short SOA compared to long SOA (i.e., underadditive interaction of SOA and set size) would indicate parallel processing of response selection and visual attention. In both experiments, we found underadditive interactions of SOA and set size. In Experiments 3 and 4, the conjunction search display in Task 2 was masked. Task 1 was the same as in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. In both experiments, the d' analysis revealed that response selection did not affect target detection. Overall, Experiments 1-4 indicated that neither the response selection difficulty in the auditory Task 1 (i.e., two-choice vs. four-choice) nor the type of presentation of the search display in Task 2 (i.e., not masked vs. masked) impaired parallel processing of response selection and conjunction search. We concluded that in general, response selection and visual attention (i.e., feature binding) rely on distinct capacity limitations.

Attraction of position preference by spatial attention throughout human visual cortex.

PubMed

Klein, Barrie P; Harvey, Ben M; Dumoulin, Serge O

2014-10-01

Voluntary spatial attention concentrates neural resources at the attended location. Here, we examined the effects of spatial attention on spatial position selectivity in humans. We measured population receptive fields (pRFs) using high-field functional MRI (fMRI) (7T) while subjects performed an attention-demanding task at different locations. We show that spatial attention attracts pRF preferred positions across the entire visual field, not just at the attended location. This global change in pRF preferred positions systematically increases up the visual hierarchy. We model these pRF preferred position changes as an interaction between two components: an attention field and a pRF without the influence of attention. This computational model suggests that increasing effects of attention up the hierarchy result primarily from differences in pRF size and that the attention field is similar across the visual hierarchy. A similar attention field suggests that spatial attention transforms different neural response selectivities throughout the visual hierarchy in a similar manner. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual search and attention: an overview.

PubMed

Davis, Elizabeth T; Palmer, John

2004-01-01

This special feature issue is devoted to attention and visual search. Attention is a central topic in psychology and visual search is both a versatile paradigm for the study of visual attention and a topic of study in itself. Visual search depends on sensory, perceptual, and cognitive processes. As a result, the search paradigm has been used to investigate a diverse range of phenomena. Manipulating the search task can vary the demands on attention. In turn, attention modulates visual search by selecting and limiting the information available at various levels of processing. Focusing on the intersection of attention and search provides a relatively structured window into the wide world of attentional phenomena. In particular, the effects of divided attention are illustrated by the effects of set size (the number of stimuli in a display) and the effects of selective attention are illustrated by cueing subsets of stimuli within the display. These two phenomena provide the starting point for the articles in this special issue. The articles are organized into four general topics to help structure the issues of attention and search.

Food pleasantness affects visual selective attention.

PubMed

di Pellegrino, Giuseppe; Magarelli, Silvia; Mengarelli, Flavia

2011-03-01

Fundamental to adaptive behaviour is the ability to select environmental objects that best satisfy current needs and preferences. Here we investigated whether temporary changes in food preference influence visual selective attention. To this end, we exploited the fact that when a food is eaten to satiety its motivational value and perceived pleasantness decrease relative to other foods not eaten in the meal, an effect termed sensory-specific satiety. A total of 26 hungry participants were fed until sated with one of two palatable foods. Before and after selective satiation, participants rated the pleasantness of the two foods and then viewed the same as stimuli on a computer screen while attention was assessed by a visual probe task. Results showed that the attentional bias for the food eaten decreased markedly from pre- to postsatiety, along with the subjective pleasantness for that food. By contrast, subjective pleasantness and attentional bias for the food not eaten did not show any such decrease. These findings suggest that the allocation of visual selective attention is flexibly and rapidly adjusted to reflect temporary shift in relative preference for different foods.

Beyond time and space: The effect of a lateralized sustained attention task and brain stimulation on spatial and selective attention.

PubMed

Shalev, Nir; De Wandel, Linde; Dockree, Paul; Demeyere, Nele; Chechlacz, Magdalena

2017-10-03

The Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) provides a mathematical formalisation of the "biased competition" account of visual attention. Applying this model to individual performance in a free recall task allows the estimation of 5 independent attentional parameters: visual short-term memory (VSTM) capacity, speed of information processing, perceptual threshold of visual detection; attentional weights representing spatial distribution of attention (spatial bias), and the top-down selectivity index. While the TVA focuses on selection in space, complementary accounts of attention describe how attention is maintained over time, and how temporal processes interact with selection. A growing body of evidence indicates that different facets of attention interact and share common neural substrates. The aim of the current study was to modulate a spatial attentional bias via transfer effects, based on a mechanistic understanding of the interplay between spatial, selective and temporal aspects of attention. Specifically, we examined here: (i) whether a single administration of a lateralized sustained attention task could prime spatial orienting and lead to transferable changes in attentional weights (assigned to the left vs right hemi-field) and/or other attentional parameters assessed within the framework of TVA (Experiment 1); (ii) whether the effects of such spatial-priming on TVA parameters could be further enhanced by bi-parietal high frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) (Experiment 2). Our results demonstrate that spatial attentional bias, as assessed within the TVA framework, was primed by sustaining attention towards the right hemi-field, but this spatial-priming effect did not occur when sustaining attention towards the left. Furthermore, we show that bi-parietal high-frequency tRNS combined with the rightward spatial-priming resulted in an increased attentional selectivity. To conclude, we present a novel, theory-driven method for attentional modulation providing important insights into how the spatial and temporal processes in attention interact with attentional selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attention improves encoding of task-relevant features in the human visual cortex.

PubMed

Jehee, Janneke F M; Brady, Devin K; Tong, Frank

2011-06-01

When spatial attention is directed toward a particular stimulus, increased activity is commonly observed in corresponding locations of the visual cortex. Does this attentional increase in activity indicate improved processing of all features contained within the attended stimulus, or might spatial attention selectively enhance the features relevant to the observer's task? We used fMRI decoding methods to measure the strength of orientation-selective activity patterns in the human visual cortex while subjects performed either an orientation or contrast discrimination task, involving one of two laterally presented gratings. Greater overall BOLD activation with spatial attention was observed in visual cortical areas V1-V4 for both tasks. However, multivariate pattern analysis revealed that orientation-selective responses were enhanced by attention only when orientation was the task-relevant feature and not when the contrast of the grating had to be attended. In a second experiment, observers discriminated the orientation or color of a specific lateral grating. Here, orientation-selective responses were enhanced in both tasks, but color-selective responses were enhanced only when color was task relevant. In both experiments, task-specific enhancement of feature-selective activity was not confined to the attended stimulus location but instead spread to other locations in the visual field, suggesting the concurrent involvement of a global feature-based attentional mechanism. These results suggest that attention can be remarkably selective in its ability to enhance particular task-relevant features and further reveal that increases in overall BOLD amplitude are not necessarily accompanied by improved processing of stimulus information.

Activity in human visual and parietal cortex reveals object-based attention in working memory.

PubMed

Peters, Benjamin; Kaiser, Jochen; Rahm, Benjamin; Bledowski, Christoph

2015-02-25

Visual attention enables observers to select behaviorally relevant information based on spatial locations, features, or objects. Attentional selection is not limited to physically present visual information, but can also operate on internal representations maintained in working memory (WM) in service of higher-order cognition. However, only little is known about whether attention to WM contents follows the same principles as attention to sensory stimuli. To address this question, we investigated in humans whether the typically observed effects of object-based attention in perception are also evident for object-based attentional selection of internal object representations in WM. In full accordance with effects in visual perception, the key behavioral and neuronal characteristics of object-based attention were observed in WM. Specifically, we found that reaction times were shorter when shifting attention to memory positions located on the currently attended object compared with equidistant positions on a different object. Furthermore, functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis of visuotopic activity in visual (areas V1-V4) and parietal cortex revealed that directing attention to one position of an object held in WM also enhanced brain activation for other positions on the same object, suggesting that attentional selection in WM activates the entire object. This study demonstrated that all characteristic features of object-based attention are present in WM and thus follows the same principles as in perception. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/353360-10$15.00/0.

Feature-based attentional modulations in the absence of direct visual stimulation.

PubMed

Serences, John T; Boynton, Geoffrey M

2007-07-19

When faced with a crowded visual scene, observers must selectively attend to behaviorally relevant objects to avoid sensory overload. Often this selection process is guided by prior knowledge of a target-defining feature (e.g., the color red when looking for an apple), which enhances the firing rate of visual neurons that are selective for the attended feature. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a pattern classification algorithm to predict the attentional state of human observers as they monitored a visual feature (one of two directions of motion). We find that feature-specific attention effects spread across the visual field-even to regions of the scene that do not contain a stimulus. This spread of feature-based attention to empty regions of space may facilitate the perception of behaviorally relevant stimuli by increasing sensitivity to attended features at all locations in the visual field.

Adolescents' Visual Preference for Color over Form.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uba, Anselm

1985-01-01

Examines whether Nigerian adolescent girls are more likely to demonstrate superior performance in a task involving cultural differences in visual selective attention preference for color over form than boys are. Students (N=100) completed the Visual Selective Attention Color-Form Matching Experiment. Results confirmed the hypothesis. (BH)

Space-based visual attention: a marker of immature selective attention in toddlers?

PubMed

Rivière, James; Brisson, Julie

2014-11-01

Various studies suggested that attentional difficulties cause toddlers' failure in some spatial search tasks. However, attention is not a unitary construct and this study investigated two attentional mechanisms: location selection (space-based attention) and object selection (object-based attention). We investigated how toddlers' attention is distributed in the visual field during a manual search task for objects moving out of sight, namely the moving boxes task. Results show that 2.5-year-olds who failed this task allocated more attention to the location of the relevant object than to the object itself. These findings suggest that in some manual search tasks the primacy of space-based attention over object-based attention could be a marker of immature selective attention in toddlers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Top-Down Control of Visual Attention by the Prefrontal Cortex. Functional Specialization and Long-Range Interactions

PubMed Central

Paneri, Sofia; Gregoriou, Georgia G.

2017-01-01

The ability to select information that is relevant to current behavioral goals is the hallmark of voluntary attention and an essential part of our cognition. Attention tasks are a prime example to study at the neuronal level, how task related information can be selectively processed in the brain while irrelevant information is filtered out. Whereas, numerous studies have focused on elucidating the mechanisms of visual attention at the single neuron and population level in the visual cortices, considerably less work has been devoted to deciphering the distinct contribution of higher-order brain areas, which are known to be critical for the employment of attention. Among these areas, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has long been considered a source of top-down signals that bias selection in early visual areas in favor of the attended features. Here, we review recent experimental data that support the role of PFC in attention. We examine the existing evidence for functional specialization within PFC and we discuss how long-range interactions between PFC subregions and posterior visual areas may be implemented in the brain and contribute to the attentional modulation of different measures of neural activity in visual cortices. PMID:29033784

Top-Down Control of Visual Attention by the Prefrontal Cortex. Functional Specialization and Long-Range Interactions.

PubMed

Paneri, Sofia; Gregoriou, Georgia G

2017-01-01

The ability to select information that is relevant to current behavioral goals is the hallmark of voluntary attention and an essential part of our cognition. Attention tasks are a prime example to study at the neuronal level, how task related information can be selectively processed in the brain while irrelevant information is filtered out. Whereas, numerous studies have focused on elucidating the mechanisms of visual attention at the single neuron and population level in the visual cortices, considerably less work has been devoted to deciphering the distinct contribution of higher-order brain areas, which are known to be critical for the employment of attention. Among these areas, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has long been considered a source of top-down signals that bias selection in early visual areas in favor of the attended features. Here, we review recent experimental data that support the role of PFC in attention. We examine the existing evidence for functional specialization within PFC and we discuss how long-range interactions between PFC subregions and posterior visual areas may be implemented in the brain and contribute to the attentional modulation of different measures of neural activity in visual cortices.

Attention enhances multi-voxel representation of novel objects in frontal, parietal and visual cortices.

PubMed

Woolgar, Alexandra; Williams, Mark A; Rich, Anina N

2015-04-01

Selective attention is fundamental for human activity, but the details of its neural implementation remain elusive. One influential theory, the adaptive coding hypothesis (Duncan, 2001, An adaptive coding model of neural function in prefrontal cortex, Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2:820-829), proposes that single neurons in certain frontal and parietal regions dynamically adjust their responses to selectively encode relevant information. This selective representation may in turn support selective processing in more specialized brain regions such as the visual cortices. Here, we use multi-voxel decoding of functional magnetic resonance images to demonstrate selective representation of attended--and not distractor--objects in frontal, parietal, and visual cortices. In addition, we highlight a critical role for task demands in determining which brain regions exhibit selective coding. Strikingly, representation of attended objects in frontoparietal cortex was highest under conditions of high perceptual demand, when stimuli were hard to perceive and coding in early visual cortex was weak. Coding in early visual cortex varied as a function of attention and perceptual demand, while coding in higher visual areas was sensitive to the allocation of attention but robust to changes in perceptual difficulty. Consistent with high-profile reports, peripherally presented objects could also be decoded from activity at the occipital pole, a region which corresponds to the fovea. Our results emphasize the flexibility of frontoparietal and visual systems. They support the hypothesis that attention enhances the multi-voxel representation of information in the brain, and suggest that the engagement of this attentional mechanism depends critically on current task demands. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is the Unit of Visual Attention? Object for Selection, but Boolean Map for Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Liqiang

2010-01-01

In the past 20 years, numerous theories and findings have suggested that the unit of visual attention is the object. In this study, I first clarify 2 different meanings of unit of visual attention, namely the unit of access in the sense of measurement and the unit of selection in the sense of division. In accordance with this distinction, I argue…

Modality-specificity of Selective Attention Networks

PubMed Central

Stewart, Hannah J.; Amitay, Sygal

2015-01-01

Objective: To establish the modality specificity and generality of selective attention networks. Method: Forty-eight young adults completed a battery of four auditory and visual selective attention tests based upon the Attention Network framework: the visual and auditory Attention Network Tests (vANT, aANT), the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), and the Test of Attention in Listening (TAiL). These provided independent measures for auditory and visual alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution networks. The measures were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis to assess underlying attention constructs. Results: The analysis yielded a four-component solution. The first component comprised of a range of measures from the TEA and was labeled “general attention.” The third component was labeled “auditory attention,” as it only contained measures from the TAiL using pitch as the attended stimulus feature. The second and fourth components were labeled as “spatial orienting” and “spatial conflict,” respectively—they were comprised of orienting and conflict resolution measures from the vANT, aANT, and TAiL attend-location task—all tasks based upon spatial judgments (e.g., the direction of a target arrow or sound location). Conclusions: These results do not support our a-priori hypothesis that attention networks are either modality specific or supramodal. Auditory attention separated into selectively attending to spatial and non-spatial features, with the auditory spatial attention loading onto the same factor as visual spatial attention, suggesting spatial attention is supramodal. However, since our study did not include a non-spatial measure of visual attention, further research will be required to ascertain whether non-spatial attention is modality-specific. PMID:26635709

The effects of visual search efficiency on object-based attention

PubMed Central

Rosen, Maya; Cutrone, Elizabeth; Behrmann, Marlene

2017-01-01

The attentional prioritization hypothesis of object-based attention (Shomstein & Yantis in Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 41–51, 2002) suggests a two-stage selection process comprising an automatic spatial gradient and flexible strategic (prioritization) selection. The combined attentional priorities of these two stages of object-based selection determine the order in which participants will search the display for the presence of a target. The strategic process has often been likened to a prioritized visual search. By modifying the double-rectangle cueing paradigm (Egly, Driver, & Rafal in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 161–177, 1994) and placing it in the context of a larger-scale visual search, we examined how the prioritization search is affected by search efficiency. By probing both targets located on the cued object and targets external to the cued object, we found that the attentional priority surrounding a selected object is strongly modulated by search mode. However, the ordering of the prioritization search is unaffected by search mode. The data also provide evidence that standard spatial visual search and object-based prioritization search may rely on distinct mechanisms. These results provide insight into the interactions between the mode of visual search and object-based selection, and help define the modulatory consequences of search efficiency for object-based attention. PMID:25832192

The effects of visual stimulation and selective visual attention on rhythmic neuronal synchronization in macaque area V4.

PubMed

Fries, Pascal; Womelsdorf, Thilo; Oostenveld, Robert; Desimone, Robert

2008-04-30

Selective attention lends relevant sensory input priority access to higher-level brain areas and ultimately to behavior. Recent studies have suggested that those neurons in visual areas that are activated by an attended stimulus engage in enhanced gamma-band (30-70 Hz) synchronization compared with neurons activated by a distracter. Such precise synchronization could enhance the postsynaptic impact of cells carrying behaviorally relevant information. Previous studies have used the local field potential (LFP) power spectrum or spike-LFP coherence (SFC) to indirectly estimate spike synchronization. Here, we directly demonstrate zero-phase gamma-band coherence among spike trains of V4 neurons. This synchronization was particularly evident during visual stimulation and enhanced by selective attention, thus confirming the pattern inferred from LFP power and SFC. We therefore investigated the time course of LFP gamma-band power and found rapid dynamics consistent with interactions of top-down spatial and feature attention with bottom-up saliency. In addition to the modulation of synchronization during visual stimulation, selective attention significantly changed the prestimulus pattern of synchronization. Attention inside the receptive field of the recorded neuronal population enhanced gamma-band synchronization and strongly reduced alpha-band (9-11 Hz) synchronization in the prestimulus period. These results lend further support for a functional role of rhythmic neuronal synchronization in attentional stimulus selection.

Dipole source localization of event-related brain activity indicative of an early visual selective attention deficit in ADHD children.

PubMed

Jonkman, L M; Kenemans, J L; Kemner, C; Verbaten, M N; van Engeland, H

2004-07-01

This study was aimed at investigating whether attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children suffer from specific early selective attention deficits in the visual modality with the aid of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Furthermore, brain source localization was applied to identify brain areas underlying possible deficits in selective visual processing in ADHD children. A two-channel visual color selection task was administered to 18 ADHD and 18 control subjects in the age range of 7-13 years and ERP activity was derived from 30 electrodes. ADHD children exhibited lower perceptual sensitivity scores resulting in poorer target selection. The ERP data suggested an early selective-attention deficit as manifested in smaller frontal positive activity (frontal selection positivity; FSP) in ADHD children around 200 ms whereas later occipital and fronto-central negative activity (OSN and N2b; 200-400 ms latency) appeared to be unaffected. Source localization explained the FSP by posterior-medial equivalent dipoles in control subjects, which may reflect the contribution of numerous surrounding areas. ADHD children have problems with selective visual processing that might be caused by a specific early filtering deficit (absent FSP) occurring around 200 ms. The neural sources underlying these problems have to be further identified. Source localization also suggested abnormalities in the 200-400 ms time range, pertaining to the distribution of attention-modulated activity in lateral frontal areas.

Spatial attention does not require preattentive grouping.

PubMed

Vecera, S P; Behrmann, M

1997-01-01

Does spatial attention follow a full preattentive analysis of the visual field, or can attention select from ungrouped regions of the visual field? We addressed this question by testing an apperceptive agnosic patient, J. W., in tasks involving both spatial selection and preattentive grouping. Results suggest that J.W. had intact spatial attention: He was faster to detect targets appearing at cued location relative to targets appearing at uncued locations. However, his preattentive processes were severely disrupted. Gestalt grouping and symmetry perception, both thought to involve preattentive processes, were impaired in J. W. Also, he could not use gestalt grouping cues to guide spatial attention. These results suggest that spatial attention is not completely dependent on preattentive grouping processes. We argue that preattentive grouping processes and spatial attention may mutually constrain one another in guiding the attentional selection of visual stimuli but that these 2 processes are isolated from one another.

Attention Increases Spike Count Correlations between Visual Cortical Areas.

PubMed

Ruff, Douglas A; Cohen, Marlene R

2016-07-13

Visual attention, which improves perception of attended locations or objects, has long been known to affect many aspects of the responses of neuronal populations in visual cortex. There are two nonmutually exclusive hypotheses concerning the neuronal mechanisms that underlie these perceptual improvements. The first hypothesis, that attention improves the information encoded by a population of neurons in a particular cortical area, has considerable physiological support. The second hypothesis is that attention improves perception by selectively communicating relevant visual information. This idea has been tested primarily by measuring interactions between neurons on very short timescales, which are mathematically nearly independent of neuronal interactions on longer timescales. We tested the hypothesis that attention changes the way visual information is communicated between cortical areas on longer timescales by recording simultaneously from neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle temporal area (MT) in rhesus monkeys. We used two independent and complementary approaches. Our correlative experiment showed that attention increases the trial-to-trial response variability that is shared between the two areas. In our causal experiment, we electrically microstimulated V1 and found that attention increased the effect of stimulation on MT responses. Together, our results suggest that attention affects both the way visual stimuli are encoded within a cortical area and the extent to which visual information is communicated between areas on behaviorally relevant timescales. Visual attention dramatically improves the perception of attended stimuli. Attention has long been thought to act by selecting relevant visual information for further processing. It has been hypothesized that this selection is accomplished by increasing communication between neurons that encode attended information in different cortical areas. We recorded simultaneously from neurons in primary visual cortex and the middle temporal area while rhesus monkeys performed an attention task. We found that attention increased shared variability between neurons in the two areas and that attention increased the effect of microstimulation in V1 on the firing rates of MT neurons. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that attention increases communication between neurons in different brain areas on behaviorally relevant timescales. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/367523-12$15.00/0.

Attention Increases Spike Count Correlations between Visual Cortical Areas

PubMed Central

Cohen, Marlene R.

2016-01-01

Visual attention, which improves perception of attended locations or objects, has long been known to affect many aspects of the responses of neuronal populations in visual cortex. There are two nonmutually exclusive hypotheses concerning the neuronal mechanisms that underlie these perceptual improvements. The first hypothesis, that attention improves the information encoded by a population of neurons in a particular cortical area, has considerable physiological support. The second hypothesis is that attention improves perception by selectively communicating relevant visual information. This idea has been tested primarily by measuring interactions between neurons on very short timescales, which are mathematically nearly independent of neuronal interactions on longer timescales. We tested the hypothesis that attention changes the way visual information is communicated between cortical areas on longer timescales by recording simultaneously from neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle temporal area (MT) in rhesus monkeys. We used two independent and complementary approaches. Our correlative experiment showed that attention increases the trial-to-trial response variability that is shared between the two areas. In our causal experiment, we electrically microstimulated V1 and found that attention increased the effect of stimulation on MT responses. Together, our results suggest that attention affects both the way visual stimuli are encoded within a cortical area and the extent to which visual information is communicated between areas on behaviorally relevant timescales. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual attention dramatically improves the perception of attended stimuli. Attention has long been thought to act by selecting relevant visual information for further processing. It has been hypothesized that this selection is accomplished by increasing communication between neurons that encode attended information in different cortical areas. We recorded simultaneously from neurons in primary visual cortex and the middle temporal area while rhesus monkeys performed an attention task. We found that attention increased shared variability between neurons in the two areas and that attention increased the effect of microstimulation in V1 on the firing rates of MT neurons. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that attention increases communication between neurons in different brain areas on behaviorally relevant timescales. PMID:27413161

The involvement of central attention in visual search is determined by task demands.

PubMed

Han, Suk Won

2017-04-01

Attention, the mechanism by which a subset of sensory inputs is prioritized over others, operates at multiple processing stages. Specifically, attention enhances weak sensory signal at the perceptual stage, while it serves to select appropriate responses or consolidate sensory representations into short-term memory at the central stage. This study investigated the independence and interaction between perceptual and central attention. To do so, I used a dual-task paradigm, pairing a four-alternative choice task with a visual search task. The results showed that central attention for response selection was engaged in perceptual processing for visual search when the number of search items increased, thereby increasing the demand for serial allocation of focal attention. By contrast, central attention and perceptual attention remained independent as far as the demand for serial shifting of focal attention remained constant; decreasing stimulus contrast or increasing the set size of a parallel search did not evoke the involvement of central attention in visual search. These results suggest that the nature of concurrent visual search process plays a crucial role in the functional interaction between two different types of attention.

Implicit visual learning and the expression of learning.

PubMed

Haider, Hilde; Eberhardt, Katharina; Kunde, Alexander; Rose, Michael

2013-03-01

Although the existence of implicit motor learning is now widely accepted, the findings concerning perceptual implicit learning are ambiguous. Some researchers have observed perceptual learning whereas other authors have not. The review of the literature provides different reasons to explain this ambiguous picture, such as differences in the underlying learning processes, selective attention, or differences in the difficulty to express this knowledge. In three experiments, we investigated implicit visual learning within the original serial reaction time task. We used different response devices (keyboard vs. mouse) in order to manipulate selective attention towards response dimensions. Results showed that visual and motor sequence learning differed in terms of RT-benefits, but not in terms of the amount of knowledge assessed after training. Furthermore, visual sequence learning was modulated by selective attention. However, the findings of all three experiments suggest that selective attention did not alter implicit but rather explicit learning processes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sensory gain control (amplification) as a mechanism of selective attention: electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence.

PubMed Central

Hillyard, S A; Vogel, E K; Luck, S J

1998-01-01

Both physiological and behavioral studies have suggested that stimulus-driven neural activity in the sensory pathways can be modulated in amplitude during selective attention. Recordings of event-related brain potentials indicate that such sensory gain control or amplification processes play an important role in visual-spatial attention. Combined event-related brain potential and neuroimaging experiments provide strong evidence that attentional gain control operates at an early stage of visual processing in extrastriate cortical areas. These data support early selection theories of attention and provide a basis for distinguishing between separate mechanisms of attentional suppression (of unattended inputs) and attentional facilitation (of attended inputs). PMID:9770220

Changes in otoacoustic emissions during selective auditory and visual attention

PubMed Central

Walsh, Kyle P.; Pasanen, Edward G.; McFadden, Dennis

2015-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that the otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) measured during behavioral tasks can have different magnitudes when subjects are attending selectively or not attending. The implication is that the cognitive and perceptual demands of a task can affect the first neural stage of auditory processing—the sensory receptors themselves. However, the directions of the reported attentional effects have been inconsistent, the magnitudes of the observed differences typically have been small, and comparisons across studies have been made difficult by significant procedural differences. In this study, a nonlinear version of the stimulus-frequency OAE (SFOAE), called the nSFOAE, was used to measure cochlear responses from human subjects while they simultaneously performed behavioral tasks requiring selective auditory attention (dichotic or diotic listening), selective visual attention, or relative inattention. Within subjects, the differences in nSFOAE magnitude between inattention and attention conditions were about 2–3 dB for both auditory and visual modalities, and the effect sizes for the differences typically were large for both nSFOAE magnitude and phase. These results reveal that the cochlear efferent reflex is differentially active during selective attention and inattention, for both auditory and visual tasks, although they do not reveal how attention is improved when efferent activity is greater. PMID:25994703

Emotion and anxiety potentiate the way attention alters visual appearance.

PubMed

Barbot, Antoine; Carrasco, Marisa

2018-04-12

The ability to swiftly detect and prioritize the processing of relevant information around us is critical for the way we interact with our environment. Selective attention is a key mechanism that serves this purpose, improving performance in numerous visual tasks. Reflexively attending to sudden information helps detect impeding threat or danger, a possible reason why emotion modulates the way selective attention affects perception. For instance, the sudden appearance of a fearful face potentiates the effects of exogenous (involuntary, stimulus-driven) attention on performance. Internal states such as trait anxiety can also modulate the impact of attention on early visual processing. However, attention does not only improve performance; it also alters the way visual information appears to us, e.g. by enhancing perceived contrast. Here we show that emotion potentiates the effects of exogenous attention on both performance and perceived contrast. Moreover, we found that trait anxiety mediates these effects, with stronger influences of attention and emotion in anxious observers. Finally, changes in performance and appearance correlated with each other, likely reflecting common attentional modulations. Altogether, our findings show that emotion and anxiety interact with selective attention to truly alter how we see.

Selective and divided attention modulates auditory-vocal integration in the processing of pitch feedback errors.

PubMed

Liu, Ying; Hu, Huijing; Jones, Jeffery A; Guo, Zhiqiang; Li, Weifeng; Chen, Xi; Liu, Peng; Liu, Hanjun

2015-08-01

Speakers rapidly adjust their ongoing vocal productions to compensate for errors they hear in their auditory feedback. It is currently unclear what role attention plays in these vocal compensations. This event-related potential (ERP) study examined the influence of selective and divided attention on the vocal and cortical responses to pitch errors heard in auditory feedback regarding ongoing vocalisations. During the production of a sustained vowel, participants briefly heard their vocal pitch shifted up two semitones while they actively attended to auditory or visual events (selective attention), or both auditory and visual events (divided attention), or were not told to attend to either modality (control condition). The behavioral results showed that attending to the pitch perturbations elicited larger vocal compensations than attending to the visual stimuli. Moreover, ERPs were likewise sensitive to the attentional manipulations: P2 responses to pitch perturbations were larger when participants attended to the auditory stimuli compared to when they attended to the visual stimuli, and compared to when they were not explicitly told to attend to either the visual or auditory stimuli. By contrast, dividing attention between the auditory and visual modalities caused suppressed P2 responses relative to all the other conditions and caused enhanced N1 responses relative to the control condition. These findings provide strong evidence for the influence of attention on the mechanisms underlying the auditory-vocal integration in the processing of pitch feedback errors. In addition, selective attention and divided attention appear to modulate the neurobehavioral processing of pitch feedback errors in different ways. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Response bias reveals enhanced attention to inferior visual field in signers of American Sign Language.

PubMed

Dye, Matthew W G; Seymour, Jenessa L; Hauser, Peter C

2016-04-01

Deafness results in cross-modal plasticity, whereby visual functions are altered as a consequence of a lack of hearing. Here, we present a reanalysis of data originally reported by Dye et al. (PLoS One 4(5):e5640, 2009) with the aim of testing additional hypotheses concerning the spatial redistribution of visual attention due to deafness and the use of a visuogestural language (American Sign Language). By looking at the spatial distribution of errors made by deaf and hearing participants performing a visuospatial selective attention task, we sought to determine whether there was evidence for (1) a shift in the hemispheric lateralization of visual selective function as a result of deafness, and (2) a shift toward attending to the inferior visual field in users of a signed language. While no evidence was found for or against a shift in lateralization of visual selective attention as a result of deafness, a shift in the allocation of attention from the superior toward the inferior visual field was inferred in native signers of American Sign Language, possibly reflecting an adaptation to the perceptual demands imposed by a visuogestural language.

Selective attention determines emotional responses to novel visual stimuli.

PubMed

Raymond, Jane E; Fenske, Mark J; Tavassoli, Nader T

2003-11-01

Distinct complex brain systems support selective attention and emotion, but connections between them suggest that human behavior should reflect reciprocal interactions of these systems. Although there is ample evidence that emotional stimuli modulate attentional processes, it is not known whether attention influences emotional behavior. Here we show that evaluation of the emotional tone (cheery/dreary) of complex but meaningless visual patterns can be modulated by the prior attentional state (attending vs. ignoring) used to process each pattern in a visual selection task. Previously ignored patterns were evaluated more negatively than either previously attended or novel patterns. Furthermore, this emotional devaluation of distracting stimuli was robust across different emotional contexts and response scales. Finding that negative affective responses are specifically generated for ignored stimuli points to a new functional role for attention and elaborates the link between attention and emotion. This finding also casts doubt on the conventional marketing wisdom that any exposure is good exposure.

Perceptual organization and visual attention.

PubMed

Kimchi, Ruth

2009-01-01

Perceptual organization--the processes structuring visual information into coherent units--and visual attention--the processes by which some visual information in a scene is selected--are crucial for the perception of our visual environment and to visuomotor behavior. Recent research points to important relations between attentional and organizational processes. Several studies demonstrated that perceptual organization constrains attentional selectivity, and other studies suggest that attention can also constrain perceptual organization. In this chapter I focus on two aspects of the relationship between perceptual organization and attention. The first addresses the question of whether or not perceptual organization can take place without attention. I present findings demonstrating that some forms of grouping and figure-ground segmentation can occur without attention, whereas others require controlled attentional processing, depending on the processes involved and the conditions prevailing for each process. These findings challenge the traditional view, which assumes that perceptual organization is a unitary entity that operates preattentively. The second issue addresses the question of whether perceptual organization can affect the automatic deployment of attention. I present findings showing that the mere organization of some elements in the visual field by Gestalt factors into a coherent perceptual unit (an "object"), with no abrupt onset or any other unique transient, can capture attention automatically in a stimulus-driven manner. Taken together, the findings discussed in this chapter demonstrate the multifaceted, interactive relations between perceptual organization and visual attention.

What top-down task sets do for us: an ERP study on the benefits of advance preparation in visual search.

PubMed

Eimer, Martin; Kiss, Monika; Nicholas, Susan

2011-12-01

When target-defining features are specified in advance, attentional target selection in visual search is controlled by preparatory top-down task sets. We used ERP measures to study voluntary target selection in the absence of such feature-specific task sets, and to compare it to selection that is guided by advance knowledge about target features. Visual search arrays contained two different color singleton digits, and participants had to select one of these as target and report its parity. Target color was either known in advance (fixed color task) or had to be selected anew on each trial (free color-choice task). ERP correlates of spatially selective attentional target selection (N2pc) and working memory processing (SPCN) demonstrated rapid target selection and efficient exclusion of color singleton distractors from focal attention and working memory in the fixed color task. In the free color-choice task, spatially selective processing also emerged rapidly, but selection efficiency was reduced, with nontarget singleton digits capturing attention and gaining access to working memory. Results demonstrate the benefits of top-down task sets: Feature-specific advance preparation accelerates target selection, rapidly resolves attentional competition, and prevents irrelevant events from attracting attention and entering working memory.

Feature-selective attention enhances color signals in early visual areas of the human brain.

PubMed

Müller, M M; Andersen, S; Trujillo, N J; Valdés-Sosa, P; Malinowski, P; Hillyard, S A

2006-09-19

We used an electrophysiological measure of selective stimulus processing (the steady-state visual evoked potential, SSVEP) to investigate feature-specific attention to color cues. Subjects viewed a display consisting of spatially intermingled red and blue dots that continually shifted their positions at random. The red and blue dots flickered at different frequencies and thereby elicited distinguishable SSVEP signals in the visual cortex. Paying attention selectively to either the red or blue dot population produced an enhanced amplitude of its frequency-tagged SSVEP, which was localized by source modeling to early levels of the visual cortex. A control experiment showed that this selection was based on color rather than flicker frequency cues. This signal amplification of attended color items provides an empirical basis for the rapid identification of feature conjunctions during visual search, as proposed by "guided search" models.

Cognitive load reducing in destination decision system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chunhua; Wang, Cong; Jiang, Qien; Wang, Jian; Chen, Hong

2007-12-01

With limited cognitive resource, the quantity of information can be processed by a person is limited. If the limitation is broken, the whole cognitive process would be affected, so did the final decision. The research of effective ways to reduce the cognitive load is launched from two aspects: cutting down the number of alternatives and directing the user to allocate his limited attention resource based on the selective visual attention theory. Decision-making is such a complex process that people usually have difficulties to express their requirements completely. An effective method to get user's hidden requirements is put forward in this paper. With more requirements be caught, the destination decision system can filtering more quantity of inappropriate alternatives. Different information piece has different utility, if the information with high utility would get attention easily, the decision might be made more easily. After analyzing the current selective visual attention theory, a new presentation style based on user's visual attention also put forward in this paper. This model arranges information presentation according to the movement of sightline. Through visual attention, the user can put their limited attention resource on the important information. Hidden requirements catching and presenting information based on the selective visual attention are effective ways to reducing the cognitive load.

Audio-visual synchrony and feature-selective attention co-amplify early visual processing.

PubMed

Keitel, Christian; Müller, Matthias M

2016-05-01

Our brain relies on neural mechanisms of selective attention and converging sensory processing to efficiently cope with rich and unceasing multisensory inputs. One prominent assumption holds that audio-visual synchrony can act as a strong attractor for spatial attention. Here, we tested for a similar effect of audio-visual synchrony on feature-selective attention. We presented two superimposed Gabor patches that differed in colour and orientation. On each trial, participants were cued to selectively attend to one of the two patches. Over time, spatial frequencies of both patches varied sinusoidally at distinct rates (3.14 and 3.63 Hz), giving rise to pulse-like percepts. A simultaneously presented pure tone carried a frequency modulation at the pulse rate of one of the two visual stimuli to introduce audio-visual synchrony. Pulsed stimulation elicited distinct time-locked oscillatory electrophysiological brain responses. These steady-state responses were quantified in the spectral domain to examine individual stimulus processing under conditions of synchronous versus asynchronous tone presentation and when respective stimuli were attended versus unattended. We found that both, attending to the colour of a stimulus and its synchrony with the tone, enhanced its processing. Moreover, both gain effects combined linearly for attended in-sync stimuli. Our results suggest that audio-visual synchrony can attract attention to specific stimulus features when stimuli overlap in space.

Neuropsychological implications of selective attentional functioning in psychopathic offenders.

PubMed

Mayer, Andrew R; Kosson, David S; Bedrick, Edward J

2006-09-01

Several core characteristics of the psychopathic personality disorder (i.e., impulsivity, failure to attend to interpersonal cues) suggest that psychopaths suffer from disordered attention. However, there is mixed evidence from the cognitive literature as to whether they exhibit superior or deficient selective attention, which has led to the formation of several distinct theories of attentional functioning in psychopathy. The present experiment investigated participants' abilities to purposely allocate attentional resources on the basis of auditory or visual linguistic information and directly tested both theories of deficient or superior selective attention in psychopathy. Specifically, 91 male inmates at a county jail were presented with either auditory or visual linguistic cues (with and without distractors) that correctly indicated the position of an upcoming visual target in 75% of the trials. The results indicated that psychopaths did not exhibit evidence of superior selective attention in any of the conditions but were generally less efficient in shifting attention on the basis of linguistic cues, especially in regard to auditory information. Implications for understanding psychopaths' cognitive functioning and possible neuropsychological deficits are addressed. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Functional size of human visual area V1: a neural correlate of top-down attention.

PubMed

Verghese, Ashika; Kolbe, Scott C; Anderson, Andrew J; Egan, Gary F; Vidyasagar, Trichur R

2014-06-01

Heavy demands are placed on the brain's attentional capacity when selecting a target item in a cluttered visual scene, or when reading. It is widely accepted that such attentional selection is mediated by top-down signals from higher cortical areas to early visual areas such as the primary visual cortex (V1). Further, it has also been reported that there is considerable variation in the surface area of V1. This variation may impact on either the number or specificity of attentional feedback signals and, thereby, the efficiency of attentional mechanisms. In this study, we investigated whether individual differences between humans performing attention-demanding tasks can be related to the functional area of V1. We found that those with a larger representation in V1 of the central 12° of the visual field as measured using BOLD signals from fMRI were able to perform a serial search task at a faster rate. In line with recent suggestions of the vital role of visuo-spatial attention in reading, the speed of reading showed a strong positive correlation with the speed of visual search, although it showed little correlation with the size of V1. The results support the idea that the functional size of the primary visual cortex is an important determinant of the efficiency of selective spatial attention for simple tasks, and that the attentional processing required for complex tasks like reading are to a large extent determined by other brain areas and inter-areal connections. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attention improves encoding of task-relevant features in the human visual cortex

PubMed Central

Jehee, Janneke F.M.; Brady, Devin K.; Tong, Frank

2011-01-01

When spatial attention is directed towards a particular stimulus, increased activity is commonly observed in corresponding locations of the visual cortex. Does this attentional increase in activity indicate improved processing of all features contained within the attended stimulus, or might spatial attention selectively enhance the features relevant to the observer’s task? We used fMRI decoding methods to measure the strength of orientation-selective activity patterns in the human visual cortex while subjects performed either an orientation or contrast discrimination task, involving one of two laterally presented gratings. Greater overall BOLD activation with spatial attention was observed in areas V1-V4 for both tasks. However, multivariate pattern analysis revealed that orientation-selective responses were enhanced by attention only when orientation was the task-relevant feature, and not when the grating’s contrast had to be attended. In a second experiment, observers discriminated the orientation or color of a specific lateral grating. Here, orientation-selective responses were enhanced in both tasks but color-selective responses were enhanced only when color was task-relevant. In both experiments, task-specific enhancement of feature-selective activity was not confined to the attended stimulus location, but instead spread to other locations in the visual field, suggesting the concurrent involvement of a global feature-based attentional mechanism. These results suggest that attention can be remarkably selective in its ability to enhance particular task-relevant features, and further reveal that increases in overall BOLD amplitude are not necessarily accompanied by improved processing of stimulus information. PMID:21632942

Brain activity associated with selective attention, divided attention and distraction.

PubMed

Salo, Emma; Salmela, Viljami; Salmi, Juha; Numminen, Jussi; Alho, Kimmo

2017-06-01

Top-down controlled selective or divided attention to sounds and visual objects, as well as bottom-up triggered attention to auditory and visual distractors, has been widely investigated. However, no study has systematically compared brain activations related to all these types of attention. To this end, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in participants performing a tone pitch or a foveal grating orientation discrimination task, or both, distracted by novel sounds not sharing frequencies with the tones or by extrafoveal visual textures. To force focusing of attention to tones or gratings, or both, task difficulty was kept constantly high with an adaptive staircase method. A whole brain analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed fronto-parietal attention networks for both selective auditory and visual attention. A subsequent conjunction analysis indicated partial overlaps of these networks. However, like some previous studies, the present results also suggest segregation of prefrontal areas involved in the control of auditory and visual attention. The ANOVA also suggested, and another conjunction analysis confirmed, an additional activity enhancement in the left middle frontal gyrus related to divided attention supporting the role of this area in top-down integration of dual task performance. Distractors expectedly disrupted task performance. However, contrary to our expectations, activations specifically related to the distractors were found only in the auditory and visual cortices. This suggests gating of the distractors from further processing perhaps due to strictly focused attention in the current demanding discrimination tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neuronal basis of covert spatial attention in the frontal eye field.

PubMed

Thompson, Kirk G; Biscoe, Keri L; Sato, Takashi R

2005-10-12

The influential "premotor theory of attention" proposes that developing oculomotor commands mediate covert visual spatial attention. A likely source of this attentional bias is the frontal eye field (FEF), an area of the frontal cortex involved in converting visual information into saccade commands. We investigated the link between FEF activity and covert spatial attention by recording from FEF visual and saccade-related neurons in monkeys performing covert visual search tasks without eye movements. Here we show that the source of attention signals in the FEF is enhanced activity of visually responsive neurons. At the time attention is allocated to the visual search target, nonvisually responsive saccade-related movement neurons are inhibited. Therefore, in the FEF, spatial attention signals are independent of explicit saccade command signals. We propose that spatially selective activity in FEF visually responsive neurons corresponds to the mental spotlight of attention via modulation of ongoing visual processing.

Selective Attention to Visual Stimuli Using Auditory Distractors Is Altered in Alpha-9 Nicotinic Receptor Subunit Knock-Out Mice.

PubMed

Terreros, Gonzalo; Jorratt, Pascal; Aedo, Cristian; Elgoyhen, Ana Belén; Delano, Paul H

2016-07-06

During selective attention, subjects voluntarily focus their cognitive resources on a specific stimulus while ignoring others. Top-down filtering of peripheral sensory responses by higher structures of the brain has been proposed as one of the mechanisms responsible for selective attention. A prerequisite to accomplish top-down modulation of the activity of peripheral structures is the presence of corticofugal pathways. The mammalian auditory efferent system is a unique neural network that originates in the auditory cortex and projects to the cochlear receptor through the olivocochlear bundle, and it has been proposed to function as a top-down filter of peripheral auditory responses during attention to cross-modal stimuli. However, to date, there is no conclusive evidence of the involvement of olivocochlear neurons in selective attention paradigms. Here, we trained wild-type and α-9 nicotinic receptor subunit knock-out (KO) mice, which lack cholinergic transmission between medial olivocochlear neurons and outer hair cells, in a two-choice visual discrimination task and studied the behavioral consequences of adding different types of auditory distractors. In addition, we evaluated the effects of contralateral noise on auditory nerve responses as a measure of the individual strength of the olivocochlear reflex. We demonstrate that KO mice have a reduced olivocochlear reflex strength and perform poorly in a visual selective attention paradigm. These results confirm that an intact medial olivocochlear transmission aids in ignoring auditory distraction during selective attention to visual stimuli. The auditory efferent system is a neural network that originates in the auditory cortex and projects to the cochlear receptor through the olivocochlear system. It has been proposed to function as a top-down filter of peripheral auditory responses during attention to cross-modal stimuli. However, to date, there is no conclusive evidence of the involvement of olivocochlear neurons in selective attention paradigms. Here, we studied the behavioral consequences of adding different types of auditory distractors in a visual selective attention task in wild-type and α-9 nicotinic receptor knock-out (KO) mice. We demonstrate that KO mice perform poorly in the selective attention paradigm and that an intact medial olivocochlear transmission aids in ignoring auditory distractors during attention. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/367198-12$15.00/0.

The relationship between visual working memory and attention: retention of precise colour information in the absence of effects on perceptual selection.

PubMed

Hollingworth, Andrew; Hwang, Seongmin

2013-10-19

We examined the conditions under which a feature value in visual working memory (VWM) recruits visual attention to matching stimuli. Previous work has suggested that VWM supports two qualitatively different states of representation: an active state that interacts with perceptual selection and a passive (or accessory) state that does not. An alternative hypothesis is that VWM supports a single form of representation, with the precision of feature memory controlling whether or not the representation interacts with perceptual selection. The results of three experiments supported the dual-state hypothesis. We established conditions under which participants retained a relatively precise representation of a parcticular colour. If the colour was immediately task relevant, it reliably recruited attention to matching stimuli. However, if the colour was not immediately task relevant, it failed to interact with perceptual selection. Feature maintenance in VWM is not necessarily equivalent with feature-based attentional selection.

Interhemispheric interaction expands attentional capacity in an auditory selective attention task.

PubMed

Scalf, Paige E; Banich, Marie T; Erickson, Andrew B

2009-04-01

Previous work from our laboratory indicates that interhemispheric interaction (IHI) functionally increases the attentional capacity available to support performance on visual tasks (Banich in The asymmetrical brain, pp 261-302, 2003). Because manipulations of both computational complexity and selection demand alter the benefits of IHI to task performance, we argue that IHI may be a general strategy for meeting increases in attentional demand. Other researchers, however, have suggested that the apparent benefits of IHI to attentional capacity are an epiphenomenon of the organization of the visual system (Fecteau and Enns in Neuropsychologia 43:1412-1428, 2005; Marsolek et al. in Neuropsychologia 40:1983-1999, 2002). In the current experiment, we investigate whether IHI increases attentional capacity outside the visual system by manipulating the selection demands of an auditory temporal pattern-matching task. We find that IHI expands attentional capacity in the auditory system. This suggests that the benefits of requiring IHI derive from a functional increase in attentional capacity rather than the organization of a specific sensory modality.

Simulating the Role of Visual Selective Attention during the Development of Perceptual Completion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlesinger, Matthew; Amso, Dima; Johnson, Scott P.

2012-01-01

We recently proposed a multi-channel, image-filtering model for simulating the development of visual selective attention in young infants (Schlesinger, Amso & Johnson, 2007). The model not only captures the performance of 3-month-olds on a visual search task, but also implicates two cortical regions that may play a role in the development of…

Visual Short-Term Memory Activity in Parietal Lobe Reflects Cognitive Processes beyond Attentional Selection.

PubMed

Sheremata, Summer L; Somers, David C; Shomstein, Sarah

2018-02-07

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) and attention are distinct yet interrelated processes. While both require selection of information across the visual field, memory additionally requires the maintenance of information across time and distraction. VSTM recruits areas within human (male and female) dorsal and ventral parietal cortex that are also implicated in spatial selection; therefore, it is important to determine whether overlapping activation might reflect shared attentional demands. Here, identical stimuli and controlled sustained attention across both tasks were used to ask whether fMRI signal amplitude, functional connectivity, and contralateral visual field bias reflect memory-specific task demands. While attention and VSTM activated similar cortical areas, BOLD amplitude and functional connectivity in parietal cortex differentiated the two tasks. Relative to attention, VSTM increased BOLD amplitude in dorsal parietal cortex and decreased BOLD amplitude in the angular gyrus. Additionally, the tasks differentially modulated parietal functional connectivity. Contrasting VSTM and attention, intraparietal sulcus (IPS) 1-2 were more strongly connected with anterior frontoparietal areas and more weakly connected with posterior regions. This divergence between tasks demonstrates that parietal activation reflects memory-specific functions and consequently modulates functional connectivity across the cortex. In contrast, both tasks demonstrated hemispheric asymmetries for spatial processing, exhibiting a stronger contralateral visual field bias in the left versus the right hemisphere across tasks, suggesting that asymmetries are characteristic of a shared selection process in IPS. These results demonstrate that parietal activity and patterns of functional connectivity distinguish VSTM from more general attention processes, establishing a central role of the parietal cortex in maintaining visual information. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual short-term memory (VSTM) and attention are distinct yet interrelated processes. Cognitive mechanisms and neural activity underlying these tasks show a large degree of overlap. To examine whether activity within the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) reflects object maintenance across distraction or sustained attention per se, it is necessary to control for attentional demands inherent in VSTM tasks. We demonstrate that activity in PPC reflects VSTM demands even after controlling for attention; remembering items across distraction modulates relationships between parietal and other areas differently than during periods of sustained attention. Our study fills a gap in the literature by directly comparing and controlling for overlap between visual attention and VSTM tasks. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/381511-09$15.00/0.

Selective attention to imagined facial ugliness is specific to body dysmorphic disorder.

PubMed

Grocholewski, Anja; Kliem, Sören; Heinrichs, Nina

2012-03-01

Cognitive-behavioral models postulate that biases in selective attention are key factors contributing to susceptibility to and maintenance of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Visual attention in particular toward the imagined defect in appearance may be a crucial element. The present study therefore examined whether individuals with BDD showed increased visual attention to flaws in their own and in unfamiliar faces. Twenty individuals with BDD, 20 individuals with social phobia, and 20 mentally healthy individuals participated in an eye-tracking experiment. Participants were instructed to gaze at the photographs of 15 pictures of themselves and several unfamiliar faces. Only patients with BDD showed heightened selective visual attention to the imagined defect in their own face, as well to corresponding regions in other, unfamiliar faces. The results support the assumption that there is a specific attentional bias in BDD. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coding of spatial attention priorities and object features in the macaque lateral intraparietal cortex.

PubMed

Levichkina, Ekaterina; Saalmann, Yuri B; Vidyasagar, Trichur R

2017-03-01

Primate posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is known to be involved in controlling spatial attention. Neurons in one part of the PPC, the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), show enhanced responses to objects at attended locations. Although many are selective for object features, such as the orientation of a visual stimulus, it is not clear how LIP circuits integrate feature-selective information when providing attentional feedback about behaviorally relevant locations to the visual cortex. We studied the relationship between object feature and spatial attention properties of LIP cells in two macaques by measuring the cells' orientation selectivity and the degree of attentional enhancement while performing a delayed match-to-sample task. Monkeys had to match both the location and orientation of two visual gratings presented separately in time. We found a wide range in orientation selectivity and degree of attentional enhancement among LIP neurons. However, cells with significant attentional enhancement had much less orientation selectivity in their response than cells which showed no significant modulation by attention. Additionally, orientation-selective cells showed working memory activity for their preferred orientation, whereas cells showing attentional enhancement also synchronized with local neuronal activity. These results are consistent with models of selective attention incorporating two stages, where an initial feature-selective process guides a second stage of focal spatial attention. We suggest that LIP contributes to both stages, where the first stage involves orientation-selective LIP cells that support working memory of the relevant feature, and the second stage involves attention-enhanced LIP cells that synchronize to provide feedback on spatial priorities. © 2017 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.

Attention to Color Sharpens Neural Population Tuning via Feedback Processing in the Human Visual Cortex Hierarchy.

PubMed

Bartsch, Mandy V; Loewe, Kristian; Merkel, Christian; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Schoenfeld, Mircea A; Tsotsos, John K; Hopf, Jens-Max

2017-10-25

Attention can facilitate the selection of elementary object features such as color, orientation, or motion. This is referred to as feature-based attention and it is commonly attributed to a modulation of the gain and tuning of feature-selective units in visual cortex. Although gain mechanisms are well characterized, little is known about the cortical processes underlying the sharpening of feature selectivity. Here, we show with high-resolution magnetoencephalography in human observers (men and women) that sharpened selectivity for a particular color arises from feedback processing in the human visual cortex hierarchy. To assess color selectivity, we analyze the response to a color probe that varies in color distance from an attended color target. We find that attention causes an initial gain enhancement in anterior ventral extrastriate cortex that is coarsely selective for the target color and transitions within ∼100 ms into a sharper tuned profile in more posterior ventral occipital cortex. We conclude that attention sharpens selectivity over time by attenuating the response at lower levels of the cortical hierarchy to color values neighboring the target in color space. These observations support computational models proposing that attention tunes feature selectivity in visual cortex through backward-propagating attenuation of units less tuned to the target. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Whether searching for your car, a particular item of clothing, or just obeying traffic lights, in everyday life, we must select items based on color. But how does attention allow us to select a specific color? Here, we use high spatiotemporal resolution neuromagnetic recordings to examine how color selectivity emerges in the human brain. We find that color selectivity evolves as a coarse to fine process from higher to lower levels within the visual cortex hierarchy. Our observations support computational models proposing that feature selectivity increases over time by attenuating the responses of less-selective cells in lower-level brain areas. These data emphasize that color perception involves multiple areas across a hierarchy of regions, interacting with each other in a complex, recursive manner. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/3710346-12$15.00/0.

Event-related potentials during visual selective attention in children of alcoholics.

PubMed

van der Stelt, O; Gunning, W B; Snel, J; Kok, A

1998-12-01

Event-related potentials were recorded from 7- to 18-year-old children of alcoholics (COAs, n = 50) and age- and sex-matched control children (n = 50) while they performed a visual selective attention task. The task was to attend selectively to stimuli with a specified color (red or blue) in an attempt to detect the occurrence of target stimuli. COAs manifested a smaller P3b amplitude to attended-target stimuli over the parietal and occipital scalp than did the controls. A more specific analysis indicated that both the attentional relevance and the target properties of the eliciting stimulus determined the observed P3b amplitude differences between COAs and controls. In contrast, no significant group differences were observed in attention-related earlier occurring event-related potential components, referred to as frontal selection positivity, selection negativity, and N2b. These results represent neurophysiological evidence that COAs suffer from deficits at a late (semantic) level of visual selective information processing that are unlikely a consequence of deficits at earlier (sensory) levels of selective processing. The findings support the notion that a reduced visual P3b amplitude in COAs represents a high-level processing dysfunction indicating their increased vulnerability to alcoholism.

Normal aging delays and compromises early multifocal visual attention during object tracking.

PubMed

Störmer, Viola S; Li, Shu-Chen; Heekeren, Hauke R; Lindenberger, Ulman

2013-02-01

Declines in selective attention are one of the sources contributing to age-related impairments in a broad range of cognitive functions. Most previous research on mechanisms underlying older adults' selection deficits has studied the deployment of visual attention to static objects and features. Here we investigate neural correlates of age-related differences in spatial attention to multiple objects as they move. We used a multiple object tracking task, in which younger and older adults were asked to keep track of moving target objects that moved randomly in the visual field among irrelevant distractor objects. By recording the brain's electrophysiological responses during the tracking period, we were able to delineate neural processing for targets and distractors at early stages of visual processing (~100-300 msec). Older adults showed less selective attentional modulation in the early phase of the visual P1 component (100-125 msec) than younger adults, indicating that early selection is compromised in old age. However, with a 25-msec delay relative to younger adults, older adults showed distinct processing of targets (125-150 msec), that is, a delayed yet intact attentional modulation. The magnitude of this delayed attentional modulation was related to tracking performance in older adults. The amplitude of the N1 component (175-210 msec) was smaller in older adults than in younger adults, and the target amplification effect of this component was also smaller in older relative to younger adults. Overall, these results indicate that normal aging affects the efficiency and timing of early visual processing during multiple object tracking.

Visualizing Trumps Vision in Training Attention.

PubMed

Reinhart, Robert M G; McClenahan, Laura J; Woodman, Geoffrey F

2015-07-01

Mental imagery can have powerful training effects on behavior, but how this occurs is not well understood. Here we show that even a single instance of mental imagery can improve attentional selection of a target more effectively than actually practicing visual search. By recording subjects' brain activity, we found that these imagery-induced training effects were due to perceptual attention being more effectively focused on targets following imagined training. Next, we examined the downside of this potent training by changing the target after several trials of training attention with imagery and found that imagined search resulted in more potent interference than actual practice following these target changes. Finally, we found that proactive interference from task-irrelevant elements in the visual displays appears to underlie the superiority of imagined training relative to actual practice. Our findings demonstrate that visual attention mechanisms can be effectively trained to select target objects in the absence of visual input, and this results in more effective control of attention than practicing the task itself. © The Author(s) 2015.

Object integration requires attention: Visual search for Kanizsa figures in parietal extinction.

PubMed

Gögler, Nadine; Finke, Kathrin; Keller, Ingo; Müller, Hermann J; Conci, Markus

2016-11-01

The contribution of selective attention to object integration is a topic of debate: integration of parts into coherent wholes, such as in Kanizsa figures, is thought to arise either from pre-attentive, automatic coding processes or from higher-order processes involving selective attention. Previous studies have attempted to examine the role of selective attention in object integration either by employing visual search paradigms or by studying patients with unilateral deficits in selective attention. Here, we combined these two approaches to investigate object integration in visual search in a group of five patients with left-sided parietal extinction. Our search paradigm was designed to assess the effect of left- and right-grouped nontargets on detecting a Kanizsa target square. The results revealed comparable reaction time (RT) performance in patients and controls when they were presented with displays consisting of a single to-be-grouped item that had to be classified as target vs. nontarget. However, when display size increased to two items, patients showed an extinction-specific pattern of enhanced RT costs for nontargets that induced a partial shape grouping on the right, i.e., in the attended hemifield (relative to the ungrouped baseline). Together, these findings demonstrate a competitive advantage for right-grouped objects, which in turn indicates that in parietal extinction, attentional competition between objects particularly limits integration processes in the contralesional, i.e., left hemifield. These findings imply a crucial contribution of selective attentional resources to visual object integration. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A competitive interaction theory of attentional selection and decision making in brief, multielement displays.

PubMed

Smith, Philip L; Sewell, David K

2013-07-01

We generalize the integrated system model of Smith and Ratcliff (2009) to obtain a new theory of attentional selection in brief, multielement visual displays. The theory proposes that attentional selection occurs via competitive interactions among detectors that signal the presence of task-relevant features at particular display locations. The outcome of the competition, together with attention, determines which stimuli are selected into visual short-term memory (VSTM). Decisions about the contents of VSTM are made by a diffusion-process decision stage. The selection process is modeled by coupled systems of shunting equations, which perform gated where-on-what pathway VSTM selection. The theory provides a computational account of key findings from attention tasks with near-threshold stimuli. These are (a) the success of the MAX model of visual search and spatial cuing, (b) the distractor homogeneity effect, (c) the double-target detection deficit, (d) redundancy costs in the post-stimulus probe task, (e) the joint item and information capacity limits of VSTM, and (f) the object-based nature of attentional selection. We argue that these phenomena are all manifestations of an underlying competitive VSTM selection process, which arise as a natural consequence of our theory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Is Visual Selective Attention in Deaf Individuals Enhanced or Deficient? The Case of the Useful Field of View

PubMed Central

Dye, Matthew W. G.; Hauser, Peter C.; Bavelier, Daphne

2009-01-01

Background Early deafness leads to enhanced attention in the visual periphery. Yet, whether this enhancement confers advantages in everyday life remains unknown, as deaf individuals have been shown to be more distracted by irrelevant information in the periphery than their hearing peers. Here, we show that, in a complex attentional task, a performance advantage results for deaf individuals. Methodology/Principal Findings We employed the Useful Field of View (UFOV) which requires central target identification concurrent with peripheral target localization in the presence of distractors – a divided, selective attention task. First, the comparison of deaf and hearing adults with or without sign language skills establishes that deafness and not sign language use drives UFOV enhancement. Second, UFOV performance was enhanced in deaf children, but only after 11 years of age. Conclusions/Significance This work demonstrates that, following early auditory deprivation, visual attention resources toward the periphery slowly get augmented to eventually result in a clear behavioral advantage by pre-adolescence on a selective visual attention task. PMID:19462009

Perceptual Load Influences Selective Attention across Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Couperus, Jane W.

2011-01-01

Research suggests that visual selective attention develops across childhood. However, there is relatively little understanding of the neurological changes that accompany this development, particularly in the context of adult theories of selective attention, such as N. Lavie's (1995) perceptual load theory of attention. This study examined visual…

Visual selective attention in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

McLaughlin, Paula M; Anderson, Nicole D; Rich, Jill B; Chertkow, Howard; Murtha, Susan J E

2014-11-01

Subtle deficits in visual selective attention have been found in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, few studies have explored performance on visual search paradigms or the Simon task, which are known to be sensitive to disease severity in Alzheimer's patients. Furthermore, there is limited research investigating how deficiencies can be ameliorated with exogenous support (auditory cues). Sixteen individuals with aMCI and 14 control participants completed 3 experimental tasks that varied in demand and cue availability: visual search-alerting, visual search-orienting, and Simon task. Visual selective attention was influenced by aMCI, auditory cues, and task characteristics. Visual search abilities were relatively consistent across groups. The aMCI participants were impaired on the Simon task when working memory was required, but conflict resolution was similar to controls. Spatially informative orienting cues improved response times, whereas spatially neutral alerting cues did not influence performance. Finally, spatially informative auditory cues benefited the aMCI group more than controls in the visual search task, specifically at the largest array size where orienting demands were greatest. These findings suggest that individuals with aMCI have working memory deficits and subtle deficiencies in orienting attention and rely on exogenous information to guide attention. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cholinergic enhancement of visual attention and neural oscillations in the human brain.

PubMed

Bauer, Markus; Kluge, Christian; Bach, Dominik; Bradbury, David; Heinze, Hans Jochen; Dolan, Raymond J; Driver, Jon

2012-03-06

Cognitive processes such as visual perception and selective attention induce specific patterns of brain oscillations. The neurochemical bases of these spectral changes in neural activity are largely unknown, but neuromodulators are thought to regulate processing. The cholinergic system is linked to attentional function in vivo, whereas separate in vitro studies show that cholinergic agonists induce high-frequency oscillations in slice preparations. This has led to theoretical proposals that cholinergic enhancement of visual attention might operate via gamma oscillations in visual cortex, although low-frequency alpha/beta modulation may also play a key role. Here we used MEG to record cortical oscillations in the context of administration of a cholinergic agonist (physostigmine) during a spatial visual attention task in humans. This cholinergic agonist enhanced spatial attention effects on low-frequency alpha/beta oscillations in visual cortex, an effect correlating with a drug-induced speeding of performance. By contrast, the cholinergic agonist did not alter high-frequency gamma oscillations in visual cortex. Thus, our findings show that cholinergic neuromodulation enhances attentional selection via an impact on oscillatory synchrony in visual cortex, for low rather than high frequencies. We discuss this dissociation between high- and low-frequency oscillations in relation to proposals that lower-frequency oscillations are generated by feedback pathways within visual cortex. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Two different mechanisms support selective attention at different phases of training.

PubMed

Itthipuripat, Sirawaj; Cha, Kexin; Byers, Anna; Serences, John T

2017-06-01

Selective attention supports the prioritized processing of relevant sensory information to facilitate goal-directed behavior. Studies in human subjects demonstrate that attentional gain of cortical responses can sufficiently account for attention-related improvements in behavior. On the other hand, studies using highly trained nonhuman primates suggest that reductions in neural noise can better explain attentional facilitation of behavior. Given the importance of selective information processing in nearly all domains of cognition, we sought to reconcile these competing accounts by testing the hypothesis that extensive behavioral training alters the neural mechanisms that support selective attention. We tested this hypothesis using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure stimulus-evoked visual responses from human subjects while they performed a selective spatial attention task over the course of ~1 month. Early in training, spatial attention led to an increase in the gain of stimulus-evoked visual responses. Gain was apparent within ~100 ms of stimulus onset, and a quantitative model based on signal detection theory (SDT) successfully linked the magnitude of this gain modulation to attention-related improvements in behavior. However, after extensive training, this early attentional gain was eliminated even though there were still substantial attention-related improvements in behavior. Accordingly, the SDT-based model required noise reduction to account for the link between the stimulus-evoked visual responses and attentional modulations of behavior. These findings suggest that training can lead to fundamental changes in the way attention alters the early cortical responses that support selective information processing. Moreover, these data facilitate the translation of results across different species and across experimental procedures that employ different behavioral training regimes.

Two different mechanisms support selective attention at different phases of training

PubMed Central

Cha, Kexin; Byers, Anna; Serences, John T.

2017-01-01

Selective attention supports the prioritized processing of relevant sensory information to facilitate goal-directed behavior. Studies in human subjects demonstrate that attentional gain of cortical responses can sufficiently account for attention-related improvements in behavior. On the other hand, studies using highly trained nonhuman primates suggest that reductions in neural noise can better explain attentional facilitation of behavior. Given the importance of selective information processing in nearly all domains of cognition, we sought to reconcile these competing accounts by testing the hypothesis that extensive behavioral training alters the neural mechanisms that support selective attention. We tested this hypothesis using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure stimulus-evoked visual responses from human subjects while they performed a selective spatial attention task over the course of ~1 month. Early in training, spatial attention led to an increase in the gain of stimulus-evoked visual responses. Gain was apparent within ~100 ms of stimulus onset, and a quantitative model based on signal detection theory (SDT) successfully linked the magnitude of this gain modulation to attention-related improvements in behavior. However, after extensive training, this early attentional gain was eliminated even though there were still substantial attention-related improvements in behavior. Accordingly, the SDT-based model required noise reduction to account for the link between the stimulus-evoked visual responses and attentional modulations of behavior. These findings suggest that training can lead to fundamental changes in the way attention alters the early cortical responses that support selective information processing. Moreover, these data facilitate the translation of results across different species and across experimental procedures that employ different behavioral training regimes. PMID:28654635

Eye movements and attention: The role of pre-saccadic shifts of attention in perception, memory and the control of saccades

PubMed Central

Gersch, Timothy M.; Schnitzer, Brian S.; Dosher, Barbara A.; Kowler, Eileen

2012-01-01

Saccadic eye movements and perceptual attention work in a coordinated fashion to allow selection of the objects, features or regions with the greatest momentary need for limited visual processing resources. This study investigates perceptual characteristics of pre-saccadic shifts of attention during a sequence of saccades using the visual manipulations employed to study mechanisms of attention during maintained fixation. The first part of this paper reviews studies of the connections between saccades and attention, and their significance for both saccadic control and perception. The second part presents three experiments that examine the effects of pre-saccadic shifts of attention on vision during sequences of saccades. Perceptual enhancements at the saccadic goal location relative to non-goal locations were found across a range of stimulus contrasts, with either perceptual discrimination or detection tasks, with either single or multiple perceptual targets, and regardless of the presence of external noise. The results show that the preparation of saccades can evoke a variety of attentional effects, including attentionally-mediated changes in the strength of perceptual representations, selection of targets for encoding in visual memory, exclusion of external noise, or changes in the levels of internal visual noise. The visual changes evoked by saccadic planning make it possible for the visual system to effectively use saccadic eye movements to explore the visual environment. PMID:22809798

Changes in search rate but not in the dynamics of exogenous attention in action videogame players.

PubMed

Hubert-Wallander, Bjorn; Green, C Shawn; Sugarman, Michael; Bavelier, Daphne

2011-11-01

Many previous studies have shown that the speed of processing in attentionally demanding tasks seems enhanced following habitual action videogame play. However, using one of the diagnostic tasks for efficiency of attentional processing, a visual search task, Castel and collaborators (Castel, Pratt, & Drummond, Acta Psychologica 119:217-230, 2005) reported no difference in visual search rates, instead proposing that action gaming may change response execution time rather than the efficiency of visual selective attention per se. Here we used two hard visual search tasks, one measuring reaction time and the other accuracy, to test whether visual search rate may be changed by action videogame play. We found greater search rates in the gamer group than in the nongamer controls, consistent with increased efficiency in visual selective attention. We then asked how general the change in attentional throughput noted so far in gamers might be by testing whether exogenous attentional cues would lead to a disproportional enhancement in throughput in gamers as compared to nongamers. Interestingly, exogenous cues were found to enhance throughput equivalently between gamers and nongamers, suggesting that not all mechanisms known to enhance throughput are similarly enhanced in action videogamers.

Qualitative differences in the guidance of attention during single-color and multiple-color visual search: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.

PubMed

Grubert, Anna; Eimer, Martin

2013-10-01

To find out whether attentional target selection can be effectively guided by top-down task sets for multiple colors, we measured behavioral and ERP markers of attentional target selection in an experiment where participants had to identify color-defined target digits that were accompanied by a single gray distractor object in the opposite visual field. In the One Color task, target color was constant. In the Two Color task, targets could have one of two equally likely colors. Color-guided target selection was less efficient during multiple-color relative to single-color search, and this was reflected by slower response times and delayed N2pc components. Nontarget-color items that were presented in half of all trials captured attention and gained access to working memory when participants searched for two colors, but were excluded from attentional processing in the One Color task. Results demonstrate qualitative differences in the guidance of attentional target selection between single-color and multiple-color visual search. They suggest that top-down attentional control can be applied much more effectively when it is based on a single feature-specific attentional template. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Spatial attention enhances the selective integration of activity from area MT.

PubMed

Masse, Nicolas Y; Herrington, Todd M; Cook, Erik P

2012-09-01

Distinguishing which of the many proposed neural mechanisms of spatial attention actually underlies behavioral improvements in visually guided tasks has been difficult. One attractive hypothesis is that attention allows downstream neural circuits to selectively integrate responses from the most informative sensory neurons. This would allow behavioral performance to be based on the highest-quality signals available in visual cortex. We examined this hypothesis by asking how spatial attention affects both the stimulus sensitivity of middle temporal (MT) neurons and their corresponding correlation with behavior. Analyzing a data set pooled from two experiments involving four monkeys, we found that spatial attention did not appreciably affect either the stimulus sensitivity of the neurons or the correlation between their activity and behavior. However, for those sessions in which there was a robust behavioral effect of attention, focusing attention inside the neuron's receptive field significantly increased the correlation between these two metrics, an indication of selective integration. These results suggest that, similar to mechanisms proposed for the neural basis of perceptual learning, the behavioral benefits of focusing spatial attention are attributable to selective integration of neural activity from visual cortical areas by their downstream targets.

Color-selective attention need not be mediated by spatial attention.

PubMed

Andersen, Søren K; Müller, Matthias M; Hillyard, Steven A

2009-06-08

It is well-established that attention can select stimuli for preferential processing on the basis of non-spatial features such as color, orientation, or direction of motion. Evidence is mixed, however, as to whether feature-selective attention acts by increasing the signal strength of to-be-attended features irrespective of their spatial locations or whether it acts by guiding the spotlight of spatial attention to locations containing the relevant feature. To address this question, we designed a task in which feature-selective attention could not be mediated by spatial selection. Participants observed a display of intermingled dots of two colors, which rapidly and unpredictably changed positions, with the task of detecting brief intervals of reduced luminance of 20% of the dots of one or the other color. Both behavioral indices and electrophysiological measures of steady-state visual evoked potentials showed selectively enhanced processing of the attended-color items. The results demonstrate that feature-selective attention produces a sensory gain enhancement at early levels of the visual cortex that occurs without mediation by spatial attention.

Preparatory attention in visual cortex.

PubMed

Battistoni, Elisa; Stein, Timo; Peelen, Marius V

2017-05-01

Top-down attention is the mechanism that allows us to selectively process goal-relevant aspects of a scene while ignoring irrelevant aspects. A large body of research has characterized the effects of attention on neural activity evoked by a visual stimulus. However, attention also includes a preparatory phase before stimulus onset in which the attended dimension is internally represented. Here, we review neurophysiological, functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies investigating the neural basis of preparatory attention, both when attention is directed to a location in space and when it is directed to nonspatial stimulus attributes (content-based attention) ranging from low-level features to object categories. Results show that both spatial and content-based attention lead to increased baseline activity in neural populations that selectively code for the attended attribute. TMS studies provide evidence that this preparatory activity is causally related to subsequent attentional selection and behavioral performance. Attention thus acts by preactivating selective neurons in the visual cortex before stimulus onset. This appears to be a general mechanism that can operate on multiple levels of representation. We discuss the functional relevance of this mechanism, its limitations, and its relation to working memory, imagery, and expectation. We conclude by outlining open questions and future directions. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

Behind the scenes: how visual memory load biases selective attention during processing of visual streams.

PubMed

Klaver, Peter; Talsma, Durk

2013-11-01

We recorded ERPs to investigate whether the visual memory load can bias visual selective attention. Participants memorized one or four letters and then responded to memory-matching letters presented in a relevant color while ignoring distractor letters or letters in an irrelevant color. Stimuli in the relevant color elicited larger frontal selection positivities (FSP) and occipital selection negativities (OSN) compared to irrelevant color stimuli. Only distractors elicited a larger FSP in the high than in the low memory load task. Memory load prolonged the OSN for all letters. Response mapping complexity was also modulated but did not affect the FSP and OSN. Together, the FSP data suggest that high memory load increased distractability. The OSN data suggest that memory load sustained attention to letters in a relevant color until working memory processing was completed, independently of whether the letters were in working memory or not. Copyright © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Audition and Visual Attention: The Developmental Trajectory in Deaf and Hearing Populations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Linda B.; Quittner, Alexandra L.; Osberger, Mary Joe; Miyamoto, Richard

1998-01-01

Two experiments examined visual attention in 5- to 13-year olds who were hearing or deaf with or without cochlear implants. Findings indicated that visual selective attention changes occurred around 8 years for all groups, with deaf children without cochlear implants performing less well than others. Differences between deaf children with and…

Cannabis with high δ9-THC contents affects perception and visual selective attention acutely: an event-related potential study.

PubMed

Böcker, K B E; Gerritsen, J; Hunault, C C; Kruidenier, M; Mensinga, Tj T; Kenemans, J L

2010-07-01

Cannabis intake has been reported to affect cognitive functions such as selective attention. This study addressed the effects of exposure to cannabis with up to 69.4mg Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) recorded during a visual selective attention task. Twenty-four participants smoked cannabis cigarettes with four doses of THC on four test days in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Two hours after THC exposure the participants performed a visual selective attention task and concomitant ERPs were recorded. Accuracy decreased linearly and reaction times increased linearly with THC dose. However, performance measures and most of the ERP components related specifically to selective attention did not show significant dose effects. Only in relatively light cannabis users the Occipital Selection Negativity decreased linearly with dose. Furthermore, ERP components reflecting perceptual processing, as well as the P300 component, decreased in amplitude after THC exposure. Only the former effect showed a linear dose-response relation. The decrements in performance and ERP amplitudes induced by exposure to cannabis with high THC content resulted from a non-selective decrease in attentional or processing resources. Performance requiring attentional resources, such as vehicle control, may be compromised several hours after smoking cannabis cigarettes containing high doses of THC, as presently available in Europe and Northern America. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Toward a Unified Theory of Visual Area V4

PubMed Central

Roe, Anna W.; Chelazzi, Leonardo; Connor, Charles E.; Conway, Bevil R.; Fujita, Ichiro; Gallant, Jack L.; Lu, Haidong; Vanduffel, Wim

2016-01-01

Visual area V4 is a midtier cortical area in the ventral visual pathway. It is crucial for visual object recognition and has been a focus of many studies on visual attention. However, there is no unifying view of V4’s role in visual processing. Neither is there an understanding of how its role in feature processing interfaces with its role in visual attention. This review captures our current knowledge of V4, largely derived from electrophysiological and imaging studies in the macaque monkey. Based on recent discovery of functionally specific domains in V4, we propose that the unifying function of V4 circuitry is to enable selective extraction of specific functional domain-based networks, whether it be by bottom-up specification of object features or by top-down attentionally driven selection. PMID:22500626

Overt attention in contextual cuing of visual search is driven by the attentional set, but not by the predictiveness of distractors.

PubMed

Beesley, Tom; Hanafi, Gunadi; Vadillo, Miguel A; Shanks, David R; Livesey, Evan J

2018-05-01

Two experiments examined biases in selective attention during contextual cuing of visual search. When participants were instructed to search for a target of a particular color, overt attention (as measured by the location of fixations) was biased strongly toward distractors presented in that same color. However, when participants searched for targets that could be presented in 1 of 2 possible colors, overt attention was not biased between the different distractors, regardless of whether these distractors predicted the location of the target (repeating) or did not (randomly arranged). These data suggest that selective attention in visual search is guided only by the demands of the target detection task (the attentional set) and not by the predictive validity of the distractor elements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Impaired visual search in rats reveals cholinergic contributions to feature binding in visuospatial attention.

PubMed

Botly, Leigh C P; De Rosa, Eve

2012-10-01

The visual search task established the feature integration theory of attention in humans and measures visuospatial attentional contributions to feature binding. We recently demonstrated that the neuromodulator acetylcholine (ACh), from the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM), supports the attentional processes required for feature binding using a rat digging-based task. Additional research has demonstrated cholinergic contributions from the NBM to visuospatial attention in rats. Here, we combined these lines of evidence and employed visual search in rats to examine whether cortical cholinergic input supports visuospatial attention specifically for feature binding. We trained 18 male Long-Evans rats to perform visual search using touch screen-equipped operant chambers. Sessions comprised Feature Search (no feature binding required) and Conjunctive Search (feature binding required) trials using multiple stimulus set sizes. Following acquisition of visual search, 8 rats received bilateral NBM lesions using 192 IgG-saporin to selectively reduce cholinergic afferentation of the neocortex, which we hypothesized would selectively disrupt the visuospatial attentional processes needed for efficient conjunctive visual search. As expected, relative to sham-lesioned rats, ACh-NBM-lesioned rats took significantly longer to locate the target stimulus on Conjunctive Search, but not Feature Search trials, thus demonstrating that cholinergic contributions to visuospatial attention are important for feature binding in rats.

The role of lightness, hue and saturation in feature-based visual attention.

PubMed

Stuart, Geoffrey W; Barsdell, Wendy N; Day, Ross H

2014-03-01

Visual attention is used to select part of the visual array for higher-level processing. Visual selection can be based on spatial location, but it has also been demonstrated that multiple locations can be selected simultaneously on the basis of a visual feature such as color. One task that has been used to demonstrate feature-based attention is the judgement of the symmetry of simple four-color displays. In a typical task, when symmetry is violated, four squares on either side of the display do not match. When four colors are involved, symmetry judgements are made more quickly than when only two of the four colors are involved. This indicates that symmetry judgements are made one color at a time. Previous studies have confounded lightness, hue, and saturation when defining the colors used in such displays. In three experiments, symmetry was defined by lightness alone, lightness plus hue, or by hue or saturation alone, with lightness levels randomised. The difference between judgements of two- and four-color asymmetry was maintained, showing that hue and saturation can provide the sole basis for feature-based attentional selection. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuroelectrical signs of selective attention to color in boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

van der Stelt, O; van der Molen, M; Boudewijn Gunning, W; Kok, A

2001-10-01

In order to gain insight into the functional and macroanatomical loci of visual selective processing deficits that may be basic to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the present study examined multi-channel event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded from 7- to 11-year-old boys clinically diagnosed as having ADHD (n=24) and age-matched healthy control boys (n=24) while they performed a visual (color) selective attention task. The spatio-temporal dynamics of several ERP components related to attention to color were characterized using topographic profile analysis, topographic mapping of the ERP and associated scalp current density distributions, and spatio-temporal source potential modeling. Boys with ADHD showed a lower target hit rate, a higher false-alarm rate, and a lower perceptual sensitivity than controls. Also, whereas color attention induced in the ERPs from controls a characteristic early frontally maximal selection positivity (FSP), ADHD boys displayed little or no FSP. Similarly, ADHD boys manifested P3b amplitude decrements that were partially lateralized (i.e., maximal at left temporal scalp locations) as well as affected by maturation. These results indicate that ADHD boys suffer from deficits at both relatively early (sensory) and late (semantic) levels of visual selective information processing. The data also support the hypothesis that the visual selective processing deficits observed in the ADHD boys originate from deficits in the strength of activation of a neural network comprising prefrontal and occipito-temporal brain regions. This network seems to be actively engaged during attention to color and may contain the major intracerebral generating sources of the associated scalp-recorded ERP components.

Selective attention reduces physiological noise in the external ear canals of humans. II: Visual attention

PubMed Central

Walsh, Kyle P.; Pasanen, Edward G.; McFadden, Dennis

2014-01-01

Human subjects performed in several behavioral conditions requiring, or not requiring, selective attention to visual stimuli. Specifically, the attentional task was to recognize strings of digits that had been presented visually. A nonlinear version of the stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emission (SFOAE), called the nSFOAE, was collected during the visual presentation of the digits. The segment of the physiological response discussed here occurred during brief silent periods immediately following the SFOAE-evoking stimuli. For all subjects tested, the physiological-noise magnitudes were substantially weaker (less noisy) during the tasks requiring the most visual attention. Effect sizes for the differences were >2.0. Our interpretation is that cortico-olivo influences adjusted the magnitude of efferent activation during the SFOAE-evoking stimulation depending upon the attention task in effect, and then that magnitude of efferent activation persisted throughout the silent period where it also modulated the physiological noise present. Because the results were highly similar to those obtained when the behavioral conditions involved auditory attention, similar mechanisms appear to operate both across modalities and within modalities. Supplementary measurements revealed that the efferent activation was spectrally global, as it was for auditory attention. PMID:24732070

What Drives Memory-Driven Attentional Capture? The Effects of Memory Type, Display Type, and Search Type

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivers, Christian N. L.

2009-01-01

An important question is whether visual attention (the ability to select relevant visual information) and visual working memory (the ability to retain relevant visual information) share the same content representations. Some past research has indicated that they do: Singleton distractors interfered more strongly with a visual search task when they…

Selective Impairment of Auditory Selective Attention under Concurrent Cognitive Load

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dittrich, Kerstin; Stahl, Christoph

2012-01-01

Load theory predicts that concurrent cognitive load impairs selective attention. For visual stimuli, it has been shown that this impairment can be selective: Distraction was specifically increased when the stimulus material used in the cognitive load task matches that of the selective attention task. Here, we report four experiments that…

Discriminative stimuli that control instrumental tobacco-seeking by human smokers also command selective attention.

PubMed

Hogarth, Lee; Dickinson, Anthony; Duka, Theodora

2003-08-01

Incentive salience theory states that acquired bias in selective attention for stimuli associated with tobacco-smoke reinforcement controls the selective performance of tobacco-seeking and tobacco-taking behaviour. To support this theory, we assessed whether a stimulus that had acquired control of a tobacco-seeking response in a discrimination procedure would command the focus of visual attention in a subsequent test phase. Smokers received discrimination training in which an instrumental key-press response was followed by tobacco-smoke reinforcement when one visual discriminative stimulus (S+) was present, but not when another stimulus (S-) was present. The skin conductance response to the S+ and S- assessed whether Pavlovian conditioning to the S+ had taken place. In a subsequent test phase, the S+ and S- were presented in the dot-probe task and the allocation of the focus of visual attention to these stimuli was measured. Participants learned to perform the instrumental tobacco-seeking response selectively in the presence of the S+ relative to the S-, and showed a greater skin conductance response to the S+ than the S-. In the subsequent test phase, participants allocated the focus of visual attention to the S+ in preference to the S-. Correlation analysis revealed that the visual attentional bias for the S+ was positively associated with the number of times the S+ had been paired with tobacco-smoke in training, the skin conductance response to the S+ and with subjective craving to smoke. Furthermore, increased exposure to tobacco-smoke in the natural environment was associated with reduced discrimination learning. These data demonstrate that discriminative stimuli that signal that tobacco-smoke reinforcement is available acquire the capacity to command selective attentional and elicit instrumental tobacco-seeking behaviour.

Is that a belt or a snake? object attentional selection affects the early stages of visual sensory processing

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background There is at present crescent empirical evidence deriving from different lines of ERPs research that, unlike previously observed, the earliest sensory visual response, known as C1 component or P/N80, generated within the striate cortex, might be modulated by selective attention to visual stimulus features. Up to now, evidence of this modulation has been related to space location, and simple features such as spatial frequency, luminance, and texture. Additionally, neurophysiological conditions, such as emotion, vigilance, the reflexive or voluntary nature of input attentional selection, and workload have also been related to C1 modulations, although at least the workload status has received controversial indications. No information is instead available, at present, for objects attentional selection. Methods In this study object- and space-based attention mechanisms were conjointly investigated by presenting complex, familiar shapes of artefacts and animals, intermixed with distracters, in different tasks requiring the selection of a relevant target-category within a relevant spatial location, while ignoring the other shape categories within this location, and, overall, all the categories at an irrelevant location. EEG was recorded from 30 scalp electrode sites in 21 right-handed participants. Results and Conclusions ERP findings showed that visual processing was modulated by both shape- and location-relevance per se, beginning separately at the latency of the early phase of a precocious negativity (60-80 ms) at mesial scalp sites consistent with the C1 component, and a positivity at more lateral sites. The data also showed that the attentional modulation progressed conjointly at the latency of the subsequent P1 (100-120 ms) and N1 (120-180 ms), as well as later-latency components. These findings support the views that (1) V1 may be precociously modulated by direct top-down influences, and participates to object, besides simple features, attentional selection; (2) object spatial and non-spatial features selection might begin with an early, parallel detection of a target object in the visual field, followed by the progressive focusing of spatial attention onto the location of an actual target for its identification, somehow in line with neural mechanisms reported in the literature as "object-based space selection", or with those proposed for visual search. PMID:22300540

The relationship between visual working memory and attention: retention of precise colour information in the absence of effects on perceptual selection

PubMed Central

Hollingworth, Andrew; Hwang, Seongmin

2013-01-01

We examined the conditions under which a feature value in visual working memory (VWM) recruits visual attention to matching stimuli. Previous work has suggested that VWM supports two qualitatively different states of representation: an active state that interacts with perceptual selection and a passive (or accessory) state that does not. An alternative hypothesis is that VWM supports a single form of representation, with the precision of feature memory controlling whether or not the representation interacts with perceptual selection. The results of three experiments supported the dual-state hypothesis. We established conditions under which participants retained a relatively precise representation of a parcticular colour. If the colour was immediately task relevant, it reliably recruited attention to matching stimuli. However, if the colour was not immediately task relevant, it failed to interact with perceptual selection. Feature maintenance in VWM is not necessarily equivalent with feature-based attentional selection. PMID:24018723

Happy but still focused: failures to find evidence for a mood-induced widening of visual attention.

PubMed

Bruyneel, Lynn; van Steenbergen, Henk; Hommel, Bernhard; Band, Guido P H; De Raedt, Rudi; Koster, Ernst H W

2013-05-01

In models of affect and cognition, it is held that positive affect broadens the scope of attention. Consistent with this claim, previous research has indeed suggested that positive affect is associated with impaired selective attention as evidenced by increased interference of spatially distant distractors. However, several recent findings cast doubt on the reliability of this observation. In the present study, we examined whether selective attention in a visual flanker task is influenced by positive mood induction. Across three experiments, positive affect consistently failed to exert any impact on selective attention. The implications of this null-finding for theoretical models of affect and cognition are discussed.

Playing a first-person shooter video game induces neuroplastic change.

PubMed

Wu, Sijing; Cheng, Cho Kin; Feng, Jing; D'Angelo, Lisa; Alain, Claude; Spence, Ian

2012-06-01

Playing a first-person shooter (FPS) video game alters the neural processes that support spatial selective attention. Our experiment establishes a causal relationship between playing an FPS game and neuroplastic change. Twenty-five participants completed an attentional visual field task while we measured ERPs before and after playing an FPS video game for a cumulative total of 10 hr. Early visual ERPs sensitive to bottom-up attentional processes were little affected by video game playing for only 10 hr. However, participants who played the FPS video game and also showed the greatest improvement on the attentional visual field task displayed increased amplitudes in the later visual ERPs. These potentials are thought to index top-down enhancement of spatial selective attention via increased inhibition of distractors. Individual variations in learning were observed, and these differences show that not all video game players benefit equally, either behaviorally or in terms of neural change.

The Relation Between Selective Attention to Television Forms and Children's Comprehension of Content.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calvert, Sandra L.; And Others

1982-01-01

Investigates the relationship between the moment-to-moment occurrence of selected visual and auditory formal features of a prosocial cartoon and two aspects of information processing (visual attention and comprehension). Subjects, 128 White kindergarten and third- to fourth-grade children, were equally distributed by sex and age and viewed the…

Deficits of spatial and task-related attentional selection in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Redel, P; Bublak, P; Sorg, C; Kurz, A; Förstl, H; Müller, H J; Schneider, W X; Perneczky, R; Finke, K

2012-01-01

Visual selective attention was assessed with a partial-report task in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy elderly controls. Based on Bundesen's "theory of visual attention" (TVA), two parameters were derived: top-down control of attentional selection, representing task-related attentional weighting for prioritizing relevant visual objects, and spatial distribution of attentional weights across the left and the right hemifield. Compared with controls, MCI patients showed significantly reduced top-down controlled selection, which was further deteriorated in AD subjects. Moreover, attentional weighting was significantly unbalanced across hemifields in MCI and tended to be more lateralized in AD. Across MCI and AD patients, carriers of the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele (ApoE4) displayed a leftward spatial bias, which was the more pronounced the younger the ApoE4-positive patients and the earlier disease onset. These results indicate that impaired top-down control may be linked to early dysfunction of fronto-parietal networks. An early temporo-parietal interhemispheric asymmetry might cause a pathological spatial bias which is associated with ApoE4 genotype and may therefore function as early cognitive marker of upcoming AD. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Opposing effects of attention and consciousness on afterimages

PubMed Central

van Boxtel, Jeroen J. A.; Tsuchiya, Naotsugu; Koch, Christof

2010-01-01

The brain's ability to handle sensory information is influenced by both selective attention and consciousness. There is no consensus on the exact relationship between these two processes and whether they are distinct. So far, no experiment has simultaneously manipulated both. We carried out a full factorial 2 × 2 study of the simultaneous influences of attention and consciousness (as assayed by visibility) on perception, correcting for possible concurrent changes in attention and consciousness. We investigated the duration of afterimages for all four combinations of high versus low attention and visible versus invisible. We show that selective attention and visual consciousness have opposite effects: paying attention to the grating decreases the duration of its afterimage, whereas consciously seeing the grating increases the afterimage duration. These findings provide clear evidence for distinctive influences of selective attention and consciousness on visual perception. PMID:20424112

Insights into the Control of Attentional Set in ADHD Using the Attentional Blink Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason, Deanna J.; Humphreys, Glyn W.; Kent, Lindsey

2005-01-01

Background: Previous work on visual selective attention in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has utilised spatial search paradigms. This study compared ADHD to control children on a temporal search task using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). In addition, the effects of irrelevant singleton distractors on search performance…

Multi-modal distraction: insights from children's limited attention.

PubMed

Matusz, Pawel J; Broadbent, Hannah; Ferrari, Jessica; Forrest, Benjamin; Merkley, Rebecca; Scerif, Gaia

2015-03-01

How does the multi-sensory nature of stimuli influence information processing? Cognitive systems with limited selective attention can elucidate these processes. Six-year-olds, 11-year-olds and 20-year-olds engaged in a visual search task that required them to detect a pre-defined coloured shape under conditions of low or high visual perceptual load. On each trial, a peripheral distractor that could be either compatible or incompatible with the current target colour was presented either visually, auditorily or audiovisually. Unlike unimodal distractors, audiovisual distractors elicited reliable compatibility effects across the two levels of load in adults and in the older children, but high visual load significantly reduced distraction for all children, especially the youngest participants. This study provides the first demonstration that multi-sensory distraction has powerful effects on selective attention: Adults and older children alike allocate attention to potentially relevant information across multiple senses. However, poorer attentional resources can, paradoxically, shield the youngest children from the deleterious effects of multi-sensory distraction. Furthermore, we highlight how developmental research can enrich the understanding of distinct mechanisms controlling adult selective attention in multi-sensory environments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A neural theory of visual attention and short-term memory (NTVA).

PubMed

Bundesen, Claus; Habekost, Thomas; Kyllingsbæk, Søren

2011-05-01

The neural theory of visual attention and short-term memory (NTVA) proposed by Bundesen, Habekost, and Kyllingsbæk (2005) is reviewed. In NTVA, filtering (selection of objects) changes the number of cortical neurons in which an object is represented so that this number increases with the behavioural importance of the object. Another mechanism of selection, pigeonholing (selection of features), scales the level of activation in neurons coding for a particular feature. By these mechanisms, behaviourally important objects and features are likely to win the competition to become encoded into visual short-term memory (VSTM). The VSTM system is conceived as a feedback mechanism that sustains activity in the neurons that have won the attentional competition. NTVA accounts both for a wide range of attentional effects in human performance (reaction times and error rates) and a wide range of effects observed in firing rates of single cells in the primate visual system. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Serial grouping of 2D-image regions with object-based attention in humans.

PubMed

Jeurissen, Danique; Self, Matthew W; Roelfsema, Pieter R

2016-06-13

After an initial stage of local analysis within the retina and early visual pathways, the human visual system creates a structured representation of the visual scene by co-selecting image elements that are part of behaviorally relevant objects. The mechanisms underlying this perceptual organization process are only partially understood. We here investigate the time-course of perceptual grouping of two-dimensional image-regions by measuring the reaction times of human participants and report that it is associated with the gradual spread of object-based attention. Attention spreads fastest over large and homogeneous areas and is slowed down at locations that require small-scale processing. We find that the time-course of the object-based selection process is well explained by a 'growth-cone' model, which selects surface elements in an incremental, scale-dependent manner. We discuss how the visual cortical hierarchy can implement this scale-dependent spread of object-based attention, leveraging the different receptive field sizes in distinct cortical areas.

Selective attention within the foveola.

PubMed

Poletti, Martina; Rucci, Michele; Carrasco, Marisa

2017-10-01

Efficient control of attentional resources and high-acuity vision are both fundamental for survival. Shifts in visual attention are known to covertly enhance processing at locations away from the center of gaze, where visual resolution is low. It is unknown, however, whether selective spatial attention operates where the observer is already looking-that is, within the high-acuity foveola, the small yet disproportionally important rod-free region of the retina. Using new methods for precisely controlling retinal stimulation, here we show that covert attention flexibly improves and speeds up both detection and discrimination at loci only a fraction of a degree apart within the foveola. These findings reveal a surprisingly precise control of attention and its involvement in fine spatial vision. They show that the commonly studied covert shifts of attention away from the fovea are the expression of a global mechanism that exerts its action across the entire visual field.

Selective attention within the foveola

PubMed Central

Poletti, Martina; Rucci, Michele; Carrasco, Marisa

2018-01-01

Efficient control of attentional resources and high-acuity vision are both fundamental for survival. Shifts in visual attention are known to covertly enhance processing at locations away from the center of gaze, where visual resolution is low. It is unknown, however, whether selective spatial attention operates where the observer already looks, i.e., within the high-acuity foveola, the small, yet disproportionally important rod-free region of the retina. Using new methods for precisely controlling retinal stimulation, here we show that covert attention flexibly improves and speeds-up both detection and discrimination at loci only a fraction of a degree apart within the foveola. These findings reveal a surprisingly precise control of attention and its involvement in fine spatial vision. They show that the commonly studied covert shifts of attention away from the fovea are the expression of a global mechanism that exerts its action across the entire visual field. PMID:28805816

On the role of selective attention in visual perception

PubMed Central

Luck, Steven J.; Ford, Michelle A.

1998-01-01

What is the role of selective attention in visual perception? Before answering this question, it is necessary to differentiate between attentional mechanisms that influence the identification of a stimulus from those that operate after perception is complete. Cognitive neuroscience techniques are particularly well suited to making this distinction because they allow different attentional mechanisms to be isolated in terms of timing and/or neuroanatomy. The present article describes the use of these techniques in differentiating between perceptual and postperceptual attentional mechanisms and then proposes a specific role of attention in visual perception. Specifically, attention is proposed to resolve ambiguities in neural coding that arise when multiple objects are processed simultaneously. Evidence for this hypothesis is provided by two experiments showing that attention—as measured electrophysiologically—is allocated to visual search targets only under conditions that would be expected to lead to ambiguous neural coding. PMID:9448247

Saccade Generation by the Frontal Eye Fields in Rhesus Monkeys Is Separable from Visual Detection and Bottom-Up Attention Shift

PubMed Central

Lee, Kyoung-Min; Ahn, Kyung-Ha; Keller, Edward L.

2012-01-01

The frontal eye fields (FEF), originally identified as an oculomotor cortex, have also been implicated in perceptual functions, such as constructing a visual saliency map and shifting visual attention. Further dissecting the area’s role in the transformation from visual input to oculomotor command has been difficult because of spatial confounding between stimuli and responses and consequently between intermediate cognitive processes, such as attention shift and saccade preparation. Here we developed two tasks in which the visual stimulus and the saccade response were dissociated in space (the extended memory-guided saccade task), and bottom-up attention shift and saccade target selection were independent (the four-alternative delayed saccade task). Reversible inactivation of the FEF in rhesus monkeys disrupted, as expected, contralateral memory-guided saccades, but visual detection was demonstrated to be intact at the same field. Moreover, saccade behavior was impaired when a bottom-up shift of attention was not a prerequisite for saccade target selection, indicating that the inactivation effect was independent of the previously reported dysfunctions in bottom-up attention control. These findings underscore the motor aspect of the area’s functions, especially in situations where saccades are generated by internal cognitive processes, including visual short-term memory and long-term associative memory. PMID:22761923

Saccade generation by the frontal eye fields in rhesus monkeys is separable from visual detection and bottom-up attention shift.

PubMed

Lee, Kyoung-Min; Ahn, Kyung-Ha; Keller, Edward L

2012-01-01

The frontal eye fields (FEF), originally identified as an oculomotor cortex, have also been implicated in perceptual functions, such as constructing a visual saliency map and shifting visual attention. Further dissecting the area's role in the transformation from visual input to oculomotor command has been difficult because of spatial confounding between stimuli and responses and consequently between intermediate cognitive processes, such as attention shift and saccade preparation. Here we developed two tasks in which the visual stimulus and the saccade response were dissociated in space (the extended memory-guided saccade task), and bottom-up attention shift and saccade target selection were independent (the four-alternative delayed saccade task). Reversible inactivation of the FEF in rhesus monkeys disrupted, as expected, contralateral memory-guided saccades, but visual detection was demonstrated to be intact at the same field. Moreover, saccade behavior was impaired when a bottom-up shift of attention was not a prerequisite for saccade target selection, indicating that the inactivation effect was independent of the previously reported dysfunctions in bottom-up attention control. These findings underscore the motor aspect of the area's functions, especially in situations where saccades are generated by internal cognitive processes, including visual short-term memory and long-term associative memory.

The role of visual attention in multiple object tracking: evidence from ERPs.

PubMed

Doran, Matthew M; Hoffman, James E

2010-01-01

We examined the role of visual attention in the multiple object tracking (MOT) task by measuring the amplitude of the N1 component of the event-related potential (ERP) to probe flashes presented on targets, distractors, or empty background areas. We found evidence that visual attention enhances targets and suppresses distractors (Experiment 1 & 3). However, we also found that when tracking load was light (two targets and two distractors), accurate tracking could be carried out without any apparent contribution from the visual attention system (Experiment 2). Our results suggest that attentional selection during MOT is flexibly determined by task demands as well as tracking load and that visual attention may not always be necessary for accurate tracking.

Attentional Selection in Object Recognition

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-02-01

order. It also affects the choice of strategies in both the 24 A Computational Model of Attentional Selection filtering and arbiter stages. The set...such processing. In Treisman’s model this was hidden in the concept of the selection filter . Later computational models of attention tried to...This thesis presents a novel approach to the selection problem by propos. ing a computational model of visual attentional selection as a paradigm for

A Comparison of the Visual Attention Patterns of People With Aphasia and Adults Without Neurological Conditions for Camera-Engaged and Task-Engaged Visual Scenes.

PubMed

Thiessen, Amber; Beukelman, David; Hux, Karen; Longenecker, Maria

2016-04-01

The purpose of the study was to compare the visual attention patterns of adults with aphasia and adults without neurological conditions when viewing visual scenes with 2 types of engagement. Eye-tracking technology was used to measure the visual attention patterns of 10 adults with aphasia and 10 adults without neurological conditions. Participants viewed camera-engaged (i.e., human figure facing camera) and task-engaged (i.e., human figure looking at and touching an object) visual scenes. Participants with aphasia responded to engagement cues by focusing on objects of interest more for task-engaged scenes than camera-engaged scenes; however, the difference in their responses to these scenes were not as pronounced as those observed in adults without neurological conditions. In addition, people with aphasia spent more time looking at background areas of interest and less time looking at person areas of interest for camera-engaged scenes than did control participants. Results indicate people with aphasia visually attend to scenes differently than adults without neurological conditions. As a consequence, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) facilitators may have different visual attention behaviors than the people with aphasia for whom they are constructing or selecting visual scenes. Further examination of the visual attention of people with aphasia may help optimize visual scene selection.

Visual short-term memory load strengthens selective attention.

PubMed

Roper, Zachary J J; Vecera, Shaun P

2014-04-01

Perceptual load theory accounts for many attentional phenomena; however, its mechanism remains elusive because it invokes underspecified attentional resources. Recent dual-task evidence has revealed that a concurrent visual short-term memory (VSTM) load slows visual search and reduces contrast sensitivity, but it is unknown whether a VSTM load also constricts attention in a canonical perceptual load task. If attentional selection draws upon VSTM resources, then distraction effects-which measure attentional "spill-over"-will be reduced as competition for resources increases. Observers performed a low perceptual load flanker task during the delay period of a VSTM change detection task. We observed a reduction of the flanker effect in the perceptual load task as a function of increasing concurrent VSTM load. These findings were not due to perceptual-level interactions between the physical displays of the two tasks. Our findings suggest that perceptual representations of distractor stimuli compete with the maintenance of visual representations held in memory. We conclude that access to VSTM determines the degree of attentional selectivity; when VSTM is not completely taxed, it is more likely for task-irrelevant items to be consolidated and, consequently, affect responses. The "resources" hypothesized by load theory are at least partly mnemonic in nature, due to the strong correspondence they share with VSTM capacity.

Guidance of visual attention by semantic information in real-world scenes

PubMed Central

Wu, Chia-Chien; Wick, Farahnaz Ahmed; Pomplun, Marc

2014-01-01

Recent research on attentional guidance in real-world scenes has focused on object recognition within the context of a scene. This approach has been valuable for determining some factors that drive the allocation of visual attention and determine visual selection. This article provides a review of experimental work on how different components of context, especially semantic information, affect attentional deployment. We review work from the areas of object recognition, scene perception, and visual search, highlighting recent studies examining semantic structure in real-world scenes. A better understanding on how humans parse scene representations will not only improve current models of visual attention but also advance next-generation computer vision systems and human-computer interfaces. PMID:24567724

Visual attention in preterm born adults: specifically impaired attentional sub-mechanisms that link with altered intrinsic brain networks in a compensation-like mode.

PubMed

Finke, Kathrin; Neitzel, Julia; Bäuml, Josef G; Redel, Petra; Müller, Hermann J; Meng, Chun; Jaekel, Julia; Daamen, Marcel; Scheef, Lukas; Busch, Barbara; Baumann, Nicole; Boecker, Henning; Bartmann, Peter; Habekost, Thomas; Wolke, Dieter; Wohlschläger, Afra; Sorg, Christian

2015-02-15

Although pronounced and lasting deficits in selective attention have been observed for preterm born individuals it is unknown which specific attentional sub-mechanisms are affected and how they relate to brain networks. We used the computationally specified 'Theory of Visual Attention' together with whole- and partial-report paradigms to compare attentional sub-mechanisms of pre- (n=33) and full-term (n=32) born adults. Resting-state fMRI was used to evaluate both between-group differences and inter-individual variance in changed functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks relevant for visual attention. In preterm born adults, we found specific impairments of visual short-term memory (vSTM) storage capacity while other sub-mechanisms such as processing speed or attentional weighting were unchanged. Furthermore, changed functional connectivity was found in unimodal visual and supramodal attention-related intrinsic networks. Among preterm born adults, the individual pattern of changed connectivity in occipital and parietal cortices was systematically associated with vSTM in such a way that the more distinct the connectivity differences, the better the preterm adults' storage capacity. These findings provide first evidence for selectively changed attentional sub-mechanisms in preterm born adults and their relation to altered intrinsic brain networks. In particular, data suggest that cortical changes in intrinsic functional connectivity may compensate adverse developmental consequences of prematurity on visual short-term storage capacity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sensation seeking and visual selective attention in adults with HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Hardy, David J; Castellon, Steven A; Hinkin, Charles H; Levine, Andrew J; Lam, Mona N

2008-11-01

The association between sensation seeking and visual selective attention was examined in 31 adults with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Sensation seeking was measured with Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V). Selective attention was assessed with a perceptual span task, where a target letter-character must be identified in a quickly presented array of nontarget letter-characters. As predicted, sensation seeking was strongly associated (R(2) = .229) with perceptual span performance in the array size 12 condition, where selective attention demands were greatest, but not in the easier conditions. The Disinhibition, Boredom Susceptibility, and Experience Seeking subscales of the SSS-V were associated with span performance. It is argued that personality factors such as sensation seeking may play a significant role in selective attention and related cognitive abilities in HIV positive adults. Furthermore, sensation seeking differences might explain certain inconsistencies in the HIV neuropsychology literature.

A Comparison of the Contributions of Phonological Recoding and Selective Attention Deficits to Reading Disability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowers, P. G.; And Others

A study investigated whether a visual selective attention deficit with its presumed basis in slow visual processing referred to the same phonological recoding deficit, or whether they were two independent sources of reading disability. Subjects were children aged 7 to 15 referred to a university clinic (the Waterloo Child Assessment…

Infants' Selective Attention to Reliable Visual Cues in the Presence of Salient Distractors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tummeltshammer, Kristen Swan; Mareschal, Denis; Kirkham, Natasha Z.

2014-01-01

With many features competing for attention in their visual environment, infants must learn to deploy attention toward informative cues while ignoring distractions. Three eye tracking experiments were conducted to investigate whether 6- and 8-month-olds (total N = 102) would shift attention away from a distractor stimulus to learn a cue-reward…

[Thalamus and Attention].

PubMed

Tokoro, Kazuhiko; Sato, Hironobu; Yamamoto, Mayumi; Nagai, Yoshiko

2015-12-01

Attention is the process by which information and selection occurs, the thalamus plays an important role in the selective attention of visual and auditory information. Selective attention is a conscious effort; however, it occurs subconsciously, as well. The lateral geniculate body (LGB) filters visual information before it reaches the cortex (bottom-up attention). The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) provides a strong inhibitory input to both the LGB and pulvinar. This regulation involves focusing a spotlight on important information, as well as inhibiting unnecessary background information. Behavioral contexts more strongly modulate activity of the TRN and pulvinar influencing feedforward and feedback information transmission between the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortical areas (top-down attention). The medial geniculate body (MGB) filters auditory information the TRN inhibits the MGB. Attentional modulation occurring in the auditory pathway among the cochlea, cochlear nucleus, superior olivary complex, and inferior colliculus is more important than that of the MGB and TRN. We also discuss the attentional consequence of thalamic hemorrhage.

A paired case-control comparison of ziprasidone on visual sustained attention and visual selective attention in patients with paranoid schizophrenia.

PubMed

Chen, X; Zhang, Z H; Song, Y; Yuan, W; Liu, Z X; Tang, M Q

2015-08-01

Cognitive impairment is one of the main targets of the treatment to schizophrenia.The atypical antipsychotic was proved to improve the cognition function of the patients. There were a few of clinical trials to detect the effect of medicine treatment on attention function. But the respective changes of sustained and selective attention in the patients with treatment of ziprasidone were rarely investigated. This present study was to explore the effect of ziprasidone on visual sustained and selective attention in schizophrenia. There were 81 patients who were treated with ziprasidone and matched with 81 healthy controls in this open-label trial. The functions were evaluated by Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and Color Word Test (CWT) at baseline and eight weeks later. Between two groups the functions were compared at the two time points, and in patients group those were compared prior to and post treatment. As compared with healthy controls, the functions of the patients were worse. But after 8 weeks treatment of ziprasidone the functions improved in some degree, which were indicated by the change of CPT and CWT indexes. Furthermore, those of patients post treatment were better than prior to treatment. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia have visual sustained and selective attention deficits. The deficits can be improved partly with ziprasidone treatment.

Study of target and non-target interplay in spatial attention task.

PubMed

Sweeti; Joshi, Deepak; Panigrahi, B K; Anand, Sneh; Santhosh, Jayasree

2018-02-01

Selective visual attention is the ability to selectively pay attention to the targets while inhibiting the distractors. This paper aims to study the targets and non-targets interplay in spatial attention task while subject attends to the target object present in one visual hemifield and ignores the distractor present in another visual hemifield. This paper performs the averaged evoked response potential (ERP) analysis and time-frequency analysis. ERP analysis agrees to the left hemisphere superiority over late potentials for the targets present in right visual hemifield. Time-frequency analysis performed suggests two parameters i.e. event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) and inter-trial coherence (ITC). These parameters show the same properties for the target present in either of the visual hemifields but show the difference while comparing the activity corresponding to the targets and non-targets. In this way, this study helps to visualise the difference between targets present in the left and right visual hemifields and, also the targets and non-targets present in the left and right visual hemifields. These results could be utilised to monitor subjects' performance in brain-computer interface (BCI) and neurorehabilitation.

The modulation of perceptual selection by working memory is dependent on the focus of spatial attention.

PubMed

Pan, Yi; Soto, David

2010-07-09

Recent research suggests that visual selection can be automatically biased to those stimuli matching the contents of working memory (WM). However, a complete functional account of the interplay between WM and attention remains to be established. In particular, the boundary conditions of the WM effect on selection are unclear. Here, the authors investigate the influence of the focus of spatial attention (i.e., diffused vs. focused) by assessing the effect of spatial precues on attentional capture by WM. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that relative to a neutral condition without memory-matching stimuli, the presence of a memory distractor can trigger attentional capture despite being entirely irrelevant for the attention task but this happened only when the item was actively maintained in WM and not when it was merely repeated. Experiments 3a, 3b and 3c showed that attentional capture by WM can be modulated by endogenous spatial pre-cueing of the incoming target of selection. The authors conclude that WM-driven capture of visual selection is dependent on the focus of spatial attention. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The flanker compatibility effect as a function of visual angle, attentional focus, visual transients, and perceptual load: a search for boundary conditions.

PubMed

Miller, J

1991-03-01

When subjects must respond to a relevant center letter and ignore irrelevant flanking letters, the identities of the flankers produce a response compatibility effect, indicating that they are processed semantically at least to some extent. Because this effect decreases as the separation between target and flankers increases, the effect appears to result from imperfect early selection (attenuation). In the present experiments, several features of the focused attention paradigm were examined, in order to determine whether they might produce the flanker compatibility effect by interfering with the operation of an early selective mechanism. Specifically, the effect might be produced because the paradigm requires subjects to (1) attend exclusively to stimuli within a very small visual angle, (2) maintain a long-term attentional focus on a constant display location, (3) focus attention on an empty display location, (4) exclude onset-transient flankers from semantic processing, or (5) ignore some of the few stimuli in an impoverished visual field. The results indicate that none of these task features is required for semantic processing of unattended stimuli to occur. In fact, visual angle is the only one of the task features that clearly has a strong influence on the size of the flanker compatibility effect. The invariance of the flanker compatibility effect across these conditions suggests that the mechanism for early selection rarely, if ever, completely excludes unattended stimuli from semantic analysis. In addition, it shows that selective mechanisms are relatively insensitive to several factors that might be expected to influence them, thereby supporting the view that spatial separation has a special status for visual selective attention.

Visual Attention and Applications in Multimedia Technologies

PubMed Central

Le Callet, Patrick; Niebur, Ernst

2013-01-01

Making technological advances in the field of human-machine interactions requires that the capabilities and limitations of the human perceptual system are taken into account. The focus of this report is an important mechanism of perception, visual selective attention, which is becoming more and more important for multimedia applications. We introduce the concept of visual attention and describe its underlying mechanisms. In particular, we introduce the concepts of overt and covert visual attention, and of bottom-up and top-down processing. Challenges related to modeling visual attention and their validation using ad hoc ground truth are also discussed. Examples of the usage of visual attention models in image and video processing are presented. We emphasize multimedia delivery, retargeting and quality assessment of image and video, medical imaging, and the field of stereoscopic 3D images applications. PMID:24489403

Attended but unseen: visual attention is not sufficient for visual awareness.

PubMed

Kentridge, R W; Nijboer, T C W; Heywood, C A

2008-02-12

Does any one psychological process give rise to visual awareness? One candidate is selective attention-when we attend to something it seems we always see it. But if attention can selectively enhance our response to an unseen stimulus then attention cannot be a sufficient precondition for awareness. Kentridge, Heywood & Weiskrantz [Kentridge, R. W., Heywood, C. A., & Weiskrantz, L. (1999). Attention without awareness in blindsight. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 266, 1805-1811; Kentridge, R. W., Heywood, C. A., & Weiskrantz, L. (2004). Spatial attention speeds discrimination without awareness in blindsight. Neuropsychologia, 42, 831-835.] demonstrated just such a dissociation in the blindsight subject GY. Here, we test whether the dissociation generalizes to the normal population. We presented observers with pairs of coloured discs, each masked by the subsequent presentation of a coloured annulus. The discs acted as primes, speeding discrimination of the colour of the annulus when they matched in colour and slowing it when they differed. We show that the location of attention modulated the size of this priming effect. However, the primes were rendered invisible by metacontrast-masking and remained unseen despite being attended. Visual attention could therefore facilitate processing of an invisible target and cannot, therefore, be a sufficient precondition for visual awareness.

Glued to Which Face? Attentional Priority Effect of Female Babyface and Male Mature Face

PubMed Central

Zheng, Wenwen; Luo, Ting; Hu, Chuan-Peng; Peng, Kaiping

2018-01-01

A more babyfaced individual is perceived as more child-like and this impression from babyface, as known as babyface effect, has an impact on social life among various age groups. In this study, the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention was tested by cognitive task, demonstrating that the female babyface and male mature face would draw participants’ attention so that they take their eyes off more slowly. In Experiment 1, a detection task was applied to test the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention. In this experiment, a babyface and a mature face with the same gender were presented simultaneously with a letter on one of them. The reaction time was shorter when the target letter was overlaid with a female babyface or male mature face, suggesting an attention capture effect. To explore how this competition influenced by attentional resources, we conducted Experiment 2 with a spatial cueing paradigm and controlled the attentional resources by cueing validity and inter-stimulus interval. In this task, the female babyface and male mature face prolonged responses to the spatially separated targets under the condition of an invalid and long interval pre-cue. This observation replicated the result of Experiment 1. This indicates that the female babyface and male mature face glued visual selective attention once attentional resources were directed to them. To further investigate the subliminal influence from a babyface, we used continuous flash suppression paradigm in Experiment 3. The results, again, showed the advantage of the female babyfaces and male mature faces: they broke the suppression faster than other faces. Our results provide primary evidence that the female babyfaces and male mature faces can reliably glue the visual selective attention, both supra- and sub-liminally. PMID:29559946

Glued to Which Face? Attentional Priority Effect of Female Babyface and Male Mature Face.

PubMed

Zheng, Wenwen; Luo, Ting; Hu, Chuan-Peng; Peng, Kaiping

2018-01-01

A more babyfaced individual is perceived as more child-like and this impression from babyface, as known as babyface effect, has an impact on social life among various age groups. In this study, the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention was tested by cognitive task, demonstrating that the female babyface and male mature face would draw participants' attention so that they take their eyes off more slowly. In Experiment 1, a detection task was applied to test the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention. In this experiment, a babyface and a mature face with the same gender were presented simultaneously with a letter on one of them. The reaction time was shorter when the target letter was overlaid with a female babyface or male mature face, suggesting an attention capture effect. To explore how this competition influenced by attentional resources, we conducted Experiment 2 with a spatial cueing paradigm and controlled the attentional resources by cueing validity and inter-stimulus interval. In this task, the female babyface and male mature face prolonged responses to the spatially separated targets under the condition of an invalid and long interval pre-cue. This observation replicated the result of Experiment 1. This indicates that the female babyface and male mature face glued visual selective attention once attentional resources were directed to them. To further investigate the subliminal influence from a babyface, we used continuous flash suppression paradigm in Experiment 3. The results, again, showed the advantage of the female babyfaces and male mature faces: they broke the suppression faster than other faces. Our results provide primary evidence that the female babyfaces and male mature faces can reliably glue the visual selective attention, both supra- and sub-liminally.

Countering the Consequences of Ego Depletion: The Effects of Self-Talk on Selective Attention.

PubMed

Gregersen, Jón; Hatzigeorgiadis, Antonis; Galanis, Evangelos; Comoutos, Nikos; Papaioannou, Athanasios

2017-06-01

This study examined the effects of a self-talk intervention on selective attention in a state of ego depletion. Participants were 62 undergraduate students with a mean age of 20.02 years (SD = 1.17). The experiment was conducted in four consecutive sessions. Following baseline assessment, participants were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. A two-session training was conducted for the two groups, with the experimental group using self-talk. In the final assessment, participants performed a selective attention test, including visual and auditory components, following a task inducing a state of ego depletion. The analysis showed that participants of the experimental group achieved a higher percentage of correct responses on the visual test and produced faster reaction times in both the visual and the auditory test compared with participants of the control group. The results of this study suggest that the use of self-talk can benefit selective attention for participants in states of ego depletion.

Resource-sharing between internal maintenance and external selection modulates attentional capture by working memory content.

PubMed

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2014-01-01

It is unclear why and under what circumstances working memory (WM) and attention interact. Here, we apply the logic of the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model of WM (e.g., Barrouillet et al., 2004) to explore the mixed findings of a separate, but related, literature that studies the guidance of visual attention by WM contents. Specifically, we hypothesize that the linkage between WM representations and visual attention is governed by a time-shared cognitive resource that alternately refreshes internal (WM) and selects external (visual attention) information. If this were the case, WM content should guide visual attention (involuntarily), but only when there is time for it to be refreshed in an internal focus of attention. To provide an initial test for this hypothesis, we examined whether the amount of unoccupied time during a WM delay could impact the magnitude of attentional capture by WM contents. Participants were presented with a series of visual search trials while they maintained a WM cue for a delayed-recognition test. WM cues could coincide with the search target, a distracter, or neither. We varied both the number of searches to be performed, and the amount of available time to perform them. Slowing of visual search by a WM matching distracter-and facilitation by a matching target-were curtailed when the delay was filled with fast-paced (refreshing-preventing) search trials, as was subsequent memory probe accuracy. WM content may, therefore, only capture visual attention when it can be refreshed, suggesting that internal (WM) and external attention demands reciprocally impact one another because they share a limited resource. The TBRS rationale can thus be applied in a novel context to explain why WM contents capture attention, and under what conditions that effect should be observed.

Resource-sharing between internal maintenance and external selection modulates attentional capture by working memory content

PubMed Central

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2014-01-01

It is unclear why and under what circumstances working memory (WM) and attention interact. Here, we apply the logic of the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model of WM (e.g., Barrouillet et al., 2004) to explore the mixed findings of a separate, but related, literature that studies the guidance of visual attention by WM contents. Specifically, we hypothesize that the linkage between WM representations and visual attention is governed by a time-shared cognitive resource that alternately refreshes internal (WM) and selects external (visual attention) information. If this were the case, WM content should guide visual attention (involuntarily), but only when there is time for it to be refreshed in an internal focus of attention. To provide an initial test for this hypothesis, we examined whether the amount of unoccupied time during a WM delay could impact the magnitude of attentional capture by WM contents. Participants were presented with a series of visual search trials while they maintained a WM cue for a delayed-recognition test. WM cues could coincide with the search target, a distracter, or neither. We varied both the number of searches to be performed, and the amount of available time to perform them. Slowing of visual search by a WM matching distracter—and facilitation by a matching target—were curtailed when the delay was filled with fast-paced (refreshing-preventing) search trials, as was subsequent memory probe accuracy. WM content may, therefore, only capture visual attention when it can be refreshed, suggesting that internal (WM) and external attention demands reciprocally impact one another because they share a limited resource. The TBRS rationale can thus be applied in a novel context to explain why WM contents capture attention, and under what conditions that effect should be observed. PMID:25221499

Modulation of human extrastriate visual processing by selective attention to colours and words.

PubMed

Nobre, A C; Allison, T; McCarthy, G

1998-07-01

The present study investigated the effect of visual selective attention upon neural processing within functionally specialized regions of the human extrastriate visual cortex. Field potentials were recorded directly from the inferior surface of the temporal lobes in subjects with epilepsy. The experimental task required subjects to focus attention on words from one of two competing texts. Words were presented individually and foveally. Texts were interleaved randomly and were distinguishable on the basis of word colour. Focal field potentials were evoked by words in the posterior part of the fusiform gyrus. Selective attention strongly modulated long-latency potentials evoked by words. The attention effect co-localized with word-related potentials in the posterior fusiform gyrus, and was independent of stimulus colour. The results demonstrated that stimuli receive differential processing within specialized regions of the extrastriate cortex as a function of attention. The late onset of the attention effect and its co-localization with letter string-related potentials but not with colour-related potentials recorded from nearby regions of the fusiform gyrus suggest that the attention effect is due to top-down influences from downstream regions involved in word processing.

Integration trumps selection in object recognition.

PubMed

Saarela, Toni P; Landy, Michael S

2015-03-30

Finding and recognizing objects is a fundamental task of vision. Objects can be defined by several "cues" (color, luminance, texture, etc.), and humans can integrate sensory cues to improve detection and recognition [1-3]. Cortical mechanisms fuse information from multiple cues [4], and shape-selective neural mechanisms can display cue invariance by responding to a given shape independent of the visual cue defining it [5-8]. Selective attention, in contrast, improves recognition by isolating a subset of the visual information [9]. Humans can select single features (red or vertical) within a perceptual dimension (color or orientation), giving faster and more accurate responses to items having the attended feature [10, 11]. Attention elevates neural responses and sharpens neural tuning to the attended feature, as shown by studies in psychophysics and modeling [11, 12], imaging [13-16], and single-cell and neural population recordings [17, 18]. Besides single features, attention can select whole objects [19-21]. Objects are among the suggested "units" of attention because attention to a single feature of an object causes the selection of all of its features [19-21]. Here, we pit integration against attentional selection in object recognition. We find, first, that humans can integrate information near optimally from several perceptual dimensions (color, texture, luminance) to improve recognition. They cannot, however, isolate a single dimension even when the other dimensions provide task-irrelevant, potentially conflicting information. For object recognition, it appears that there is mandatory integration of information from multiple dimensions of visual experience. The advantage afforded by this integration, however, comes at the expense of attentional selection. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration trumps selection in object recognition

PubMed Central

Saarela, Toni P.; Landy, Michael S.

2015-01-01

Summary Finding and recognizing objects is a fundamental task of vision. Objects can be defined by several “cues” (color, luminance, texture etc.), and humans can integrate sensory cues to improve detection and recognition [1–3]. Cortical mechanisms fuse information from multiple cues [4], and shape-selective neural mechanisms can display cue-invariance by responding to a given shape independent of the visual cue defining it [5–8]. Selective attention, in contrast, improves recognition by isolating a subset of the visual information [9]. Humans can select single features (red or vertical) within a perceptual dimension (color or orientation), giving faster and more accurate responses to items having the attended feature [10,11]. Attention elevates neural responses and sharpens neural tuning to the attended feature, as shown by studies in psychophysics and modeling [11,12], imaging [13–16], and single-cell and neural population recordings [17,18]. Besides single features, attention can select whole objects [19–21]. Objects are among the suggested “units” of attention because attention to a single feature of an object causes the selection of all of its features [19–21]. Here, we pit integration against attentional selection in object recognition. We find, first, that humans can integrate information near-optimally from several perceptual dimensions (color, texture, luminance) to improve recognition. They cannot, however, isolate a single dimension even when the other dimensions provide task-irrelevant, potentially conflicting information. For object recognition, it appears that there is mandatory integration of information from multiple dimensions of visual experience. The advantage afforded by this integration, however, comes at the expense of attentional selection. PMID:25802154

Visual attention based bag-of-words model for image classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiwei; Wan, Shouhong; Yue, Lihua; Wang, Che

2014-04-01

Bag-of-words is a classical method for image classification. The core problem is how to count the frequency of the visual words and what visual words to select. In this paper, we propose a visual attention based bag-of-words model (VABOW model) for image classification task. The VABOW model utilizes visual attention method to generate a saliency map, and uses the saliency map as a weighted matrix to instruct the statistic process for the frequency of the visual words. On the other hand, the VABOW model combines shape, color and texture cues and uses L1 regularization logistic regression method to select the most relevant and most efficient features. We compare our approach with traditional bag-of-words based method on two datasets, and the result shows that our VABOW model outperforms the state-of-the-art method for image classification.

Visual attention: The past 25 years

PubMed Central

Carrasco, Marisa

2012-01-01

This review focuses on covert attention and how it alters early vision. I explain why attention is considered a selective process, the constructs of covert attention, spatial endogenous and exogenous attention, and feature-based attention. I explain how in the last 25 years research on attention has characterized the effects of covert attention on spatial filters and how attention influences the selection of stimuli of interest. This review includes the effects of spatial attention on discriminability and appearance in tasks mediated by contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution; the effects of feature-based attention on basic visual processes, and a comparison of the effects of spatial and feature-based attention. The emphasis of this review is on psychophysical studies, but relevant electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies and models regarding how and where neuronal responses are modulated are also discussed. PMID:21549742

Visual attention: the past 25 years.

PubMed

Carrasco, Marisa

2011-07-01

This review focuses on covert attention and how it alters early vision. I explain why attention is considered a selective process, the constructs of covert attention, spatial endogenous and exogenous attention, and feature-based attention. I explain how in the last 25 years research on attention has characterized the effects of covert attention on spatial filters and how attention influences the selection of stimuli of interest. This review includes the effects of spatial attention on discriminability and appearance in tasks mediated by contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution; the effects of feature-based attention on basic visual processes, and a comparison of the effects of spatial and feature-based attention. The emphasis of this review is on psychophysical studies, but relevant electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies and models regarding how and where neuronal responses are modulated are also discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temporal Correlation Mechanisms and Their Role in Feature Selection: A Single-Unit Study in Primate Somatosensory Cortex

PubMed Central

Gomez-Ramirez, Manuel; Trzcinski, Natalie K.; Mihalas, Stefan; Niebur, Ernst

2014-01-01

Studies in vision show that attention enhances the firing rates of cells when it is directed towards their preferred stimulus feature. However, it is unknown whether other sensory systems employ this mechanism to mediate feature selection within their modalities. Moreover, whether feature-based attention modulates the correlated activity of a population is unclear. Indeed, temporal correlation codes such as spike-synchrony and spike-count correlations (rsc) are believed to play a role in stimulus selection by increasing the signal and reducing the noise in a population, respectively. Here, we investigate (1) whether feature-based attention biases the correlated activity between neurons when attention is directed towards their common preferred feature, (2) the interplay between spike-synchrony and rsc during feature selection, and (3) whether feature attention effects are common across the visual and tactile systems. Single-unit recordings were made in secondary somatosensory cortex of three non-human primates while animals engaged in tactile feature (orientation and frequency) and visual discrimination tasks. We found that both firing rate and spike-synchrony between neurons with similar feature selectivity were enhanced when attention was directed towards their preferred feature. However, attention effects on spike-synchrony were twice as large as those on firing rate, and had a tighter relationship with behavioral performance. Further, we observed increased rsc when attention was directed towards the visual modality (i.e., away from touch). These data suggest that similar feature selection mechanisms are employed in vision and touch, and that temporal correlation codes such as spike-synchrony play a role in mediating feature selection. We posit that feature-based selection operates by implementing multiple mechanisms that reduce the overall noise levels in the neural population and synchronize activity across subpopulations that encode the relevant features of sensory stimuli. PMID:25423284

Effects of visual attention on chromatic and achromatic detection sensitivities.

PubMed

Uchikawa, Keiji; Sato, Masayuki; Kuwamura, Keiko

2014-05-01

Visual attention has a significant effect on various visual functions, such as response time, detection and discrimination sensitivity, and color appearance. It has been suggested that visual attention may affect visual functions in the early visual pathways. In this study we examined selective effects of visual attention on sensitivities of the chromatic and achromatic pathways to clarify whether visual attention modifies responses in the early visual system. We used a dual task paradigm in which the observer detected a peripheral test stimulus presented at 4 deg eccentricities while the observer concurrently carried out an attention task in the central visual field. In experiment 1, it was confirmed that peripheral spectral sensitivities were reduced more for short and long wavelengths than for middle wavelengths with the central attention task so that the spectral sensitivity function changed its shape by visual attention. This indicated that visual attention affected the chromatic response more strongly than the achromatic response. In experiment 2 it was obtained that the detection thresholds increased in greater degrees in the red-green and yellow-blue chromatic directions than in the white-black achromatic direction in the dual task condition. In experiment 3 we showed that the peripheral threshold elevations depended on the combination of color-directions of the central and peripheral stimuli. Since the chromatic and achromatic responses were separately processed in the early visual pathways, the present results provided additional evidence that visual attention affects responses in the early visual pathways.

A bilateral advantage in controlling access to visual short-term memory.

PubMed

Holt, Jessica L; Delvenne, Jean-François

2014-01-01

Recent research on visual short-term memory (VSTM) has revealed the existence of a bilateral field advantage (BFA--i.e., better memory when the items are distributed in the two visual fields than if they are presented in the same hemifield) for spatial location and bar orientation, but not for color (Delvenne, 2005; Umemoto, Drew, Ester, & Awh, 2010). Here, we investigated whether a BFA in VSTM is constrained by attentional selective processes. It has indeed been previously suggested that the BFA may be a general feature of selective attention (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2005; Delvenne, 2005). Therefore, the present study examined whether VSTM for color benefits from bilateral presentation if attentional selective processes are particularly engaged. Participants completed a color change detection task whereby target stimuli were presented either across both hemifields or within one single hemifield. In order to engage attentional selective processes, some trials contained irrelevant stimuli that needed to be ignored. Targets were selected based on spatial locations (Experiment 1) or on a salient feature (Experiment 2). In both cases, the results revealed a BFA only when irrelevant stimuli were presented among the targets. Overall, the findings strongly suggest that attentional selective processes at encoding can constrain whether a BFA is observed in VSTM.

How visual cues for when to listen aid selective auditory attention.

PubMed

Varghese, Lenny A; Ozmeral, Erol J; Best, Virginia; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G

2012-06-01

Visual cues are known to aid auditory processing when they provide direct information about signal content, as in lip reading. However, some studies hint that visual cues also aid auditory perception by guiding attention to the target in a mixture of similar sounds. The current study directly tests this idea for complex, nonspeech auditory signals, using a visual cue providing only timing information about the target. Listeners were asked to identify a target zebra finch bird song played at a random time within a longer, competing masker. Two different maskers were used: noise and a chorus of competing bird songs. On half of all trials, a visual cue indicated the timing of the target within the masker. For the noise masker, the visual cue did not affect performance when target and masker were from the same location, but improved performance when target and masker were in different locations. In contrast, for the chorus masker, visual cues improved performance only when target and masker were perceived as coming from the same direction. These results suggest that simple visual cues for when to listen improve target identification by enhancing sounds near the threshold of audibility when the target is energetically masked and by enhancing segregation when it is difficult to direct selective attention to the target. Visual cues help little when target and masker already differ in attributes that enable listeners to engage selective auditory attention effectively, including differences in spectrotemporal structure and in perceived location.

Dynamic reorganization of human resting-state networks during visuospatial attention.

PubMed

Spadone, Sara; Della Penna, Stefania; Sestieri, Carlo; Betti, Viviana; Tosoni, Annalisa; Perrucci, Mauro Gianni; Romani, Gian Luca; Corbetta, Maurizio

2015-06-30

Fundamental problems in neuroscience today are understanding how patterns of ongoing spontaneous activity are modified by task performance and whether/how these intrinsic patterns influence task-evoked activation and behavior. We examined these questions by comparing instantaneous functional connectivity (IFC) and directed functional connectivity (DFC) changes in two networks that are strongly correlated and segregated at rest: the visual (VIS) network and the dorsal attention network (DAN). We measured how IFC and DFC during a visuospatial attention task, which requires dynamic selective rerouting of visual information across hemispheres, changed with respect to rest. During the attention task, the two networks remained relatively segregated, and their general pattern of within-network correlation was maintained. However, attention induced a decrease of correlation in the VIS network and an increase of the DAN→VIS IFC and DFC, especially in a top-down direction. In contrast, within the DAN, IFC was not modified by attention, whereas DFC was enhanced. Importantly, IFC modulations were behaviorally relevant. We conclude that a stable backbone of within-network functional connectivity topography remains in place when transitioning between resting wakefulness and attention selection. However, relative decrease of correlation of ongoing "idling" activity in visual cortex and synchronization between frontoparietal and visual cortex were behaviorally relevant, indicating that modulations of resting activity patterns are important for task performance. Higher order resting connectivity in the DAN was relatively unaffected during attention, potentially indicating a role for simultaneous ongoing activity as a "prior" for attention selection.

Mental rotation impairs attention shifting and short-term memory encoding: neurophysiological evidence against the response-selection bottleneck model of dual-task performance.

PubMed

Pannebakker, Merel M; Jolicœur, Pierre; van Dam, Wessel O; Band, Guido P H; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; Hommel, Bernhard

2011-09-01

Dual tasks and their associated delays have often been used to examine the boundaries of processing in the brain. We used the dual-task procedure and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate how mental rotation of a first stimulus (S1) influences the shifting of visual-spatial attention to a second stimulus (S2). Visual-spatial attention was monitored by using the N2pc component of the ERP. In addition, we examined the sustained posterior contralateral negativity (SPCN) believed to index the retention of information in visual short-term memory. We found modulations of both the N2pc and the SPCN, suggesting that engaging mechanisms of mental rotation impairs the deployment of visual-spatial attention and delays the passage of a representation of S2 into visual short-term memory. Both results suggest interactions between mental rotation and visual-spatial attention in capacity-limited processing mechanisms indicating that response selection is not pivotal in dual-task delays and all three processes are likely to share a common resource like executive control. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential effects of visual attention and working memory on binocular rivalry.

PubMed

Scocchia, Lisa; Valsecchi, Matteo; Gegenfurtner, Karl R; Triesch, Jochen

2014-05-30

The investigation of cognitive influence on binocular rivalry has a long history. However, the effects of visual WM on rivalry have never been studied so far. We examined top-down modulation of rivalry perception in four experiments to compare the effects of visual WM and sustained selective attention: In the first three experiments we failed to observe any sustained effect of the WM content; only the color of the memory probe was found to prime the initially dominant percept. In Experiment 4 we found a clear effect of sustained attention on rivalry both in terms of the first dominant percept and of the overall dominance when participants were involved in a tracking task. Our results provide an example of dissociation between visual WM and selective attention, two phenomena which otherwise functionally overlap to a large extent. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of the task employed to engage cognitive resources: The observed perceptual epiphenomena of binocular rivalry are indicative of visual competition at an early stage, which is not affected by WM but is still susceptible to attention influence as long as the observer’s attention is constrained to one of the two rival images via a specific concomitant task. © 2014 ARVO.

Overt Attention in Contextual Cuing of Visual Search Is Driven by the Attentional Set, but Not by the Predictiveness of Distractors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beesley, Tom; Hanafi, Gunadi; Vadillo, Miguel A.; Shanks, David R.; Livesey, Evan J.

2018-01-01

Two experiments examined biases in selective attention during contextual cuing of visual search. When participants were instructed to search for a target of a particular color, overt attention (as measured by the location of fixations) was biased strongly toward distractors presented in that same color. However, when participants searched for…

Adaptive Allocation of Attention: Effects of Sex and Sociosexuality on Visual Attention to Attractive Opposite-Sex Faces.

PubMed

Duncan, Lesley A; Park, Justin H; Faulkner, Jason; Schaller, Mark; Neuberg, Steven L; Kenrick, Douglas T

2007-09-01

We tested the hypothesis that, compared with sociosexually restricted individuals, those with an unrestricted approach to mating would selectively allocate visual attention to attractive opposite-sex others. We also tested for sex differences in this effect. Seventy-four participants completed the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory, and performed a computer-based task that assessed the speed with which they detected changes in attractive and unattractive male and female faces. Differences in reaction times served as indicators of selective attention. Results revealed a Sex X Sociosexuality interaction: Compared with sociosexually restricted men, unrestricted men selectively allocated attention to attractive opposite-sex others; no such effect emerged among women. This finding was specific to opposite-sex targets and did not occur in attention to same-sex others. These results contribute to a growing literature on the adaptive allocation of attention in social environments.

Additive effects of emotional content and spatial selective attention on electrocortical facilitation.

PubMed

Keil, Andreas; Moratti, Stephan; Sabatinelli, Dean; Bradley, Margaret M; Lang, Peter J

2005-08-01

Affectively arousing visual stimuli have been suggested to automatically attract attentional resources in order to optimize sensory processing. The present study crosses the factors of spatial selective attention and affective content, and examines the relationship between instructed (spatial) and automatic attention to affective stimuli. In addition to response times and error rate, electroencephalographic data from 129 electrodes were recorded during a covert spatial attention task. This task required silent counting of random-dot targets embedded in a 10 Hz flicker of colored pictures presented to both hemifields. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) were obtained to determine amplitude and phase of electrocortical responses to pictures. An increase of ssVEP amplitude was observed as an additive function of spatial attention and emotional content. Statistical parametric mapping of this effect indicated occipito-temporal and parietal cortex activation contralateral to the attended visual hemifield in ssVEP amplitude modulation. This difference was most pronounced during selection of the left visual hemifield, at right temporal electrodes. In line with this finding, phase information revealed accelerated processing of aversive arousing, compared to affectively neutral pictures. The data suggest that affective stimulus properties modulate the spatiotemporal process along the ventral stream, encompassing amplitude amplification and timing changes of posterior and temporal cortex.

The µ-opioid system promotes visual attention to faces and eyes.

PubMed

Chelnokova, Olga; Laeng, Bruno; Løseth, Guro; Eikemo, Marie; Willoch, Frode; Leknes, Siri

2016-12-01

Paying attention to others' faces and eyes is a cornerstone of human social behavior. The µ-opioid receptor (MOR) system, central to social reward-processing in rodents and primates, has been proposed to mediate the capacity for affiliative reward in humans. We assessed the role of the human MOR system in visual exploration of faces and eyes of conspecifics. Thirty healthy males received a novel, bidirectional battery of psychopharmacological treatment (an MOR agonist, a non-selective opioid antagonist, or placebo, on three separate days). Eye-movements were recorded while participants viewed facial photographs. We predicted that the MOR system would promote visual exploration of faces, and hypothesized that MOR agonism would increase, whereas antagonism decrease overt attention to the information-rich eye region. The expected linear effect of MOR manipulation on visual attention to the stimuli was observed, such that MOR agonism increased while antagonism decreased visual exploration of faces and overt attention to the eyes. The observed effects suggest that the human MOR system promotes overt visual attention to socially significant cues, in line with theories linking reward value to gaze control and target selection. Enhanced attention to others' faces and eyes represents a putative behavioral mechanism through which the human MOR system promotes social interest. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Which Behavioral and Personality Characteristics Are Associated with Difficulties in Selective Attention?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avisar, Alon

2011-01-01

Objective: The present study investigated the behavioral and personality profile associated with difficulties in selective attention. Method: A group of participants with ADHD were assessed for ADHD behaviors. Adults with ADHD (n = 22) and without ADHD (n = 84) were tested on the conjunctive visual-search task for selective attention and…

Selective Audiovisual Semantic Integration Enabled by Feature-Selective Attention.

PubMed

Li, Yuanqing; Long, Jinyi; Huang, Biao; Yu, Tianyou; Wu, Wei; Li, Peijun; Fang, Fang; Sun, Pei

2016-01-13

An audiovisual object may contain multiple semantic features, such as the gender and emotional features of the speaker. Feature-selective attention and audiovisual semantic integration are two brain functions involved in the recognition of audiovisual objects. Humans often selectively attend to one or several features while ignoring the other features of an audiovisual object. Meanwhile, the human brain integrates semantic information from the visual and auditory modalities. However, how these two brain functions correlate with each other remains to be elucidated. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural mechanism by which feature-selective attention modulates audiovisual semantic integration. During the fMRI experiment, the subjects were presented with visual-only, auditory-only, or audiovisual dynamical facial stimuli and performed several feature-selective attention tasks. Our results revealed that a distribution of areas, including heteromodal areas and brain areas encoding attended features, may be involved in audiovisual semantic integration. Through feature-selective attention, the human brain may selectively integrate audiovisual semantic information from attended features by enhancing functional connectivity and thus regulating information flows from heteromodal areas to brain areas encoding the attended features.

A visual salience map in the primate frontal eye field.

PubMed

Thompson, Kirk G; Bichot, Narcisse P

2005-01-01

Models of attention and saccade target selection propose that within the brain there is a topographic map of visual salience that combines bottom-up and top-down influences to identify locations for further processing. The results of a series of experiments with monkeys performing visual search tasks have identified a population of frontal eye field (FEF) visually responsive neurons that exhibit all of the characteristics of a visual salience map. The activity of these FEF neurons is not sensitive to specific features of visual stimuli; but instead, their activity evolves over time to select the target of the search array. This selective activation reflects both the bottom-up intrinsic conspicuousness of the stimuli and the top-down knowledge and goals of the viewer. The peak response within FEF specifies the target for the overt gaze shift. However, the selective activity in FEF is not in itself a motor command because the magnitude of activation reflects the relative behavioral significance of the different stimuli in the visual scene and occurs even when no saccade is made. Identifying a visual salience map in FEF validates the theoretical concept of a salience map in many models of attention. In addition, it strengthens the emerging view that FEF is not only involved in producing overt gaze shifts, but is also important for directing covert spatial attention.

Selective visual processing across competition episodes: a theory of task-driven visual attention and working memory

PubMed Central

Schneider, Werner X.

2013-01-01

The goal of this review is to introduce a theory of task-driven visual attention and working memory (TRAM). Based on a specific biased competition model, the ‘theory of visual attention’ (TVA) and its neural interpretation (NTVA), TRAM introduces the following assumption. First, selective visual processing over time is structured in competition episodes. Within an episode, that is, during its first two phases, a limited number of proto-objects are competitively encoded—modulated by the current task—in activation-based visual working memory (VWM). In processing phase 3, relevant VWM objects are transferred via a short-term consolidation into passive VWM. Second, each time attentional priorities change (e.g. after an eye movement), a new competition episode is initiated. Third, if a phase 3 VWM process (e.g. short-term consolidation) is not finished, whereas a new episode is called, a protective maintenance process allows its completion. After a VWM object change, its protective maintenance process is followed by an encapsulation of the VWM object causing attentional resource costs in trailing competition episodes. Viewed from this perspective, a new explanation of key findings of the attentional blink will be offered. Finally, a new suggestion will be made as to how VWM items might interact with visual search processes. PMID:24018722

Object-based attention underlies the rehearsal of feature binding in visual working memory.

PubMed

Shen, Mowei; Huang, Xiang; Gao, Zaifeng

2015-04-01

Feature binding is a core concept in many research fields, including the study of working memory (WM). Over the past decade, it has been debated whether keeping the feature binding in visual WM consumes more visual attention than the constituent single features. Previous studies have only explored the contribution of domain-general attention or space-based attention in the binding process; no study so far has explored the role of object-based attention in retaining binding in visual WM. We hypothesized that object-based attention underlay the mechanism of rehearsing feature binding in visual WM. Therefore, during the maintenance phase of a visual WM task, we inserted a secondary mental rotation (Experiments 1-3), transparent motion (Experiment 4), or an object-based feature report task (Experiment 5) to consume the object-based attention available for binding. In line with the prediction of the object-based attention hypothesis, Experiments 1-5 revealed a more significant impairment for binding than for constituent single features. However, this selective binding impairment was not observed when inserting a space-based visual search task (Experiment 6). We conclude that object-based attention underlies the rehearsal of binding representation in visual WM. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Attentional Selection of Feature Conjunctions Is Accomplished by Parallel and Independent Selection of Single Features.

PubMed

Andersen, Søren K; Müller, Matthias M; Hillyard, Steven A

2015-07-08

Experiments that study feature-based attention have often examined situations in which selection is based on a single feature (e.g., the color red). However, in more complex situations relevant stimuli may not be set apart from other stimuli by a single defining property but by a specific combination of features. Here, we examined sustained attentional selection of stimuli defined by conjunctions of color and orientation. Human observers attended to one out of four concurrently presented superimposed fields of randomly moving horizontal or vertical bars of red or blue color to detect brief intervals of coherent motion. Selective stimulus processing in early visual cortex was assessed by recordings of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by each of the flickering fields of stimuli. We directly contrasted attentional selection of single features and feature conjunctions and found that SSVEP amplitudes on conditions in which selection was based on a single feature only (color or orientation) exactly predicted the magnitude of attentional enhancement of SSVEPs when attending to a conjunction of both features. Furthermore, enhanced SSVEP amplitudes elicited by attended stimuli were accompanied by equivalent reductions of SSVEP amplitudes elicited by unattended stimuli in all cases. We conclude that attentional selection of a feature-conjunction stimulus is accomplished by the parallel and independent facilitation of its constituent feature dimensions in early visual cortex. The ability to perceive the world is limited by the brain's processing capacity. Attention affords adaptive behavior by selectively prioritizing processing of relevant stimuli based on their features (location, color, orientation, etc.). We found that attentional mechanisms for selection of different features belonging to the same object operate independently and in parallel: concurrent attentional selection of two stimulus features is simply the sum of attending to each of those features separately. This result is key to understanding attentional selection in complex (natural) scenes, where relevant stimuli are likely to be defined by a combination of stimulus features. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/359912-08$15.00/0.

Color vision but not visual attention is altered in migraine.

PubMed

Shepherd, Alex J

2006-04-01

To examine visual search performance in migraine and headache-free control groups and to determine whether reports of selective color vision deficits in migraine occur preattentively. Visual search is a classic technique to measure certain components of visual attention. The technique can be manipulated to measure both preattentive (automatic) and attentive processes. Here, visual search for colored targets was employed to extend earlier reports that the detection or discrimination of colors selective for the short-wavelength sensitive cone photoreceptors in the retina (S or "blue" cones) is impaired in migraine. Visual search performance for small and large color differences was measured in 34 migraine and 34 control participants. Small and large color differences were included to assess attentive and preattentive processing, respectively. In separate conditions, colored stimuli were chosen that would be detected selectively by either the S-, or by the long- (L or "red") and middle (M or "green")-wavelength sensitive cone photoreceptors. The results showed no preattentive differences between the migraine and control groups. For active, or attentive, search, differences between the migraine and control groups occurred for colors detected by the S-cones only, there were no differences for colors detected by the L- and M-cones. The migraine group responded significantly more slowly than the control group for the S-cone colors. The pattern of results indicates that there are no overall differences in search performance between migraine and control groups. The differences found for the S-cone colors are attributed to impaired discrimination of these colors in migraine and not to differences in attention.

Serial grouping of 2D-image regions with object-based attention in humans

PubMed Central

Jeurissen, Danique; Self, Matthew W; Roelfsema, Pieter R

2016-01-01

After an initial stage of local analysis within the retina and early visual pathways, the human visual system creates a structured representation of the visual scene by co-selecting image elements that are part of behaviorally relevant objects. The mechanisms underlying this perceptual organization process are only partially understood. We here investigate the time-course of perceptual grouping of two-dimensional image-regions by measuring the reaction times of human participants and report that it is associated with the gradual spread of object-based attention. Attention spreads fastest over large and homogeneous areas and is slowed down at locations that require small-scale processing. We find that the time-course of the object-based selection process is well explained by a 'growth-cone' model, which selects surface elements in an incremental, scale-dependent manner. We discuss how the visual cortical hierarchy can implement this scale-dependent spread of object-based attention, leveraging the different receptive field sizes in distinct cortical areas. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14320.001 PMID:27291188

Biasing the brain's attentional set: I. cue driven deployments of intersensory selective attention.

PubMed

Foxe, John J; Simpson, Gregory V; Ahlfors, Seppo P; Saron, Clifford D

2005-10-01

Brain activity associated with directing attention to one of two possible sensory modalities was examined using high-density mapping of human event-related potentials. The deployment of selective attention was based on visually presented symbolic cue-words instructing subjects on a trial-by-trial basis, which sensory modality to attend. We measured the spatio-temporal pattern of activation in the approximately 1 second period between the cue-instruction and a subsequent compound auditory-visual imperative stimulus. This allowed us to assess the flow of processing across brain regions involved in deploying and sustaining inter-sensory selective attention, prior to the actual selective processing of the compound audio-visual target stimulus. Activity over frontal and parietal areas showed sensory specific increases in activation during the early part of the anticipatory period (~230 ms), probably representing the activation of fronto-parietal attentional deployment systems for top-down control of attention. In the later period preceding the arrival of the "to-be-attended" stimulus, sustained differential activity was seen over fronto-central regions and parieto-occipital regions, suggesting the maintenance of sensory-specific biased attentional states that would allow for subsequent selective processing. Although there was clear sensory biasing in this late sustained period, it was also clear that both sensory systems were being prepared during the cue-target period. These late sensory-specific biasing effects were also accompanied by sustained activations over frontal cortices that also showed both common and sensory specific activation patterns, suggesting that maintenance of the biased state includes top-down inputs from generators in frontal cortices, some of which are sensory-specific regions. These data support extensive interactions between sensory, parietal and frontal regions during processing of cue information, deployment of attention, and maintenance of the focus of attention in anticipation of impending attentionally relevant input.

Attention Effects During Visual Short-Term Memory Maintenance: Protection or Prioritization?

PubMed Central

Matsukura, Michi; Luck, Steven J.; Vecera, Shaun P.

2007-01-01

Interactions between visual attention and visual short-term memory (VSTM) play a central role in cognitive processing. For example, attention can assist in selectively encoding items into visual memory. Attention appears to be able to influence items already stored in visual memory as well; cues that appear long after the presentation of an array of objects can affect memory for those objects (Griffin & Nobre, 2003). In five experiments, we distinguished two possible mechanisms for the effects of cues on items currently stored in VSTM. A protection account proposes that attention protects the cued item from becoming degraded during the retention interval. By contrast, a prioritization account suggests that attention increases a cued item’s priority during the comparison process that occurs when memory is tested. The results of the experiments were consistent with the first of these possibilities, suggesting that attention can serve to protect VSTM representations while they are being maintained. PMID:18078232

Visual attention in posterior stroke and relations to alexia.

PubMed

Petersen, A; Vangkilde, S; Fabricius, C; Iversen, H K; Delfi, T S; Starrfelt, R

2016-11-01

Impaired visual attention is common following strokes in the territory of the middle cerebral artery, particularly in the right hemisphere, while attentional effects of more posterior lesions are less clear. Commonly, such deficits are investigated in relation to specific syndromes like visual agnosia or pure alexia. The aim of this study was to characterize visual processing speed and apprehension span following posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke. In addition, the relationship between these attentional parameters and single word reading is investigated, as previous studies have suggested that reduced visual speed and span may explain pure alexia. Eight patients with unilateral PCA strokes (four left hemisphere, four right hemisphere) were selected on the basis of lesion location, rather than the presence of any visual symptoms. Visual attention was characterized by a whole report paradigm allowing for hemifield-specific measurements of processing speed and apprehension span. All patients showed reductions in visual span contralateral to the lesion site, and four patients showed bilateral reductions in visual span despite unilateral lesions (2L; 2R). Six patients showed selective deficits in visual span, though processing speed was unaffected in the same field (ipsi- or contralesionally). Only patients with right hemifield reductions in visual span were impaired in reading, and this could follow either right or left lateralized stroke and was irrespective of visual field impairments. In conclusion, visual span may be affected bilaterally by unilateral PCA-lesions. Reductions in visual span may also be confined to one hemifield, and may be affected in spite of preserved visual processing speed. Furthermore, reduced span in the right visual field seems to be related to reading impairment in this group, regardless of lesion lateralization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Competitive Influences of Perceptual Load and Working Memory Guidance on Selective Attention.

PubMed

Tan, Jinfeng; Zhao, Yuanfang; Wang, Lijun; Tian, Xia; Cui, Yan; Yang, Qian; Pan, Weigang; Zhao, Xiaoyue; Chen, Antao

2015-01-01

The perceptual load theory in selective attention literature proposes that the interference from task-irrelevant distractor is eliminated when perceptual capacity is fully consumed by task-relevant information. However, the biased competition model suggests that the contents of working memory (WM) can guide attentional selection automatically, even when this guidance is detrimental to visual search. An intriguing but unsolved question is what will happen when selective attention is influenced by both perceptual load and WM guidance. To study this issue, behavioral performances and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when participants were presented with a cue to either identify or hold in memory and had to perform a visual search task subsequently, under conditions of low or high perceptual load. Behavioural data showed that high perceptual load eliminated the attentional capture by WM. The ERP results revealed an obvious WM guidance effect in P1 component with invalid trials eliciting larger P1 than neutral trials, regardless of the level of perceptual load. The interaction between perceptual load and WM guidance was significant for the posterior N1 component. The memory guidance effect on N1 was eliminated by high perceptual load. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) showed that the WM guidance effect and the perceptual load effect on attention can be localized into the occipital area and parietal lobe, respectively. Merely identifying the cue produced no effect on the P1 or N1 component. These results suggest that in selective attention, the information held in WM could capture attention at the early stage of visual processing in the occipital cortex. Interestingly, this initial capture of attention by WM could be modulated by the level of perceptual load and the parietal lobe mediates target selection at the discrimination stage.

The Competitive Influences of Perceptual Load and Working Memory Guidance on Selective Attention

PubMed Central

Tan, Jinfeng; Zhao, Yuanfang; Wang, Lijun; Tian, Xia; Cui, Yan; Yang, Qian; Pan, Weigang; Zhao, Xiaoyue; Chen, Antao

2015-01-01

The perceptual load theory in selective attention literature proposes that the interference from task-irrelevant distractor is eliminated when perceptual capacity is fully consumed by task-relevant information. However, the biased competition model suggests that the contents of working memory (WM) can guide attentional selection automatically, even when this guidance is detrimental to visual search. An intriguing but unsolved question is what will happen when selective attention is influenced by both perceptual load and WM guidance. To study this issue, behavioral performances and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when participants were presented with a cue to either identify or hold in memory and had to perform a visual search task subsequently, under conditions of low or high perceptual load. Behavioural data showed that high perceptual load eliminated the attentional capture by WM. The ERP results revealed an obvious WM guidance effect in P1 component with invalid trials eliciting larger P1 than neutral trials, regardless of the level of perceptual load. The interaction between perceptual load and WM guidance was significant for the posterior N1 component. The memory guidance effect on N1 was eliminated by high perceptual load. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) showed that the WM guidance effect and the perceptual load effect on attention can be localized into the occipital area and parietal lobe, respectively. Merely identifying the cue produced no effect on the P1 or N1 component. These results suggest that in selective attention, the information held in WM could capture attention at the early stage of visual processing in the occipital cortex. Interestingly, this initial capture of attention by WM could be modulated by the level of perceptual load and the parietal lobe mediates target selection at the discrimination stage. PMID:26098079

Cognitive programs: software for attention's executive

PubMed Central

Tsotsos, John K.; Kruijne, Wouter

2014-01-01

What are the computational tasks that an executive controller for visual attention must solve? This question is posed in the context of the Selective Tuning model of attention. The range of required computations go beyond top-down bias signals or region-of-interest determinations, and must deal with overt and covert fixations, process timing and synchronization, information routing, memory, matching control to task, spatial localization, priming, and coordination of bottom-up with top-down information. During task execution, results must be monitored to ensure the expected results. This description includes the kinds of elements that are common in the control of any kind of complex machine or system. We seek a mechanistic integration of the above, in other words, algorithms that accomplish control. Such algorithms operate on representations, transforming a representation of one kind into another, which then forms the input to yet another algorithm. Cognitive Programs (CPs) are hypothesized to capture exactly such representational transformations via stepwise sequences of operations. CPs, an updated and modernized offspring of Ullman's Visual Routines, impose an algorithmic structure to the set of attentional functions and play a role in the overall shaping of attentional modulation of the visual system so that it provides its best performance. This requires that we consider the visual system as a dynamic, yet general-purpose processor tuned to the task and input of the moment. This differs dramatically from the almost universal cognitive and computational views, which regard vision as a passively observing module to which simple questions about percepts can be posed, regardless of task. Differing from Visual Routines, CPs explicitly involve the critical elements of Visual Task Executive (vTE), Visual Attention Executive (vAE), and Visual Working Memory (vWM). Cognitive Programs provide the software that directs the actions of the Selective Tuning model of visual attention. PMID:25505430

Simulating the role of visual selective attention during the development of perceptual completion

PubMed Central

Schlesinger, Matthew; Amso, Dima; Johnson, Scott P.

2014-01-01

We recently proposed a multi-channel, image-filtering model for simulating the development of visual selective attention in young infants (Schlesinger, Amso & Johnson, 2007). The model not only captures the performance of 3-month-olds on a visual search task, but also implicates two cortical regions that may play a role in the development of visual selective attention. In the current simulation study, we used the same model to simulate 3-month-olds’ performance on a second measure, the perceptual unity task. Two parameters in the model – corresponding to areas in the occipital and parietal cortices – were systematically varied while the gaze patterns produced by the model were recorded and subsequently analyzed. Three key findings emerged from the simulation study. First, the model successfully replicated the performance of 3-month-olds on the unity perception task. Second, the model also helps to explain the improved performance of 2-month-olds when the size of the occluder in the unity perception task is reduced. Third, in contrast to our previous simulation results, variation in only one of the two cortical regions simulated (i.e. recurrent activity in posterior parietal cortex) resulted in a performance pattern that matched 3-month-olds. These findings provide additional support for our hypothesis that the development of perceptual completion in early infancy is promoted by progressive improvements in visual selective attention and oculomotor skill. PMID:23106728

Simulating the role of visual selective attention during the development of perceptual completion.

PubMed

Schlesinger, Matthew; Amso, Dima; Johnson, Scott P

2012-11-01

We recently proposed a multi-channel, image-filtering model for simulating the development of visual selective attention in young infants (Schlesinger, Amso & Johnson, 2007). The model not only captures the performance of 3-month-olds on a visual search task, but also implicates two cortical regions that may play a role in the development of visual selective attention. In the current simulation study, we used the same model to simulate 3-month-olds' performance on a second measure, the perceptual unity task. Two parameters in the model - corresponding to areas in the occipital and parietal cortices - were systematically varied while the gaze patterns produced by the model were recorded and subsequently analyzed. Three key findings emerged from the simulation study. First, the model successfully replicated the performance of 3-month-olds on the unity perception task. Second, the model also helps to explain the improved performance of 2-month-olds when the size of the occluder in the unity perception task is reduced. Third, in contrast to our previous simulation results, variation in only one of the two cortical regions simulated (i.e. recurrent activity in posterior parietal cortex) resulted in a performance pattern that matched 3-month-olds. These findings provide additional support for our hypothesis that the development of perceptual completion in early infancy is promoted by progressive improvements in visual selective attention and oculomotor skill. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Is goal-directed attentional guidance just intertrial priming? A review.

PubMed

Lamy, Dominique F; Kristjánsson, Arni

2013-07-01

According to most models of selective visual attention, our goals at any given moment and saliency in the visual field determine attentional priority. But selection is not carried out in isolation--we typically track objects through space and time. This is not well captured within the distinction between goal-directed and saliency-based attentional guidance. Recent studies have shown that selection is strongly facilitated when the characteristics of the objects to be attended and of those to be ignored remain constant between consecutive selections. These studies have generated the proposal that goal-directed or top-down effects are best understood as intertrial priming effects. Here, we provide a detailed overview and critical appraisal of the arguments, experimental strategies, and findings that have been used to promote this idea, along with a review of studies providing potential counterarguments. We divide this review according to different types of attentional control settings that observers are thought to adopt during visual search: feature-based settings, dimension-based settings, and singleton detection mode. We conclude that priming accounts for considerable portions of effects attributed to top-down guidance, but that top-down guidance can be independent of intertrial priming.

The effects of the dopamine agonist rotigotine on hemispatial neglect following stroke.

PubMed

Gorgoraptis, Nikos; Mah, Yee-Haur; Machner, Bjoern; Singh-Curry, Victoria; Malhotra, Paresh; Hadji-Michael, Maria; Cohen, David; Simister, Robert; Nair, Ajoy; Kulinskaya, Elena; Ward, Nick; Greenwood, Richard; Husain, Masud

2012-08-01

Hemispatial neglect following right-hemisphere stroke is a common and disabling disorder, for which there is currently no effective pharmacological treatment. Dopamine agonists have been shown to play a role in selective attention and working memory, two core cognitive components of neglect. Here, we investigated whether the dopamine agonist rotigotine would have a beneficial effect on hemispatial neglect in stroke patients. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled ABA design was used, in which each patient was assessed for 20 testing sessions, in three phases: pretreatment (Phase A1), on transdermal rotigotine for 7-11 days (Phase B) and post-treatment (Phase A2), with the exact duration of each phase randomized within limits. Outcome measures included performance on cancellation (visual search), line bisection, visual working memory, selective attention and sustained attention tasks, as well as measures of motor control. Sixteen right-hemisphere stroke patients were recruited, all of whom completed the trial. Performance on the Mesulam shape cancellation task improved significantly while on rotigotine, with the number of targets found on the left side increasing by 12.8% (P = 0.012) on treatment and spatial bias reducing by 8.1% (P = 0.016). This improvement in visual search was associated with an enhancement in selective attention but not on our measures of working memory or sustained attention. The positive effect of rotigotine on visual search was not associated with the degree of preservation of prefrontal cortex and occurred even in patients with significant prefrontal involvement. Rotigotine was not associated with any significant improvement in motor performance. This proof-of-concept study suggests a beneficial role of dopaminergic modulation on visual search and selective attention in patients with hemispatial neglect following stroke.

The effects of the dopamine agonist rotigotine on hemispatial neglect following stroke

PubMed Central

Gorgoraptis, Nikos; Mah, Yee-Haur; Machner, Bjoern; Singh-Curry, Victoria; Malhotra, Paresh; Hadji-Michael, Maria; Cohen, David; Simister, Robert; Nair, Ajoy; Kulinskaya, Elena; Ward, Nick; Greenwood, Richard

2012-01-01

Hemispatial neglect following right-hemisphere stroke is a common and disabling disorder, for which there is currently no effective pharmacological treatment. Dopamine agonists have been shown to play a role in selective attention and working memory, two core cognitive components of neglect. Here, we investigated whether the dopamine agonist rotigotine would have a beneficial effect on hemispatial neglect in stroke patients. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled ABA design was used, in which each patient was assessed for 20 testing sessions, in three phases: pretreatment (Phase A1), on transdermal rotigotine for 7–11 days (Phase B) and post-treatment (Phase A2), with the exact duration of each phase randomized within limits. Outcome measures included performance on cancellation (visual search), line bisection, visual working memory, selective attention and sustained attention tasks, as well as measures of motor control. Sixteen right-hemisphere stroke patients were recruited, all of whom completed the trial. Performance on the Mesulam shape cancellation task improved significantly while on rotigotine, with the number of targets found on the left side increasing by 12.8% (P = 0.012) on treatment and spatial bias reducing by 8.1% (P = 0.016). This improvement in visual search was associated with an enhancement in selective attention but not on our measures of working memory or sustained attention. The positive effect of rotigotine on visual search was not associated with the degree of preservation of prefrontal cortex and occurred even in patients with significant prefrontal involvement. Rotigotine was not associated with any significant improvement in motor performance. This proof-of-concept study suggests a beneficial role of dopaminergic modulation on visual search and selective attention in patients with hemispatial neglect following stroke. PMID:22761293

An event-related brain potential study of visual selective attention to conjunctions of color and shape.

PubMed

Smid, H G; Jakob, A; Heinze, H J

1999-03-01

What cognitive processes underlie event-related brain potential (ERP) effects related to visual multidimensional selective attention and how are these processes organized? We recorded ERPs when participants attended to one conjunction of color, global shape and local shape and ignored other conjunctions of these attributes in three discriminability conditions. Attending to color and shape produced three ERP effects: frontal selection positivity (FSP), central negativity (N2b), and posterior selection negativity (SN). The results suggested that the processes underlying SN and N2b perform independent within-dimension selections, whereas the process underlying the FSP performs hierarchical between-dimension selections. At posterior electrodes, manipulation of discriminability changed the ERPs to the relevant but not to the irrelevant stimuli, suggesting that the SN does not concern the selection process itself but rather a cognitive process initiated after selection is finished. Other findings suggested that selection of multiple visual attributes occurs in parallel.

An intervention approach for children with teacher- and parent-identified attentional difficulties.

PubMed

Semrud-Clikeman, M; Nielsen, K H; Clinton, A; Sylvester, L; Parle, N; Connor, R T

1999-01-01

Using a multimodal and multi-informant method for diagnosis, we selected 33 children by teacher and parent nomination for attention and work completion problems that met DSM-IV criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Of the 33 children in this group, 21 participated in the initial intervention, and 12 were placed in an ADHD control group and received the intervention after pre- and posttesting. A similarly selected group of 21 children without difficulties in attention and work completion served as a control group. Each child was assessed on pre- and posttest measures of visual and auditory attention. After an 18-week intervention period that included attention and problem-solving training, all children in the intervention and control groups were retested on visual and auditory tasks. Children in both ADHD groups showed significantly poorer initial performance on the visual attention task. Whereas the ADHD intervention group showed commensurate performance to the nondisabled control group after training, the ADHD control group did not show significant improvement over the same period. Auditory attention was poorer compared to the control group for both ADHD groups initially and improved only for the ADHD intervention group. These findings are discussed as a possible intervention for children with difficulties in strategy selection in a classroom setting.

The Development of Visual and Auditory Selective Attention Using the Central-Incidental Paradigm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conroy, Robert L.; Weener, Paul

Analogous auditory and visual central-incidental learning tasks were administered to 24 students from each of the second, fourth, and sixth grades. The visual tasks served as another modification of Hagen's central-incidental learning paradigm, with the interpretation that focal attention processes continue to develop until the age of 12 or 13…

Functional MRI mapping of visual function and selective attention for performance assessment and presurgical planning using conjunctive visual search.

PubMed

Parker, Jason G; Zalusky, Eric J; Kirbas, Cemil

2014-03-01

Accurate mapping of visual function and selective attention using fMRI is important in the study of human performance as well as in presurgical treatment planning of lesions in or near visual centers of the brain. Conjunctive visual search (CVS) is a useful tool for mapping visual function during fMRI because of its greater activation extent compared with high-capacity parallel search processes. The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate a CVS that was capable of generating consistent activation in the basic and higher level visual areas of the brain by using a high number of distractors as well as an optimized contrast condition. Images from 10 healthy volunteers were analyzed and brain regions of greatest activation and deactivation were determined using a nonbiased decomposition of the results at the hemisphere, lobe, and gyrus levels. The results were quantified in terms of activation and deactivation extent and mean z-statistic. The proposed CVS was found to generate robust activation of the occipital lobe, as well as regions in the middle frontal gyrus associated with coordinating eye movements and in regions of the insula associated with task-level control and focal attention. As expected, the task demonstrated deactivation patterns commonly implicated in the default-mode network. Further deactivation was noted in the posterior region of the cerebellum, most likely associated with the formation of optimal search strategy. We believe the task will be useful in studies of visual and selective attention in the neuroscience community as well as in mapping visual function in clinical fMRI.

You see what you have learned. Evidence for an interrelation of associative learning and visual selective attention.

PubMed

Feldmann-Wüstefeld, Tobias; Uengoer, Metin; Schubö, Anna

2015-11-01

Besides visual salience and observers' current intention, prior learning experience may influence deployment of visual attention. Associative learning models postulate that observers pay more attention to stimuli previously experienced as reliable predictors of specific outcomes. To investigate the impact of learning experience on deployment of attention, we combined an associative learning task with a visual search task and measured event-related potentials of the EEG as neural markers of attention deployment. In the learning task, participants categorized stimuli varying in color/shape with only one dimension being predictive of category membership. In the search task, participants searched a shape target while disregarding irrelevant color distractors. Behavioral results showed that color distractors impaired performance to a greater degree when color rather than shape was predictive in the learning task. Neurophysiological results show that the amplified distraction was due to differential attention deployment (N2pc). Experiment 2 showed that when color was predictive for learning, color distractors captured more attention in the search task (ND component) and more suppression of color distractor was required (PD component). The present results thus demonstrate that priority in visual attention is biased toward predictive stimuli, which allows learning experience to shape selection. We also show that learning experience can overrule strong top-down control (blocked tasks, Experiment 3) and that learning experience has a longer-term effect on attention deployment (tasks on two successive days, Experiment 4). © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Spatial attention during saccade decisions.

PubMed

Jonikaitis, Donatas; Klapetek, Anna; Deubel, Heiner

2017-07-01

Behavioral measures of decision making are usually limited to observations of decision outcomes. In the present study, we made use of the fact that oculomotor and sensory selection are closely linked to track oculomotor decision making before oculomotor responses are made. We asked participants to make a saccadic eye movement to one of two memorized target locations and observed that visual sensitivity increased at both the chosen and the nonchosen saccade target locations, with a clear bias toward the chosen target. The time course of changes in visual sensitivity was related to saccadic latency, with the competition between the chosen and nonchosen targets resolved faster before short-latency saccades. On error trials, we observed an increased competition between the chosen and nonchosen targets. Moreover, oculomotor selection and visual sensitivity were influenced by top-down and bottom-up factors as well as by selection history and predicted the direction of saccades. Our findings demonstrate that saccade decisions have direct visual consequences and show that decision making can be traced in the human oculomotor system well before choices are made. Our results also indicate a strong association between decision making, saccade target selection, and visual sensitivity. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show that saccadic decisions can be tracked by measuring spatial attention. Spatial attention is allocated in parallel to the two competing saccade targets, and the time course of spatial attention differs for fast-slow and for correct-erroneous decisions. Saccade decisions take the form of a competition between potential saccade goals, which is associated with spatial attention allocation to those locations. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Vision in Flies: Measuring the Attention Span

PubMed Central

Koenig, Sebastian; Wolf, Reinhard; Heisenberg, Martin

2016-01-01

A visual stimulus at a particular location of the visual field may elicit a behavior while at the same time equally salient stimuli in other parts do not. This property of visual systems is known as selective visual attention (SVA). The animal is said to have a focus of attention (FoA) which it has shifted to a particular location. Visual attention normally involves an attention span at the location to which the FoA has been shifted. Here the attention span is measured in Drosophila. The fly is tethered and hence has its eyes fixed in space. It can shift its FoA internally. This shift is revealed using two simultaneous test stimuli with characteristic responses at their particular locations. In tethered flight a wild type fly keeps its FoA at a certain location for up to 4s. Flies with a mutation in the radish gene, that has been suggested to be involved in attention-like mechanisms, display a reduced attention span of only 1s. PMID:26848852

Vision in Flies: Measuring the Attention Span.

PubMed

Koenig, Sebastian; Wolf, Reinhard; Heisenberg, Martin

2016-01-01

A visual stimulus at a particular location of the visual field may elicit a behavior while at the same time equally salient stimuli in other parts do not. This property of visual systems is known as selective visual attention (SVA). The animal is said to have a focus of attention (FoA) which it has shifted to a particular location. Visual attention normally involves an attention span at the location to which the FoA has been shifted. Here the attention span is measured in Drosophila. The fly is tethered and hence has its eyes fixed in space. It can shift its FoA internally. This shift is revealed using two simultaneous test stimuli with characteristic responses at their particular locations. In tethered flight a wild type fly keeps its FoA at a certain location for up to 4s. Flies with a mutation in the radish gene, that has been suggested to be involved in attention-like mechanisms, display a reduced attention span of only 1s.

A theta rhythm in macaque visual cortex and its attentional modulation

PubMed Central

Spyropoulos, Georgios; Fries, Pascal

2018-01-01

Theta rhythms govern rodent sniffing and whisking, and human language processing. Human psychophysics suggests a role for theta also in visual attention. However, little is known about theta in visual areas and its attentional modulation. We used electrocorticography (ECoG) to record local field potentials (LFPs) simultaneously from areas V1, V2, V4, and TEO of two macaque monkeys performing a selective visual attention task. We found a ≈4-Hz theta rhythm within both the V1–V2 and the V4–TEO region, and theta synchronization between them, with a predominantly feedforward directed influence. ECoG coverage of large parts of these regions revealed a surprising spatial correspondence between theta and visually induced gamma. Furthermore, gamma power was modulated with theta phase. Selective attention to the respective visual stimulus strongly reduced these theta-rhythmic processes, leading to an unusually strong attention effect for V1. Microsaccades (MSs) were partly locked to theta. However, neuronal theta rhythms tended to be even more pronounced for epochs devoid of MSs. Thus, we find an MS-independent theta rhythm specific to visually driven parts of V1–V2, which rhythmically modulates local gamma and entrains V4–TEO, and which is strongly reduced by attention. We propose that the less theta-rhythmic and thereby more continuous processing of the attended stimulus serves the exploitation of this behaviorally most relevant information. The theta-rhythmic and thereby intermittent processing of the unattended stimulus likely reflects the ecologically important exploration of less relevant sources of information. PMID:29848632

Moving attention - Evidence for time-invariant shifts of visual selective attention

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Remington, R.; Pierce, L.

1984-01-01

Two experiments measured the time to shift spatial selective attention across the visual field to targets 2 or 10 deg from central fixation. A central arrow cued the most likely target location. The direction of attention was inferred from reaction times to expected, unexpected, and neutral locations. The development of a spatial attentional set with time was examined by presenting target probes at varying times after the cue. There were no effects of distance on the time course of the attentional set. Reaction times for far locations were slower than for near, but the effects of attention were evident by 150 msec in both cases. Spatial attention does not shift with a characteristic, fixed velocity. Rather, velocity is proportional to distance, resulting in a movement time that is invariant over the distances tested.

Reward speeds up and increases consistency of visual selective attention: a lifespan comparison.

PubMed

Störmer, Viola; Eppinger, Ben; Li, Shu-Chen

2014-06-01

Children and older adults often show less favorable reward-based learning and decision making, relative to younger adults. It is unknown, however, whether reward-based processes that influence relatively early perceptual and attentional processes show similar lifespan differences. In this study, we investigated whether stimulus-reward associations affect selective visual attention differently across the human lifespan. Children, adolescents, younger adults, and older adults performed a visual search task in which the target colors were associated with either high or low monetary rewards. We discovered that high reward value speeded up response times across all four age groups, indicating that reward modulates attentional selection across the lifespan. This speed-up in response time was largest in younger adults, relative to the other three age groups. Furthermore, only younger adults benefited from high reward value in increasing response consistency (i.e., reduction of trial-by-trial reaction time variability). Our findings suggest that reward-based modulations of relatively early and implicit perceptual and attentional processes are operative across the lifespan, and the effects appear to be greater in adulthood. The age-specific effect of reward on reducing intraindividual response variability in younger adults likely reflects mechanisms underlying the development and aging of reward processing, such as lifespan age differences in the efficacy of dopaminergic modulation. Overall, the present results indicate that reward shapes visual perception across different age groups by biasing attention to motivationally salient events.

Spatial attention improves the quality of population codes in human visual cortex.

PubMed

Saproo, Sameer; Serences, John T

2010-08-01

Selective attention enables sensory input from behaviorally relevant stimuli to be processed in greater detail, so that these stimuli can more accurately influence thoughts, actions, and future goals. Attention has been shown to modulate the spiking activity of single feature-selective neurons that encode basic stimulus properties (color, orientation, etc.). However, the combined output from many such neurons is required to form stable representations of relevant objects and little empirical work has formally investigated the relationship between attentional modulations on population responses and improvements in encoding precision. Here, we used functional MRI and voxel-based feature tuning functions to show that spatial attention induces a multiplicative scaling in orientation-selective population response profiles in early visual cortex. In turn, this multiplicative scaling correlates with an improvement in encoding precision, as evidenced by a concurrent increase in the mutual information between population responses and the orientation of attended stimuli. These data therefore demonstrate how multiplicative scaling of neural responses provides at least one mechanism by which spatial attention may improve the encoding precision of population codes. Increased encoding precision in early visual areas may then enhance the speed and accuracy of perceptual decisions computed by higher-order neural mechanisms.

A unified selection signal for attention and reward in primary visual cortex.

PubMed

Stănişor, Liviu; van der Togt, Chris; Pennartz, Cyriel M A; Roelfsema, Pieter R

2013-05-28

Stimuli associated with high rewards evoke stronger neuronal activity than stimuli associated with lower rewards in many brain regions. It is not well understood how these reward effects influence activity in sensory cortices that represent low-level stimulus features. Here, we investigated the effects of reward information in the primary visual cortex (area V1) of monkeys. We found that the reward value of a stimulus relative to the value of other stimuli is a good predictor of V1 activity. Relative value biases the competition between stimuli, just as has been shown for selective attention. The neuronal latency of this reward value effect in V1 was similar to the latency of attentional influences. Moreover, V1 neurons with a strong value effect also exhibited a strong attention effect, which implies that relative value and top-down attention engage overlapping, if not identical, neuronal selection mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate that the effects of reward value reach down to the earliest sensory processing levels of the cerebral cortex and imply that theories about the effects of reward coding and top-down attention on visual representations should be unified.

Top-down dimensional weight set determines the capture of visual attention: evidence from the PCN component.

PubMed

Töllner, Thomas; Müller, Hermann J; Zehetleitner, Michael

2012-07-01

Visual search for feature singletons is slowed when a task-irrelevant, but more salient distracter singleton is concurrently presented. While there is a consensus that this distracter interference effect can be influenced by internal system settings, it remains controversial at what stage of processing this influence starts to affect visual coding. Advocates of the "stimulus-driven" view maintain that the initial sweep of visual processing is entirely driven by physical stimulus attributes and that top-down settings can bias visual processing only after selection of the most salient item. By contrast, opponents argue that top-down expectancies can alter the initial selection priority, so that focal attention is "not automatically" shifted to the location exhibiting the highest feature contrast. To precisely trace the allocation of focal attention, we analyzed the Posterior-Contralateral-Negativity (PCN) in a task in which the likelihood (expectancy) with which a distracter occurred was systematically varied. Our results show that both high (vs. low) distracter expectancy and experiencing a distracter on the previous trial speed up the timing of the target-elicited PCN. Importantly, there was no distracter-elicited PCN, indicating that participants did not shift attention to the distracter before selecting the target. This pattern unambiguously demonstrates that preattentive vision is top-down modifiable.

Brain activity during divided and selective attention to auditory and visual sentence comprehension tasks

PubMed Central

Moisala, Mona; Salmela, Viljami; Salo, Emma; Carlson, Synnöve; Vuontela, Virve; Salonen, Oili; Alho, Kimmo

2015-01-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity of human participants while they performed a sentence congruence judgment task in either the visual or auditory modality separately, or in both modalities simultaneously. Significant performance decrements were observed when attention was divided between the two modalities compared with when one modality was selectively attended. Compared with selective attention (i.e., single tasking), divided attention (i.e., dual-tasking) did not recruit additional cortical regions, but resulted in increased activity in medial and lateral frontal regions which were also activated by the component tasks when performed separately. Areas involved in semantic language processing were revealed predominantly in the left lateral prefrontal cortex by contrasting incongruent with congruent sentences. These areas also showed significant activity increases during divided attention in relation to selective attention. In the sensory cortices, no crossmodal inhibition was observed during divided attention when compared with selective attention to one modality. Our results suggest that the observed performance decrements during dual-tasking are due to interference of the two tasks because they utilize the same part of the cortex. Moreover, semantic dual-tasking did not appear to recruit additional brain areas in comparison with single tasking, and no crossmodal inhibition was observed during intermodal divided attention. PMID:25745395

Brain activity during divided and selective attention to auditory and visual sentence comprehension tasks.

PubMed

Moisala, Mona; Salmela, Viljami; Salo, Emma; Carlson, Synnöve; Vuontela, Virve; Salonen, Oili; Alho, Kimmo

2015-01-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity of human participants while they performed a sentence congruence judgment task in either the visual or auditory modality separately, or in both modalities simultaneously. Significant performance decrements were observed when attention was divided between the two modalities compared with when one modality was selectively attended. Compared with selective attention (i.e., single tasking), divided attention (i.e., dual-tasking) did not recruit additional cortical regions, but resulted in increased activity in medial and lateral frontal regions which were also activated by the component tasks when performed separately. Areas involved in semantic language processing were revealed predominantly in the left lateral prefrontal cortex by contrasting incongruent with congruent sentences. These areas also showed significant activity increases during divided attention in relation to selective attention. In the sensory cortices, no crossmodal inhibition was observed during divided attention when compared with selective attention to one modality. Our results suggest that the observed performance decrements during dual-tasking are due to interference of the two tasks because they utilize the same part of the cortex. Moreover, semantic dual-tasking did not appear to recruit additional brain areas in comparison with single tasking, and no crossmodal inhibition was observed during intermodal divided attention.

Behold the voice of wrath: cross-modal modulation of visual attention by anger prosody.

PubMed

Brosch, Tobias; Grandjean, Didier; Sander, David; Scherer, Klaus R

2008-03-01

Emotionally relevant stimuli are prioritized in human information processing. It has repeatedly been shown that selective spatial attention is modulated by the emotional content of a stimulus. Until now, studies investigating this phenomenon have only examined within-modality effects, most frequently using pictures of emotional stimuli to modulate visual attention. In this study, we used simultaneously presented utterances with emotional and neutral prosody as cues for a visually presented target in a cross-modal dot probe task. Response times towards targets were faster when they appeared at the location of the source of the emotional prosody. Our results show for the first time a cross-modal attentional modulation of visual attention by auditory affective prosody.

Out of Sight, out of Mind: The Attentional Blink Can Eliminate Synaesthetic Colours

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rich, Anina N.; Mattingley, Jason B.

2010-01-01

Mechanisms of selective attention exert a powerful influence on visual perception. We examined whether attentional selection is necessary for generation of the vivid colours experienced by individuals with grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Twelve synaesthetes and matched controls viewed rapid serial displays of nonsense characters within which were…

The cost of selective attention in category learning: Developmental differences between adults and infants

PubMed Central

Best, Catherine A.; Yim, Hyungwook; Sloutsky, Vladimir M.

2013-01-01

Selective attention plays an important role in category learning. However, immaturities of top-down attentional control during infancy coupled with successful category learning suggest that early category learning is achieved without attending selectively. Research presented here examines this possibility by focusing on category learning in infants (6–8 months old) and adults. Participants were trained on a novel visual category. Halfway through the experiment, unbeknownst to participants, the to-be-learned category switched to another category, where previously relevant features became irrelevant and previously irrelevant features became relevant. If participants attend selectively to the relevant features of the first category, they should incur a cost of selective attention immediately after the unknown category switch. Results revealed that adults demonstrated a cost, as evidenced by a decrease in accuracy and response time on test trials as well as a decrease in visual attention to newly relevant features. In contrast, infants did not demonstrate a similar cost of selective attention as adults despite evidence of learning both to-be-learned categories. Findings are discussed as supporting multiple systems of category learning and as suggesting that learning mechanisms engaged by adults may be different from those engaged by infants. PMID:23773914

Visual Selective Attention Biases Contribute to the Other-Race Effect Among 9-Month-Old Infants

PubMed Central

Oakes, Lisa M.; Amso, Dima

2016-01-01

During the first year of life, infants maintain their ability to discriminate faces from their own race but become less able to differentiate other-race faces. Though this is likely due to daily experience with own-race faces, the mechanisms linking repeated exposure to optimal face processing remain unclear. One possibility is that frequent experience with own-race faces generates a selective attention bias to these faces. Selective attention elicits enhancement of attended information and suppression of distraction to improve visual processing of attended objects. Thus attention biases to own-race faces may boost processing and discrimination of these faces relative to other-race faces. We used a spatial cueing task to bias attention to own- or other-race faces among Caucasian 9-month-old infants. Infants discriminated faces in the focus of the attention bias, regardless of race, indicating that infants remained sensitive to differences among other-race faces. Instead, efficacy of face discrimination reflected the extent of attention engagement. PMID:26486228

Visual selective attention biases contribute to the other-race effect among 9-month-old infants.

PubMed

Markant, Julie; Oakes, Lisa M; Amso, Dima

2016-04-01

During the first year of life, infants maintain their ability to discriminate faces from their own race but become less able to differentiate other-race faces. Though this is likely due to daily experience with own-race faces, the mechanisms linking repeated exposure to optimal face processing remain unclear. One possibility is that frequent experience with own-race faces generates a selective attention bias to these faces. Selective attention elicits enhancement of attended information and suppression of distraction to improve visual processing of attended objects. Thus attention biases to own-race faces may boost processing and discrimination of these faces relative to other-race faces. We used a spatial cueing task to bias attention to own- or other-race faces among Caucasian 9-month-old infants. Infants discriminated faces in the focus of the attention bias, regardless of race, indicating that infants remained sensitive to differences among other-race faces. Instead, efficacy of face discrimination reflected the extent of attention engagement. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Selective Audiovisual Semantic Integration Enabled by Feature-Selective Attention

PubMed Central

Li, Yuanqing; Long, Jinyi; Huang, Biao; Yu, Tianyou; Wu, Wei; Li, Peijun; Fang, Fang; Sun, Pei

2016-01-01

An audiovisual object may contain multiple semantic features, such as the gender and emotional features of the speaker. Feature-selective attention and audiovisual semantic integration are two brain functions involved in the recognition of audiovisual objects. Humans often selectively attend to one or several features while ignoring the other features of an audiovisual object. Meanwhile, the human brain integrates semantic information from the visual and auditory modalities. However, how these two brain functions correlate with each other remains to be elucidated. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural mechanism by which feature-selective attention modulates audiovisual semantic integration. During the fMRI experiment, the subjects were presented with visual-only, auditory-only, or audiovisual dynamical facial stimuli and performed several feature-selective attention tasks. Our results revealed that a distribution of areas, including heteromodal areas and brain areas encoding attended features, may be involved in audiovisual semantic integration. Through feature-selective attention, the human brain may selectively integrate audiovisual semantic information from attended features by enhancing functional connectivity and thus regulating information flows from heteromodal areas to brain areas encoding the attended features. PMID:26759193

Visuospatial selective attention in chickens.

PubMed

Sridharan, Devarajan; Ramamurthy, Deepa L; Schwarz, Jason S; Knudsen, Eric I

2014-05-13

Voluntary control of attention promotes intelligent, adaptive behaviors by enabling the selective processing of information that is most relevant for making decisions. Despite extensive research on attention in primates, the capacity for selective attention in nonprimate species has never been quantified. Here we demonstrate selective attention in chickens by applying protocols that have been used to characterize visual spatial attention in primates. Chickens were trained to localize and report the vertical position of a target in the presence of task-relevant distracters. A spatial cue, the location of which varied across individual trials, indicated the horizontal, but not vertical, position of the upcoming target. Spatial cueing improved localization performance: accuracy (d') increased and reaction times decreased in a space-specific manner. Distracters severely impaired perceptual performance, and this impairment was greatly reduced by spatial cueing. Signal detection analysis with an "indecision" model demonstrated that spatial cueing significantly increased choice certainty in localizing targets. By contrast, error-aversion certainty (certainty of not making an error) remained essentially constant across cueing protocols, target contrasts, and individuals. The results show that chickens shift spatial attention rapidly and dynamically, following principles of stimulus selection that closely parallel those documented in primates. The findings suggest that the mechanisms that control attention have been conserved through evolution, and establish chickens--a highly visual species that is easily trained and amenable to cutting-edge experimental technologies--as an attractive model for linking behavior to neural mechanisms of selective attention.

Time-resolved neuroimaging of visual short term memory consolidation by post-perceptual attention shifts.

PubMed

Hecht, Marcus; Thiemann, Ulf; Freitag, Christine M; Bender, Stephan

2016-01-15

Post-perceptual cues can enhance visual short term memory encoding even after the offset of the visual stimulus. However, both the mechanisms by which the sensory stimulus characteristics are buffered as well as the mechanisms by which post-perceptual selective attention enhances short term memory encoding remain unclear. We analyzed late post-perceptual event-related potentials (ERPs) in visual change detection tasks (100ms stimulus duration) by high-resolution ERP analysis to elucidate these mechanisms. The effects of early and late auditory post-cues (300ms or 850ms after visual stimulus onset) as well as the effects of a visual interference stimulus were examined in 27 healthy right-handed adults. Focusing attention with post-perceptual cues at both latencies significantly improved memory performance, i.e. sensory stimulus characteristics were available for up to 850ms after stimulus presentation. Passive watching of the visual stimuli without auditory cue presentation evoked a slow negative wave (N700) over occipito-temporal visual areas. N700 was strongly reduced by a visual interference stimulus which impeded memory maintenance. In contrast, contralateral delay activity (CDA) still developed in this condition after the application of auditory post-cues and was thereby dissociated from N700. CDA and N700 seem to represent two different processes involved in short term memory encoding. While N700 could reflect visual post processing by automatic attention attraction, CDA may reflect the top-down process of searching selectively for the required information through post-perceptual attention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Common capacity-limited neural mechanisms of selective attention and spatial working memory encoding

PubMed Central

Fusser, Fabian; Linden, David E J; Rahm, Benjamin; Hampel, Harald; Haenschel, Corinna; Mayer, Jutta S

2011-01-01

One characteristic feature of visual working memory (WM) is its limited capacity, and selective attention has been implicated as limiting factor. A possible reason why attention constrains the number of items that can be encoded into WM is that the two processes share limited neural resources. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have indeed demonstrated commonalities between the neural substrates of WM and attention. Here we investigated whether such overlapping activations reflect interacting neural mechanisms that could result in capacity limitations. To independently manipulate the demands on attention and WM encoding within one single task, we combined visual search and delayed discrimination of spatial locations. Participants were presented with a search array and performed easy or difficult visual search in order to encode one, three or five positions of target items into WM. Our fMRI data revealed colocalised activation for attention-demanding visual search and WM encoding in distributed posterior and frontal regions. However, further analysis yielded two patterns of results. Activity in prefrontal regions increased additively with increased demands on WM and attention, indicating regional overlap without functional interaction. Conversely, the WM load-dependent activation in visual, parietal and premotor regions was severely reduced during high attentional demand. We interpret this interaction as indicating the sites of shared capacity-limited neural resources. Our findings point to differential contributions of prefrontal and posterior regions to the common neural mechanisms that support spatial WM encoding and attention, providing new imaging evidence for attention-based models of WM encoding. PMID:21781193

Gender-specific effects of prenatal and adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke on auditory and visual attention.

PubMed

Jacobsen, Leslie K; Slotkin, Theodore A; Mencl, W Einar; Frost, Stephen J; Pugh, Kenneth R

2007-12-01

Prenatal exposure to active maternal tobacco smoking elevates risk of cognitive and auditory processing deficits, and of smoking in offspring. Recent preclinical work has demonstrated a sex-specific pattern of reduction in cortical cholinergic markers following prenatal, adolescent, or combined prenatal and adolescent exposure to nicotine, the primary psychoactive component of tobacco smoke. Given the importance of cortical cholinergic neurotransmission to attentional function, we examined auditory and visual selective and divided attention in 181 male and female adolescent smokers and nonsmokers with and without prenatal exposure to maternal smoking. Groups did not differ in age, educational attainment, symptoms of inattention, or years of parent education. A subset of 63 subjects also underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an auditory and visual selective and divided attention task. Among females, exposure to tobacco smoke during prenatal or adolescent development was associated with reductions in auditory and visual attention performance accuracy that were greatest in female smokers with prenatal exposure (combined exposure). Among males, combined exposure was associated with marked deficits in auditory attention, suggesting greater vulnerability of neurocircuitry supporting auditory attention to insult stemming from developmental exposure to tobacco smoke in males. Activation of brain regions that support auditory attention was greater in adolescents with prenatal or adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke relative to adolescents with neither prenatal nor adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke. These findings extend earlier preclinical work and suggest that, in humans, prenatal and adolescent exposure to nicotine exerts gender-specific deleterious effects on auditory and visual attention, with concomitant alterations in the efficiency of neurocircuitry supporting auditory attention.

Attentional enhancement of spatial resolution: linking behavioural and neurophysiological evidence

PubMed Central

Anton-Erxleben, Katharina; Carrasco, Marisa

2014-01-01

Attention allows us to select relevant sensory information for preferential processing. Behaviourally, it improves performance in various visual tasks. One prominent effect of attention is the modulation of performance in tasks that involve the visual system’s spatial resolution. Physiologically, attention modulates neuronal responses and alters the profile and position of receptive fields near the attended location. Here, we develop a hypothesis linking the behavioural and electrophysiological evidence. The proposed framework seeks to explain how these receptive field changes enhance the visual system’s effective spatial resolution and how the same mechanisms may also underlie attentional effects on the representation of spatial information. PMID:23422910

Changes in the distribution of sustained attention alter the perceived structure of visual space.

PubMed

Fortenbaugh, Francesca C; Robertson, Lynn C; Esterman, Michael

2017-02-01

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. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Effects of nonspatial selective and divided visual attention on fMRI BOLD responses.

PubMed

Weerda, Riklef; Vallines, Ignacio; Thomas, James P; Rutschmann, Roland M; Greenlee, Mark W

2006-09-01

Using an uncertainty paradigm and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we studied the effect of nonspatial selective and divided visual attention on the activity of specific areas of human extrastriate visual cortex. The stimuli were single ovals that differed from an implicit standard oval in either colour or width. The subjects' task was to classify the current stimulus as one of two possible alternatives per stimulus dimension. Three different experimental conditions were conducted: "colour-certainty", "shape-certainty" and "uncertainty". In all experimental conditions, the stimulus differed in only one stimulus dimension per trial. In the two certainty conditions, the subjects knew in advance which dimension this would be. During the uncertainty condition they had no such previous knowledge and had to monitor both dimensions simultaneously. Statistical analysis of the fMRI data (with SPM2) revealed a modest effect of the attended stimulus dimension on the neural activity in colour sensitive area V4 (more activity during attention to colour) and in shape sensitive area LOC (more activity during attention to shape). Furthermore, cortical areas known to be related to attention and working memory processes (e.g., lateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex) exhibit higher activity during the condition of divided attention ("uncertainty") than during that of selective attention ("certainty").

Attention effects on the processing of task-relevant and task-irrelevant speech sounds and letters

PubMed Central

Mittag, Maria; Inauri, Karina; Huovilainen, Tatu; Leminen, Miika; Salo, Emma; Rinne, Teemu; Kujala, Teija; Alho, Kimmo

2013-01-01

We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to study effects of selective attention on the processing of attended and unattended spoken syllables and letters. Participants were presented with syllables randomly occurring in the left or right ear and spoken by different voices and with a concurrent foveal stream of consonant letters written in darker or lighter fonts. During auditory phonological (AP) and non-phonological tasks, they responded to syllables in a designated ear starting with a vowel and spoken by female voices, respectively. These syllables occurred infrequently among standard syllables starting with a consonant and spoken by male voices. During visual phonological and non-phonological tasks, they responded to consonant letters with names starting with a vowel and to letters written in dark fonts, respectively. These letters occurred infrequently among standard letters with names starting with a consonant and written in light fonts. To examine genuine effects of attention and task on ERPs not overlapped by ERPs associated with target processing or deviance detection, these effects were studied only in ERPs to auditory and visual standards. During selective listening to syllables in a designated ear, ERPs to the attended syllables were negatively displaced during both phonological and non-phonological auditory tasks. Selective attention to letters elicited an early negative displacement and a subsequent positive displacement (Pd) of ERPs to attended letters being larger during the visual phonological than non-phonological task suggesting a higher demand for attention during the visual phonological task. Active suppression of unattended speech during the AP and non-phonological tasks and during the visual phonological tasks was suggested by a rejection positivity (RP) to unattended syllables. We also found evidence for suppression of the processing of task-irrelevant visual stimuli in visual ERPs during auditory tasks involving left-ear syllables. PMID:24348324

The role of working memory in auditory selective attention.

PubMed

Dalton, Polly; Santangelo, Valerio; Spence, Charles

2009-11-01

A growing body of research now demonstrates that working memory plays an important role in controlling the extent to which irrelevant visual distractors are processed during visual selective attention tasks (e.g., Lavie, Hirst, De Fockert, & Viding, 2004). Recently, it has been shown that the successful selection of tactile information also depends on the availability of working memory (Dalton, Lavie, & Spence, 2009). Here, we investigate whether working memory plays a role in auditory selective attention. Participants focused their attention on short continuous bursts of white noise (targets) while attempting to ignore pulsed bursts of noise (distractors). Distractor interference in this auditory task, as measured in terms of the difference in performance between congruent and incongruent distractor trials, increased significantly under high (vs. low) load in a concurrent working-memory task. These results provide the first evidence demonstrating a causal role for working memory in reducing interference by irrelevant auditory distractors.

Selection and response bias as determinants of priming of pop-out search: Revelations from diffusion modeling.

PubMed

Burnham, Bryan R

2018-05-03

During visual search, both top-down factors and bottom-up properties contribute to the guidance of visual attention, but selection history can influence attention independent of bottom-up and top-down factors. For example, priming of pop-out (PoP) is the finding that search for a singleton target is faster when the target and distractor features repeat than when those features trade roles between trials. Studies have suggested that such priming (selection history) effects on pop-out search manifest either early, by biasing the selection of the preceding target feature, or later in processing, by facilitating response and target retrieval processes. The present study was designed to examine the influence of selection history on pop-out search by introducing a speed-accuracy trade-off manipulation in a pop-out search task. Ratcliff diffusion modeling (RDM) was used to examine how selection history influenced both attentional bias and response execution processes. The results support the hypothesis that selection history biases attention toward the preceding target's features on the current trial and also influences selection of the response to the target.

Selective attention and the "Asynchrony Theory" in native Hebrew-speaking adult dyslexics: Behavioral and ERPs measures.

PubMed

Menashe, Shay

2017-01-01

The main aim of the present study was to determine whether adult dyslexic readers demonstrate the "Asynchrony Theory" (Breznitz [Reading Fluency: Synchronization of Processes, Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates, Mahwah, NJ, USA, 2006]) when selective attention is studied. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral parameters were collected from nonimpaired readers group and dyslexic readers group performing alphabetic and nonalphabetic tasks. The dyslexic readers group was found to demonstrate asynchrony between the auditory and the visual modalities when it came to processing alphabetic stimuli. These findings were found both for behavioral and ERPs parameters. Unlike the dyslexic readers, the nonimpaired readers showed synchronized speed of processing in the auditory and the visual modalities while processing alphabetic stimuli. The current study suggests that established reading is dependent on a synchronization between the auditory and the visual modalities even when it comes to selective attention.

The influence of selective attention to auditory and visual speech on the integration of audiovisual speech information.

PubMed

Buchan, Julie N; Munhall, Kevin G

2011-01-01

Conflicting visual speech information can influence the perception of acoustic speech, causing an illusory percept of a sound not present in the actual acoustic speech (the McGurk effect). We examined whether participants can voluntarily selectively attend to either the auditory or visual modality by instructing participants to pay attention to the information in one modality and to ignore competing information from the other modality. We also examined how performance under these instructions was affected by weakening the influence of the visual information by manipulating the temporal offset between the audio and video channels (experiment 1), and the spatial frequency information present in the video (experiment 2). Gaze behaviour was also monitored to examine whether attentional instructions influenced the gathering of visual information. While task instructions did have an influence on the observed integration of auditory and visual speech information, participants were unable to completely ignore conflicting information, particularly information from the visual stream. Manipulating temporal offset had a more pronounced interaction with task instructions than manipulating the amount of visual information. Participants' gaze behaviour suggests that the attended modality influences the gathering of visual information in audiovisual speech perception.

Feature-based memory-driven attentional capture: visual working memory content affects visual attention.

PubMed

Olivers, Christian N L; Meijer, Frank; Theeuwes, Jan

2006-10-01

In 7 experiments, the authors explored whether visual attention (the ability to select relevant visual information) and visual working memory (the ability to retain relevant visual information) share the same content representations. The presence of singleton distractors interfered more strongly with a visual search task when it was accompanied by an additional memory task. Singleton distractors interfered even more when they were identical or related to the object held in memory, but only when it was difficult to verbalize the memory content. Furthermore, this content-specific interaction occurred for features that were relevant to the memory task but not for irrelevant features of the same object or for once-remembered objects that could be forgotten. Finally, memory-related distractors attracted more eye movements but did not result in longer fixations. The results demonstrate memory-driven attentional capture on the basis of content-specific representations. Copyright 2006 APA.

Preservation of crossmodal selective attention in healthy aging

PubMed Central

Hugenschmidt, Christina E.; Peiffer, Ann M.; McCoy, Thomas P.; Hayasaka, Satoru; Laurienti, Paul J.

2010-01-01

The goal of the present study was to determine if older adults benefited from attention to a specific sensory modality in a voluntary attention task and evidenced changes in voluntary or involuntary attention when compared to younger adults. Suppressing and enhancing effects of voluntary attention were assessed using two cued forced-choice tasks, one that asked participants to localize and one that asked them to categorize visual and auditory targets. Involuntary attention was assessed using the same tasks, but with no attentional cues. The effects of attention were evaluated using traditional comparisons of means and Cox proportional hazards models. All analyses showed that older adults benefited behaviorally from selective attention in both visual and auditory conditions, including robust suppressive effects of attention. Of note, the performance of the older adults was commensurate with that of younger adults in almost all analyses, suggesting that older adults can successfully engage crossmodal attention processes. Thus, age-related increases in distractibility across sensory modalities are likely due to mechanisms other than deficits in attentional processing. PMID:19404621

Functional MRI mapping of visual function and selective attention for performance assessment and presurgical planning using conjunctive visual search

PubMed Central

Parker, Jason G; Zalusky, Eric J; Kirbas, Cemil

2014-01-01

Background Accurate mapping of visual function and selective attention using fMRI is important in the study of human performance as well as in presurgical treatment planning of lesions in or near visual centers of the brain. Conjunctive visual search (CVS) is a useful tool for mapping visual function during fMRI because of its greater activation extent compared with high-capacity parallel search processes. Aims The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate a CVS that was capable of generating consistent activation in the basic and higher level visual areas of the brain by using a high number of distractors as well as an optimized contrast condition. Materials and methods Images from 10 healthy volunteers were analyzed and brain regions of greatest activation and deactivation were determined using a nonbiased decomposition of the results at the hemisphere, lobe, and gyrus levels. The results were quantified in terms of activation and deactivation extent and mean z-statistic. Results The proposed CVS was found to generate robust activation of the occipital lobe, as well as regions in the middle frontal gyrus associated with coordinating eye movements and in regions of the insula associated with task-level control and focal attention. As expected, the task demonstrated deactivation patterns commonly implicated in the default-mode network. Further deactivation was noted in the posterior region of the cerebellum, most likely associated with the formation of optimal search strategy. Conclusion We believe the task will be useful in studies of visual and selective attention in the neuroscience community as well as in mapping visual function in clinical fMRI. PMID:24683515

Location-specific effects of attention during visual short-term memory maintenance.

PubMed

Matsukura, Michi; Cosman, Joshua D; Roper, Zachary J J; Vatterott, Daniel B; Vecera, Shaun P

2014-06-01

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that early sensory areas such as area V1 are recruited to actively maintain a selected feature of the item held in visual short-term memory (VSTM). These findings raise the possibility that visual attention operates in similar manners across perceptual and memory representations to a certain extent, despite memory-level and perception-level selections are functionally dissociable. If VSTM operates by retaining "reasonable copies" of scenes constructed during sensory processing (Serences et al., 2009, p. 207, the sensory recruitment hypothesis), then it is possible that selective attention can be guided by both exogenous (peripheral) and endogenous (central) cues during VSTM maintenance. Yet, the results from the previous studies that examined this issue are inconsistent. In the present study, we investigated whether attention can be directed to a specific item's location represented in VSTM with the exogenous cue in a well-controlled setting. The results from the four experiments suggest that, as observed with the endogenous cue, the exogenous cue can efficiently guide selective attention during VSTM maintenance. The finding is not only consistent with the sensory recruitment hypothesis but also validates the legitimacy of the exogenous cue use in past and future studies. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Disentangling the adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder endophenotype: parametric measurement of attention.

PubMed

Finke, Kathrin; Schwarzkopf, Wolfgang; Müller, Ulrich; Frodl, Thomas; Müller, Hermann J; Schneider, Werner X; Engel, Rolf R; Riedel, Michael; Möller, Hans-Jürgen; Hennig-Fast, Kristina

2011-11-01

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists frequently into adulthood. The decomposition of endophenotypes by means of experimental neuro-cognitive assessment has the potential to improve diagnostic assessment, evaluation of treatment response, and disentanglement of genetic and environmental influences. We assessed four parameters of attentional capacity and selectivity derived from simple psychophysical tasks (verbal report of briefly presented letter displays) and based on a "theory of visual attention." These parameters are mathematically independent, quantitative measures, and previous studies have shown that they are highly sensitive for subtle attention deficits. Potential reductions of attentional capacity, that is, of perceptual processing speed and working memory storage capacity, were assessed with a whole report paradigm. Furthermore, possible pathologies of attentional selectivity, that is, selection of task-relevant information and bias in the spatial distribution of attention, were measured with a partial report paradigm. A group of 30 unmedicated adult ADHD patients and a group of 30 demographically matched healthy controls were tested. ADHD patients showed significant reductions of working memory storage capacity of a moderate to large effect size. Perceptual processing speed, task-based, and spatial selection were unaffected. The results imply a working memory deficit as an important source of behavioral impairments. The theory of visual attention parameter working memory storage capacity might constitute a quantifiable and testable endophenotype of ADHD.

Visual selective attention is impaired in children prenatally exposed to opioid agonist medication.

PubMed

Konijnenberg, Carolien; Melinder, Annika

2015-01-01

To examine whether prenatal exposure to opioid agonist medication is associated with visual selective attention and general attention problems in early childhood. Twenty-two children (mean age = 52.17 months, SD = 1.81) prenatally exposed to methadone, 9 children (mean age = 52.41 months, SD = 1.42) prenatally exposed to buprenorphine and 25 nonexposed comparison children (mean age = 51.44 months, SD = 1.31) were tested. Visual selective attention was measured with a Tobii 1750 Eye Tracker using a spatial negative priming paradigm. Attention problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist. The comparison group demonstrated a larger spatial negative priming effect (mean = 23.50, SD = 45.50) than the exposed group [mean = -6.84, SD = 86.39, F(1,50) = 5.91, p = 0.019, η(2) = 0.11]. No difference in reported attention problems was found [F(1,51) = 1.63, p = 0.21, η(2) = 0.03]. Neonatal abstinence syndrome and prenatal exposure to marijuana were found to predict slower saccade latencies in the exposed group (b = 54.55, SE = 23.56, p = 0.03 and b = 88.86, SE = 32.07, p = 0.01, respectively). Although exposed children did not appear to have attention deficits in daily life, lower performance on the SNP task indicates subtle alteration in the attention system. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The selective processing of emotional visual stimuli while detecting auditory targets: an ERP analysis.

PubMed

Schupp, Harald T; Stockburger, Jessica; Bublatzky, Florian; Junghöfer, Markus; Weike, Almut I; Hamm, Alfons O

2008-09-16

Event-related potential studies revealed an early posterior negativity (EPN) for emotional compared to neutral pictures. Exploring the emotion-attention relationship, a previous study observed that a primary visual discrimination task interfered with the emotional modulation of the EPN component. To specify the locus of interference, the present study assessed the fate of selective visual emotion processing while attention is directed towards the auditory modality. While simply viewing a rapid and continuous stream of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in one experimental condition, processing demands of a concurrent auditory target discrimination task were systematically varied in three further experimental conditions. Participants successfully performed the auditory task as revealed by behavioral performance and selected event-related potential components. Replicating previous results, emotional pictures were associated with a larger posterior negativity compared to neutral pictures. Of main interest, increasing demands of the auditory task did not modulate the selective processing of emotional visual stimuli. With regard to the locus of interference, selective emotion processing as indexed by the EPN does not seem to reflect shared processing resources of visual and auditory modality.

Toward the influence of temporal attention on the selection of targets in a visual search task: An ERP study.

PubMed

Rolke, Bettina; Festl, Freya; Seibold, Verena C

2016-11-01

We used ERPs to investigate whether temporal attention interacts with spatial attention and feature-based attention to enhance visual processing. We presented a visual search display containing one singleton stimulus among a set of homogenous distractors. Participants were asked to respond only to target singletons of a particular color and shape that were presented in an attended spatial position. We manipulated temporal attention by presenting a warning signal before each search display and varying the foreperiod (FP) between the warning signal and the search display in a blocked manner. We observed distinctive ERP effects of both spatial and temporal attention. The amplitudes for the N2pc, SPCN, and P3 were enhanced by spatial attention indicating a processing benefit of relevant stimulus features at the attended side. Temporal attention accelerated stimulus processing; this was indexed by an earlier onset of the N2pc component and a reduction in reaction times to targets. Most importantly, temporal attention did not interact with spatial attention or stimulus features to influence visual processing. Taken together, the results suggest that temporal attention fosters visual perceptual processing in a visual search task independently from spatial attention and feature-based attention; this provides support for the nonspecific enhancement hypothesis of temporal attention. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Useful field of view predicts driving in the presence of distracters.

PubMed

Wood, Joanne M; Chaparro, Alex; Lacherez, Philippe; Hickson, Louise

2012-04-01

The Useful Field of View (UFOV) test has been shown to be highly effective in predicting crash risk among older adults. An important question which we examined in this study is whether this association is due to the ability of the UFOV to predict difficulties in attention-demanding driving situations that involve either visual or auditory distracters. Participants included 92 community-living adults (mean age 73.6 ± 5.4 years; range 65-88 years) who completed all three subtests of the UFOV involving assessment of visual processing speed (subtest 1), divided attention (subtest 2), and selective attention (subtest 3); driving safety risk was also classified using the UFOV scoring system. Driving performance was assessed separately on a closed-road circuit while driving under three conditions: no distracters, visual distracters, and auditory distracters. Driving outcome measures included road sign recognition, hazard detection, gap perception, time to complete the course, and performance on the distracter tasks. Those rated as safe on the UFOV (safety rating categories 1 and 2), as well as those responding faster than the recommended cut-off on the selective attention subtest (350 msec), performed significantly better in terms of overall driving performance and also experienced less interference from distracters. Of the three UFOV subtests, the selective attention subtest best predicted overall driving performance in the presence of distracters. Older adults who were rated as higher risk on the UFOV, particularly on the selective attention subtest, demonstrated poorest driving performance in the presence of distracters. This finding suggests that the selective attention subtest of the UFOV may be differentially more effective in predicting driving difficulties in situations of divided attention which are commonly associated with crashes.

Age-related decline in bottom-up processing and selective attention in the very old.

PubMed

Zhuravleva, Tatyana Y; Alperin, Brittany R; Haring, Anna E; Rentz, Dorene M; Holcomb, Philip J; Daffner, Kirk R

2014-06-01

Previous research demonstrating age-related deficits in selective attention have not included old-old adults, an increasingly important group to study. The current investigation compared event-related potentials in 15 young-old (65-79 years old) and 23 old-old (80-99 years old) subjects during a color-selective attention task. Subjects responded to target letters in a specified color (Attend) while ignoring letters in a different color (Ignore) under both low and high loads. There were no group differences in visual acuity, accuracy, reaction time, or latency of early event-related potential components. The old-old group showed a disruption in bottom-up processing, indexed by a substantially diminished posterior N1 (smaller amplitude). They also demonstrated markedly decreased modulation of bottom-up processing based on selected visual features, indexed by the posterior selection negativity (SN), with similar attenuation under both loads. In contrast, there were no group differences in frontally mediated attentional selection, measured by the anterior selection positivity (SP). There was a robust inverse relationship between the size of the SN and SP (the smaller the SN, the larger the SP), which may represent an anteriorly supported compensatory mechanism. In the absence of a decline in top-down modulation indexed by the SP, the diminished SN may reflect age-related degradation of early bottom-up visual processing in old-old adults.

Focused and divided attention abilities in the acute phase of recovery from moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Robertson, Kayela; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2017-01-01

Impairments in attention following traumatic brain injury (TBI) can significantly impact recovery and rehabilitation effectiveness. This study investigated the multi-faceted construct of selective attention following TBI, highlighting the differences on visual nonsearch (focused attention) and search (divided attention) tasks. Participants were 30 individuals with moderate to severe TBI who were tested acutely (i.e. following emergence from PTA) and 30 age- and education-matched controls. Participants were presented with visual displays that contained either two or eight items. In the focused attention, nonsearch condition, the location of the target (if present) was cued with a peripheral arrow prior to presentation of the visual displays. In the divided attention, search condition, no spatial cue was provided prior to presentation of the visual displays. The results revealed intact focused, nonsearch, attention abilities in the acute phase of TBI recovery. In contrast, when no spatial cue was provided (divided attention condition), participants with TBI demonstrated slower visual search compared to the control group. The results of this study suggest that capitalizing on intact focused attention abilities by allocating attention during cognitively demanding tasks may help to reduce mental workload and improve rehabilitation effectiveness.

Visual Attention Model Based on Statistical Properties of Neuron Responses

PubMed Central

Duan, Haibin; Wang, Xiaohua

2015-01-01

Visual attention is a mechanism of the visual system that can select relevant objects from a specific scene. Interactions among neurons in multiple cortical areas are considered to be involved in attentional allocation. However, the characteristics of the encoded features and neuron responses in those attention related cortices are indefinite. Therefore, further investigations carried out in this study aim at demonstrating that unusual regions arousing more attention generally cause particular neuron responses. We suppose that visual saliency is obtained on the basis of neuron responses to contexts in natural scenes. A bottom-up visual attention model is proposed based on the self-information of neuron responses to test and verify the hypothesis. Four different color spaces are adopted and a novel entropy-based combination scheme is designed to make full use of color information. Valuable regions are highlighted while redundant backgrounds are suppressed in the saliency maps obtained by the proposed model. Comparative results reveal that the proposed model outperforms several state-of-the-art models. This study provides insights into the neuron responses based saliency detection and may underlie the neural mechanism of early visual cortices for bottom-up visual attention. PMID:25747859

Visual evoked potentials and selective attention to points in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Van Voorhis, S.; Hillyard, S. A.

1977-01-01

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded to sequences of flashes delivered to the right and left visual fields while subjects responded promptly to designated stimuli in one field at a time (focused attention), in both fields at once (divided attention), or to neither field (passive). Three stimulus schedules were used: the first was a replication of a previous study (Eason, Harter, and White, 1969) where left- and right-field flashes were delivered quasi-independently, while in the other two the flashes were delivered to the two fields in random order (Bernoulli sequence). VEPs to attended-field stimuli were enhanced at both occipital (O2) and central (Cz) recording sites under all stimulus sequences, but different components were affected at the two scalp sites. It was suggested that the VEP at O2 may reflect modality-specific processing events, while the response at Cz, like its auditory homologue, may index more general aspects of selective attention.

A Characterization of Visual, Semantic and Auditory Memory in Children with Combination-Type Attention Deficit, Primarily Inattentive, and a Control Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramirez, Luz Angela; Arenas, Angela Maria; Henao, Gloria Cecilia

2005-01-01

Introduction: This investigation describes and compares characteristics of visual, semantic and auditory memory in a group of children diagnosed with combined-type attention deficit with hyperactivity, attention deficit predominating, and a control group. Method: 107 boys and girls were selected, from 7 to 11 years of age, all residents in the…

Temporal kinetics of prefrontal modulation of the extrastriate cortex during visual attention.

PubMed

Yago, Elena; Duarte, Audrey; Wong, Ting; Barceló, Francisco; Knight, Robert T

2004-12-01

Single-unit, event-related potential (ERP), and neuroimaging studies have implicated the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in top-down control of attention and working memory. We conducted an experiment in patients with unilateral PFC damage (n = 8) to assess the temporal kinetics of PFC-extrastriate interactions during visual attention. Subjects alternated attention between the left and the right hemifields in successive runs while they detected target stimuli embedded in streams of repetitive task-irrelevant stimuli (standards). The design enabled us to examine tonic (spatial selection) and phasic (feature selection) PFC-extrastriate interactions. PFC damage impaired performance in the visual field contralateral to lesions, as manifested by both larger reaction times and error rates. Assessment of the extrastriate P1 ERP revealed that the PFC exerts a tonic (spatial selection) excitatory input to the ipsilateral extrastriate cortex as early as 100 msec post stimulus delivery. The PFC exerts a second phasic (feature selection) excitatory extrastriate modulation from 180 to 300 msec, as evidenced by reductions in selection negativity after damage. Finally, reductions of the N2 ERP to target stimuli supports the notion that the PFC exerts a third phasic (target selection) signal necessary for successful template matching during postselection analysis of target features. The results provide electrophysiological evidence of three distinct tonic and phasic PFC inputs to the extrastriate cortex in the initial few hundred milliseconds of stimulus processing. Damage to this network appears to underlie the pervasive deficits in attention observed in patients with prefrontal lesions.

Parallel perceptual enhancement and hierarchic relevance evaluation in an audio-visual conjunction task.

PubMed

Potts, Geoffrey F; Wood, Susan M; Kothmann, Delia; Martin, Laura E

2008-10-21

Attention directs limited-capacity information processing resources to a subset of available perceptual representations. The mechanisms by which attention selects task-relevant representations for preferential processing are not fully known. Triesman and Gelade's [Triesman, A., Gelade, G., 1980. A feature integration theory of attention. Cognit. Psychol. 12, 97-136.] influential attention model posits that simple features are processed preattentively, in parallel, but that attention is required to serially conjoin multiple features into an object representation. Event-related potentials have provided evidence for this model showing parallel processing of perceptual features in the posterior Selection Negativity (SN) and serial, hierarchic processing of feature conjunctions in the Frontal Selection Positivity (FSP). Most prior studies have been done on conjunctions within one sensory modality while many real-world objects have multimodal features. It is not known if the same neural systems of posterior parallel processing of simple features and frontal serial processing of feature conjunctions seen within a sensory modality also operate on conjunctions between modalities. The current study used ERPs and simultaneously presented auditory and visual stimuli in three task conditions: Attend Auditory (auditory feature determines the target, visual features are irrelevant), Attend Visual (visual features relevant, auditory irrelevant), and Attend Conjunction (target defined by the co-occurrence of an auditory and a visual feature). In the Attend Conjunction condition when the auditory but not the visual feature was a target there was an SN over auditory cortex, when the visual but not auditory stimulus was a target there was an SN over visual cortex, and when both auditory and visual stimuli were targets (i.e. conjunction target) there were SNs over both auditory and visual cortex, indicating parallel processing of the simple features within each modality. In contrast, an FSP was present when either the visual only or both auditory and visual features were targets, but not when only the auditory stimulus was a target, indicating that the conjunction target determination was evaluated serially and hierarchically with visual information taking precedence. This indicates that the detection of a target defined by audio-visual conjunction is achieved via the same mechanism as within a single perceptual modality, through separate, parallel processing of the auditory and visual features and serial processing of the feature conjunction elements, rather than by evaluation of a fused multimodal percept.

Hand placement near the visual stimulus improves orientation selectivity in V2 neurons

PubMed Central

Sergio, Lauren E.; Crawford, J. Douglas; Fallah, Mazyar

2015-01-01

Often, the brain receives more sensory input than it can process simultaneously. Spatial attention helps overcome this limitation by preferentially processing input from a behaviorally-relevant location. Recent neuropsychological and psychophysical studies suggest that attention is deployed to near-hand space much like how the oculomotor system can deploy attention to an upcoming gaze position. Here we provide the first neuronal evidence that the presence of a nearby hand enhances orientation selectivity in early visual processing area V2. When the hand was placed outside the receptive field, responses to the preferred orientation were significantly enhanced without a corresponding significant increase at the orthogonal orientation. Consequently, there was also a significant sharpening of orientation tuning. In addition, the presence of the hand reduced neuronal response variability. These results indicate that attention is automatically deployed to the space around a hand, improving orientation selectivity. Importantly, this appears to be optimal for motor control of the hand, as opposed to oculomotor mechanisms which enhance responses without sharpening orientation selectivity. Effector-based mechanisms for visual enhancement thus support not only the spatiotemporal dissociation of gaze and reach, but also the optimization of vision for their separate requirements for guiding movements. PMID:25717165

Acute exercise and aerobic fitness influence selective attention during visual search.

PubMed

Bullock, Tom; Giesbrecht, Barry

2014-01-01

Successful goal directed behavior relies on a human attention system that is flexible and able to adapt to different conditions of physiological stress. However, the effects of physical activity on multiple aspects of selective attention and whether these effects are mediated by aerobic capacity, remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a prolonged bout of physical activity on visual search performance and perceptual distraction. Two groups of participants completed a hybrid visual search flanker/response competition task in an initial baseline session and then at 17-min intervals over a 2 h 16 min test period. Participants assigned to the exercise group engaged in steady-state aerobic exercise between completing blocks of the visual task, whereas participants assigned to the control group rested in between blocks. The key result was a correlation between individual differences in aerobic capacity and visual search performance, such that those individuals that were more fit performed the search task more quickly. Critically, this relationship only emerged in the exercise group after the physical activity had begun. The relationship was not present in either group at baseline and never emerged in the control group during the test period, suggesting that under these task demands, aerobic capacity may be an important determinant of visual search performance under physical stress. The results enhance current understanding about the relationship between exercise and cognition, and also inform current models of selective attention.

Acute exercise and aerobic fitness influence selective attention during visual search

PubMed Central

Bullock, Tom; Giesbrecht, Barry

2014-01-01

Successful goal directed behavior relies on a human attention system that is flexible and able to adapt to different conditions of physiological stress. However, the effects of physical activity on multiple aspects of selective attention and whether these effects are mediated by aerobic capacity, remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a prolonged bout of physical activity on visual search performance and perceptual distraction. Two groups of participants completed a hybrid visual search flanker/response competition task in an initial baseline session and then at 17-min intervals over a 2 h 16 min test period. Participants assigned to the exercise group engaged in steady-state aerobic exercise between completing blocks of the visual task, whereas participants assigned to the control group rested in between blocks. The key result was a correlation between individual differences in aerobic capacity and visual search performance, such that those individuals that were more fit performed the search task more quickly. Critically, this relationship only emerged in the exercise group after the physical activity had begun. The relationship was not present in either group at baseline and never emerged in the control group during the test period, suggesting that under these task demands, aerobic capacity may be an important determinant of visual search performance under physical stress. The results enhance current understanding about the relationship between exercise and cognition, and also inform current models of selective attention. PMID:25426094

The Speed of Serial Attention Shifts in Visual Search: Evidence from the N2pc Component.

PubMed

Grubert, Anna; Eimer, Martin

2016-02-01

Finding target objects among distractors in visual search display is often assumed to be based on sequential movements of attention between different objects. However, the speed of such serial attention shifts is still under dispute. We employed a search task that encouraged the successive allocation of attention to two target objects in the same search display and measured N2pc components to determine how fast attention moved between these objects. Each display contained one digit in a known color (fixed-color target) and another digit whose color changed unpredictably across trials (variable-color target) together with two gray distractor digits. Participants' task was to find the fixed-color digit and compare its numerical value with that of the variable-color digit. N2pc components to fixed-color targets preceded N2pc components to variable-color digits, demonstrating that these two targets were indeed selected in a fixed serial order. The N2pc to variable-color digits emerged approximately 60 msec after the N2pc to fixed-color digits, which shows that attention can be reallocated very rapidly between different target objects in the visual field. When search display durations were increased, thereby relaxing the temporal demands on serial selection, the two N2pc components to fixed-color and variable-color targets were elicited within 90 msec of each other. Results demonstrate that sequential shifts of attention between different target locations can operate very rapidly at speeds that are in line with the assumptions of serial selection models of visual search.

Seeing People, Seeing Things: Individual Differences in Selective Attention.

PubMed

McIntyre, Miranda M; Graziano, William G

2016-09-01

Individuals differ in how they deploy attention to their physical and social environments. These differences have been recognized in various forms as orientations, interests, and preferences, but empirical work examining these differences at a cognitive level is scarce. To address this gap, we conducted two studies to explore the links among attentional processes and interests in people and things. The first study measured selective visual attention toward person- and thing-related image content. In the second study, participants were randomly assigned to describe visually presented scenes using either an observational or narrative story format. Linguistic analyses were conducted to assess attentional bias toward interest-congruent content. Outcomes from both studies suggest that attention and motivational processes are linked to differential interests in physical and social environments. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Degraded attentional modulation of cortical neural populations in strabismic amblyopia

PubMed Central

Hou, Chuan; Kim, Yee-Joon; Lai, Xin Jie; Verghese, Preeti

2016-01-01

Behavioral studies have reported reduced spatial attention in amblyopia, a developmental disorder of spatial vision. However, the neural populations in the visual cortex linked with these behavioral spatial attention deficits have not been identified. Here, we use functional MRI–informed electroencephalography source imaging to measure the effect of attention on neural population activity in the visual cortex of human adult strabismic amblyopes who were stereoblind. We show that compared with controls, the modulatory effects of selective visual attention on the input from the amblyopic eye are substantially reduced in the primary visual cortex (V1) as well as in extrastriate visual areas hV4 and hMT+. Degraded attentional modulation is also found in the normal-acuity fellow eye in areas hV4 and hMT+ but not in V1. These results provide electrophysiological evidence that abnormal binocular input during a developmental critical period may impact cortical connections between the visual cortex and higher level cortices beyond the known amblyopic losses in V1 and V2, suggesting that a deficit of attentional modulation in the visual cortex is an important component of the functional impairment in amblyopia. Furthermore, we find that degraded attentional modulation in V1 is correlated with the magnitude of interocular suppression and the depth of amblyopia. These results support the view that the visual suppression often seen in strabismic amblyopia might be a form of attentional neglect of the visual input to the amblyopic eye. PMID:26885628

Degraded attentional modulation of cortical neural populations in strabismic amblyopia.

PubMed

Hou, Chuan; Kim, Yee-Joon; Lai, Xin Jie; Verghese, Preeti

2016-01-01

Behavioral studies have reported reduced spatial attention in amblyopia, a developmental disorder of spatial vision. However, the neural populations in the visual cortex linked with these behavioral spatial attention deficits have not been identified. Here, we use functional MRI-informed electroencephalography source imaging to measure the effect of attention on neural population activity in the visual cortex of human adult strabismic amblyopes who were stereoblind. We show that compared with controls, the modulatory effects of selective visual attention on the input from the amblyopic eye are substantially reduced in the primary visual cortex (V1) as well as in extrastriate visual areas hV4 and hMT+. Degraded attentional modulation is also found in the normal-acuity fellow eye in areas hV4 and hMT+ but not in V1. These results provide electrophysiological evidence that abnormal binocular input during a developmental critical period may impact cortical connections between the visual cortex and higher level cortices beyond the known amblyopic losses in V1 and V2, suggesting that a deficit of attentional modulation in the visual cortex is an important component of the functional impairment in amblyopia. Furthermore, we find that degraded attentional modulation in V1 is correlated with the magnitude of interocular suppression and the depth of amblyopia. These results support the view that the visual suppression often seen in strabismic amblyopia might be a form of attentional neglect of the visual input to the amblyopic eye.

Visual Attention in the First Years: Typical Development and Developmental Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Janette; Braddick, Oliver

2012-01-01

The development of attention is critical for the young child's competence in dealing with the demands of everyday life. Here we review evidence from infants and preschool children regarding the development of three neural subsystems of attention: selective attention, sustained attention, and attentional (executive) control. These systems overlap…

Interactions of attention, emotion and motivation.

PubMed

Raymond, Jane

2009-01-01

Although successful visually guided action begins with sensory processes and ends with motor control, the intervening processes related to the appropriate selection of information for processing are especially critical because of the brain's limited capacity to handle information. Three important mechanisms--attention, emotion and motivation--contribute to the prioritization and selection of information. In this chapter, the interplay between these systems is discussed with emphasis placed on interactions between attention (or immediate task relevance of stimuli) and emotion (or affective evaluation of stimuli), and between attention and motivation (or the predicted value of stimuli). Although numerous studies have shown that emotional stimuli modulate mechanisms of selective attention in humans, little work has been directed at exploring whether such interactions can be reciprocal, that is, whether attention can influence emotional response. Recent work on this question (showing that distracting information is typically devalued upon later encounters) is reviewed in the first half of the chapter. In the second half, some recent experiments exploring how prior value-prediction learning (i.e., learning to associate potential outcomes, good or bad, with specific stimuli) plays a role in visual selection and conscious perception. The results indicate that some aspects of motivation act on selection independently of traditionally defined attention and other aspects interact with it.

Selective attention in an insect visual neuron.

PubMed

Wiederman, Steven D; O'Carroll, David C

2013-01-21

Animals need attention to focus on one target amid alternative distracters. Dragonflies, for example, capture flies in swarms comprising prey and conspecifics, a feat that requires neurons to select one moving target from competing alternatives. Diverse evidence, from functional imaging and physiology to psychophysics, highlights the importance of such "competitive selection" in attention for vertebrates. Analogous mechanisms have been proposed in artificial intelligence and even in invertebrates, yet direct neural correlates of attention are scarce from all animal groups. Here, we demonstrate responses from an identified dragonfly visual neuron that perfectly match a model for competitive selection within limits of neuronal variability (r(2) = 0.83). Responses to individual targets moving at different locations within the receptive field differ in both magnitude and time course. However, responses to two simultaneous targets exclusively track those for one target alone rather than any combination of the pair. Irrespective of target size, contrast, or separation, this neuron selects one target from the pair and perfectly preserves the response, regardless of whether the "winner" is the stronger stimulus if presented alone. This neuron is amenable to electrophysiological recordings, providing neuroscientists with a new model system for studying selective attention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Remote sensing image ship target detection method based on visual attention model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yuejiao; Lei, Wuhu; Ren, Xiaodong

2017-11-01

The traditional methods of detecting ship targets in remote sensing images mostly use sliding window to search the whole image comprehensively. However, the target usually occupies only a small fraction of the image. This method has high computational complexity for large format visible image data. The bottom-up selective attention mechanism can selectively allocate computing resources according to visual stimuli, thus improving the computational efficiency and reducing the difficulty of analysis. Considering of that, a method of ship target detection in remote sensing images based on visual attention model was proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce the computational complexity while improving the detection accuracy, and improve the detection efficiency of ship targets in remote sensing images.

Neural oscillatory deficits in schizophrenia predict behavioral and neurocognitive impairments

PubMed Central

Martínez, Antígona; Gaspar, Pablo A.; Hillyard, Steven A.; Bickel, Stephan; Lakatos, Peter; Dias, Elisa C.; Javitt, Daniel C.

2015-01-01

Paying attention to visual stimuli is typically accompanied by event-related desynchronizations (ERD) of ongoing alpha (7–14 Hz) activity in visual cortex. The present study used time-frequency based analyses to investigate the role of impaired alpha ERD in visual processing deficits in schizophrenia (Sz). Subjects viewed sinusoidal gratings of high (HSF) and low (LSF) spatial frequency (SF) designed to test functioning of the parvo- vs. magnocellular pathways, respectively. Patients with Sz and healthy controls paid attention selectively to either the LSF or HSF gratings which were presented in random order. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded to all stimuli. As in our previous study, it was found that Sz patients were selectively impaired at detecting LSF target stimuli and that ERP amplitudes to LSF stimuli were diminished, both for the early sensory-evoked components and for the attend minus unattend difference component (the Selection Negativity), which is generally regarded as a specific index of feature-selective attention. In the time-frequency domain, the differential ERP deficits to LSF stimuli were echoed in a virtually absent theta-band phase locked response to both unattended and attended LSF stimuli (along with relatively intact theta-band activity for HSF stimuli). In contrast to the theta-band evoked responses which were tightly stimulus locked, stimulus-induced desynchronizations of ongoing alpha activity were not tightly stimulus locked and were apparent only in induced power analyses. Sz patients were significantly impaired in the attention-related modulation of ongoing alpha activity for both HSF and LSF stimuli. These deficits correlated with patients’ behavioral deficits in visual information processing as well as with visually based neurocognitive deficits. These findings suggest an additional, pathway-independent, mechanism by which deficits in early visual processing contribute to overall cognitive impairment in Sz. PMID:26190988

The cost of selective attention in category learning: developmental differences between adults and infants.

PubMed

Best, Catherine A; Yim, Hyungwook; Sloutsky, Vladimir M

2013-10-01

Selective attention plays an important role in category learning. However, immaturities of top-down attentional control during infancy coupled with successful category learning suggest that early category learning is achieved without attending selectively. Research presented here examines this possibility by focusing on category learning in infants (6-8months old) and adults. Participants were trained on a novel visual category. Halfway through the experiment, unbeknownst to participants, the to-be-learned category switched to another category, where previously relevant features became irrelevant and previously irrelevant features became relevant. If participants attend selectively to the relevant features of the first category, they should incur a cost of selective attention immediately after the unknown category switch. Results revealed that adults demonstrated a cost, as evidenced by a decrease in accuracy and response time on test trials as well as a decrease in visual attention to newly relevant features. In contrast, infants did not demonstrate a similar cost of selective attention as adults despite evidence of learning both to-be-learned categories. Findings are discussed as supporting multiple systems of category learning and as suggesting that learning mechanisms engaged by adults may be different from those engaged by infants. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Attention characteristics of children with different clinical subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder].

PubMed

Liu, Wen-Long; Zhao, Xu; Tan, Jian-Hui; Wang, Juan

2014-09-01

To explore the attention characteristics of children with different clinical subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to provide a basis for clinical intervention. A total of 345 children diagnosed with ADHD were selected and the subtypes were identified. Attention assessment was performed by the intermediate visual and auditory continuous performance test at diagnosis, and the visual and auditory attention characteristics were compared between children with different subtypes. A total of 122 normal children were recruited in the control group and their attention characteristics were compared with those of children with ADHD. The scores of full scale attention quotient (AQ) and full scale response control quotient (RCQ) of children with all three subtypes of ADHD were significantly lower than those of normal children (P<0.01). The score of auditory RCQ was significantly lower than that of visual RCQ in children with ADHD-hyperactive/impulsive subtype (P<0.05). The scores of auditory AQ and speed quotient (SQ) were significantly higher than those of visual AQ and SQ in three subtypes of ADHD children (P<0.01), while the score of visual precaution quotient (PQ) was significantly higher than that of auditory PQ (P<0.01). No significant differences in auditory or visual AQ were observed between the three subtypes of ADHD. The attention function of children with ADHD is worse than that of normal children, and the impairment of visual attention function is severer than that of auditory attention function. The degree of functional impairment of visual or auditory attention shows no significant differences between three subtypes of ADHD.

Reward- and attention-related biasing of sensory selection in visual cortex.

PubMed

Buschschulte, Antje; Boehler, Carsten N; Strumpf, Hendrik; Stoppel, Christian; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Schoenfeld, Mircea A; Hopf, Jens-Max

2014-05-01

Attention to task-relevant features leads to a biasing of sensory selection in extrastriate cortex. Features signaling reward seem to produce a similar bias, but how modulatory effects due to reward and attention relate to each other is largely unexplored. To address this issue, it is critical to separate top-down settings defining reward relevance from those defining attention. To this end, we used a visual search paradigm in which the target's definition (attention to color) was dissociated from reward relevance by delivering monetary reward on search frames where a certain task-irrelevant color was combined with the target-defining color to form the target object. We assessed the state of neural biasing for the attended and reward-relevant color by analyzing the neuromagnetic brain response to asynchronously presented irrelevant distractor probes drawn in the target-defining color, the reward-relevant color, and a completely irrelevant color as a reference. We observed that for the prospect of moderate rewards, the target-defining color but not the reward-relevant color produced a selective enhancement of the neuromagnetic response between 180 and 280 msec in ventral extrastriate visual cortex. Increasing reward prospect caused a delayed attenuation (220-250 msec) of the response to reward probes, which followed a prior (160-180 msec) response enhancement in dorsal ACC. Notably, shorter latency responses in dorsal ACC were associated with stronger attenuation in extrastriate visual cortex. Finally, an analysis of the brain response to the search frames revealed that the presence of the reward-relevant color in search distractors elicited an enhanced response that was abolished after increasing reward size. The present data together indicate that when top-down definitions of reward relevance and attention are separated, the behavioral significance of reward-associated features is still rapidly coded in higher-level cortex areas, thereby commanding effective top-down inhibitory control to counter a selection bias for those features in extrastriate visual cortex.

The mere exposure effect is modulated by selective attention but not visual awareness.

PubMed

Huang, Yu-Feng; Hsieh, Po-Jang

2013-10-18

Repeated exposures to an object will lead to an enhancement of evaluation toward that object. Although this mere exposure effect may occur when the objects are presented subliminally, the role of conscious perception per se on evaluation has never been examined. Here we use a binocular rivalry paradigm to investigate whether a variance in conscious perceptual duration of faces has an effect on their subsequent evaluation, and how selective attention and memory interact with this effect. Our results show that face evaluation is positively biased by selective attention but not affected by visual awareness. Furthermore, this effect is not due to participants recalling which face had been attended to. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age-related changes in selective attention and perceptual load during visual search.

PubMed

Madden, David J; Langley, Linda K

2003-03-01

Three visual search experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that age differences in selective attention vary as a function of perceptual load (E. A. Maylor & N. Lavie, 1998). Under resource-limited conditions (Experiments 1 and 2), the distraction from irrelevant display items generally decreased as display size (perceptual load) increased. This perceptual load effect was similar for younger and older adults, contrary to the findings of Maylor and Lavie. Distraction at low perceptual loads appeared to reflect both general and specific inhibitory mechanisms. Under more data-limited conditions (Experiment 3), an age-related decline in selective attention was evident, but the age difference was not attributable to capacity limitations as predicted by the perceptual load theory.

Eye Gaze versus Arrows as Spatial Cues: Two Qualitatively Different Modes of Attentional Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marotta, Andrea; Lupianez, Juan; Martella, Diana; Casagrande, Maria

2012-01-01

This study aimed to evaluate the type of attentional selection (location- and/or object-based) triggered by two different types of central noninformative cues: eye gaze and arrows. Two rectangular objects were presented in the visual field, and subjects' attention was directed to the end of a rectangle via the observation of noninformative…

Hemisphere division and its effect on selective attention: a generality examination of Lavie's load theory.

PubMed

Nishimura, Ritsuko; Yoshizaki, Kazuhito; Kato, Kimiko; Hatta, Takeshi

2009-01-01

The present study examined the role of visual presentation mode (unilateral vs. bilateral visual fields) on attentional modulation. We examined whether or not the presentation mode affects the compatibility effect, using a paradigm involving two task-relevant letter arrays. Sixteen participants identified a target letter among task-relevant letters while ignoring either a compatible or incompatible distracter letter that was presented to both hemispheres. Two letters arrays were presented to visual fields, either unilaterally or bilaterally. Results indicated that the compatibility effect was greater in bilateral than in unilateral visual field conditions. Findings support the assumption that the two hemispheres have separate attentional resources.

Selective Attention of Mildly Mentally Retarded and Nonretarded Individuals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosley, James L.

1980-01-01

Mildly retarded, equal MA, and equal CA individuals (total N=30) viewed tachistoscopic presentations of single element displays under a backward visual masking paradigm. The data revealed that, under minimal load conditions, the internal cue-selection component of selective attention for mildly retarded Ss is comparable to that of the nonretarded…

Spatial and object-based attention modulates broadband high-frequency responses across the human visual cortical hierarchy.

PubMed

Davidesco, Ido; Harel, Michal; Ramot, Michal; Kramer, Uri; Kipervasser, Svetlana; Andelman, Fani; Neufeld, Miri Y; Goelman, Gadi; Fried, Itzhak; Malach, Rafael

2013-01-16

One of the puzzling aspects in the visual attention literature is the discrepancy between electrophysiological and fMRI findings: whereas fMRI studies reveal strong attentional modulation in the earliest visual areas, single-unit and local field potential studies yielded mixed results. In addition, it is not clear to what extent spatial attention effects extend from early to high-order visual areas. Here we addressed these issues using electrocorticography recordings in epileptic patients. The patients performed a task that allowed simultaneous manipulation of both spatial and object-based attention. They were presented with composite stimuli, consisting of a small object (face or house) superimposed on a large one, and in separate blocks, were instructed to attend one of the objects. We found a consistent increase in broadband high-frequency (30-90 Hz) power, but not in visual evoked potentials, associated with spatial attention starting with V1/V2 and continuing throughout the visual hierarchy. The magnitude of the attentional modulation was correlated with the spatial selectivity of each electrode and its distance from the occipital pole. Interestingly, the latency of the attentional modulation showed a significant decrease along the visual hierarchy. In addition, electrodes placed over high-order visual areas (e.g., fusiform gyrus) showed both effects of spatial and object-based attention. Overall, our results help to reconcile previous observations of discrepancy between fMRI and electrophysiology. They also imply that spatial attention effects can be found both in early and high-order visual cortical areas, in parallel with their stimulus tuning properties.

Thalamic control of sensory selection in divided attention.

PubMed

Wimmer, Ralf D; Schmitt, L Ian; Davidson, Thomas J; Nakajima, Miho; Deisseroth, Karl; Halassa, Michael M

2015-10-29

How the brain selects appropriate sensory inputs and suppresses distractors is unknown. Given the well-established role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in executive function, its interactions with sensory cortical areas during attention have been hypothesized to control sensory selection. To test this idea and, more generally, dissect the circuits underlying sensory selection, we developed a cross-modal divided-attention task in mice that allowed genetic access to this cognitive process. By optogenetically perturbing PFC function in a temporally precise window, the ability of mice to select appropriately between conflicting visual and auditory stimuli was diminished. Equivalent sensory thalamocortical manipulations showed that behaviour was causally dependent on PFC interactions with the sensory thalamus, not sensory cortex. Consistent with this notion, we found neurons of the visual thalamic reticular nucleus (visTRN) to exhibit PFC-dependent changes in firing rate predictive of the modality selected. visTRN activity was causal to performance as confirmed by bidirectional optogenetic manipulations of this subnetwork. Using a combination of electrophysiology and intracellular chloride photometry, we demonstrated that visTRN dynamically controls visual thalamic gain through feedforward inhibition. Our experiments introduce a new subcortical model of sensory selection, in which the PFC biases thalamic reticular subnetworks to control thalamic sensory gain, selecting appropriate inputs for further processing.

Salience-Based Selection: Attentional Capture by Distractors Less Salient Than the Target

PubMed Central

Goschy, Harriet; Müller, Hermann Joseph

2013-01-01

Current accounts of attentional capture predict the most salient stimulus to be invariably selected first. However, existing salience and visual search models assume noise in the map computation or selection process. Consequently, they predict the first selection to be stochastically dependent on salience, implying that attention could even be captured first by the second most salient (instead of the most salient) stimulus in the field. Yet, capture by less salient distractors has not been reported and salience-based selection accounts claim that the distractor has to be more salient in order to capture attention. We tested this prediction using an empirical and modeling approach of the visual search distractor paradigm. For the empirical part, we manipulated salience of target and distractor parametrically and measured reaction time interference when a distractor was present compared to absent. Reaction time interference was strongly correlated with distractor salience relative to the target. Moreover, even distractors less salient than the target captured attention, as measured by reaction time interference and oculomotor capture. In the modeling part, we simulated first selection in the distractor paradigm using behavioral measures of salience and considering the time course of selection including noise. We were able to replicate the result pattern we obtained in the empirical part. We conclude that each salience value follows a specific selection time distribution and attentional capture occurs when the selection time distributions of target and distractor overlap. Hence, selection is stochastic in nature and attentional capture occurs with a certain probability depending on relative salience. PMID:23382820

Distinctive Correspondence Between Separable Visual Attention Functions and Intrinsic Brain Networks.

PubMed

Ruiz-Rizzo, Adriana L; Neitzel, Julia; Müller, Hermann J; Sorg, Christian; Finke, Kathrin

2018-01-01

Separable visual attention functions are assumed to rely on distinct but interacting neural mechanisms. Bundesen's "theory of visual attention" (TVA) allows the mathematical estimation of independent parameters that characterize individuals' visual attentional capacity (i.e., visual processing speed and visual short-term memory storage capacity) and selectivity functions (i.e., top-down control and spatial laterality). However, it is unclear whether these parameters distinctively map onto different brain networks obtained from intrinsic functional connectivity, which organizes slowly fluctuating ongoing brain activity. In our study, 31 demographically homogeneous healthy young participants performed whole- and partial-report tasks and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Report accuracy was modeled using TVA to estimate, individually, the four TVA parameters. Networks encompassing cortical areas relevant for visual attention were derived from independent component analysis of rs-fMRI data: visual, executive control, right and left frontoparietal, and ventral and dorsal attention networks. Two TVA parameters were mapped on particular functional networks. First, participants with higher (vs. lower) visual processing speed showed lower functional connectivity within the ventral attention network. Second, participants with more (vs. less) efficient top-down control showed higher functional connectivity within the dorsal attention network and lower functional connectivity within the visual network. Additionally, higher performance was associated with higher functional connectivity between networks: specifically, between the ventral attention and right frontoparietal networks for visual processing speed, and between the visual and executive control networks for top-down control. The higher inter-network functional connectivity was related to lower intra-network connectivity. These results demonstrate that separable visual attention parameters that are assumed to constitute relatively stable traits correspond distinctly to the functional connectivity both within and between particular functional networks. This implies that individual differences in basic attention functions are represented by differences in the coherence of slowly fluctuating brain activity.

Sleep deprivation impairs object-selective attention: a view from the ventral visual cortex.

PubMed

Lim, Julian; Tan, Jiat Chow; Parimal, Sarayu; Dinges, David F; Chee, Michael W L

2010-02-05

Most prior studies on selective attention in the setting of total sleep deprivation (SD) have focused on behavior or activation within fronto-parietal cognitive control areas. Here, we evaluated the effects of SD on the top-down biasing of activation of ventral visual cortex and on functional connectivity between cognitive control and other brain regions. Twenty-three healthy young adult volunteers underwent fMRI after a normal night of sleep (RW) and after sleep deprivation in a counterbalanced manner while performing a selective attention task. During this task, pictures of houses or faces were randomly interleaved among scrambled images. Across different blocks, volunteers responded to house but not face pictures, face but not house pictures, or passively viewed pictures without responding. The appearance of task-relevant pictures was unpredictable in this paradigm. SD resulted in less accurate detection of target pictures without affecting the mean false alarm rate or response time. In addition to a reduction of fronto-parietal activation, attending to houses strongly modulated parahippocampal place area (PPA) activation during RW, but this attention-driven biasing of PPA activation was abolished following SD. Additionally, SD resulted in a significant decrement in functional connectivity between the PPA and two cognitive control areas, the left intraparietal sulcus and the left inferior frontal lobe. SD impairs selective attention as evidenced by reduced selectivity in PPA activation. Further, reduction in fronto-parietal and ventral visual task-related activation suggests that it also affects sustained attention. Reductions in functional connectivity may be an important additional imaging parameter to consider in characterizing the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.

On the Electrophysiological Evidence for the Capture of Visual Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, John J.; Green, Jessica J.; Jannati, Ali; Di Lollo, Vincent

2013-01-01

The presence of a salient distractor interferes with visual search. According to the salience-driven selection hypothesis, this interference is because of an initial deployment of attention to the distractor. Three event-related potential (ERP) findings have been regarded as evidence for this hypothesis: (a) salient distractors were found to…

Selective visual attention to emotional words: Early parallel frontal and visual activations followed by interactive effects in visual cortex.

PubMed

Schindler, Sebastian; Kissler, Johanna

2016-10-01

Human brains spontaneously differentiate between various emotional and neutral stimuli, including written words whose emotional quality is symbolic. In the electroencephalogram (EEG), emotional-neutral processing differences are typically reflected in the early posterior negativity (EPN, 200-300 ms) and the late positive potential (LPP, 400-700 ms). These components are also enlarged by task-driven visual attention, supporting the assumption that emotional content naturally drives attention. Still, the spatio-temporal dynamics of interactions between emotional stimulus content and task-driven attention remain to be specified. Here, we examine this issue in visual word processing. Participants attended to negative, neutral, or positive nouns while high-density EEG was recorded. Emotional content and top-down attention both amplified the EPN component in parallel. On the LPP, by contrast, emotion and attention interacted: Explicit attention to emotional words led to a substantially larger amplitude increase than did explicit attention to neutral words. Source analysis revealed early parallel effects of emotion and attention in bilateral visual cortex and a later interaction of both in right visual cortex. Distinct effects of attention were found in inferior, middle and superior frontal, paracentral, and parietal areas, as well as in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Results specify separate and shared mechanisms of emotion and attention at distinct processing stages. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3575-3587, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effect of visual salience on memory-based choices.

PubMed

Pooresmaeili, Arezoo; Bach, Dominik R; Dolan, Raymond J

2014-02-01

Deciding whether a stimulus is the "same" or "different" from a previous presented one involves integrating among the incoming sensory information, working memory, and perceptual decision making. Visual selective attention plays a crucial role in selecting the relevant information that informs a subsequent course of action. Previous studies have mainly investigated the role of visual attention during the encoding phase of working memory tasks. In this study, we investigate whether manipulation of bottom-up attention by changing stimulus visual salience impacts on later stages of memory-based decisions. In two experiments, we asked subjects to identify whether a stimulus had either the same or a different feature to that of a memorized sample. We manipulated visual salience of the test stimuli by varying a task-irrelevant feature contrast. Subjects chose a visually salient item more often when they looked for matching features and less often so when they looked for a nonmatch. This pattern of results indicates that salient items are more likely to be identified as a match. We interpret the findings in terms of capacity limitations at a comparison stage where a visually salient item is more likely to exhaust resources leading it to be prematurely parsed as a match.

The role of spatial selective attention in working memory for locations: evidence from event-related potentials.

PubMed

Awh, E; Anllo-Vento, L; Hillyard, S A

2000-09-01

We investigated the hypothesis that the covert focusing of spatial attention mediates the on-line maintenance of location information in spatial working memory. During the delay period of a spatial working-memory task, behaviorally irrelevant probe stimuli were flashed at both memorized and nonmemorized locations. Multichannel recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to assess visual processing of the probes at the different locations. Consistent with the hypothesis of attention-based rehearsal, early ERP components were enlarged in response to probes that appeared at memorized locations. These visual modulations were similar in latency and topography to those observed after explicit manipulations of spatial selective attention in a parallel experimental condition that employed an identical stimulus display.

Time course of spatial and feature selective attention for partly-occluded objects.

PubMed

Kasai, Tetsuko; Takeya, Ryuji

2012-07-01

Attention selects objects/groups as the most fundamental units, and this may be achieved by an attention-spreading mechanism. Previous event-related potential (ERP) studies have found that attention-spreading is reflected by a decrease in the N1 spatial attention effect. The present study tested whether the electrophysiological attention effect is associated with the perception of object unity or amodal completion through the use of partly-occluded objects. ERPs were recorded in 14 participants who were required to pay attention to their left or right visual field and to press a button for a target shape in the attended field. Bilateral stimuli were presented rapidly, and were separated, connected, or connected behind an occluder. Behavioral performance in the connected and occluded conditions was worse than that in the separated condition, indicating that attention spread over perceptual object representations after amodal completion. Consistently, the late N1 spatial attention effect (180-220 ms post-stimulus) and the early phase (230-280 ms) of feature selection effects (target N2) at contralateral sites decreased, equally for the occluded and connected conditions, while the attention effect in the early N1 latency (140-180 ms) shifted most positively for the occluded condition. These results suggest that perceptual organization processes for object recognition transiently modulate spatial and feature selection processes in the visual cortex. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Role of Color in Search Templates for Real-world Target Objects.

PubMed

Nako, Rebecca; Smith, Tim J; Eimer, Martin

2016-11-01

During visual search, target representations (attentional templates) control the allocation of attention to template-matching objects. The activation of new attentional templates can be prompted by verbal or pictorial target specifications. We measured the N2pc component of the ERP as a temporal marker of attentional target selection to determine the role of color signals in search templates for real-world search target objects that are set up in response to word or picture cues. On each trial run, a word cue (e.g., "apple") was followed by three search displays that contained the cued target object among three distractors. The selection of the first target was based on the word cue only, whereas selection of the two subsequent targets could be controlled by templates set up after the first visual presentation of the target (picture cue). In different trial runs, search displays either contained objects in their natural colors or monochromatic objects. These two display types were presented in different blocks (Experiment 1) or in random order within each block (Experiment 2). RTs were faster, and target N2pc components emerged earlier for the second and third display of each trial run relative to the first display, demonstrating that pictures are more effective than word cues in guiding search. N2pc components were triggered more rapidly for targets in the second and third display in trial runs with colored displays. This demonstrates that when visual target attributes are fully specified by picture cues, the additional presence of color signals in target templates facilitates the speed with which attention is allocated to template-matching objects. No such selection benefits for colored targets were found when search templates were set up in response to word cues. Experiment 2 showed that color templates activated by word cues can even impair the attentional selection of noncolored targets. Results provide new insights into the status of color during the guidance of visual search for real-world target objects. Color is a powerful guiding feature when the precise visual properties of these objects are known but seems to be less important when search targets are specified by word cues.

Top-down influences on visual attention during listening are modulated by observer sex.

PubMed

Shen, John; Itti, Laurent

2012-07-15

In conversation, women have a small advantage in decoding non-verbal communication compared to men. In light of these findings, we sought to determine whether sex differences also existed in visual attention during a related listening task, and if so, if the differences existed among attention to high-level aspects of the scene or to conspicuous visual features. Using eye-tracking and computational techniques, we present direct evidence that men and women orient attention differently during conversational listening. We tracked the eyes of 15 men and 19 women who watched and listened to 84 clips featuring 12 different speakers in various outdoor settings. At the fixation following each saccadic eye movement, we analyzed the type of object that was fixated. Men gazed more often at the mouth and women at the eyes of the speaker. Women more often exhibited "distracted" saccades directed away from the speaker and towards a background scene element. Examining the multi-scale center-surround variation in low-level visual features (static: color, intensity, orientation, and dynamic: motion energy), we found that men consistently selected regions which expressed more variation in dynamic features, which can be attributed to a male preference for motion and a female preference for areas that may contain nonverbal information about the speaker. In sum, significant differences were observed, which we speculate arise from different integration strategies of visual cues in selecting the final target of attention. Our findings have implications for studies of sex in nonverbal communication, as well as for more predictive models of visual attention. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection of multiple cued items is possible during visual short-term memory maintenance.

PubMed

Matsukura, Michi; Vecera, Shaun P

2015-07-01

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that maintenance of a selected object feature held in visual short-term/working memory (VSTM/VWM) is supported by the same neural mechanisms that encode the sensory information. If VSTM operates by retaining "reasonable copies" of scenes constructed during sensory processing (Serences, Ester, Vogel, & Awh, 2009, p. 207, the sensory recruitment hypothesis), then attention should be able to select multiple items represented in VSTM as long as the number of these attended items does not exceed the typical VSTM capacity. It is well known that attention can select at least two noncontiguous locations at the same time during sensory processing. However, empirical reports from the studies that examined this possibility are inconsistent. In the present study, we demonstrate that (1) attention can indeed select more than a single item during VSTM maintenance when observers are asked to recognize a set of items in the manner that these items were originally attended, and (2) attention can select multiple cued items regardless of whether these items are perceptually organized into a single group (contiguous locations) or not (noncontiguous locations). The results also replicate and extend the recent finding that selective attention that operates during VSTM maintenance is sensitive to the observers' goal and motivation to use the cueing information.

Simultaneous attentional guidance by working-memory and selection history reveals two distinct sources of attention.

PubMed

Schwark, Jeremy D; Dolgov, Igor; Sandry, Joshua; Volkman, C Brooks

2013-10-01

Recent theories of attention have proposed that selection history is a separate, dissociable source of information that influences attention. The current study sought to investigate the simultaneous involvement of selection history and working-memory on attention during visual search. Experiments 1 and 2 used target feature probability to manipulate selection history and found significant effects of both working-memory and selection history, although working-memory dominated selection history when they cued different locations. Experiment 3 eliminated the contribution of voluntary refreshing of working-memory and replicated the main effects, although selection history became dominant. Using the same methodology, but with reduced probability cue validity, both effects were present in Experiment 4 and did not significantly differ in their contribution to attention. Effects of selection history and working-memory never interacted. These results suggest that selection history and working-memory are separate influences on attention and have little impact on each other. Theoretical implications for models of attention are discussed. © 2013.

Measuring the interrelations among multiple paradigms of visual attention: an individual differences approach.

PubMed

Huang, Liqiang; Mo, Lei; Li, Ying

2012-04-01

A large part of the empirical research in the field of visual attention has focused on various concrete paradigms. However, as yet, there has been no clear demonstration of whether or not these paradigms are indeed measuring the same underlying construct. We collected a very large data set (nearly 1.3 million trials) to address this question. We tested 257 participants on nine paradigms: conjunction search, configuration search, counting, tracking, feature access, spatial pattern, response selection, visual short-term memory, and change blindness. A fairly general attention factor was identified. Some of the participants were also tested on eight other paradigms. This general attention factor was found to be correlated with intelligence, visual marking, task switching, mental rotation, and Stroop task. On the other hand, a few paradigms that are very important in the attention literature (attentional capture, consonance-driven orienting, and inhibition of return) were found to be dissociated from this general attention factor.

Gaze-independent brain-computer interfaces based on covert attention and feature attention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treder, M. S.; Schmidt, N. M.; Blankertz, B.

2011-10-01

There is evidence that conventional visual brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on event-related potentials cannot be operated efficiently when eye movements are not allowed. To overcome this limitation, the aim of this study was to develop a visual speller that does not require eye movements. Three different variants of a two-stage visual speller based on covert spatial attention and non-spatial feature attention (i.e. attention to colour and form) were tested in an online experiment with 13 healthy participants. All participants achieved highly accurate BCI control. They could select one out of thirty symbols (chance level 3.3%) with mean accuracies of 88%-97% for the different spellers. The best results were obtained for a speller that was operated using non-spatial feature attention only. These results show that, using feature attention, it is possible to realize high-accuracy, fast-paced visual spellers that have a large vocabulary and are independent of eye gaze.

The effect of spatial attention on invisible stimuli.

PubMed

Shin, Kilho; Stolte, Moritz; Chong, Sang Chul

2009-10-01

The influence of selective attention on visual processing is widespread. Recent studies have demonstrated that spatial attention can affect processing of invisible stimuli. However, it has been suggested that this effect is limited to low-level features, such as line orientations. The present experiments investigated whether spatial attention can influence both low-level (contrast threshold) and high-level (gender discrimination) adaptation, using the same method of attentional modulation for both types of stimuli. We found that spatial attention was able to increase the amount of adaptation to low- as well as to high-level invisible stimuli. These results suggest that attention can influence perceptual processes independent of visual awareness.

Selective attention to smoking cues in former smokers.

PubMed

Rehme, Anne K; Bey, Katharina; Frommann, Ingo; Mogg, Karin; Bradley, Brendan P; Bludau, Julia; Block, Verena; Sträter, Birgitta; Schütz, Christian G; Wagner, Michael

2018-02-01

Repeated drug use modifies the emotional and cognitive processing of drug-associated cues. These changes are supposed to persist even after prolonged abstinence. Several studies demonstrated that smoking cues selectively attract the attention of smokers, but empirical evidence for such an attentional bias among successful quitters is inconclusive. Here, we investigated whether attentional biases persist after smoking cessation. Thirty-eight former smokers, 34 current smokers, and 29 non-smokers participated in a single experimental session. We used three measures of attentional bias for smoking stimuli: A visual probe task with short (500ms) and long (2000ms) picture stimulus durations, and a modified Stroop task with smoking-related and neutral words. Former smokers and current smokers, as compared to non-smokers, showed an attentional bias in visual orienting to smoking pictures in the 500ms condition of the visual probe task. The Stroop interference index of smoking words was negatively related to nicotine dependence in current smokers. Former smokers and mildly dependent smokers, as compared to non-smokers, showed increased interference by smoking words in the Stroop task. Neither current nor former smokers showed an attentional bias in maintained attention (2000ms visual probe task). In conclusion, even after prolonged abstinence smoking cues retain incentive salience in former smokers, who differed from non-smokers on two attentional bias indices. Attentional biases in former smokers operate mainly in early involuntary rather than in controlled processing, and may represent a vulnerability factor for relapse. Therefore, smoking cessation programs should strengthen self-control abilities to prevent relapses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Featural and temporal attention selectively enhance task-appropriate representations in human V1

PubMed Central

Warren, Scott; Yacoub, Essa; Ghose, Geoffrey

2015-01-01

Our perceptions are often shaped by focusing our attention toward specific features or periods of time irrespective of location. We explore the physiological bases of these non-spatial forms of attention by imaging brain activity while subjects perform a challenging change detection task. The task employs a continuously varying visual stimulus that, for any moment in time, selectively activates functionally distinct subpopulations of primary visual cortex (V1) neurons. When subjects are cued to the timing and nature of the change, the mapping of orientation preference across V1 was systematically shifts toward the cued stimulus just prior to its appearance. A simple linear model can explain this shift: attentional changes are selectively targeted toward neural subpopulations representing the attended feature at the times the feature was anticipated. Our results suggest that featural attention is mediated by a linear change in the responses of task-appropriate neurons across cortex during appropriate periods of time. PMID:25501983

Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: an investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA).

PubMed

Schubert, Torsten; Finke, Kathrin; Redel, Petra; Kluckow, Steffen; Müller, Hermann; Strobach, Tilo

2015-05-01

Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short-term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment 1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects of visual attention (TVA) with practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distinctive Correspondence Between Separable Visual Attention Functions and Intrinsic Brain Networks

PubMed Central

Ruiz-Rizzo, Adriana L.; Neitzel, Julia; Müller, Hermann J.; Sorg, Christian; Finke, Kathrin

2018-01-01

Separable visual attention functions are assumed to rely on distinct but interacting neural mechanisms. Bundesen's “theory of visual attention” (TVA) allows the mathematical estimation of independent parameters that characterize individuals' visual attentional capacity (i.e., visual processing speed and visual short-term memory storage capacity) and selectivity functions (i.e., top-down control and spatial laterality). However, it is unclear whether these parameters distinctively map onto different brain networks obtained from intrinsic functional connectivity, which organizes slowly fluctuating ongoing brain activity. In our study, 31 demographically homogeneous healthy young participants performed whole- and partial-report tasks and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Report accuracy was modeled using TVA to estimate, individually, the four TVA parameters. Networks encompassing cortical areas relevant for visual attention were derived from independent component analysis of rs-fMRI data: visual, executive control, right and left frontoparietal, and ventral and dorsal attention networks. Two TVA parameters were mapped on particular functional networks. First, participants with higher (vs. lower) visual processing speed showed lower functional connectivity within the ventral attention network. Second, participants with more (vs. less) efficient top-down control showed higher functional connectivity within the dorsal attention network and lower functional connectivity within the visual network. Additionally, higher performance was associated with higher functional connectivity between networks: specifically, between the ventral attention and right frontoparietal networks for visual processing speed, and between the visual and executive control networks for top-down control. The higher inter-network functional connectivity was related to lower intra-network connectivity. These results demonstrate that separable visual attention parameters that are assumed to constitute relatively stable traits correspond distinctly to the functional connectivity both within and between particular functional networks. This implies that individual differences in basic attention functions are represented by differences in the coherence of slowly fluctuating brain activity. PMID:29662444

From shunting inhibition to dynamic normalization: Attentional selection and decision-making in brief visual displays.

PubMed

Smith, Philip L; Sewell, David K; Lilburn, Simon D

2015-11-01

Normalization models of visual sensitivity assume that the response of a visual mechanism is scaled divisively by the sum of the activity in the excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms in its neighborhood. Normalization models of attention assume that the weighting of excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms is modulated by attention. Such models have provided explanations of the effects of attention in both behavioral and single-cell recording studies. We show how normalization models can be obtained as the asymptotic solutions of shunting differential equations, in which stimulus inputs and the activity in the mechanism control growth rates multiplicatively rather than additively. The value of the shunting equation approach is that it characterizes the entire time course of the response, not just its asymptotic strength. We describe two models of attention based on shunting dynamics, the integrated system model of Smith and Ratcliff (2009) and the competitive interaction theory of Smith and Sewell (2013). These models assume that attention, stimulus salience, and the observer's strategy for the task jointly determine the selection of stimuli into visual short-term memory (VSTM) and the way in which stimulus representations are weighted. The quality of the VSTM representation determines the speed and accuracy of the decision. The models provide a unified account of a variety of attentional phenomena found in psychophysical tasks using single-element and multi-element displays. Our results show the generality and utility of the normalization approach to modeling attention. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An investigation of visual selection priority of objects with texture and crossed and uncrossed disparities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaustova, Dar'ya; Fournier, Jérôme; Wyckens, Emmanuel; Le Meur, Olivier

2014-02-01

The aim of this research is to understand the difference in visual attention to 2D and 3D content depending on texture and amount of depth. Two experiments were conducted using an eye-tracker and a 3DTV display. Collected fixation data were used to build saliency maps and to analyze the differences between 2D and 3D conditions. In the first experiment 51 observers participated in the test. Using scenes that contained objects with crossed disparity, it was discovered that such objects are the most salient, even if observers experience discomfort due to the high level of disparity. The goal of the second experiment is to decide whether depth is a determinative factor for visual attention. During the experiment, 28 observers watched the scenes that contained objects with crossed and uncrossed disparities. We evaluated features influencing the saliency of the objects in stereoscopic conditions by using contents with low-level visual features. With univariate tests of significance (MANOVA), it was detected that texture is more important than depth for selection of objects. Objects with crossed disparity are significantly more important for selection processes when compared to 2D. However, objects with uncrossed disparity have the same influence on visual attention as 2D objects. Analysis of eyemovements indicated that there is no difference in saccade length. Fixation durations were significantly higher in stereoscopic conditions for low-level stimuli than in 2D. We believe that these experiments can help to refine existing models of visual attention for 3D content.

Neural correlates of individual performance differences in resolving perceptual conflict.

PubMed

Labrenz, Franziska; Themann, Maria; Wascher, Edmund; Beste, Christian; Pfleiderer, Bettina

2012-01-01

Attentional mechanisms are a crucial prerequisite to organize behavior. Most situations may be characterized by a 'competition' between salient, but irrelevant stimuli and less salient, relevant stimuli. In such situations top-down and bottom-up mechanisms interact with each other. In the present fMRI study, we examined how interindividual differences in resolving situations of perceptual conflict are reflected in brain networks mediating attentional selection. Doing so, we employed a change detection task in which subjects had to detect luminance changes in the presence and absence of competing distractors. The results show that good performers presented increased activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (BA 11), anterior cingulate (BA 25), inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and visual areas V2 and V3 but decreased activation in BA 39. This suggests that areas mediating top-down attentional control are stronger activated in this group. Increased activity in visual areas reflects distinct neuronal enhancement relating to selective attentional mechanisms in order to solve the perceptual conflict. Opposed to good performers, brain areas activated by poor performers comprised the left inferior parietal lobule (BA 39) and fronto-parietal and visual regions were continuously deactivated, suggesting that poor performers perceive stronger conflict than good performers. Moreover, the suppression of neural activation in visual areas might indicate a strategy of poor performers to inhibit the processing of the irrelevant non-target feature. These results indicate that high sensitivity in perceptual areas and increased attentional control led to less conflict in stimulus processing and consequently to higher performance in competitive attentional selection.

Dynamic visual attention: motion direction versus motion magnitude

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bur, A.; Wurtz, P.; Müri, R. M.; Hügli, H.

2008-02-01

Defined as an attentive process in the context of visual sequences, dynamic visual attention refers to the selection of the most informative parts of video sequence. This paper investigates the contribution of motion in dynamic visual attention, and specifically compares computer models designed with the motion component expressed either as the speed magnitude or as the speed vector. Several computer models, including static features (color, intensity and orientation) and motion features (magnitude and vector) are considered. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations are performed by comparing the computer model output with human saliency maps obtained experimentally from eye movement recordings. The model suitability is evaluated in various situations (synthetic and real sequences, acquired with fixed and moving camera perspective), showing advantages and inconveniences of each method as well as preferred domain of application.

Color selectivity of the spatial congruency effect: evidence from the focused attention paradigm.

PubMed

Makovac, Elena; Gerbino, Walter

2014-01-01

The multisensory response enhancement (MRE), occurring when the response to a visual target integrated with a spatially congruent sound is stronger than the response to the visual target alone, is believed to be mediated by the superior colliculus (SC) (Stein & Meredith, 1993). Here, we used a focused attention paradigm to show that the spatial congruency effect occurs with red (SC-effective) but not blue (SC-ineffective) visual stimuli, when presented with spatially congruent sounds. To isolate the chromatic component of SC-ineffective targets and to demonstrate the selectivity of the spatial congruency effect we used the random luminance modulation technique (Experiment 1) and the tritanopic technique (Experiment 2). Our results indicate that the spatial congruency effect does not require the distribution of attention over different sensory modalities and provide correlational evidence that the SC mediates the effect.

Input Control Processes in Rapid Serial Visual Presentations: Target Selection and Distractor Inhibition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivers, Christian N. L.; Watson, Derrick G.

2006-01-01

The attentional blink refers to the finding that the 2nd of 2 targets embedded in a stream of rapidly presented distractors is often missed. Whereas most theories of the attentional blink focus on limited-capacity processes that occur after target selection, the present work investigates the selection process itself. Identifying a target letter…

Effects of dividing attention during encoding on perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects.

PubMed

Soldan, Anja; Mangels, Jennifer A; Cooper, Lynn A

2008-11-01

According to the distractor-selection hypothesis (Mulligan, 2003), dividing attention during encoding reduces perceptual priming when responses to non-critical (i.e., distractor) stimuli are selected frequently and simultaneously with critical stimulus encoding. Because direct support for this hypothesis comes exclusively from studies using familiar word stimuli, the present study tested whether the predictions of the distractor-selection hypothesis extend to perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects using the possible/impossible object decision test. Consistent with the distractor-selection hypothesis, Experiments 1 and 2 found no reduction in priming when the non-critical stimuli were presented infrequently and non-synchronously with the critical target stimuli, even though explicit recognition memory was reduced. In Experiment 3, non-critical stimuli were presented frequently and simultaneously during encoding of critical stimuli; however, no decrement in priming was detected, even when encoding time was reduced. These results suggest that priming in the possible/impossible object decision test is relatively immune to reductions in central attention and that not all aspects of the distractor-selection hypothesis generalise to priming of unfamiliar visual objects. Implications for theoretical models of object decision priming are discussed.

Effects of dividing attention during encoding on perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects

PubMed Central

Soldan, Anja; Mangels, Jennifer A.; Cooper, Lynn A.

2008-01-01

According to the distractor-selection hypothesis (Mulligan, 2003), dividing attention during encoding reduces perceptual priming when responses to non-critical (i.e., distractor) stimuli are selected frequently and simultaneously with critical stimulus encoding. Because direct support for this hypothesis comes exclusively from studies using familiar word stimuli, the present study tested whether the predictions of the distractor-selection hypothesis extend to perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects using the possible/impossible object-decision test. Consistent with the distractor-selection hypothesis, Experiments 1 and 2 found no reduction in priming when the non-critical stimuli were presented infrequently and non-synchronously with the critical target stimuli, even though explicit recognition memory was reduced. In Experiment 3, non-critical stimuli were presented frequently and simultaneously during encoding of critical stimuli; however, no decrement in priming was detected, even when encoding time was reduced. These results suggest that priming in the possible/impossible object-decision test is relatively immune to reductions in central attention and that not all aspects of the distractor-selection hypothesis generalize to priming of unfamiliar visual objects. Implications for theoretical models of object-decision priming are discussed. PMID:18821167

Selective Control of Attention Supports the Positivity Effect in Aging

PubMed Central

Sasse, Laura K.; Gamer, Matthias; Büchel, Christian; Brassen, Stefanie

2014-01-01

There is emerging evidence for a positivity effect in healthy aging, which describes an age-specific increased focus on positive compared to negative information. Life-span researchers have attributed this effect to the selective allocation of cognitive resources in the service of prioritized emotional goals. We explored the basic principles of this assumption by assessing selective attention and memory for visual stimuli, differing in emotional content and self-relevance, in young and old participants. To specifically address the impact of cognitive control, voluntary attentional selection during the presentation of multiple-item displays was analyzed and linked to participants' general ability of cognitive control. Results revealed a positivity effect in older adults' selective attention and memory, which was particularly pronounced for self-relevant stimuli. Focusing on positive and ignoring negative information was most evident in older participants with a generally higher ability to exert top-down control during visual search. Our findings highlight the role of controlled selectivity in the occurrence of a positivity effect in aging. Since the effect has been related to well-being in later life, we suggest that the ability to selectively allocate top-down control might represent a resilience factor for emotional health in aging. PMID:25093459

Attentional selection of relative SF mediates global versus local processing: evidence from EEG.

PubMed

Flevaris, Anastasia V; Bentin, Shlomo; Robertson, Lynn C

2011-06-13

Previous research on functional hemispheric differences in visual processing has associated global perception with low spatial frequency (LSF) processing biases of the right hemisphere (RH) and local perception with high spatial frequency (HSF) processing biases of the left hemisphere (LH). The Double Filtering by Frequency (DFF) theory expanded this hypothesis by proposing that visual attention selects and is directed to relatively LSFs by the RH and relatively HSFs by the LH, suggesting a direct causal relationship between SF selection and global versus local perception. We tested this idea in the current experiment by comparing activity in the EEG recorded at posterior right and posterior left hemisphere sites while participants' attention was directed to global or local levels of processing after selection of relatively LSFs versus HSFs in a previous stimulus. Hemispheric asymmetry in the alpha band (8-12 Hz) during preparation for global versus local processing was modulated by the selected SF. In contrast, preparatory activity associated with selection of SF was not modulated by the previously attended level (global/local). These results support the DFF theory that top-down attentional selection of SF mediates global and local processing.

Selective control of attention supports the positivity effect in aging.

PubMed

Sasse, Laura K; Gamer, Matthias; Büchel, Christian; Brassen, Stefanie

2014-01-01

There is emerging evidence for a positivity effect in healthy aging, which describes an age-specific increased focus on positive compared to negative information. Life-span researchers have attributed this effect to the selective allocation of cognitive resources in the service of prioritized emotional goals. We explored the basic principles of this assumption by assessing selective attention and memory for visual stimuli, differing in emotional content and self-relevance, in young and old participants. To specifically address the impact of cognitive control, voluntary attentional selection during the presentation of multiple-item displays was analyzed and linked to participants' general ability of cognitive control. Results revealed a positivity effect in older adults' selective attention and memory, which was particularly pronounced for self-relevant stimuli. Focusing on positive and ignoring negative information was most evident in older participants with a generally higher ability to exert top-down control during visual search. Our findings highlight the role of controlled selectivity in the occurrence of a positivity effect in aging. Since the effect has been related to well-being in later life, we suggest that the ability to selectively allocate top-down control might represent a resilience factor for emotional health in aging.

Cognitive and Neural Bases of Skilled Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-05-12

Pergamon, 1958. Broadbent , D.F., A mechanical model for human attention and immediate memory. Psychol. Rev., 64: 205-215’ 1957. Cherry, C. On the...material on the efficiency of selective listening. Amer. J. Psychol., 77: 533-546, 1964. Treisman, A. Strategies and models of selective attention ...cortex reveal suong effects of attention , these results suggest that the visual attentional " filter " may be located at a later stage. This is consistent

[Visual perception of Kanji characters and complicated figures. Part 3. Visual P300 event-related potentials in patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders].

PubMed

Shirane, Seiko; Inagaki, Masumi; Sata, Yoshimi; Kaga, Makiko

2004-07-01

In order to evaluate visual perception, the P300 event-related potentials (ERPs) for visual oddball tasks were recorded in 11 patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (AD/HD), 12 with mental retardation (MR) and 14 age-matched healthy controls. With the aim of revealing trial-to-trial variabilities which are neglected by investigating averaged ERPs, single sweep P300s (ss-P300s) were assessed in addition to averaged P300. There were no significant differences of averaged P300 latency and amplitude between controls and AD/HD patients. AD/HD patients showed an increased variability in the amplitude of ss-P300s, while MR patient showed an increased variability in latency. These findings suggest that in AD/HD patients general attention is impaired to a larger extent than selective attention and visual perception.

Through evolution's eyes: extracting mate preferences by linking visual attention to adaptive design.

PubMed

Krupp, Daniel Brian

2008-02-01

Information is crucial to decision-making, including mate choice decisions. Perceptual systems, such as attention, evolved in part to forage for reproductive information; consequently, these systems can be used to reveal mate preferences. Here, I consider the place of visual information in human mate choice and provide a rationale for pressing into service methods drawn from the attention literature for the study of mate choice decisions. Because visual attention is allocated automatically and selectively, it may be used to complement common methods of mate preference assessment, such as self-report questionnaires and measures of genital arousal, while avoiding some of the pitfalls of these methods. Beyond the utility of increasing confidence in extant research findings by employing relatively unobtrusive methods, visual attention paradigms can also allow researchers to explore a variety of questions that are rarely asked, such as those concerned with signal efficiency and tradeoffs in the assessment of mate value.

Cholinergic, But Not Dopaminergic or Noradrenergic, Enhancement Sharpens Visual Spatial Perception in Humans

PubMed Central

Wallace, Deanna L.

2017-01-01

The neuromodulator acetylcholine modulates spatial integration in visual cortex by altering the balance of inputs that generate neuronal receptive fields. These cholinergic effects may provide a neurobiological mechanism underlying the modulation of visual representations by visual spatial attention. However, the consequences of cholinergic enhancement on visuospatial perception in humans are unknown. We conducted two experiments to test whether enhancing cholinergic signaling selectively alters perceptual measures of visuospatial interactions in human subjects. In Experiment 1, a double-blind placebo-controlled pharmacology study, we measured how flanking distractors influenced detection of a small contrast decrement of a peripheral target, as a function of target-flanker distance. We found that cholinergic enhancement with the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil improved target detection, and modeling suggested that this was mainly due to a narrowing of the extent of facilitatory perceptual spatial interactions. In Experiment 2, we tested whether these effects were selective to the cholinergic system or would also be observed following enhancements of related neuromodulators dopamine or norepinephrine. Unlike cholinergic enhancement, dopamine (bromocriptine) and norepinephrine (guanfacine) manipulations did not improve performance or systematically alter the spatial profile of perceptual interactions between targets and distractors. These findings reveal mechanisms by which cholinergic signaling influences visual spatial interactions in perception and improves processing of a visual target among distractors, effects that are notably similar to those of spatial selective attention. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Acetylcholine influences how visual cortical neurons integrate signals across space, perhaps providing a neurobiological mechanism for the effects of visual selective attention. However, the influence of cholinergic enhancement on visuospatial perception remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that cholinergic enhancement improves detection of a target flanked by distractors, consistent with sharpened visuospatial perceptual representations. Furthermore, whereas most pharmacological studies focus on a single neurotransmitter, many neuromodulators can have related effects on cognition and perception. Thus, we also demonstrate that enhancing noradrenergic and dopaminergic systems does not systematically improve visuospatial perception or alter its tuning. Our results link visuospatial tuning effects of acetylcholine at the neuronal and perceptual levels and provide insights into the connection between cholinergic signaling and visual attention. PMID:28336568

Markers of preparatory attention predict visual short-term memory performance.

PubMed

Murray, Alexandra M; Nobre, Anna C; Stokes, Mark G

2011-05-01

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is limited in capacity. Therefore, it is important to encode only visual information that is most likely to be relevant to behaviour. Here we asked which aspects of selective biasing of VSTM encoding predict subsequent memory-based performance. We measured EEG during a selective VSTM encoding task, in which we varied parametrically the memory load and the precision of recall required to compare a remembered item to a subsequent probe item. On half the trials, a spatial cue indicated that participants only needed to encode items from one hemifield. We observed a typical sequence of markers of anticipatory spatial attention: early attention directing negativity (EDAN), anterior attention directing negativity (ADAN), late directing attention positivity (LDAP); as well as of VSTM maintenance: contralateral delay activity (CDA). We found that individual differences in preparatory brain activity (EDAN/ADAN) predicted cue-related changes in recall accuracy, indexed by memory-probe discrimination sensitivity (d'). Importantly, our parametric manipulation of memory-probe similarity also allowed us to model the behavioural data for each participant, providing estimates for the quality of the memory representation and the probability that an item could be retrieved. We found that selective encoding primarily increased the probability of accurate memory recall; that ERP markers of preparatory attention predicted the cue-related changes in recall probability. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Early Visual Cortex Dynamics during Top-Down Modulated Shifts of Feature-Selective Attention.

PubMed

Müller, Matthias M; Trautmann, Mireille; Keitel, Christian

2016-04-01

Shifting attention from one color to another color or from color to another feature dimension such as shape or orientation is imperative when searching for a certain object in a cluttered scene. Most attention models that emphasize feature-based selection implicitly assume that all shifts in feature-selective attention underlie identical temporal dynamics. Here, we recorded time courses of behavioral data and steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs), an objective electrophysiological measure of neural dynamics in early visual cortex to investigate temporal dynamics when participants shifted attention from color or orientation toward color or orientation, respectively. SSVEPs were elicited by four random dot kinematograms that flickered at different frequencies. Each random dot kinematogram was composed of dashes that uniquely combined two features from the dimensions color (red or blue) and orientation (slash or backslash). Participants were cued to attend to one feature (such as color or orientation) and respond to coherent motion targets of the to-be-attended feature. We found that shifts toward color occurred earlier after the shifting cue compared with shifts toward orientation, regardless of the original feature (i.e., color or orientation). This was paralleled in SSVEP amplitude modulations as well as in the time course of behavioral data. Overall, our results suggest different neural dynamics during shifts of attention from color and orientation and the respective shifting destinations, namely, either toward color or toward orientation.

Comparing the performance of people who stutter and people who do not stutter on the Test of Everyday Attention.

PubMed

Doneva, Silviya; Davis, Steve; Cavenagh, Penny

2018-08-01

Compelling findings into the relationship between stuttering and attentional ability have started to emerge, with some child and adult studies indicating poorer attentional ability among people who stutter (PWS). The purpose of the present research was to provide a more complete picture of the attentional abilities of PWS, as well as to gather insights into their individual attentional performance. We compared the attentional ability of PWS to that of people who do not stutter (PWNS) by using the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA). TEA is a clinical assessment battery with a very good validity and reliability comprising 8 subtests that pose differential demands on sustained attention, selective attention, attentional switching, and divided attention. Fifty age- and gender-matched PWS and PWNS (aged 19-77 years) took part in the study. Importantly, we also examined stuttering severity in the PWS group. PWS performed significantly worse on tasks tapping into visual selective and divided attentional resources. Furthermore despite failing to reach statistical significance, the results also revealed an interesting trend for stuttering to be associated with poorer performance on two subtests measuring attentional switching and one tapping into auditory selective attention. Moreover, as hypothesized, there was also a negative association between stuttering severity and performance on two TEA subtests measuring visual selective attention. Finally, the type of TEA test variant produced no significant effect on performance. We interpret these results as indicative of stuttering being associated with poorer performance on tasks measuring certain attentional abilities. These tie in well with theoretical models identifying speech production as particularly attention-demanding in stuttering or approaches placing attentional dysfunction at the heart of the condition. The present research also has practical implications for the use of attentional training to improve fluency.

Selection history alters attentional filter settings persistently and beyond top-down control.

PubMed

Kadel, Hanna; Feldmann-Wüstefeld, Tobias; Schubö, Anna

2017-05-01

Visual selective attention is known to be guided by stimulus-based (bottom-up) and goal-oriented (top-down) control mechanisms. Recent work has pointed out that selection history (i.e., the bias to prioritize items that have been previously attended) can result in a learning experience that also has a substantial impact on subsequent attention guidance. The present study examined to what extent goal-oriented top-down control mechanisms interact with an observer's individual selection history in guiding attention. Selection history was manipulated in a categorization task in a between-subjects design, where participants learned that either color or shape was the response-relevant dimension. The impact of this experience was assessed in a compound visual search task with an additional color distractor. Top-down preparation for each search trial was enabled by a pretrial task cue (Experiment 1) or a fixed, predictable trial sequence (Experiment 2). Reaction times and ERPs served as indicators of attention deployment. Results showed that attention was captured by the color distractor when participants had learned that color predicted the correct response in the categorization learning task, suggesting that a bias for predictive stimulus features had developed. The possibility to prepare for the search task reduced the bias, but could not entirely overrule this selection history effect. In Experiment 3, both tasks were performed in separate sessions, and the bias still persisted. These results indicate that selection history considerably shapes selective attention and continues to do so persistently even when the task allowed for high top-down control. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Individual Alpha Peak Frequency Predicts 10 Hz Flicker Effects on Selective Attention.

PubMed

Gulbinaite, Rasa; van Viegen, Tara; Wieling, Martijn; Cohen, Michael X; VanRullen, Rufin

2017-10-18

Rhythmic visual stimulation ("flicker") is primarily used to "tag" processing of low-level visual and high-level cognitive phenomena. However, preliminary evidence suggests that flicker may also entrain endogenous brain oscillations, thereby modulating cognitive processes supported by those brain rhythms. Here we tested the interaction between 10 Hz flicker and endogenous alpha-band (∼10 Hz) oscillations during a selective visuospatial attention task. We recorded EEG from human participants (both genders) while they performed a modified Eriksen flanker task in which distractors and targets flickered within (10 Hz) or outside (7.5 or 15 Hz) the alpha band. By using a combination of EEG source separation, time-frequency, and single-trial linear mixed-effects modeling, we demonstrate that 10 Hz flicker interfered with stimulus processing more on incongruent than congruent trials (high vs low selective attention demands). Crucially, the effect of 10 Hz flicker on task performance was predicted by the distance between 10 Hz and individual alpha peak frequency (estimated during the task). Finally, the flicker effect on task performance was more strongly predicted by EEG flicker responses during stimulus processing than during preparation for the upcoming stimulus, suggesting that 10 Hz flicker interfered more with reactive than proactive selective attention. These findings are consistent with our hypothesis that visual flicker entrained endogenous alpha-band networks, which in turn impaired task performance. Our findings also provide novel evidence for frequency-dependent exogenous modulation of cognition that is determined by the correspondence between the exogenous flicker frequency and the endogenous brain rhythms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here we provide novel evidence that the interaction between exogenous rhythmic visual stimulation and endogenous brain rhythms can have frequency-specific behavioral effects. We show that alpha-band (10 Hz) flicker impairs stimulus processing in a selective attention task when the stimulus flicker rate matches individual alpha peak frequency. The effect of sensory flicker on task performance was stronger when selective attention demands were high, and was stronger during stimulus processing and response selection compared with the prestimulus anticipatory period. These findings provide novel evidence that frequency-specific sensory flicker affects online attentional processing, and also demonstrate that the correspondence between exogenous and endogenous rhythms is an overlooked prerequisite when testing for frequency-specific cognitive effects of flicker. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/3710173-12$15.00/0.

Modeling the Effects of Perceptual Load: Saliency, Competitive Interactions, and Top-Down Biases.

PubMed

Neokleous, Kleanthis; Shimi, Andria; Avraamides, Marios N

2016-01-01

A computational model of visual selective attention has been implemented to account for experimental findings on the Perceptual Load Theory (PLT) of attention. The model was designed based on existing neurophysiological findings on attentional processes with the objective to offer an explicit and biologically plausible formulation of PLT. Simulation results verified that the proposed model is capable of capturing the basic pattern of results that support the PLT as well as findings that are considered contradictory to the theory. Importantly, the model is able to reproduce the behavioral results from a dilution experiment, providing thus a way to reconcile PLT with the competing Dilution account. Overall, the model presents a novel account for explaining PLT effects on the basis of the low-level competitive interactions among neurons that represent visual input and the top-down signals that modulate neural activity. The implications of the model concerning the debate on the locus of selective attention as well as the origins of distractor interference in visual displays of varying load are discussed.

Electrophysiological evidence for phenomenal consciousness.

PubMed

Revonsuo, Antti; Koivisto, Mika

2010-09-01

Abstract Recent evidence from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) lends support to two central theses in Lamme's theory. The earliest ERP correlate of visual consciousness appears over posterior visual cortex around 100-200 ms after stimulus onset. Its scalp topography and time window are consistent with recurrent processing in the visual cortex. This electrophysiological correlate of visual consciousness is mostly independent of later ERPs reflecting selective attention and working memory functions. Overall, the ERP evidence supports the view that phenomenal consciousness of a visual stimulus emerges earlier than access consciousness, and that attention and awareness are served by distinct neural processes.

Characterizing the effects of feature salience and top-down attention in the early visual system.

PubMed

Poltoratski, Sonia; Ling, Sam; McCormack, Devin; Tong, Frank

2017-07-01

The visual system employs a sophisticated balance of attentional mechanisms: salient stimuli are prioritized for visual processing, yet observers can also ignore such stimuli when their goals require directing attention elsewhere. A powerful determinant of visual salience is local feature contrast: if a local region differs from its immediate surround along one or more feature dimensions, it will appear more salient. We used high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI) at 7T to characterize the modulatory effects of bottom-up salience and top-down voluntary attention within multiple sites along the early visual pathway, including visual areas V1-V4 and the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Observers viewed arrays of spatially distributed gratings, where one of the gratings immediately to the left or right of fixation differed from all other items in orientation or motion direction, making it salient. To investigate the effects of directed attention, observers were cued to attend to the grating to the left or right of fixation, which was either salient or nonsalient. Results revealed reliable additive effects of top-down attention and stimulus-driven salience throughout visual areas V1-hV4. In comparison, the LGN exhibited significant attentional enhancement but was not reliably modulated by orientation- or motion-defined salience. Our findings indicate that top-down effects of spatial attention can influence visual processing at the earliest possible site along the visual pathway, including the LGN, whereas the processing of orientation- and motion-driven salience primarily involves feature-selective interactions that take place in early cortical visual areas. NEW & NOTEWORTHY While spatial attention allows for specific, goal-driven enhancement of stimuli, salient items outside of the current focus of attention must also be prioritized. We used 7T fMRI to compare salience and spatial attentional enhancement along the early visual hierarchy. We report additive effects of attention and bottom-up salience in early visual areas, suggesting that salience enhancement is not contingent on the observer's attentional state. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Long-term musical training may improve different forms of visual attention ability.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Ana Carolina; Loureiro, Maurício Alves; Caramelli, Paulo

2013-08-01

Many studies have suggested that structural and functional cerebral neuroplastic processes result from long-term musical training, which in turn may produce cognitive differences between musicians and non-musicians. We aimed to investigate whether intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improvements in three different forms of visual attention ability: selective, divided and sustained attention. Musicians from symphony orchestras (n=38) and non-musicians (n=38), who were comparable in age, gender and education, were submitted to three neuropsychological tests, measuring reaction time and accuracy. Musicians showed better performance relative to non-musicians on four variables of the three visual attention tests, and such an advantage could not solely be explained by better sensorimotor integration. Moreover, in the group of musicians, significant correlations were observed between the age at the commencement of musical studies and reaction time in all visual attention tests. The results suggest that musicians present augmented ability in different forms of visual attention, thus illustrating the possible cognitive benefits of long-term musical training. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A value-driven mechanism of attentional selection

PubMed Central

Anderson, Brian A.

2013-01-01

Attention selects stimuli for cognitive processing, and the mechanisms that underlie the process of attentional selection have been a major topic of psychological research for over 30 years. From this research, it has been well documented that attentional selection can proceed both voluntarily, driven by visual search goals, and involuntarily, driven by the physical salience of stimuli. In this review, I provide a conceptual framework for attentional control that emphasizes the need for stimulus selection to promote the survival and wellbeing of an organism. I argue that although goal-driven and salience-driven mechanisms of attentional selection fit within this framework, a central component that is missing is a mechanism of attentional selection that is uniquely driven by learned associations between stimuli and rewards. I go on to review recent evidence for such a value-driven mechanism of attentional selection, and describe how this mechanism functions independently of the well-documented salience-driven and goal-driven mechanisms. I conclude by arguing that reward learning modifies the attentional priority of stimuli, allowing them to compete more effectively for selection even when nonsalient and task-irrelevant. PMID:23589803

The Neural Dynamics of Attentional Selection in Natural Scenes.

PubMed

Kaiser, Daniel; Oosterhof, Nikolaas N; Peelen, Marius V

2016-10-12

The human visual system can only represent a small subset of the many objects present in cluttered scenes at any given time, such that objects compete for representation. Despite these processing limitations, the detection of object categories in cluttered natural scenes is remarkably rapid. How does the brain efficiently select goal-relevant objects from cluttered scenes? In the present study, we used multivariate decoding of magneto-encephalography (MEG) data to track the neural representation of within-scene objects as a function of top-down attentional set. Participants detected categorical targets (cars or people) in natural scenes. The presence of these categories within a scene was decoded from MEG sensor patterns by training linear classifiers on differentiating cars and people in isolation and testing these classifiers on scenes containing one of the two categories. The presence of a specific category in a scene could be reliably decoded from MEG response patterns as early as 160 ms, despite substantial scene clutter and variation in the visual appearance of each category. Strikingly, we find that these early categorical representations fully depend on the match between visual input and top-down attentional set: only objects that matched the current attentional set were processed to the category level within the first 200 ms after scene onset. A sensor-space searchlight analysis revealed that this early attention bias was localized to lateral occipitotemporal cortex, reflecting top-down modulation of visual processing. These results show that attention quickly resolves competition between objects in cluttered natural scenes, allowing for the rapid neural representation of goal-relevant objects. Efficient attentional selection is crucial in many everyday situations. For example, when driving a car, we need to quickly detect obstacles, such as pedestrians crossing the street, while ignoring irrelevant objects. How can humans efficiently perform such tasks, given the multitude of objects contained in real-world scenes? Here we used multivariate decoding of magnetoencephalogaphy data to characterize the neural underpinnings of attentional selection in natural scenes with high temporal precision. We show that brain activity quickly tracks the presence of objects in scenes, but crucially only for those objects that were immediately relevant for the participant. These results provide evidence for fast and efficient attentional selection that mediates the rapid detection of goal-relevant objects in real-world environments. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/3610522-07$15.00/0.

Bodies Capture Attention When Nothing Is Expected

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downing, Paul E.; Bray, David; Rogers, Jack; Childs, Claire

2004-01-01

Functional neuroimaging research has shown that certain classes of visual stimulus selectively activate focal regions of visual cortex. Specifically, cortical areas that generally and selectively respond to faces (Kanwisher, N., McDermott, J., & Chun, M. M. (1997). The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face…

An independent brain-computer interface using covert non-spatial visual selective attention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Dan; Maye, Alexander; Gao, Xiaorong; Hong, Bo; Engel, Andreas K.; Gao, Shangkai

2010-02-01

In this paper, a novel independent brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on covert non-spatial visual selective attention of two superimposed illusory surfaces is described. Perception of two superimposed surfaces was induced by two sets of dots with different colors rotating in opposite directions. The surfaces flickered at different frequencies and elicited distinguishable steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) over parietal and occipital areas of the brain. By selectively attending to one of the two surfaces, the SSVEP amplitude at the corresponding frequency was enhanced. An online BCI system utilizing the attentional modulation of SSVEP was implemented and a 3-day online training program with healthy subjects was carried out. The study was conducted with Chinese subjects at Tsinghua University, and German subjects at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) using identical stimulation software and equivalent technical setup. A general improvement of control accuracy with training was observed in 8 out of 18 subjects. An averaged online classification accuracy of 72.6 ± 16.1% was achieved on the last training day. The system renders SSVEP-based BCI paradigms possible for paralyzed patients with substantial head or ocular motor impairments by employing covert attention shifts instead of changing gaze direction.

An independent brain-computer interface using covert non-spatial visual selective attention.

PubMed

Zhang, Dan; Maye, Alexander; Gao, Xiaorong; Hong, Bo; Engel, Andreas K; Gao, Shangkai

2010-02-01

In this paper, a novel independent brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on covert non-spatial visual selective attention of two superimposed illusory surfaces is described. Perception of two superimposed surfaces was induced by two sets of dots with different colors rotating in opposite directions. The surfaces flickered at different frequencies and elicited distinguishable steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) over parietal and occipital areas of the brain. By selectively attending to one of the two surfaces, the SSVEP amplitude at the corresponding frequency was enhanced. An online BCI system utilizing the attentional modulation of SSVEP was implemented and a 3-day online training program with healthy subjects was carried out. The study was conducted with Chinese subjects at Tsinghua University, and German subjects at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) using identical stimulation software and equivalent technical setup. A general improvement of control accuracy with training was observed in 8 out of 18 subjects. An averaged online classification accuracy of 72.6 +/- 16.1% was achieved on the last training day. The system renders SSVEP-based BCI paradigms possible for paralyzed patients with substantial head or ocular motor impairments by employing covert attention shifts instead of changing gaze direction.

A Connectionist Simulation of Attention and Vector Comparison: The Need for Serial Processing in Parallel Hardware

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-01

visual and three-layer connectionist network, in that the input layer of memory processing is serial, and is likely to represent each module is... Selective attention gates visual University Press. processing in the extrastnate cortex. Science, 229:782-784. Treasman, A.M. (1985). Preartentive...AD-A242 225 A CONNECTIONIST SIMULATION OF ATTENTION AND VECTOR COMPARISON: THE NEED FOR SERIAL PROCESSING IN PARALLEL HARDWARE Technical Report AlP

The control of attentional target selection in a colour/colour conjunction task.

PubMed

Berggren, Nick; Eimer, Martin

2016-11-01

To investigate the time course of attentional object selection processes in visual search tasks where targets are defined by a combination of features from the same dimension, we measured the N2pc component as an electrophysiological marker of attentional object selection during colour/colour conjunction search. In Experiment 1, participants searched for targets defined by a combination of two colours, while ignoring distractor objects that matched only one of these colours. Reliable N2pc components were triggered by targets and also by partially matching distractors, even when these distractors were accompanied by a target in the same display. The target N2pc was initially equal in size to the sum of the two N2pc components to the two different types of partially matching distractors and became superadditive from approximately 250 ms after search display onset. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the superadditivity of the target N2pc was not due to a selective disengagement of attention from task-irrelevant partially matching distractors. These results indicate that attention was initially deployed separately and in parallel to all target-matching colours, before attentional allocation processes became sensitive to the presence of both matching colours within the same object. They suggest that attention can be controlled simultaneously and independently by multiple features from the same dimension and that feature-guided attentional selection processes operate in parallel for different target-matching objects in the visual field.

Short-term plasticity in auditory cognition.

PubMed

Jääskeläinen, Iiro P; Ahveninen, Jyrki; Belliveau, John W; Raij, Tommi; Sams, Mikko

2007-12-01

Converging lines of evidence suggest that auditory system short-term plasticity can enable several perceptual and cognitive functions that have been previously considered as relatively distinct phenomena. Here we review recent findings suggesting that auditory stimulation, auditory selective attention and cross-modal effects of visual stimulation each cause transient excitatory and (surround) inhibitory modulations in the auditory cortex. These modulations might adaptively tune hierarchically organized sound feature maps of the auditory cortex (e.g. tonotopy), thus filtering relevant sounds during rapidly changing environmental and task demands. This could support auditory sensory memory, pre-attentive detection of sound novelty, enhanced perception during selective attention, influence of visual processing on auditory perception and longer-term plastic changes associated with perceptual learning.

Sustained attention, selective attention and cognitive control in deaf and hearing children

PubMed Central

Dye, Matthew W. G.; Hauser, Peter C.

2014-01-01

Deaf children have been characterized as being impulsive, distractible, and unable to sustain attention. However, past research has tested deaf children born to hearing parents who are likely to have experienced language delays. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an absence of auditory input modulates attentional problems in deaf children with no delayed exposure to language. Two versions of a continuous performance test were administered to 37 deaf children born to Deaf parents and 60 hearing children, all aged 6–13 years. A vigilance task was used to measure sustained attention over the course of several minutes, and a distractibility test provided a measure of the ability to ignore task irrelevant information – selective attention. Both tasks provided assessments of cognitive control through analysis of commission errors. The deaf and hearing children did not differ on measures of sustained attention. However, younger deaf children were more distracted by task-irrelevant information in their peripheral visual field, and deaf children produced a higher number of commission errors in the selective attention task. It is argued that this is not likely to be an effect of audition on cognitive processing, but may rather reflect difficulty in endogenous control of reallocated visual attention resources stemming from early profound deafness. PMID:24355653

Sustained attention, selective attention and cognitive control in deaf and hearing children.

PubMed

Dye, Matthew W G; Hauser, Peter C

2014-03-01

Deaf children have been characterized as being impulsive, distractible, and unable to sustain attention. However, past research has tested deaf children born to hearing parents who are likely to have experienced language delays. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an absence of auditory input modulates attentional problems in deaf children with no delayed exposure to language. Two versions of a continuous performance test were administered to 37 deaf children born to Deaf parents and 60 hearing children, all aged 6-13 years. A vigilance task was used to measure sustained attention over the course of several minutes, and a distractibility test provided a measure of the ability to ignore task irrelevant information - selective attention. Both tasks provided assessments of cognitive control through analysis of commission errors. The deaf and hearing children did not differ on measures of sustained attention. However, younger deaf children were more distracted by task-irrelevant information in their peripheral visual field, and deaf children produced a higher number of commission errors in the selective attention task. It is argued that this is not likely to be an effect of audition on cognitive processing, but may rather reflect difficulty in endogenous control of reallocated visual attention resources stemming from early profound deafness. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Selective population rate coding: a possible computational role of gamma oscillations in selective attention.

PubMed

Masuda, Naoki

2009-12-01

Selective attention is often accompanied by gamma oscillations in local field potentials and spike field coherence in brain areas related to visual, motor, and cognitive information processing. Gamma oscillations are implicated to play an important role in, for example, visual tasks including object search, shape perception, and speed detection. However, the mechanism by which gamma oscillations enhance cognitive and behavioral performance of attentive subjects is still elusive. Using feedforward fan-in networks composed of spiking neurons, we examine a possible role for gamma oscillations in selective attention and population rate coding of external stimuli. We implement the concept proposed by Fries ( 2005 ) that under dynamic stimuli, neural populations effectively communicate with each other only when there is a good phase relationship among associated gamma oscillations. We show that the downstream neural population selects a specific dynamic stimulus received by an upstream population and represents it by population rate coding. The encoded stimulus is the one for which gamma rhythm in the corresponding upstream population is resonant with the downstream gamma rhythm. The proposed role for gamma oscillations in stimulus selection is to enable top-down control, a neural version of time division multiple access used in communication engineering.

Detecting effects of donepezil on visual selective attention using signal detection parameters in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Foldi, Nancy S; White, Richard E C; Schaefer, Lynn A

2005-05-01

Attentional function is impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, attention is mediated by acetylcholine. But, despite the widespread use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChE-I) to augment available acetylcholine in AD, measures of attentional function have not been used to assess the drug response. We hypothesized that as cholinergic augmentation impacts directly on the attentional system, higher-order measures of visual selective attention would be sensitive to effects of treatment using an AChE-I (donepezil hydrochloride). We also sought to determine whether these attentional measures were more sensitive to treatment than other measures of cognitive function. Seventeen patients with AD (8 untreated, 9 treated with donepezil) were contrasted on performance of a selective cancellation task. Two signal detection parameters were used as outcome measures: decision strategy (beta, beta) and discriminability (d-prime, d'). Standard screening and cognitive domain measures of vigilance, language, memory, and executive function were also contrasted. Treated patients judged stimuli more conservatively (p = 0.29) by correctly endorsing targets and rejecting false alarms. They also discriminated targets from distractors more easily (p = 0.58). The screening and neuropsychological measures failed to differentiate the groups. Higher-order attentional measures captured the effects of donepezil treatment in small groups of patients with AD. The results suggest that cholinergic availability may directly affect the attentional system, and that these selective attention measures are sensitive markers to detect treatment response. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Variations of response time in a selective attention task are linked to variations of functional connectivity in the attentional network.

PubMed

Prado, Jérôme; Carp, Joshua; Weissman, Daniel H

2011-01-01

Although variations of response time (RT) within a particular experimental condition are typically ignored, they may sometimes reflect meaningful changes in the efficiency of cognitive and neural processes. In the present study, we investigated whether trial-by-trial variations of response time (RT) in a cross-modal selective attention task were associated with variations of functional connectivity between brain regions that are thought to underlie attention. Sixteen healthy young adults performed an audiovisual selective attention task, which involved attending to a relevant visual letter while ignoring an irrelevant auditory letter, as we recorded their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In line with predictions, variations of RT were associated with variations of functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and various other brain regions that are posited to underlie attentional control, such as the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral regions of the posterior parietal cortex. They were also linked to variations of functional connectivity between anatomically early and anatomically late regions of the relevant-modality visual cortex whose communication is thought to be modulated by attentional control processes. By revealing that variations of RT in a selective attention task are linked to variations of functional connectivity in the attentional network, the present findings suggest that variations of attention may contribute to trial-by-trial fluctuations of behavioral performance. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Determinants of Global Color-Based Selection in Human Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Bartsch, Mandy V; Boehler, Carsten N; Stoppel, Christian M; Merkel, Christian; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Schoenfeld, Mircea A; Hopf, Jens-Max

2015-09-01

Feature attention operates in a spatially global way, with attended feature values being prioritized for selection outside the focus of attention. Accounts of global feature attention have emphasized feature competition as a determining factor. Here, we use magnetoencephalographic recordings in humans to test whether competition is critical for global feature selection to arise. Subjects performed a color/shape discrimination task in one visual field (VF), while irrelevant color probes were presented in the other unattended VF. Global effects of color attention were assessed by analyzing the response to the probe as a function of whether or not the probe's color was a target-defining color. We find that global color selection involves a sequence of modulations in extrastriate cortex, with an initial phase in higher tier areas (lateral occipital complex) followed by a later phase in lower tier retinotopic areas (V3/V4). Importantly, these modulations appeared with and without color competition in the focus of attention. Moreover, early parts of the modulation emerged for a task-relevant color not even present in the focus of attention. All modulations, however, were eliminated during simple onset-detection of the colored target. These results indicate that global color-based attention depends on target discrimination independent of feature competition in the focus of attention. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Visual attention: Linking prefrontal sources to neuronal and behavioral correlates.

PubMed

Clark, Kelsey; Squire, Ryan Fox; Merrikhi, Yaser; Noudoost, Behrad

2015-09-01

Attention is a means of flexibly selecting and enhancing a subset of sensory input based on the current behavioral goals. Numerous signatures of attention have been identified throughout the brain, and now experimenters are seeking to determine which of these signatures are causally related to the behavioral benefits of attention, and the source of these modulations within the brain. Here, we review the neural signatures of attention throughout the brain, their theoretical benefits for visual processing, and their experimental correlations with behavioral performance. We discuss the importance of measuring cue benefits as a way to distinguish between impairments on an attention task, which may instead be visual or motor impairments, and true attentional deficits. We examine evidence for various areas proposed as sources of attentional modulation within the brain, with a focus on the prefrontal cortex. Lastly, we look at studies that aim to link sources of attention to its neuronal signatures elsewhere in the brain. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Effect of Perceptual Load on Attention-Induced Motion Blindness: The Efficiency of Selective Inhibition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hay, Julia L.; Milders, Maarten M.; Sahraie, Arash; Niedeggen, Michael

2006-01-01

Recent visual marking studies have shown that the carry-over of distractor inhibition can impair the ability of singletons to capture attention if the singleton and distractors share features. The current study extends this finding to first-order motion targets and distractors, clearly separated in time by a visual cue (the letter X). Target…

On the Temporal Relation of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms during Guidance of Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wykowska, Agnieszka; Schubo, Anna

2010-01-01

Two mechanisms are said to be responsible for guiding focal attention in visual selection: bottom-up, saliency-driven capture and top-down control. These mechanisms were examined with a paradigm that combined a visual search task with postdisplay probe detection. Two SOAs between the search display and probe onsets were introduced to investigate…

Neuroplus biofeedback improves attention, resilience, and injury prevention in elite soccer players.

PubMed

Rusciano, Aiace; Corradini, Giuliano; Stoianov, Ivilin

2017-06-01

Performance and injury prevention in elite soccer players are typically investigated from physical-tactical, biomechanical, and metabolic perspectives. However, executive functions, visuospatial abilities, and psychophysiological adaptability or resilience are also fundamental for efficiency and well-being in sports. Based on previous research associating autonomic flexibility with prefrontal cortical control, we designed a novel integrated autonomic biofeedback training method called Neuroplus to improve resilience, visual attention, and injury prevention. Herein, we introduce the method and provide an evaluation of 20 elite soccer players from the Italian Soccer High Division (Serie-A): 10 players trained with Neuroplus and 10 trained with a control treatment. The assessments included psychophysiological stress profiles, a visual search task, and indexes of injury prevention, which were measured pre- and posttreatment. The analysis showed a significant enhancement of physiological adaptability, recovery following stress, visual selective attention, and injury prevention that were specific to the Neuroplus group. Enhancing the interplay between autonomic and cognitive functions through biofeedback may become a key principle for obtaining excellence and well-being in sports. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that shows improvement in visual selective attention following intense autonomic biofeedback. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Exploring Visual Selective Attention towards Novel Stimuli in Alzheimer's Disease Patients.

PubMed

Chau, Sarah A; Herrmann, Nathan; Eizenman, Moshe; Chung, Jonathan; Lanctôt, Krista L

2015-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with selective attention impairments, which could contribute to cognitive and functional deficits. Selective attention can be explored through examination of novelty preference. In this study, we quantified novelty preference in AD patients by measuring visual scanning behaviour using an eye tracking paradigm. Mild-to-moderate AD patients and elderly controls viewed slides containing novel and repeated images simultaneously. The outcome measure was time spent on specific images, with novelty preference defined by greater relative fixation time (RFT) on novel versus repeated images. Cognitive status (Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination, SMMSE) and attention (Digit Span, DS) were also measured. AD patients (age 79.2 ± 6.7 years, SMMSE 22.2 ± 4.0, n = 41) and controls (age 76.2 ± 6.4 years, SMMSE 28.1 ± 2.0, n = 24) were similar in age, education and sex. Compared with controls, AD patients had lower RFT on novel than on repeated images (F1,63 = 11.18, p = 0.001). Further, reduced RFT was associated with lower scores on SMMSE (r63 = 0.288, p = 0.020) and DS (r63 = 0.269, p = 0.030). Within individuals, novelty preference was detected in 92.3% of patients and in 100% of controls. These findings suggest that novelty preference, measured by visual scanning behaviour, can differentiate cognitively healthy and impaired people and may offer a nonverbal, less cognitively demanding method of assessing selective attention.

Divisive normalization and neuronal oscillations in a single hierarchical framework of selective visual attention.

PubMed

Montijn, Jorrit Steven; Klink, P Christaan; van Wezel, Richard J A

2012-01-01

Divisive normalization models of covert attention commonly use spike rate modulations as indicators of the effect of top-down attention. In addition, an increasing number of studies have shown that top-down attention increases the synchronization of neuronal oscillations as well, particularly in gamma-band frequencies (25-100 Hz). Although modulations of spike rate and synchronous oscillations are not mutually exclusive as mechanisms of attention, there has thus far been little effort to integrate these concepts into a single framework of attention. Here, we aim to provide such a unified framework by expanding the normalization model of attention with a multi-level hierarchical structure and a time dimension; allowing the simulation of a recently reported backward progression of attentional effects along the visual cortical hierarchy. A simple cascade of normalization models simulating different cortical areas is shown to cause signal degradation and a loss of stimulus discriminability over time. To negate this degradation and ensure stable neuronal stimulus representations, we incorporate a kind of oscillatory phase entrainment into our model that has previously been proposed as the "communication-through-coherence" (CTC) hypothesis. Our analysis shows that divisive normalization and oscillation models can complement each other in a unified account of the neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. The resulting hierarchical normalization and oscillation (HNO) model reproduces several additional spatial and temporal aspects of attentional modulation and predicts a latency effect on neuronal responses as a result of cued attention.

Divisive Normalization and Neuronal Oscillations in a Single Hierarchical Framework of Selective Visual Attention

PubMed Central

Montijn, Jorrit Steven; Klink, P. Christaan; van Wezel, Richard J. A.

2012-01-01

Divisive normalization models of covert attention commonly use spike rate modulations as indicators of the effect of top-down attention. In addition, an increasing number of studies have shown that top-down attention increases the synchronization of neuronal oscillations as well, particularly in gamma-band frequencies (25–100 Hz). Although modulations of spike rate and synchronous oscillations are not mutually exclusive as mechanisms of attention, there has thus far been little effort to integrate these concepts into a single framework of attention. Here, we aim to provide such a unified framework by expanding the normalization model of attention with a multi-level hierarchical structure and a time dimension; allowing the simulation of a recently reported backward progression of attentional effects along the visual cortical hierarchy. A simple cascade of normalization models simulating different cortical areas is shown to cause signal degradation and a loss of stimulus discriminability over time. To negate this degradation and ensure stable neuronal stimulus representations, we incorporate a kind of oscillatory phase entrainment into our model that has previously been proposed as the “communication-through-coherence” (CTC) hypothesis. Our analysis shows that divisive normalization and oscillation models can complement each other in a unified account of the neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. The resulting hierarchical normalization and oscillation (HNO) model reproduces several additional spatial and temporal aspects of attentional modulation and predicts a latency effect on neuronal responses as a result of cued attention. PMID:22586372

Shaping Attention with Reward: Effects of Reward on Space- and Object-Based Selection

PubMed Central

Shomstein, Sarah; Johnson, Jacoba

2014-01-01

The contribution of rewarded actions to automatic attentional selection remains obscure. We hypothesized that some forms of automatic orienting, such as object-based selection, can be completely abandoned in lieu of reward maximizing strategy. While presenting identical visual stimuli to the observer, in a set of two experiments, we manipulate what is being rewarded (different object targets or random object locations) and the type of reward received (money or points). It was observed that reward alone guides attentional selection, entirely predicting behavior. These results suggest that guidance of selective attention, while automatic, is flexible and can be adjusted in accordance with external non-sensory reward-based factors. PMID:24121412

Working memory as internal attention: toward an integrative account of internal and external selection processes.

PubMed

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2013-04-01

Working memory (WM) and attention have been studied as separate cognitive constructs, although it has long been acknowledged that attention plays an important role in controlling the activation, maintenance, and manipulation of representations in WM. WM has, conversely, been thought of as a means of maintaining representations to voluntarily guide perceptual selective attention. It has more recently been observed, however, that the contents of WM can capture visual attention, even when such internally maintained representations are irrelevant, and often disruptive, to the immediate external task. Thus, the precise relationship between WM and attention remains unclear, but it appears that they may bidirectionally impact one another, whether or not internal representations are consistent with the external perceptual goals. This reciprocal relationship seems, further, to be constrained by limited cognitive resources to handle demands in either maintenance or selection. We propose here that the close relationship between WM and attention may be best described as a give-and-take interdependence between attention directed toward either actively maintained internal representations (traditionally considered WM) or external perceptual stimuli (traditionally considered selective attention), underpinned by their shared reliance on a common cognitive resource. Put simply, we argue that WM and attention should no longer be considered as separate systems or concepts, but as competing and influencing one another because they rely on the same limited resource. This framework can offer an explanation for the capture of visual attention by irrelevant WM contents, as well as a straightforward account of the underspecified relationship between WM and attention.

Working Memory as Internal Attention: Toward an Integrative Account of Internal and External Selection Processes

PubMed Central

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2012-01-01

Working memory (WM) and attention have been studied as separate cognitive constructs, although it has long been acknowledged that attention plays an important role in controlling the activation, maintenance, and manipulation of representations in WM. WM has, conversely, been thought of as a means of maintaining representations to voluntarily guide perceptual selective attention. It has more recently been observed, however, that the contents of WM can capture visual attention, even when such internally maintained representations are irrelevant, and often disruptive, to the immediate external task. Thus the precise relationship between WM and attention remains unclear, but it appears that they may bi-directionally impact one another, whether or not internal representations are consistent with external perceptual goals. This reciprocal relationship seems, further, to be constrained by limited cognitive resources to handle demands in either maintenance or selection. We propose here that the close relationship between WM and attention may be best described as a give-and-take interdependence between attention directed toward actively maintained internal representations (traditionally considered WM) versus external perceptual stimuli (traditionally considered selective attention), underpinned by their shared reliance on a common cognitive resource. Put simply, we argue that WM and attention should no longer be considered as separate systems or concepts, but as competing and impacting one another because they rely on the same limited resource. This framework can offer an explanation for the capture of visual attention by irrelevant WM contents, as well as a straightforward account of the underspecified relationship between WM and attention. PMID:23233157

Explicit attention interferes with selective emotion processing in human extrastriate cortex.

PubMed

Schupp, Harald T; Stockburger, Jessica; Bublatzky, Florian; Junghöfer, Markus; Weike, Almut I; Hamm, Alfons O

2007-02-22

Brain imaging and event-related potential studies provide strong evidence that emotional stimuli guide selective attention in visual processing. A reflection of the emotional attention capture is the increased Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) for pleasant and unpleasant compared to neutral images (approximately 150-300 ms poststimulus). The present study explored whether this early emotion discrimination reflects an automatic phenomenon or is subject to interference by competing processing demands. Thus, emotional processing was assessed while participants performed a concurrent feature-based attention task varying in processing demands. Participants successfully performed the primary visual attention task as revealed by behavioral performance and selected event-related potential components (Selection Negativity and P3b). Replicating previous results, emotional modulation of the EPN was observed in a task condition with low processing demands. In contrast, pleasant and unpleasant pictures failed to elicit increased EPN amplitudes compared to neutral images in more difficult explicit attention task conditions. Further analyses determined that even the processing of pleasant and unpleasant pictures high in emotional arousal is subject to interference in experimental conditions with high task demand. Taken together, performing demanding feature-based counting tasks interfered with differential emotion processing indexed by the EPN. The present findings demonstrate that taxing processing resources by a competing primary visual attention task markedly attenuated the early discrimination of emotional from neutral picture contents. Thus, these results provide further empirical support for an interference account of the emotion-attention interaction under conditions of competition. Previous studies revealed the interference of selective emotion processing when attentional resources were directed to locations of explicitly task-relevant stimuli. The present data suggest that interference of emotion processing by competing task demands is a more general phenomenon extending to the domain of feature-based attention. Furthermore, the results are inconsistent with the notion of effortlessness, i.e., early emotion discrimination despite concurrent task demands. These findings implicate to assess the presumed automatic nature of emotion processing at the level of specific aspects rather than considering automaticity as an all-or-none phenomenon.

Explicit attention interferes with selective emotion processing in human extrastriate cortex

PubMed Central

Schupp, Harald T; Stockburger, Jessica; Bublatzky, Florian; Junghöfer, Markus; Weike, Almut I; Hamm, Alfons O

2007-01-01

Background Brain imaging and event-related potential studies provide strong evidence that emotional stimuli guide selective attention in visual processing. A reflection of the emotional attention capture is the increased Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) for pleasant and unpleasant compared to neutral images (~150–300 ms poststimulus). The present study explored whether this early emotion discrimination reflects an automatic phenomenon or is subject to interference by competing processing demands. Thus, emotional processing was assessed while participants performed a concurrent feature-based attention task varying in processing demands. Results Participants successfully performed the primary visual attention task as revealed by behavioral performance and selected event-related potential components (Selection Negativity and P3b). Replicating previous results, emotional modulation of the EPN was observed in a task condition with low processing demands. In contrast, pleasant and unpleasant pictures failed to elicit increased EPN amplitudes compared to neutral images in more difficult explicit attention task conditions. Further analyses determined that even the processing of pleasant and unpleasant pictures high in emotional arousal is subject to interference in experimental conditions with high task demand. Taken together, performing demanding feature-based counting tasks interfered with differential emotion processing indexed by the EPN. Conclusion The present findings demonstrate that taxing processing resources by a competing primary visual attention task markedly attenuated the early discrimination of emotional from neutral picture contents. Thus, these results provide further empirical support for an interference account of the emotion-attention interaction under conditions of competition. Previous studies revealed the interference of selective emotion processing when attentional resources were directed to locations of explicitly task-relevant stimuli. The present data suggest that interference of emotion processing by competing task demands is a more general phenomenon extending to the domain of feature-based attention. Furthermore, the results are inconsistent with the notion of effortlessness, i.e., early emotion discrimination despite concurrent task demands. These findings implicate to assess the presumed automatic nature of emotion processing at the level of specific aspects rather than considering automaticity as an all-or-none phenomenon. PMID:17316444

Category-based guidance of spatial attention during visual search for feature conjunctions.

PubMed

Nako, Rebecca; Grubert, Anna; Eimer, Martin

2016-10-01

The question whether alphanumerical category is involved in the control of attentional target selection during visual search remains a contentious issue. We tested whether category-based attentional mechanisms would guide the allocation of attention under conditions where targets were defined by a combination of alphanumerical category and a basic visual feature, and search displays could contain both targets and partially matching distractor objects. The N2pc component was used as an electrophysiological marker of attentional object selection in tasks where target objects were defined by a conjunction of color and category (Experiment 1) or shape and category (Experiment 2). Some search displays contained the target or a nontarget object that matched either the target color/shape or its category among 3 nonmatching distractors. In other displays, the target and a partially matching nontarget object appeared together. N2pc components were elicited not only by targets and by color- or shape-matching nontargets, but also by category-matching nontarget objects, even on trials where a target was present in the same display. On these trials, the summed N2pc components to the 2 types of partially matching nontargets were initially equal in size to the target N2pc, suggesting that attention was allocated simultaneously and independently to all objects with target-matching features during the early phase of attentional processing. Results demonstrate that alphanumerical category is a genuine guiding feature that can operate in parallel with color or shape information to control the deployment of attention during visual search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Acute Sleep Deprivation and Circadian Misalignment Associated with Transition onto the First Night of Work Impairs Visual Selective Attention

PubMed Central

Santhi, Nayantara; Horowitz, Todd S.; Duffy, Jeanne F.; Czeisler, Charles A.

2007-01-01

Background Overnight operations pose a challenge because our circadian biology promotes sleepiness and dissipates wakefulness at night. Since the circadian effect on cognitive functions magnifies with increasing sleep pressure, cognitive deficits associated with night work are likely to be most acute with extended wakefulness, such as during the transition from a day shift to night shift. Methodology/Principal Findings To test this hypothesis we measured selective attention (with visual search), vigilance (with Psychomotor Vigilance Task [PVT]) and alertness (with a visual analog scale) in a shift work simulation protocol, which included four day shifts followed by three night shifts. There was a nocturnal decline in cognitive processes, some of which were most pronounced on the first night shift. The nighttime decrease in visual search sensitivity was most pronounced on the first night compared with subsequent nights (p = .04), and this was accompanied by a trend towards selective attention becoming ‘fast and sloppy’. The nighttime increase in attentional lapses on the PVT was significantly greater on the first night compared to subsequent nights (p<.05) indicating an impaired ability to sustain focus. The nighttime decrease in subjective alertness was also greatest on the first night compared with subsequent nights (p<.05). Conclusions/Significance These nocturnal deficits in attention and alertness offer some insight into why occupational errors, accidents, and injuries are pronounced during night work compared to day work. Examination of the nighttime vulnerabilities underlying the deployment of attention can be informative for the design of optimal work schedules and the implementation of effective countermeasures for performance deficits during night work. PMID:18043740

Visual attention mediates the relationship between body satisfaction and susceptibility to the body size adaptation effect.

PubMed

Stephen, Ian D; Sturman, Daniel; Stevenson, Richard J; Mond, Jonathan; Brooks, Kevin R

2018-01-01

Body size misperception-the belief that one is larger or smaller than reality-affects a large and growing segment of the population. Recently, studies have shown that exposure to extreme body stimuli results in a shift in the point of subjective normality, suggesting that visual adaptation may be a mechanism by which body size misperception occurs. Yet, despite being exposed to a similar set of bodies, some individuals within a given geographical area will develop body size misperception and others will not. The reason for these individual difference is currently unknown. One possible explanation stems from the observation that women with lower levels of body satisfaction have been found to pay more attention to images of thin bodies. However, while attention has been shown to enhance visual adaptation effects in low (e.g. rotational and linear motion) and high level stimuli (e.g., facial gender), it is not known whether this effect exists in visual adaptation to body size. Here, we test the hypothesis that there is an indirect effect of body satisfaction on the direction and magnitude of the body fat adaptation effect, mediated via visual attention (i.e., selectively attending to images of thin over fat bodies or vice versa). Significant mediation effects were found in both men and women, suggesting that observers' level of body satisfaction may influence selective visual attention to thin or fat bodies, which in turn influences the magnitude and direction of visual adaptation to body size. This may provide a potential mechanism by which some individuals develop body size misperception-a risk factor for eating disorders, compulsive exercise behaviour and steroid abuse-while others do not.

Visual attention mediates the relationship between body satisfaction and susceptibility to the body size adaptation effect

PubMed Central

Sturman, Daniel; Stevenson, Richard J.; Mond, Jonathan; Brooks, Kevin R.

2018-01-01

Body size misperception–the belief that one is larger or smaller than reality–affects a large and growing segment of the population. Recently, studies have shown that exposure to extreme body stimuli results in a shift in the point of subjective normality, suggesting that visual adaptation may be a mechanism by which body size misperception occurs. Yet, despite being exposed to a similar set of bodies, some individuals within a given geographical area will develop body size misperception and others will not. The reason for these individual difference is currently unknown. One possible explanation stems from the observation that women with lower levels of body satisfaction have been found to pay more attention to images of thin bodies. However, while attention has been shown to enhance visual adaptation effects in low (e.g. rotational and linear motion) and high level stimuli (e.g., facial gender), it is not known whether this effect exists in visual adaptation to body size. Here, we test the hypothesis that there is an indirect effect of body satisfaction on the direction and magnitude of the body fat adaptation effect, mediated via visual attention (i.e., selectively attending to images of thin over fat bodies or vice versa). Significant mediation effects were found in both men and women, suggesting that observers’ level of body satisfaction may influence selective visual attention to thin or fat bodies, which in turn influences the magnitude and direction of visual adaptation to body size. This may provide a potential mechanism by which some individuals develop body size misperception–a risk factor for eating disorders, compulsive exercise behaviour and steroid abuse–while others do not. PMID:29385137

The effect of human engagement depicted in contextual photographs on the visual attention patterns of adults with traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Thiessen, Amber; Brown, Jessica; Beukelman, David; Hux, Karen

2017-09-01

Photographs are a frequently employed tool for the rehabilitation of adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with these individuals must select photos that are easily identifiable and meaningful to their clients. In this investigation, we examined the visual attention response to camera- (i.e., depicted human figure looking toward camera) and task-engaged (i.e., depicted human figure looking at and touching an object) contextual photographs for a group of adults with TBI and a group of adults without neurological conditions. Eye-tracking technology served to accurately and objectively measure visual fixations. Although differences were hypothesized given the cognitive deficits associated with TBI, study results revealed little difference in the visual fixation patterns of adults with and without TBI. Specifically, both groups of participants tended to fixate rapidly on the depicted human figure and fixate more on objects in which a human figure was task-engaged than when a human figure was camera-engaged. These results indicate that strategic placement of human figures in a contextual photograph may modify the way in which individuals with TBI visually attend to and interpret photographs. In addition, task-engagement appears to have a guiding effect on visual attention that may be of benefit to SLPs hoping to select more effective contextual photographs for their clients with TBI. Finally, the limited differences in visual attention patterns between individuals with TBI and their age and gender matched peers without neurological impairments indicates that these two groups find similar photograph regions to be worthy of visual fixation. Readers will gain knowledge regarding the photograph selection process for individuals with TBI. In addition, readers will be able to identify camera- and task-engaged photographs and to explain why task-engagement may be a beneficial component of contextual photographs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Top-down enhancement and suppression of activity in category-selective extrastriate cortex from an act of reflective attention.

PubMed

Johnson, Matthew R; Johnson, Marcia K

2009-12-01

Recent research has demonstrated top-down attentional modulation of activity in extrastriate category-selective visual areas while stimuli are in view (perceptual attention) and after they are removed from view (reflective attention). Perceptual attention is capable of both enhancing and suppressing activity in category-selective areas relative to a passive viewing baseline. In this study, we demonstrate that a brief, simple act of reflective attention ("refreshing") is also capable of both enhancing and suppressing activity in some scene-selective areas (the parahippocampal place area [PPA]) but not others (refreshing resulted in enhancement but not in suppression in the middle occipital gyrus [MOG]). This suggests that different category-selective extrastriate areas preferring the same class of stimuli may contribute differentially to reflective processing of one's internal representations of such stimuli.

Selective attention impairments in Alzheimer's disease: evidence for dissociable components.

PubMed

Levinoff, Elise J; Li, Karen Z H; Murtha, Susan; Chertkow, Howard

2004-07-01

Tasks emphasizing 3 different aspects of selective attention-inhibition, visuospatial selective attention, and decision making-were administered to subjects with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to healthy elderly control (HEC) subjects to determine which components of selective attention were impaired in AD subjects and whether selective attention could be dissociated into different components. The tasks were administered with easy versus hard levels of difficulty to assess proportional slowing as the key variable across tasks. The results indicated that the inhibitory and visual search tasks showed greater proportional slowing in subjects with AD than in HEC subjects, and that the task involving inhibition was significantly more affected in subjects with AD. Furthermore, there were no significant intertask correlations, and the results cannot be explained simply in terms of generalized cognitive slowing. These results provide evidence that inhibition is the most strikingly affected aspect of selective attention that is observed to be impaired in early stages of AD.

There's Waldo! A Normalization Model of Visual Search Predicts Single-Trial Human Fixations in an Object Search Task

PubMed Central

Miconi, Thomas; Groomes, Laura; Kreiman, Gabriel

2016-01-01

When searching for an object in a scene, how does the brain decide where to look next? Visual search theories suggest the existence of a global “priority map” that integrates bottom-up visual information with top-down, target-specific signals. We propose a mechanistic model of visual search that is consistent with recent neurophysiological evidence, can localize targets in cluttered images, and predicts single-trial behavior in a search task. This model posits that a high-level retinotopic area selective for shape features receives global, target-specific modulation and implements local normalization through divisive inhibition. The normalization step is critical to prevent highly salient bottom-up features from monopolizing attention. The resulting activity pattern constitues a priority map that tracks the correlation between local input and target features. The maximum of this priority map is selected as the locus of attention. The visual input is then spatially enhanced around the selected location, allowing object-selective visual areas to determine whether the target is present at this location. This model can localize objects both in array images and when objects are pasted in natural scenes. The model can also predict single-trial human fixations, including those in error and target-absent trials, in a search task involving complex objects. PMID:26092221

Modulation of early cortical processing during divided attention to non-contiguous locations

PubMed Central

Frey, Hans-Peter; Schmid, Anita M.; Murphy, Jeremy W.; Molholm, Sophie; Lalor, Edmund C.; Foxe, John J.

2015-01-01

We often face the challenge of simultaneously attending to multiple non-contiguous regions of space. There is ongoing debate as to how spatial attention is divided under these situations. While for several years the predominant view was that humans could divide the attentional spotlight, several recent studies argue in favor of a unitary spotlight that rhythmically samples relevant locations. Here, this issue was addressed using high-density electrophysiology in concert with the multifocal m-sequence technique to examine visual evoked responses to multiple simultaneous streams of stimulation. Concurrently, we assayed the topographic distribution of alpha-band oscillatory mechanisms, a measure of attentional suppression. Participants performed a difficult detection task that required simultaneous attention to two stimuli in contiguous (undivided) or non-contiguous parts of space. In the undivided condition, the classical pattern of attentional modulation was observed, with increased amplitude of the early visual evoked response and increased alpha amplitude ipsilateral to the attended hemifield. For the divided condition, early visual responses to attended stimuli were also enhanced and the observed multifocal topographic distribution of alpha suppression was in line with the divided attention hypothesis. These results support the existence of divided attentional spotlights, providing evidence that the corresponding modulation occurs during initial sensory processing timeframes in hierarchically early visual regions and that suppressive mechanisms of visual attention selectively target distracter locations during divided spatial attention. PMID:24606564

Getting more from visual working memory: Retro-cues enhance retrieval and protect from visual interference.

PubMed

Souza, Alessandra S; Rerko, Laura; Oberauer, Klaus

2016-06-01

Visual working memory (VWM) has a limited capacity. This limitation can be mitigated by the use of focused attention: if attention is drawn to the relevant working memory content before test, performance improves (the so-called retro-cue benefit). This study tests 2 explanations of the retro-cue benefit: (a) Focused attention protects memory representations from interference by visual input at test, and (b) focusing attention enhances retrieval. Across 6 experiments using color recognition and color reproduction tasks, we varied the amount of color interference at test, and the delay between a retrieval cue (i.e., the retro-cue) and the memory test. Retro-cue benefits were larger when the memory test introduced interfering visual stimuli, showing that the retro-cue effect is in part because of protection from visual interference. However, when visual interference was held constant, retro-cue benefits were still obtained whenever the retro-cue enabled retrieval of an object from VWM but delayed response selection. Our results show that accessible information in VWM might be lost in the processes of testing memory because of visual interference and incomplete retrieval. This is not an inevitable state of affairs, though: Focused attention can be used to get the most out of VWM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Action Planning Mediates Guidance of Visual Attention from Working Memory.

PubMed

Feldmann-Wüstefeld, Tobias; Schubö, Anna

2015-01-01

Visual search is impaired when a salient task-irrelevant stimulus is presented together with the target. Recent research has shown that this attentional capture effect is enhanced when the salient stimulus matches working memory (WM) content, arguing in favor of attention guidance from WM. Visual attention was also shown to be closely coupled with action planning. Preparing a movement renders action-relevant perceptual dimensions more salient and thus increases search efficiency for stimuli sharing that dimension. The present study aimed at revealing common underlying mechanisms for selective attention, WM, and action planning. Participants both prepared a specific movement (grasping or pointing) and memorized a color hue. Before the movement was executed towards an object of the memorized color, a visual search task (additional singleton) was performed. Results showed that distraction from target was more pronounced when the additional singleton had a memorized color. This WM-guided attention deployment was more pronounced when participants prepared a grasping movement. We argue that preparing a grasping movement mediates attention guidance from WM content by enhancing representations of memory content that matches the distractor shape (i.e., circles), thus encouraging attentional capture by circle distractors of the memorized color. We conclude that templates for visual search, action planning, and WM compete for resources and thus cause interferences.

Action Planning Mediates Guidance of Visual Attention from Working Memory

PubMed Central

Schubö, Anna

2015-01-01

Visual search is impaired when a salient task-irrelevant stimulus is presented together with the target. Recent research has shown that this attentional capture effect is enhanced when the salient stimulus matches working memory (WM) content, arguing in favor of attention guidance from WM. Visual attention was also shown to be closely coupled with action planning. Preparing a movement renders action-relevant perceptual dimensions more salient and thus increases search efficiency for stimuli sharing that dimension. The present study aimed at revealing common underlying mechanisms for selective attention, WM, and action planning. Participants both prepared a specific movement (grasping or pointing) and memorized a color hue. Before the movement was executed towards an object of the memorized color, a visual search task (additional singleton) was performed. Results showed that distraction from target was more pronounced when the additional singleton had a memorized color. This WM-guided attention deployment was more pronounced when participants prepared a grasping movement. We argue that preparing a grasping movement mediates attention guidance from WM content by enhancing representations of memory content that matches the distractor shape (i.e., circles), thus encouraging attentional capture by circle distractors of the memorized color. We conclude that templates for visual search, action planning, and WM compete for resources and thus cause interferences. PMID:26171241

Signal Enhancement and Suppression During Visual-Spatial Selective Attention

PubMed Central

Couperus, J. W.; Mangun, G.R.

2010-01-01

Selective attention involves the relative enhancement of relevant versus irrelevant stimuli. However, whether this relative enhancement involves primarily enhancement of attended stimuli, or suppression of irrelevant stimuli, remains controversial. Moreover, if both enhancement and suppression are involved, whether they result from a single mechanism or separate mechanisms during attentional control or selection is not known. In two experiments using a spatial cuing paradigm with task-relevant targets and irrelevant distractors, target and distracter processing was examined as a function of distractor expectancy. Additionally, in the second study the interaction of perceptual load and distractor expectancy was explored. In both experiments, distractors were either validly cued (70%) or invalidly cued (30%) in order to examine the effects of distractor expectancy on attentional control as well as target and distractor processing. The effects of distractor expectancy were assessed using event-related potentials recorded during the cue-to-target period (preparatory attention) and in response to the task-relevant target stimuli (selective stimulus processing). Analyses of distractor-present displays (anticipated versus unanticipated), showed modulations in brain activity during both the preparatory period and during target processing. The pattern of brain responses suggest both facilitation of attended targets and suppression of unattended distractors. These findings provide evidence for a two-process model of visual spatial selective attention, where one mechanism (facilitation) influences relevant stimuli and another (suppression) acts to filter distracting stimuli. PMID:20807513

The Responsiveness of Biological Motion Processing Areas to Selective Attention Towards Goals

PubMed Central

Herrington, John; Nymberg, Charlotte; Faja, Susan; Price, Elinora; Schultz, Robert

2012-01-01

A growing literature indicates that visual cortex areas viewed as primarily responsive to exogenous stimuli are susceptible to top-down modulation by selective attention. The present study examines whether brain areas involved in biological motion perception are among these areas – particularly with respect to selective attention towards human movement goals. Fifteen participants completed a point-light biological motion study following a two-by-two factorial design, with one factor representing an exogenous manipulation of human movement goals (goal-directed versus random movement), and the other an endogenous manipulation (a goal identification task versus an ancillary color-change task). Both manipulations yielded increased activation in the human homologue of motion-sensitive area MT+ (hMT+) as well as the extrastriate body area (EBA). The endogenous manipulation was associated with increased right posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) activation, whereas the exogenous manipulation was associated with increased activation in left posterior STS. Selective attention towards goals activated portion of left hMT+/EBA only during the perception of purposeful movement consistent with emerging theories associating this area with the matching of visual motion input to known goal-directed actions. The overall pattern of results indicates that attention towards the goals of human movement activates biological motion areas. Ultimately, selective attention may explain why some studies examining biological motion show activation in hMT+ and EBA, even when using control stimuli with comparable motion properties. PMID:22796987

Social exclusion impairs distractor suppression but not target enhancement in selective attention.

PubMed

Xu, Mengsi; Li, Zhiai; Diao, Liuting; Fan, Lingxia; Zhang, Lijie; Yuan, Shuge; Yang, Dong

2017-11-01

Social exclusion has been thought to weaken one's ability to exert inhibitory control. Existing studies have primarily focused on the relationship between exclusion and behavioral inhibition, and have reported that exclusion impairs behavioral inhibition. However, whether exclusion also affects selective attention, another important aspect of inhibitory control, remains unknown. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore whether social exclusion impairs selective attention, and to specifically examine its effect on two hypothesized mechanisms of selective attention: target enhancement and distractor suppression. The Cyberball game was used to manipulate social exclusion. Participants then performed a visual search task while event-related potentials were recorded. In the visual search task, target and salient distractor were either both presented laterally or one was presented on the vertical midline and the other laterally. Results showed that social exclusion differentially affected target and distractor processing. While exclusion impaired distractor suppression, reflected as smaller distractor-positivity (Pd) amplitudes for the exclusion group compared to the inclusion group, it did not affect target enhancement, reflected as similar target-negativity (Nt) amplitudes for both the exclusion and inclusion groups. Together, these results extend our understanding of the relationship between exclusion and inhibitory control, and suggest that social exclusion affects selective attention in a more complex manner than previously thought. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Identifying selective visual attention biases related to fear of pain by tracking eye movements within a dot-probe paradigm.

PubMed

Yang, Zhou; Jackson, Todd; Gao, Xiao; Chen, Hong

2012-08-01

This research examined selective biases in visual attention related to fear of pain by tracking eye movements (EM) toward pain-related stimuli among the pain-fearful. EM of 21 young adults scoring high on a fear of pain measure (H-FOP) and 20 lower-scoring (L-FOP) control participants were measured during a dot-probe task that featured sensory pain-neutral, health catastrophe-neutral and neutral-neutral word pairs. Analyses indicated that the H-FOP group was more likely to direct immediate visual attention toward sensory pain and health catastrophe words than was the L-FOP group. The H-FOP group also had comparatively shorter first fixation latencies toward sensory pain and health catastrophe words. Conversely, groups did not differ on EM indices of attentional maintenance (i.e., first fixation duration, gaze duration, and average fixation duration) or reaction times to dot probes. Finally, both groups showed a cycle of disengagement followed by re-engagement toward sensory pain words relative to other word types. In sum, this research is the first to reveal biases toward pain stimuli during very early stages of visual information processing among the highly pain-fearful and highlights the utility of EM tracking as a means to evaluate visual attention as a dynamic process in the context of FOP. Copyright © 2012 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abnormal Selective Attention Normalizes P3 Amplitudes in PDD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoeksma, Marco R.; Kemner, Chantal; Kenemans, J. Leon; van Engeland, Herman

2006-01-01

This paper studied whether abnormal P3 amplitudes in PDD are a corollary of abnormalities in ERP components related to selective attention in visual and auditory tasks. Furthermore, this study sought to clarify possible age differences in such abnormalities. Children with PDD showed smaller P3 amplitudes than controls, but no abnormalities in…

Saccade frequency response to visual cues during gait in Parkinson's disease: the selective role of attention.

PubMed

Stuart, Samuel; Lord, Sue; Galna, Brook; Rochester, Lynn

2018-04-01

Gait impairment is a core feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) with implications for falls risk. Visual cues improve gait in PD, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Evidence suggests that attention and vision play an important role; however, the relative contribution from each is unclear. Measurement of visual exploration (specifically saccade frequency) during gait allows for real-time measurement of attention and vision. Understanding how visual cues influence visual exploration may allow inferences of the underlying mechanisms to response which could help to develop effective therapeutics. This study aimed to examine saccade frequency during gait in response to a visual cue in PD and older adults and investigate the roles of attention and vision in visual cue response in PD. A mobile eye-tracker measured saccade frequency during gait in 55 people with PD and 32 age-matched controls. Participants walked in a straight line with and without a visual cue (50 cm transverse lines) presented under single task and dual-task (concurrent digit span recall). Saccade frequency was reduced when walking in PD compared to controls; however, visual cues ameliorated saccadic deficit. Visual cues significantly increased saccade frequency in both PD and controls under both single task and dual-task. Attention rather than visual function was central to saccade frequency and gait response to visual cues in PD. In conclusion, this study highlights the impact of visual cues on visual exploration when walking and the important role of attention in PD. Understanding these complex features will help inform intervention development. © 2018 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Training of attention functions in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Tucha, Oliver; Tucha, Lara; Kaumann, Gesa; König, Sebastian; Lange, Katharina M; Stasik, Dorota; Streather, Zoe; Engelschalk, Tobias; Lange, Klaus W

2011-09-01

Pharmacological treatment of children with ADHD has been shown to be successful; however, medication may not normalize attention functions. The present study was based on a neuropsychological model of attention and assessed the effect of an attention training program on attentional functioning of children with ADHD. Thirty-two children with ADHD and 16 healthy children participated in the study. Children with ADHD were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions, i.e., an attention training program which trained aspects of vigilance, selective attention and divided attention, or a visual perception training which trained perceptual skills, such as perception of figure and ground, form constancy and position in space. The training programs were applied in individual sessions, twice a week, for a period of four consecutive weeks. Healthy children did not receive any training. Alertness, vigilance, selective attention, divided attention, and flexibility were examined prior to and following the interventions. Children with ADHD were assessed and trained while on ADHD medications. Data analysis revealed that the attention training used in the present study led to significant improvements of various aspects of attention, including vigilance, divided attention, and flexibility, while the visual perception training had no specific effects. The findings indicate that attention training programs have the potential to facilitate attentional functioning in children with ADHD treated with ADHD drugs.

Visual Attention in Flies-Dopamine in the Mushroom Bodies Mediates the After-Effect of Cueing.

PubMed

Koenig, Sebastian; Wolf, Reinhard; Heisenberg, Martin

2016-01-01

Visual environments may simultaneously comprise stimuli of different significance. Often such stimuli require incompatible responses. Selective visual attention allows an animal to respond exclusively to the stimuli at a certain location in the visual field. In the process of establishing its focus of attention the animal can be influenced by external cues. Here we characterize the behavioral properties and neural mechanism of cueing in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. A cue can be attractive, repulsive or ineffective depending upon (e.g.) its visual properties and location in the visual field. Dopamine signaling in the brain is required to maintain the effect of cueing once the cue has disappeared. Raising or lowering dopamine at the synapse abolishes this after-effect. Specifically, dopamine is necessary and sufficient in the αβ-lobes of the mushroom bodies. Evidence is provided for an involvement of the αβposterior Kenyon cells.

Tracking the allocation of attention using human pupillary oscillations

PubMed Central

Naber, Marnix; Alvarez, George A.; Nakayama, Ken

2013-01-01

The muscles that control the pupil are richly innervated by the autonomic nervous system. While there are central pathways that drive pupil dilations in relation to arousal, there is no anatomical evidence that cortical centers involved with visual selective attention innervate the pupil. In this study, we show that such connections must exist. Specifically, we demonstrate a novel Pupil Frequency Tagging (PFT) method, where oscillatory changes in stimulus brightness over time are mirrored by pupil constrictions and dilations. We find that the luminance–induced pupil oscillations are enhanced when covert attention is directed to the flicker stimulus and when targets are correctly detected in an attentional tracking task. These results suggest that the amplitudes of pupil responses closely follow the allocation of focal visual attention and the encoding of stimuli. PFT provides a new opportunity to study top–down visual attention itself as well as identifying the pathways and mechanisms that support this unexpected phenomenon. PMID:24368904

The Neural Basis of Selective Attention

PubMed Central

Yantis, Steven

2009-01-01

Selective attention is an intrinsic component of perceptual representation in a visual system that is hierarchically organized. Modulatory signals originate in brain regions that represent behavioral goals; these signals specify which perceptual objects are to be represented by sensory neurons that are subject to contextual modulation. Attention can be deployed to spatial locations, features, or objects, and corresponding modulatory signals must be targeted within these domains. Open questions include how nonspatial perceptual domains are modulated by attention and how abstract goals are transformed into targeted modulatory signals. PMID:19444327

Rhythmic Sampling within and between Objects despite Sustained Attention at a Cued Location

PubMed Central

Fiebelkorn, Ian C.; Saalmann, Yuri B.; Kastner, Sabine

2013-01-01

SUMMARY The brain directs its limited processing resources through various selection mechanisms, broadly referred to as attention. The present study investigated the temporal dynamics of two such selection mechanisms: space- and object-based selection. Previous evidence has demonstrated that preferential processing resulting from a spatial cue (i.e., space-based selection) spreads to uncued locations, if those locations are part of the same object (i.e., resulting in object-based selection). But little is known about the relationship between these fundamental selection mechanisms. Here, we used human behavioral data to determine how space- and object-based selection simultaneously evolve under conditions that promote sustained attention at a cued location, varying the cue-to-target interval from 300—1100 ms. We tracked visual-target detection at a cued location (i.e., space-based selection), at an uncued location that was part of the same object (i.e., object-based selection), and at an uncued location that was part of a different object (i.e., in the absence of space- and object-based selection). The data demonstrate that even under static conditions, there is a moment-to-moment reweighting of attentional priorities based on object properties. This reweighting is revealed through rhythmic patterns of visual-target detection both within (at 8 Hz) and between (at 4 Hz) objects. PMID:24316204

The effect of spatial organization of targets and distractors on the capacity to selectively memorize objects in visual short-term memory.

PubMed

Abbes, Aymen Ben; Gavault, Emmanuelle; Ripoll, Thierry

2014-01-01

We conducted a series of experiments to explore how the spatial configuration of objects influences the selection and the processing of these objects in a visual short-term memory task. We designed a new experiment in which participants had to memorize 4 targets presented among 4 distractors. Targets were cued during the presentation of distractor objects. Their locations varied according to 4 spatial configurations. From the first to the last configuration, the distance between targets' locations was progressively increased. The results revealed a high capacity to select and memorize targets embedded among distractors even when targets were extremely distant from each other. This capacity is discussed in relation to the unitary conception of attention, models of split attention, and the competitive interaction model. Finally, we propose that the spatial dispersion of objects has different effects on attentional allocation and processing stages. Thus, when targets are extremely distant from each other, attentional allocation becomes more difficult while processing becomes easier. This finding implicates that these 2 aspects of attention need to be more clearly distinguished in future research.

A functional hierarchy within the parietofrontal network in stimulus selection and attention control.

PubMed

Ibos, Guilhem; Duhamel, Jean-René; Ben Hamed, Suliann

2013-05-08

Although we are confronted with an ever-changing environment, we do not have the capacity to analyze all incoming sensory information. Perception is selective and is guided both by salient events occurring in our visual field and by cognitive premises about what needs our attention. Although the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and frontal eye field (FEF) are known to represent the position of visual attention, their respective contributions to its control are still unclear. Here, we report LIP and FEF neuronal activities recorded while monkeys performed a voluntary attention-orientation target-detection task. We show that both encode behaviorally significant events, but that the FEF plays a specific role in mapping abstract cue instructions onto a spatial priority map to voluntarily guide attention. On the basis of a latency analysis, we show that the coding of stimulus identity and position precedes the emergence of an explicit attentional signal within the FEF. We also describe dynamic temporal hierarchies between LIP and FEF: stimuli carrying the highest intrinsic saliency are signaled by LIP before FEF, whereas stimuli carrying the highest extrinsic saliency are signaled in FEF before LIP. This suggests that whereas the parietofrontal attentional network most probably processes visual information in a recurrent way, exogenous processing predominates in the parietal cortex and the endogenous control of attention takes place in the FEF.

Orienting Attention to Sound Object Representations Attenuates Change Deafness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Backer, Kristina C.; Alain, Claude

2012-01-01

According to the object-based account of attention, multiple objects coexist in short-term memory (STM), and we can selectively attend to a particular object of interest. Although there is evidence that attention can be directed to visual object representations, the assumption that attention can be oriented to sound object representations has yet…

Foreground-background segmentation and attention: a change blindness study.

PubMed

Mazza, Veronica; Turatto, Massimo; Umiltà, Carlo

2005-01-01

One of the most debated questions in visual attention research is what factors affect the deployment of attention in the visual scene? Segmentation processes are influential factors, providing candidate objects for further attentional selection, and the relevant literature has concentrated on how figure-ground segmentation mechanisms influence visual attention. However, another crucial process, namely foreground-background segmentation, seems to have been neglected. By using a change blindness paradigm, we explored whether attention is preferentially allocated to the foreground elements or to the background ones. The results indicated that unless attention was voluntarily deployed to the background, large changes in the color of its elements remained unnoticed. In contrast, minor changes in the foreground elements were promptly reported. Differences in change blindness between the two regions of the display indicate that attention is, by default, biased toward the foreground elements. This also supports the phenomenal observations made by Gestaltists, who demonstrated the greater salience of the foreground than the background.

ERP correlates of anticipatory attention: spatial and non-spatial specificity and relation to subsequent selective attention.

PubMed

Dale, Corby L; Simpson, Gregory V; Foxe, John J; Luks, Tracy L; Worden, Michael S

2008-06-01

Brain-based models of visual attention hypothesize that attention-related benefits afforded to imperative stimuli occur via enhancement of neural activity associated with relevant spatial and non-spatial features. When relevant information is available in advance of a stimulus, anticipatory deployment processes are likely to facilitate allocation of attention to stimulus properties prior to its arrival. The current study recorded EEG from humans during a centrally-cued covert attention task. Cues indicated relevance of left or right visual field locations for an upcoming motion or orientation discrimination. During a 1 s delay between cue and S2, multiple attention-related events occurred at frontal, parietal and occipital electrode sites. Differences in anticipatory activity associated with the non-spatial task properties were found late in the delay, while spatially-specific modulation of activity occurred during both early and late periods and continued during S2 processing. The magnitude of anticipatory activity preceding the S2 at frontal scalp sites (and not occipital) was predictive of the magnitude of subsequent selective attention effects on the S2 event-related potentials observed at occipital electrodes. Results support the existence of multiple anticipatory attention-related processes, some with differing specificity for spatial and non-spatial task properties, and the hypothesis that levels of activity in anterior areas are important for effective control of subsequent S2 selective attention.

Cholinergic enhancement reduces functional connectivity and BOLD variability in visual extrastriate cortex during selective attention.

PubMed

Ricciardi, Emiliano; Handjaras, Giacomo; Bernardi, Giulio; Pietrini, Pietro; Furey, Maura L

2013-01-01

Enhancing cholinergic function improves performance on various cognitive tasks and alters neural responses in task specific brain regions. We have hypothesized that the changes in neural activity observed during increased cholinergic function reflect an increase in neural efficiency that leads to improved task performance. The current study tested this hypothesis by assessing neural efficiency based on cholinergically-mediated effects on regional brain connectivity and BOLD signal variability. Nine subjects participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover fMRI study. Following an infusion of physostigmine (1 mg/h) or placebo, echo-planar imaging (EPI) was conducted as participants performed a selective attention task. During the task, two images comprised of superimposed pictures of faces and houses were presented. Subjects were instructed periodically to shift their attention from one stimulus component to the other and to perform a matching task using hand held response buttons. A control condition included phase-scrambled images of superimposed faces and houses that were presented in the same temporal and spatial manner as the attention task; participants were instructed to perform a matching task. Cholinergic enhancement improved performance during the selective attention task, with no change during the control task. Functional connectivity analyses showed that the strength of connectivity between ventral visual processing areas and task-related occipital, parietal and prefrontal regions reduced significantly during cholinergic enhancement, exclusively during the selective attention task. Physostigmine administration also reduced BOLD signal temporal variability relative to placebo throughout temporal and occipital visual processing areas, again during the selective attention task only. Together with the observed behavioral improvement, the decreases in connectivity strength throughout task-relevant regions and BOLD variability within stimulus processing regions support the hypothesis that cholinergic augmentation results in enhanced neural efficiency. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cholinergic enhancement reduces functional connectivity and BOLD variability in visual extrastriate cortex during selective attention

PubMed Central

Ricciardi, Emiliano; Handjaras, Giacomo; Bernardi, Giulio; Pietrini, Pietro; Furey, Maura L.

2012-01-01

Enhancing cholinergic function improves performance on various cognitive tasks and alters neural responses in task specific brain regions. Previous findings by our group strongly suggested that the changes in neural activity observed during increased cholinergic function may reflect an increase in neural efficiency that leads to improved task performance. The current study was designed to assess the effects of cholinergic enhancement on regional brain connectivity and BOLD signal variability. Nine subjects participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Following an infusion of physostigmine (1mg/hr) or placebo, echo-planar imaging (EPI) was conducted as participants performed a selective attention task. During the task, two images comprised of superimposed pictures of faces and houses were presented. Subjects were instructed periodically to shift their attention from one stimulus component to the other and to perform a matching task using hand held response buttons. A control condition included phase-scrambled images of superimposed faces and houses that were presented in the same temporal and spatial manner as the attention task; participants were instructed to perform a matching task. Cholinergic enhancement improved performance during the selective attention task, with no change during the control task. Functional connectivity analyses showed that the strength of connectivity between ventral visual processing areas and task-related occipital, parietal and prefrontal regions was reduced significantly during cholinergic enhancement, exclusively during the selective attention task. Cholinergic enhancement also reduced BOLD signal temporal variability relative to placebo throughout temporal and occipital visual processing areas, again during the selective attention task only. Together with the observed behavioral improvement, the decreases in connectivity strength throughout task-relevant regions and BOLD variability within stimulus processing regions provide further support to the hypothesis that cholinergic augmentation results in enhanced neural efficiency. PMID:22906685

Dissociable spatial and non-spatial attentional deficits after circumscribed thalamic stroke.

PubMed

Kraft, Antje; Irlbacher, Kerstin; Finke, Kathrin; Kaufmann, Christian; Kehrer, Stefanie; Liebermann, Daniela; Bundesen, Claus; Brandt, Stephan A

2015-03-01

Thalamic nuclei act as sensory, motor and cognitive relays between multiple subcortical areas and the cerebral cortex. They play a crucial role in cognitive functions such as executive functioning, memory and attention. In the acute period after thalamic stroke attentional deficits are common. The precise functional relevance of specific nuclei or vascular sub regions of the thalamus for attentional sub functions is still unclear. The theory of visual attention (TVA) allows the measurement of four independent attentional parameters (visual short term memory storage capacity (VSTM), visual perceptual processing speed, selective control and spatial weighting). We combined parameter-based assessment based on TVA with lesion symptom mapping in standard stereotactic space in sixteen patients (mean age 41.2 ± 11.0 SD, 6 females), with focal thalamic lesions in the medial (N = 9), lateral (N = 5), anterior (N = 1) or posterior (N = 1) vascular territories of the thalamus. Compared with an age-matched control group of 52 subjects (mean age 40.1 ± 6.4, 35 females), the patients with thalamic lesions were, on the group level, mildly impaired in visual processing speed and VSTM. Patients with lateral thalamic lesions showed a deficit in processing speed while all other TVA parameters were within the normal range. Medial thalamic lesions can be associated with a spatial bias and extinction of targets either in the ipsilesional or the contralesional field. A posterior case with a thalamic lesion of the pulvinar replicated a finding of Habekost and Rostrup (2006), demonstrating a spatial bias to the ipsilesional field, as suggested by the neural theory of visual attention (NTVA) (Bundesen, Habekost, & Kyllingsbæk, 2011). A case with an anterior-medial thalamic lesion showed reduced selective attentional control. We conclude that lesions in distinct vascular sub regions of the thalamus are associated with distinct attentional syndromes (medial = spatial bias, lateral = processing speed). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatial attention can modulate unconscious orientation processing.

PubMed

Bahrami, Bahador; Carmel, David; Walsh, Vincent; Rees, Geraint; Lavie, Nilli

2008-01-01

It has recently been suggested that visual spatial attention can only affect consciously perceived events. We measured the effects of sustained spatial attention on orientation-selective adaptation to gratings, rendered invisible by prolonged interocular suppression. Spatial attention augmented the orientation-selective adaptation to invisible adaptor orientation. The effect of attention was clearest for test stimuli at peri-threshold, intermediate contrast levels, suggesting that previous negative results were due to assessing orientation discrimination at maximum contrast. On the basis of these findings we propose a constrained hypothesis for the difference between neuronal mechanisms of spatial attention in the presence versus absence of awareness.

Dynamic interactions between visual working memory and saccade target selection

PubMed Central

Schneegans, Sebastian; Spencer, John P.; Schöner, Gregor; Hwang, Seongmin; Hollingworth, Andrew

2014-01-01

Recent psychophysical experiments have shown that working memory for visual surface features interacts with saccadic motor planning, even in tasks where the saccade target is unambiguously specified by spatial cues. Specifically, a match between a memorized color and the color of either the designated target or a distractor stimulus influences saccade target selection, saccade amplitudes, and latencies in a systematic fashion. To elucidate these effects, we present a dynamic neural field model in combination with new experimental data. The model captures the neural processes underlying visual perception, working memory, and saccade planning relevant to the psychophysical experiment. It consists of a low-level visual sensory representation that interacts with two separate pathways: a spatial pathway implementing spatial attention and saccade generation, and a surface feature pathway implementing color working memory and feature attention. Due to bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and feature attention in the model, the working memory content can indirectly exert an effect on perceptual processing in the low-level sensory representation. This in turn biases saccadic movement planning in the spatial pathway, allowing the model to quantitatively reproduce the observed interaction effects. The continuous coupling between representations in the model also implies that modulation should be bidirectional, and model simulations provide specific predictions for complementary effects of saccade target selection on visual working memory. These predictions were empirically confirmed in a new experiment: Memory for a sample color was biased toward the color of a task-irrelevant saccade target object, demonstrating the bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and perceptual processing. PMID:25228628

An Assessment of the Influence of Attention to the Task in the Measurement of Visual Perceptual Abilities. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodenborn, Leo V., Jr.

The project's purpose was to determine whether attention to the task during testing was a confounding variable in measures of visual perception ability. Samples of 30 perceptually handicapped (PH) and 30 normal subjects (N) were randomly selected from children so classified on the Frostig DTVP, providing they had IQ scores between 85 and 115 on…

Parietal structure and function explain human variation in working memory biases of visual attention.

PubMed

Soto, David; Rotshtein, Pia; Kanai, Ryota

2014-04-01

Recent research indicates that human attention appears inadvertently biased by items that match the contents of working memory (WM). WM-biases can lead to attentional costs when the memory content matches goal-irrelevant items and to attentional benefits when it matches the sought target. Here we used functional and structural MRI data to determine the neural basis of human variation in WM biases. We asked whether human variation in WM-benefits and WM-costs merely reflects the process of attentional capture by the contents of WM or whether variation in WM biases may be associated with distinct forms of cognitive control over internal WM signals based on selection goals. Human ability to use WM contents to facilitate selection was positively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior posterior parietal cortex (PPC), while the ability to overcome interference by WM-matching distracters was associated with the left inferior PPC in the anterior IPS. Functional activity in the left PPC, measured by functional MRI, also predicted the magnitude of WM-costs on selection. Both structure and function of left PPC mediate the expression of WM biases in human visual attention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Encouraging expressions affect the brain and alter visual attention.

PubMed

Martín-Loeches, Manuel; Sel, Alejandra; Casado, Pilar; Jiménez, Laura; Castellanos, Luis

2009-06-17

Very often, encouraging or discouraging expressions are used in competitive contexts, such as sports practice, aiming at provoking an emotional reaction on the listener and, consequently, an effect on subsequent cognition and/or performance. However, the actual efficiency of these expressions has not been tested scientifically. To fill this gap, we studied the effects of encouraging, discouraging, and neutral expressions on event-related brain electrical activity during a visual selective attention task in which targets were determined by location, shape, and color. Although the expressions preceded the attentional task, both encouraging and discouraging messages elicited a similar long-lasting brain emotional response present during the visuospatial task. In addition, encouraging expressions were able to alter the customary working pattern of the visual attention system for shape selection in the attended location, increasing the P1 and the SP modulations while simultaneously fading away the SN. This was interpreted as an enhancement of the attentional processes for shape in the attended location after an encouraging expression. It can be stated, therefore, that encouraging expressions, as those used in sport practice, as well as in many other contexts and situations, do seem to be efficient in exerting emotional reactions and measurable effects on cognition.

Visual orienting and attention deficits in 5- and 10-month-old preterm infants.

PubMed

Ross-Sheehy, Shannon; Perone, Sammy; Macek, Kelsi L; Eschman, Bret

2017-02-01

Cognitive outcomes for children born prematurely are well characterized, including increased risk for deficits in memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function. However, little is known about deficits that appear within the first 12 months, and how these early deficits contribute to later outcomes. To probe for functional deficits in visual attention, preterm and full-term infants were tested at 5 and 10 months with the Infant Orienting With Attention task (IOWA; Ross-Sheehy, Schneegans and Spencer, 2015). 5-month-old preterm infants showed significant deficits in orienting speed and task related error. However, 10-month-old preterm infants showed only selective deficits in spatial attention, particularly reflexive orienting responses, and responses that required some inhibition. These emergent deficits in spatial attention suggest preterm differences may be related to altered postnatal developmental trajectories. Moreover, we found no evidence of a dose-response relation between increased gestational risk and spatial attention. These results highlight the critical role of postnatal visual experience, and suggest that visual orienting may be a sensitive measure of attentional delay. Results reported here both inform current theoretical models of early perceptual/cognitive development, and future intervention efforts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A systematic review of visual image theory, assessment, and use in skin cancer and tanning research.

PubMed

McWhirter, Jennifer E; Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie

2014-01-01

Visual images increase attention, comprehension, and recall of health information and influence health behaviors. Health communication campaigns on skin cancer and tanning often use visual images, but little is known about how such images are selected or evaluated. A systematic review of peer-reviewed, published literature on skin cancer and tanning was conducted to determine (a) what visual communication theories were used, (b) how visual images were evaluated, and (c) how visual images were used in the research studies. Seven databases were searched (PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Social Sciences Full Text, ERIC, and ABI/INFORM) resulting in 5,330 citations. Of those, 47 met the inclusion criteria. Only one study specifically identified a visual communication theory guiding the research. No standard instruments for assessing visual images were reported. Most studies lacked, to varying degrees, comprehensive image description, image pretesting, full reporting of image source details, adequate explanation of image selection or development, and example images. The results highlight the need for greater theoretical and methodological attention to visual images in health communication research in the future. To this end, the authors propose a working definition of visual health communication.

Impaired Filtering of Behaviourally Irrelevant Visual Information in Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roach, Neil W.; Hogben, John H.

2007-01-01

A recent proposal suggests that dyslexic individuals suffer from attentional deficiencies, which impair the ability to selectively process incoming visual information. To investigate this possibility, we employed a spatial cueing procedure in conjunction with a single fixation visual search task measuring thresholds for discriminating the…

Modeling the Effects of Perceptual Load: Saliency, Competitive Interactions, and Top-Down Biases

PubMed Central

Neokleous, Kleanthis; Shimi, Andria; Avraamides, Marios N.

2016-01-01

A computational model of visual selective attention has been implemented to account for experimental findings on the Perceptual Load Theory (PLT) of attention. The model was designed based on existing neurophysiological findings on attentional processes with the objective to offer an explicit and biologically plausible formulation of PLT. Simulation results verified that the proposed model is capable of capturing the basic pattern of results that support the PLT as well as findings that are considered contradictory to the theory. Importantly, the model is able to reproduce the behavioral results from a dilution experiment, providing thus a way to reconcile PLT with the competing Dilution account. Overall, the model presents a novel account for explaining PLT effects on the basis of the low-level competitive interactions among neurons that represent visual input and the top-down signals that modulate neural activity. The implications of the model concerning the debate on the locus of selective attention as well as the origins of distractor interference in visual displays of varying load are discussed. PMID:26858668

Rewarded visual items capture attention only in heterogeneous contexts.

PubMed

Feldmann-Wüstefeld, Tobias; Brandhofer, Ruben; Schubö, Anna

2016-07-01

Reward is known to affect visual search performance. Rewarding targets can increase search performance, whereas rewarding distractors can decrease search performance. We used subcomponents of the N2pc in the event-related EEG, the NT (target negativity) and ND /PD (distractor negativity/positivity), in a visual search task to disentangle target and distractor processing related to reward. The visual search task comprised homogeneous and heterogeneous contexts in which a target and a colored distractor were embedded. After each correct trial, participants were given a monetary reward that depended on the color of the distractor. We found longer response times for displays with high-reward distractors compared to displays with low-reward distractors, indicating reward-induced interference, however, only for heterogeneous contexts. The NT component, indicative of attention deployment to the target, showed that target selection was impaired by high-reward distractors, regardless of the context homogeneity. Processing of distractors was not affected by reward in homogeneous contexts. In heterogeneous contexts, however, high-reward distractors were more likely to capture attention (ND ) and required more effort to be suppressed (PD ) than low-reward distractors. In sum the results showed that, despite the fact that target selection is impaired by high-reward distractors in both homogeneous and heterogeneous background contexts, high-reward distractors capture attention only in scenarios that foster attentional capture. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

The Role of Visual Noise in Influencing Mental Load and Fatigue in a Steady-State Motion Visual Evoked Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface.

PubMed

Xie, Jun; Xu, Guanghua; Luo, Ailing; Li, Min; Zhang, Sicong; Han, Chengcheng; Yan, Wenqiang

2017-08-14

As a spatial selective attention-based brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm, steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) BCI has the advantages of high information transfer rate, high tolerance to artifacts, and robust performance across users. However, its benefits come at the cost of mental load and fatigue occurring in the concentration on the visual stimuli. Noise, as a ubiquitous random perturbation with the power of randomness, may be exploited by the human visual system to enhance higher-level brain functions. In this study, a novel steady-state motion visual evoked potential (SSMVEP, i.e., one kind of SSVEP)-based BCI paradigm with spatiotemporal visual noise was used to investigate the influence of noise on the compensation of mental load and fatigue deterioration during prolonged attention tasks. Changes in α , θ , θ + α powers, θ / α ratio, and electroencephalography (EEG) properties of amplitude, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and online accuracy, were used to evaluate mental load and fatigue. We showed that presenting a moderate visual noise to participants could reliably alleviate the mental load and fatigue during online operation of visual BCI that places demands on the attentional processes. This demonstrated that noise could provide a superior solution to the implementation of visual attention controlling-based BCI applications.

Dopaminergic and cholinergic modulations of visual-spatial attention and working memory: insights from molecular genetic research and implications for adult cognitive development.

PubMed

Störmer, Viola S; Passow, Susanne; Biesenack, Julia; Li, Shu-Chen

2012-05-01

Attention and working memory are fundamental for selecting and maintaining behaviorally relevant information. Not only do both processes closely intertwine at the cognitive level, but they implicate similar functional brain circuitries, namely the frontoparietal and the frontostriatal networks, which are innervated by cholinergic and dopaminergic pathways. Here we review the literature on cholinergic and dopaminergic modulations of visual-spatial attention and visual working memory processes to gain insights on aging-related changes in these processes. Some extant findings have suggested that the cholinergic system plays a role in the orienting of attention to enable the detection and discrimination of visual information, whereas the dopaminergic system has mainly been associated with working memory processes such as updating and stabilizing representations. However, since visual-spatial attention and working memory processes are not fully dissociable, there is also evidence of interacting cholinergic and dopaminergic modulations of both processes. We further review gene-cognition association studies that have shown that individual differences in visual-spatial attention and visual working memory are associated with acetylcholine- and dopamine-relevant genes. The efficiency of these 2 transmitter systems declines substantially during healthy aging. These declines, in part, contribute to age-related deficits in attention and working memory functions. We report novel data showing an effect of dopamine COMT gene on spatial updating processes in older but not in younger adults, indicating potential magnification of genetic effects in old age.

Feature-Selective Attentional Modulations in Human Frontoparietal Cortex.

PubMed

Ester, Edward F; Sutterer, David W; Serences, John T; Awh, Edward

2016-08-03

Control over visual selection has long been framed in terms of a dichotomy between "source" and "site," where top-down feedback signals originating in frontoparietal cortical areas modulate or bias sensory processing in posterior visual areas. This distinction is motivated in part by observations that frontoparietal cortical areas encode task-level variables (e.g., what stimulus is currently relevant or what motor outputs are appropriate), while posterior sensory areas encode continuous or analog feature representations. Here, we present evidence that challenges this distinction. We used fMRI, a roving searchlight analysis, and an inverted encoding model to examine representations of an elementary feature property (orientation) across the entire human cortical sheet while participants attended either the orientation or luminance of a peripheral grating. Orientation-selective representations were present in a multitude of visual, parietal, and prefrontal cortical areas, including portions of the medial occipital cortex, the lateral parietal cortex, and the superior precentral sulcus (thought to contain the human homolog of the macaque frontal eye fields). Additionally, representations in many-but not all-of these regions were stronger when participants were instructed to attend orientation relative to luminance. Collectively, these findings challenge models that posit a strict segregation between sources and sites of attentional control on the basis of representational properties by demonstrating that simple feature values are encoded by cortical regions throughout the visual processing hierarchy, and that representations in many of these areas are modulated by attention. Influential models of visual attention posit a distinction between top-down control and bottom-up sensory processing networks. These models are motivated in part by demonstrations showing that frontoparietal cortical areas associated with top-down control represent abstract or categorical stimulus information, while visual areas encode parametric feature information. Here, we show that multivariate activity in human visual, parietal, and frontal cortical areas encode representations of a simple feature property (orientation). Moreover, representations in several (though not all) of these areas were modulated by feature-based attention in a similar fashion. These results provide an important challenge to models that posit dissociable top-down control and sensory processing networks on the basis of representational properties. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/368188-12$15.00/0.

Aging, selective attention, and feature integration.

PubMed

Plude, D J; Doussard-Roosevelt, J A

1989-03-01

This study used feature-integration theory as a means of determining the point in processing at which selective attention deficits originate. The theory posits an initial stage of processing in which features are registered in parallel and then a serial process in which features are conjoined to form complex stimuli. Performance of young and older adults on feature versus conjunction search is compared. Analyses of reaction times and error rates suggest that elderly adults in addition to young adults, can capitalize on the early parallel processing stage of visual information processing, and that age decrements in visual search arise as a result of the later, serial stage of processing. Analyses of a third, unconfounded, conjunction search condition reveal qualitatively similar modes of conjunction search in young and older adults. The contribution of age-related data limitations is found to be secondary to the contribution of age decrements in selective attention.

Attention to Multiple Objects Facilitates Their Integration in Prefrontal and Parietal Cortex.

PubMed

Kim, Yee-Joon; Tsai, Jeffrey J; Ojemann, Jeffrey; Verghese, Preeti

2017-05-10

Selective attention is known to interact with perceptual organization. In visual scenes, individual objects that are distinct and discriminable may occur on their own, or in groups such as a stack of books. The main objective of this study is to probe the neural interaction that occurs between individual objects when attention is directed toward one or more objects. Here we record steady-state visual evoked potentials via electrocorticography to directly assess the responses to individual stimuli and to their interaction. When human participants attend to two adjacent stimuli, prefrontal and parietal cortex shows a selective enhancement of only the neural interaction between stimuli, but not the responses to individual stimuli. When only one stimulus is attended, the neural response to that stimulus is selectively enhanced in prefrontal and parietal cortex. In contrast, early visual areas generally manifest responses to individual stimuli and to their interaction regardless of attentional task, although a subset of the responses is modulated similarly to prefrontal and parietal cortex. Thus, the neural representation of the visual scene as one progresses up the cortical hierarchy becomes more highly task-specific and represents either individual stimuli or their interaction, depending on the behavioral goal. Attention to multiple objects facilitates an integration of objects akin to perceptual grouping. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Individual objects in a visual scene are seen as distinct entities or as parts of a whole. Here we examine how attention to multiple objects affects their neural representation. Previous studies measured single-cell or fMRI responses and obtained only aggregate measures that combined the activity to individual stimuli as well as their potential interaction. Here, we directly measure electrocorticographic steady-state responses corresponding to individual objects and to their interaction using a frequency-tagging technique. Attention to two stimuli increases the interaction component that is a hallmark for perceptual integration of stimuli. Furthermore, this stimulus-specific interaction is represented in prefrontal and parietal cortex in a task-dependent manner. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/374942-12$15.00/0.

Nonuniform Changes in the Distribution of Visual Attention from Visual Complexity and Action: A Driving Simulation Study.

PubMed

Park, George D; Reed, Catherine L

2015-02-01

Researchers acknowledge the interplay between action and attention, but typically consider action as a response to successful attentional selection or the correlation of performance on separate action and attention tasks. We investigated how concurrent action with spatial monitoring affects the distribution of attention across the visual field. We embedded a functional field of view (FFOV) paradigm with concurrent central object recognition and peripheral target localization tasks in a simulated driving environment. Peripheral targets varied across 20-60 deg eccentricity at 11 radial spokes. Three conditions assessed the effects of visual complexity and concurrent action on the size and shape of the FFOV: (1) with no background, (2) with driving background, and (3) with driving background and vehicle steering. The addition of visual complexity slowed task performance and reduced the FFOV size but did not change the baseline shape. In contrast, the addition of steering produced not only shrinkage of the FFOV, but also changes in the FFOV shape. Nonuniform performance decrements occurred in proximal regions used for the central task and for steering, independent of interference from context elements. Multifocal attention models should consider the role of action and account for nonhomogeneities in the distribution of attention. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

Visual-Spatial Attention Aids the Maintenance of Object Representations in Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

Williams, Melonie; Pouget, Pierre; Boucher, Leanne; Woodman, Geoffrey F.

2013-01-01

Theories have proposed that the maintenance of object representations in visual working memory is aided by a spatial rehearsal mechanism. In this study, we used two different approaches to test the hypothesis that overt and covert visual-spatial attention mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of object representations in visual working memory. First, we tracked observers’ eye movements while remembering a variable number of objects during change-detection tasks. We observed that during the blank retention interval, participants spontaneously shifted gaze to the locations that the objects had occupied in the memory array. Next, we hypothesized that if attention mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of object representations, then drawing attention away from the object locations during the retention interval would impair object memory during these change-detection tasks. Supporting this prediction, we found that attending to the fixation point in anticipation of a brief probe stimulus during the retention interval reduced change-detection accuracy even on the trials in which no probe occurred. These findings support models of working memory in which visual-spatial selection mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of object representations. PMID:23371773

Direct evidence for attention-dependent influences of the frontal eye-fields on feature-responsive visual cortex.

PubMed

Heinen, Klaartje; Feredoes, Eva; Weiskopf, Nikolaus; Ruff, Christian C; Driver, Jon

2014-11-01

Voluntary selective attention can prioritize different features in a visual scene. The frontal eye-fields (FEF) are one potential source of such feature-specific top-down signals, but causal evidence for influences on visual cortex (as was shown for "spatial" attention) has remained elusive. Here, we show that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to right FEF increased the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals in visual areas processing "target feature" but not in "distracter feature"-processing regions. TMS-induced BOLD signals increase in motion-responsive visual cortex (MT+) when motion was attended in a display with moving dots superimposed on face stimuli, but in face-responsive fusiform area (FFA) when faces were attended to. These TMS effects on BOLD signal in both regions were negatively related to performance (on the motion task), supporting the behavioral relevance of this pathway. Our findings provide new causal evidence for the human FEF in the control of nonspatial "feature"-based attention, mediated by dynamic influences on feature-specific visual cortex that vary with the currently attended property. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.

The Relationship Between Selected Subtests of the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude and Second Grade Reading Achievement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherwood, Charles; Chambless, Martha

Relationships between reading achievement and perceptual skills as measured by selected subtests of the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude were investigated in a sample of 73 second graders. Verbal opposites, visual memory for designs, and visual attention span for letters were significantly correlated with both word meaning and vocabulary…

Interference and Inhibition in Tasks of Selective Attention by Persons with and without Mental Retardation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merrill, Edward C.

2006-01-01

Persons with mental retardation often exhibit greater interference in visual selective attention tasks than do persons matched with them on CA. My goal here was to evaluate whether differences in distractor interference between persons with and without mental retardation may be related to differences in negative priming. Fifteen participants with…

Selective Attention to Emotional Stimuli: What IQ and Openness Do, and Emotional Intelligence Does Not

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fiori, Marina; Antonakis, John

2012-01-01

We examined how general intelligence, personality, and emotional intelligence--measured as an ability using the MSCEIT--predicted performance on a selective-attention task requiring participants to ignore distracting emotion information. We used a visual prime in which participants saw a pair of faces depicting emotions; their task was to focus on…

Successful Face Recognition Is Associated with Increased Prefrontal Cortex Activation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herrington, John D.; Riley, Meghan E.; Grupe, Daniel W.; Schultz, Robert T.

2015-01-01

This study examines whether deficits in visual information processing in autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) can be offset by the recruitment of brain structures involved in selective attention. During functional MRI, 12 children with ASD and 19 control participants completed a selective attention one-back task in which images of faces and houses were…

ERP Evidence of Early Cross-Modal Links between Auditory Selective Attention and Visuo-Spatial Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bomba, Marie D.; Singhal, Anthony

2010-01-01

Previous dual-task research pairing complex visual tasks involving non-spatial cognitive processes during dichotic listening have shown effects on the late component (Ndl) of the negative difference selective attention waveform but no effects on the early (Nde) response suggesting that the Ndl, but not the Nde, is affected by non-spatial…

Selective Use of Optical Variables to Control Forward Speed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Walter W.; Awe, Cynthia A.; Hart, Sandra G. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

Previous work on the perception and control of simulated vehicle speed has examined the contributions of optical flow rate (angular visual speed) and texture, or edge rate (frequency of passing terrain objects or markings) on the perception and control of forward speed. However, these studies have not examined the ability to selectively use edge rate or flow rate. The two studies reported here show that subjects found it very difficult to arbitrarily direct attention to one or the other of these variables; but that the ability to selectively use these variables is linked to the visual contextual information about the relative validity (linkage with speed) of the two variables. The selectivity also resulted in different velocity adaptation levels for events in which flow rate and edge rate specified forward speed. Finally, the role of visual context in directing attention was further buttressed by the finding that the incorrect perception of changes in ground texture density tended to be coupled with incorrect perceptions of changes in forward speed.

A new perspective on the perceptual selectivity of attention under load.

PubMed

Giesbrecht, Barry; Sy, Jocelyn; Bundesen, Claus; Kyllingsbaek, Søren

2014-05-01

The human attention system helps us cope with a complex environment by supporting the selective processing of information relevant to our current goals. Understanding the perceptual, cognitive, and neural mechanisms that mediate selective attention is a core issue in cognitive neuroscience. One prominent model of selective attention, known as load theory, offers an account of how task demands determine when information is selected and an account of the efficiency of the selection process. However, load theory has several critical weaknesses that suggest that it is time for a new perspective. Here we review the strengths and weaknesses of load theory and offer an alternative biologically plausible computational account that is based on the neural theory of visual attention. We argue that this new perspective provides a detailed computational account of how bottom-up and top-down information is integrated to provide efficient attentional selection and allocation of perceptual processing resources. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

Predicting bias in perceived position using attention field models.

PubMed

Klein, Barrie P; Paffen, Chris L E; Pas, Susan F Te; Dumoulin, Serge O

2016-05-01

Attention is the mechanism through which we select relevant information from our visual environment. We have recently demonstrated that attention attracts receptive fields across the visual hierarchy (Klein, Harvey, & Dumoulin, 2014). We captured this receptive field attraction using an attention field model. Here, we apply this model to human perception: We predict that receptive field attraction results in a bias in perceived position, which depends on the size of the underlying receptive fields. We instructed participants to compare the relative position of Gabor stimuli, while we manipulated the focus of attention using exogenous cueing. We varied the eccentric position and spatial frequency of the Gabor stimuli to vary underlying receptive field size. The positional biases as a function of eccentricity matched the predictions by an attention field model, whereas the bias as a function of spatial frequency did not. As spatial frequency and eccentricity are encoded differently across the visual hierarchy, we speculate that they might interact differently with the attention field that is spatially defined.

Reward history but not search history explains value-driven attentional capture.

PubMed

Marchner, Janina R; Preuschhof, Claudia

2018-04-19

In past years, an extensive amount of research has focused on how past experiences guide future attention. Humans automatically attend to stimuli previously associated with reward and stimuli that have been experienced during visual search, even when it is disadvantageous in present situations. Recently, the relationship between "reward history" and "search history" has been discussed critically. We review results from research on value-driven attentional capture (VDAC) with a focus on these two experience-based attentional selection processes and their distinction. To clarify inconsistencies, we examined VDAC within a design that allows a direct comparison with other mechanisms of attentional selection. Eighty-four healthy adults were trained to incidentally associate colors with reward (10 cents, 2 cents) or with no reward. In a subsequent visual search task, distraction by reward-associated and unrewarded stimuli was contrasted. In the training phase, reward signals facilitated performance. When these value-signaling stimuli appeared as distractors in the test phase, they continuously shaped attentional selection, despite their task irrelevance. Our findings clearly cannot be attributed to a history of target search. We conclude that once an association is established, value signals guide attention automatically in new situations, which can be beneficial or not, depending on the congruency with current goals.

What Top-Down Task Sets Do for Us: An ERP Study on the Benefits of Advance Preparation in Visual Search

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eimer, Martin; Kiss, Monika; Nicholas, Susan

2011-01-01

When target-defining features are specified in advance, attentional target selection in visual search is controlled by preparatory top-down task sets. We used ERP measures to study voluntary target selection in the absence of such feature-specific task sets, and to compare it to selection that is guided by advance knowledge about target features.…

Visual Search in Typically Developing Toddlers and Toddlers with Fragile X or Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scerif, Gaia; Cornish, Kim; Wilding, John; Driver, Jon; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

2004-01-01

Visual selective attention is the ability to attend to relevant visual information and ignore irrelevant stimuli. Little is known about its typical and atypical development in early childhood. Experiment 1 investigates typically developing toddlers' visual search for multiple targets on a touch-screen. Time to hit a target, distance between…

The effects of combined caffeine and glucose drinks on attention in the human brain.

PubMed

Rao, Anling; Hu, Henglong; Nobre, Anna Christina

2005-06-01

The objective of this research was to measure the effects of energising drinks containing caffeine and glucose, upon mental activity during sustained selective attention. Non-invasive electrophysiological brain recordings were made during a behavioural study of selective attention in which participants received either energising or placebo drinks. We tested specifically whether energising drinks have significant effects upon behavioural measures of performance during a task requiring sustained visual selective attention, as well as on accompanying components of the event-related potential (ERPs) related to information processing in the brain. Forty healthy volunteers were blindly assigned to receive either the energising drink or a similar-tasting placebo drink. The behavioural task involved identifying predefined target stimulus among rapidly presented streams of peripheral visual stimuli, and making speeded motor responses to this stimulus. During task performance, accuracy, reaction times and ongoing brain activity were stored for analysis. The energising drink enhanced behavioural performance both in terms of accuracy and speed of reactions. The energising drink also had significant effects upon the event-related potentials. Effects started from the enhancement of the earliest components (Cl/P1), reflecting early visual cortical processing in the energising-drink group relative to the placebo group over the contralateral scalp. The later N1, N2 and P3 components related to decision-making and responses were also modulated by the energising drink. Energising drinks containing caffeine and glucose can enhance behavioural performance during demanding tasks requiring selective attention. The behavioural benefits are coupled to direct effects upon neural information processing.

The Relationship between Visual Attention and Visual Working Memory Encoding: A Dissociation between Covert and Overt Orienting

PubMed Central

Tas, A. Caglar; Luck, Steven J.; Hollingworth, Andrew

2016-01-01

There is substantial debate over whether visual working memory (VWM) and visual attention constitute a single system for the selection of task-relevant perceptual information or whether they are distinct systems that can be dissociated when their representational demands diverge. In the present study, we focused on the relationship between visual attention and the encoding of objects into visual working memory (VWM). Participants performed a color change-detection task. During the retention interval, a secondary object, irrelevant to the memory task, was presented. Participants were instructed either to execute an overt shift of gaze to this object (Experiments 1–3) or to attend it covertly (Experiments 4 and 5). Our goal was to determine whether these overt and covert shifts of attention disrupted the information held in VWM. We hypothesized that saccades, which typically introduce a memorial demand to bridge perceptual disruption, would lead to automatic encoding of the secondary object. However, purely covert shifts of attention, which introduce no such demand, would not result in automatic memory encoding. The results supported these predictions. Saccades to the secondary object produced substantial interference with VWM performance, but covert shifts of attention to this object produced no interference with VWM performance. These results challenge prevailing theories that consider attention and VWM to reflect a common mechanism. In addition, they indicate that the relationship between attention and VWM is dependent on the memorial demands of the orienting behavior. PMID:26854532

Distinct Effects of Trial-Driven and Task Set-Related Control in Primary Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Vaden, Ryan J.; Visscher, Kristina M.

2015-01-01

Task sets are task-specific configurations of cognitive processes that facilitate task-appropriate reactions to stimuli. While it is established that the trial-by-trial deployment of visual attention to expected stimuli influences neural responses in primary visual cortex (V1) in a retinotopically specific manner, it is not clear whether the mechanisms that help maintain a task set over many trials also operate with similar retinotopic specificity. Here, we address this question by using BOLD fMRI to characterize how portions of V1 that are specialized for different eccentricities respond during distinct components of an attention-demanding discrimination task: cue-driven preparation for a trial, trial-driven processing, task-initiation at the beginning of a block of trials, and task-maintenance throughout a block of trials. Tasks required either unimodal attention to an auditory or a visual stimulus or selective intermodal attention to the visual or auditory component of simultaneously presented visual and auditory stimuli. We found that while the retinotopic patterns of trial-driven and cue-driven activity depended on the attended stimulus, the retinotopic patterns of task-initiation and task-maintenance activity did not. Further, only the retinotopic patterns of trial-driven activity were found to depend on the presence of intermodal distraction. Participants who performed well on the intermodal selective attention tasks showed strong task-specific modulations of both trial-driven and task-maintenance activity. Importantly, task-related modulations of trial-driven and task-maintenance activity were in opposite directions. Together, these results confirm that there are (at least) two different processes for top-down control of V1: One, working trial-by-trial, differently modulates activity across different eccentricity sectors—portions of V1 corresponding to different visual eccentricities. The second process works across longer epochs of task performance, and does not differ among eccentricity sectors. These results are discussed in the context of previous literature examining top-down control of visual cortical areas. PMID:26163806

Visual Attention Measures Predict Pedestrian Detection in Central Field Loss: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Alberti, Concetta F.; Horowitz, Todd; Bronstad, P. Matthew; Bowers, Alex R.

2014-01-01

Purpose The ability of visually impaired people to deploy attention effectively to maximize use of their residual vision in dynamic situations is fundamental to safe mobility. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate whether tests of dynamic attention (multiple object tracking; MOT) and static attention (Useful Field of View; UFOV) were predictive of the ability of people with central field loss (CFL) to detect pedestrian hazards in simulated driving. Methods 11 people with bilateral CFL (visual acuity 20/30-20/200) and 11 age-similar normally-sighted drivers participated. Dynamic and static attention were evaluated with brief, computer-based MOT and UFOV tasks, respectively. Dependent variables were the log speed threshold for 60% correct identification of targets (MOT) and the increase in the presentation duration for 75% correct identification of a central target when a concurrent peripheral task was added (UFOV divided and selective attention subtests). Participants drove in a simulator and pressed the horn whenever they detected pedestrians that walked or ran toward the road. The dependent variable was the proportion of timely reactions (could have stopped in time to avoid a collision). Results UFOV and MOT performance of CFL participants was poorer than that of controls, and the proportion of timely reactions was also lower (worse) (84% and 97%, respectively; p = 0.001). For CFL participants, higher proportions of timely reactions correlated significantly with higher (better) MOT speed thresholds (r = 0.73, p = 0.01), with better performance on the UFOV divided and selective attention subtests (r = −0.66 and −0.62, respectively, p<0.04), with better contrast sensitivity scores (r = 0.54, p = 0.08) and smaller scotomas (r = −0.60, p = 0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that brief laboratory-based tests of visual attention may provide useful measures of functional visual ability of individuals with CFL relevant to more complex mobility tasks. PMID:24558495

Visual attention measures predict pedestrian detection in central field loss: a pilot study.

PubMed

Alberti, Concetta F; Horowitz, Todd; Bronstad, P Matthew; Bowers, Alex R

2014-01-01

The ability of visually impaired people to deploy attention effectively to maximize use of their residual vision in dynamic situations is fundamental to safe mobility. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate whether tests of dynamic attention (multiple object tracking; MOT) and static attention (Useful Field of View; UFOV) were predictive of the ability of people with central field loss (CFL) to detect pedestrian hazards in simulated driving. 11 people with bilateral CFL (visual acuity 20/30-20/200) and 11 age-similar normally-sighted drivers participated. Dynamic and static attention were evaluated with brief, computer-based MOT and UFOV tasks, respectively. Dependent variables were the log speed threshold for 60% correct identification of targets (MOT) and the increase in the presentation duration for 75% correct identification of a central target when a concurrent peripheral task was added (UFOV divided and selective attention subtests). Participants drove in a simulator and pressed the horn whenever they detected pedestrians that walked or ran toward the road. The dependent variable was the proportion of timely reactions (could have stopped in time to avoid a collision). UFOV and MOT performance of CFL participants was poorer than that of controls, and the proportion of timely reactions was also lower (worse) (84% and 97%, respectively; p = 0.001). For CFL participants, higher proportions of timely reactions correlated significantly with higher (better) MOT speed thresholds (r = 0.73, p = 0.01), with better performance on the UFOV divided and selective attention subtests (r = -0.66 and -0.62, respectively, p<0.04), with better contrast sensitivity scores (r = 0.54, p = 0.08) and smaller scotomas (r = -0.60, p = 0.05). Our results suggest that brief laboratory-based tests of visual attention may provide useful measures of functional visual ability of individuals with CFL relevant to more complex mobility tasks.

The effects of selective and divided attention on sensory precision and integration.

PubMed

Odegaard, Brian; Wozny, David R; Shams, Ladan

2016-02-12

In our daily lives, our capacity to selectively attend to stimuli within or across sensory modalities enables enhanced perception of the surrounding world. While previous research on selective attention has studied this phenomenon extensively, two important questions still remain unanswered: (1) how selective attention to a single modality impacts sensory integration processes, and (2) the mechanism by which selective attention improves perception. We explored how selective attention impacts performance in both a spatial task and a temporal numerosity judgment task, and employed a Bayesian Causal Inference model to investigate the computational mechanism(s) impacted by selective attention. We report three findings: (1) in the spatial domain, selective attention improves precision of the visual sensory representations (which were relatively precise), but not the auditory sensory representations (which were fairly noisy); (2) in the temporal domain, selective attention improves the sensory precision in both modalities (both of which were fairly reliable to begin with); (3) in both tasks, selective attention did not exert a significant influence over the tendency to integrate sensory stimuli. Therefore, it may be postulated that a sensory modality must possess a certain inherent degree of encoding precision in order to benefit from selective attention. It also appears that in certain basic perceptual tasks, the tendency to integrate crossmodal signals does not depend significantly on selective attention. We conclude with a discussion of how these results relate to recent theoretical considerations of selective attention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modulation of early cortical processing during divided attention to non-contiguous locations.

PubMed

Frey, Hans-Peter; Schmid, Anita M; Murphy, Jeremy W; Molholm, Sophie; Lalor, Edmund C; Foxe, John J

2014-05-01

We often face the challenge of simultaneously attending to multiple non-contiguous regions of space. There is ongoing debate as to how spatial attention is divided under these situations. Whereas, for several years, the predominant view was that humans could divide the attentional spotlight, several recent studies argue in favor of a unitary spotlight that rhythmically samples relevant locations. Here, this issue was addressed by the use of high-density electrophysiology in concert with the multifocal m-sequence technique to examine visual evoked responses to multiple simultaneous streams of stimulation. Concurrently, we assayed the topographic distribution of alpha-band oscillatory mechanisms, a measure of attentional suppression. Participants performed a difficult detection task that required simultaneous attention to two stimuli in contiguous (undivided) or non-contiguous parts of space. In the undivided condition, the classic pattern of attentional modulation was observed, with increased amplitude of the early visual evoked response and increased alpha amplitude ipsilateral to the attended hemifield. For the divided condition, early visual responses to attended stimuli were also enhanced, and the observed multifocal topographic distribution of alpha suppression was in line with the divided attention hypothesis. These results support the existence of divided attentional spotlights, providing evidence that the corresponding modulation occurs during initial sensory processing time-frames in hierarchically early visual regions, and that suppressive mechanisms of visual attention selectively target distracter locations during divided spatial attention. © 2014 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Vegetarianism and food perception. Selective visual attention to meat pictures.

PubMed

Stockburger, Jessica; Renner, Britta; Weike, Almut I; Hamm, Alfons O; Schupp, Harald T

2009-04-01

Vegetarianism provides a model system to examine the impact of negative affect towards meat, based on ideational reasoning. It was hypothesized that meat stimuli are efficient attention catchers in vegetarians. Event-related brain potential recordings served to index selective attention processes at the level of initial stimulus perception. Consistent with the hypothesis, late positive potentials to meat pictures were enlarged in vegetarians compared to omnivores. This effect was specific for meat pictures and obtained during passive viewing and an explicit attention task condition. These findings demonstrate the attention capture of food stimuli, deriving affective salience from ideational reasoning and symbolic meaning.

Online decoding of object-based attention using real-time fMRI.

PubMed

Niazi, Adnan M; van den Broek, Philip L C; Klanke, Stefan; Barth, Markus; Poel, Mannes; Desain, Peter; van Gerven, Marcel A J

2014-01-01

Visual attention is used to selectively filter relevant information depending on current task demands and goals. Visual attention is called object-based attention when it is directed to coherent forms or objects in the visual field. This study used real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging for moment-to-moment decoding of attention to spatially overlapped objects belonging to two different object categories. First, a whole-brain classifier was trained on pictures of faces and places. Subjects then saw transparently overlapped pictures of a face and a place, and attended to only one of them while ignoring the other. The category of the attended object, face or place, was decoded on a scan-by-scan basis using the previously trained decoder. The decoder performed at 77.6% accuracy indicating that despite competing bottom-up sensory input, object-based visual attention biased neural patterns towards that of the attended object. Furthermore, a comparison between different classification approaches indicated that the representation of faces and places is distributed rather than focal. This implies that real-time decoding of object-based attention requires a multivariate decoding approach that can detect these distributed patterns of cortical activity. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The responsiveness of biological motion processing areas to selective attention towards goals.

PubMed

Herrington, John; Nymberg, Charlotte; Faja, Susan; Price, Elinora; Schultz, Robert

2012-10-15

A growing literature indicates that visual cortex areas viewed as primarily responsive to exogenous stimuli are susceptible to top-down modulation by selective attention. The present study examines whether brain areas involved in biological motion perception are among these areas-particularly with respect to selective attention towards human movement goals. Fifteen participants completed a point-light biological motion study following a two-by-two factorial design, with one factor representing an exogenous manipulation of human movement goals (goal-directed versus random movement), and the other an endogenous manipulation (a goal identification task versus an ancillary color-change task). Both manipulations yielded increased activation in the human homologue of motion-sensitive area MT+ (hMT+) as well as the extrastriate body area (EBA). The endogenous manipulation was associated with increased right posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) activation, whereas the exogenous manipulation was associated with increased activation in left posterior STS. Selective attention towards goals activated a portion of left hMT+/EBA only during the perception of purposeful movement-consistent with emerging theories associating this area with the matching of visual motion input to known goal-directed actions. The overall pattern of results indicates that attention towards the goals of human movement activates biological motion areas. Ultimately, selective attention may explain why some studies examining biological motion show activation in hMT+ and EBA, even when using control stimuli with comparable motion properties. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An object-based visual attention model for robotic applications.

PubMed

Yu, Yuanlong; Mann, George K I; Gosine, Raymond G

2010-10-01

By extending integrated competition hypothesis, this paper presents an object-based visual attention model, which selects one object of interest using low-dimensional features, resulting that visual perception starts from a fast attentional selection procedure. The proposed attention model involves seven modules: learning of object representations stored in a long-term memory (LTM), preattentive processing, top-down biasing, bottom-up competition, mediation between top-down and bottom-up ways, generation of saliency maps, and perceptual completion processing. It works in two phases: learning phase and attending phase. In the learning phase, the corresponding object representation is trained statistically when one object is attended. A dual-coding object representation consisting of local and global codings is proposed. Intensity, color, and orientation features are used to build the local coding, and a contour feature is employed to constitute the global coding. In the attending phase, the model preattentively segments the visual field into discrete proto-objects using Gestalt rules at first. If a task-specific object is given, the model recalls the corresponding representation from LTM and deduces the task-relevant feature(s) to evaluate top-down biases. The mediation between automatic bottom-up competition and conscious top-down biasing is then performed to yield a location-based saliency map. By combination of location-based saliency within each proto-object, the proto-object-based saliency is evaluated. The most salient proto-object is selected for attention, and it is finally put into the perceptual completion processing module to yield a complete object region. This model has been applied into distinct tasks of robots: detection of task-specific stationary and moving objects. Experimental results under different conditions are shown to validate this model.

Sequential sampling of visual objects during sustained attention.

PubMed

Jia, Jianrong; Liu, Ling; Fang, Fang; Luo, Huan

2017-06-01

In a crowded visual scene, attention must be distributed efficiently and flexibly over time and space to accommodate different contexts. It is well established that selective attention enhances the corresponding neural responses, presumably implying that attention would persistently dwell on the task-relevant item. Meanwhile, recent studies, mostly in divided attentional contexts, suggest that attention does not remain stationary but samples objects alternately over time, suggesting a rhythmic view of attention. However, it remains unknown whether the dynamic mechanism essentially mediates attentional processes at a general level. Importantly, there is also a complete lack of direct neural evidence reflecting whether and how the brain rhythmically samples multiple visual objects during stimulus processing. To address these issues, in this study, we employed electroencephalography (EEG) and a temporal response function (TRF) approach, which can dissociate responses that exclusively represent a single object from the overall neuronal activity, to examine the spatiotemporal characteristics of attention in various attentional contexts. First, attention, which is characterized by inhibitory alpha-band (approximately 10 Hz) activity in TRFs, switches between attended and unattended objects every approximately 200 ms, suggesting a sequential sampling even when attention is required to mostly stay on the attended object. Second, the attentional spatiotemporal pattern is modulated by the task context, such that alpha-mediated switching becomes increasingly prominent as the task requires a more uniform distribution of attention. Finally, the switching pattern correlates with attentional behavioral performance. Our work provides direct neural evidence supporting a generally central role of temporal organization mechanism in attention, such that multiple objects are sequentially sorted according to their priority in attentional contexts. The results suggest that selective attention, in addition to the classically posited attentional "focus," involves a dynamic mechanism for monitoring all objects outside of the focus. Our findings also suggest that attention implements a space (object)-to-time transformation by acting as a series of concatenating attentional chunks that operate on 1 object at a time.

Sequential sampling of visual objects during sustained attention

PubMed Central

Jia, Jianrong; Liu, Ling; Fang, Fang

2017-01-01

In a crowded visual scene, attention must be distributed efficiently and flexibly over time and space to accommodate different contexts. It is well established that selective attention enhances the corresponding neural responses, presumably implying that attention would persistently dwell on the task-relevant item. Meanwhile, recent studies, mostly in divided attentional contexts, suggest that attention does not remain stationary but samples objects alternately over time, suggesting a rhythmic view of attention. However, it remains unknown whether the dynamic mechanism essentially mediates attentional processes at a general level. Importantly, there is also a complete lack of direct neural evidence reflecting whether and how the brain rhythmically samples multiple visual objects during stimulus processing. To address these issues, in this study, we employed electroencephalography (EEG) and a temporal response function (TRF) approach, which can dissociate responses that exclusively represent a single object from the overall neuronal activity, to examine the spatiotemporal characteristics of attention in various attentional contexts. First, attention, which is characterized by inhibitory alpha-band (approximately 10 Hz) activity in TRFs, switches between attended and unattended objects every approximately 200 ms, suggesting a sequential sampling even when attention is required to mostly stay on the attended object. Second, the attentional spatiotemporal pattern is modulated by the task context, such that alpha-mediated switching becomes increasingly prominent as the task requires a more uniform distribution of attention. Finally, the switching pattern correlates with attentional behavioral performance. Our work provides direct neural evidence supporting a generally central role of temporal organization mechanism in attention, such that multiple objects are sequentially sorted according to their priority in attentional contexts. The results suggest that selective attention, in addition to the classically posited attentional “focus,” involves a dynamic mechanism for monitoring all objects outside of the focus. Our findings also suggest that attention implements a space (object)-to-time transformation by acting as a series of concatenating attentional chunks that operate on 1 object at a time. PMID:28658261

Readout from iconic memory and selective spatial attention involve similar neural processes.

PubMed

Ruff, Christian C; Kristjánsson, Arni; Driver, Jon

2007-10-01

Iconic memory and spatial attention are often considered separately, but they may have functional similarities. Here we provide functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for some common underlying neural effects. Subjects judged three visual stimuli in one hemifield of a bilateral array comprising six stimuli. The relevant hemifield for partial report was indicated by an auditory cue, administered either before the visual array (precue, spatial attention) or shortly after the array (postcue, iconic memory). Pre- and postcues led to similar activity modulations in lateral occipital cortex contralateral to the cued side. This finding indicates that readout from iconic memory can have some neural effects similar to those of spatial attention. We also found common bilateral activation of a fronto-parietal network for postcue and precue trials. These neuroimaging data suggest that some common neural mechanisms underlie selective spatial attention and readout from iconic memory. Some differences were also found; compared with precues, postcues led to higher activity in the right middle frontal gyrus.

Readout From Iconic Memory and Selective Spatial Attention Involve Similar Neural Processes

PubMed Central

Ruff, Christian C; Kristjánsson, Árni; Driver, Jon

2007-01-01

Iconic memory and spatial attention are often considered separately, but they may have functional similarities. Here we provide functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for some common underlying neural effects. Subjects judged three visual stimuli in one hemifield of a bilateral array comprising six stimuli. The relevant hemifield for partial report was indicated by an auditory cue, administered either before the visual array (precue, spatial attention) or shortly after the array (postcue, iconic memory). Pre- and postcues led to similar activity modulations in lateral occipital cortex contralateral to the cued side. This finding indicates that readout from iconic memory can have some neural effects similar to those of spatial attention. We also found common bilateral activation of a fronto-parietal network for postcue and precue trials. These neuroimaging data suggest that some common neural mechanisms underlie selective spatial attention and readout from iconic memory. Some differences were also found; compared with precues, postcues led to higher activity in the right middle frontal gyrus. PMID:17894608

Selective attention to a talker's mouth in infancy: role of audiovisual temporal synchrony and linguistic experience.

PubMed

Hillairet de Boisferon, Anne; Tift, Amy H; Minar, Nicholas J; Lewkowicz, David J

2017-05-01

Previous studies have found that infants shift their attention from the eyes to the mouth of a talker when they enter the canonical babbling phase after 6 months of age. Here, we investigated whether this increased attentional focus on the mouth is mediated by audio-visual synchrony and linguistic experience. To do so, we tracked eye gaze in 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-month-old infants while they were exposed either to desynchronized native or desynchronized non-native audiovisual fluent speech. Results indicated that, regardless of language, desynchronization disrupted the usual pattern of relative attention to the eyes and mouth found in response to synchronized speech at 10 months but not at any other age. These findings show that audio-visual synchrony mediates selective attention to a talker's mouth just prior to the emergence of initial language expertise and that it declines in importance once infants become native-language experts. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The fate of task-irrelevant visual motion: perceptual load versus feature-based attention.

PubMed

Taya, Shuichiro; Adams, Wendy J; Graf, Erich W; Lavie, Nilli

2009-11-18

We tested contrasting predictions derived from perceptual load theory and from recent feature-based selection accounts. Observers viewed moving, colored stimuli and performed low or high load tasks associated with one stimulus feature, either color or motion. The resultant motion aftereffect (MAE) was used to evaluate attentional allocation. We found that task-irrelevant visual features received less attention than co-localized task-relevant features of the same objects. Moreover, when color and motion features were co-localized yet perceived to belong to two distinct surfaces, feature-based selection was further increased at the expense of object-based co-selection. Load theory predicts that the MAE for task-irrelevant motion would be reduced with a higher load color task. However, this was not seen for co-localized features; perceptual load only modulated the MAE for task-irrelevant motion when this was spatially separated from the attended color location. Our results suggest that perceptual load effects are mediated by spatial selection and do not generalize to the feature domain. Feature-based selection operates to suppress processing of task-irrelevant, co-localized features, irrespective of perceptual load.

Neural Responses to Complex Auditory Rhythms: The Role of Attending

PubMed Central

Chapin, Heather L.; Zanto, Theodore; Jantzen, Kelly J.; Kelso, Scott J. A.; Steinberg, Fred; Large, Edward W.

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the role of attention in pulse and meter perception using complex rhythms. We used a selective attention paradigm in which participants attended to either a complex auditory rhythm or a visually presented word list. Performance on a reproduction task was used to gauge whether participants were attending to the appropriate stimulus. We hypothesized that attention to complex rhythms – which contain no energy at the pulse frequency – would lead to activations in motor areas involved in pulse perception. Moreover, because multiple repetitions of a complex rhythm are needed to perceive a pulse, activations in pulse-related areas would be seen only after sufficient time had elapsed for pulse perception to develop. Selective attention was also expected to modulate activity in sensory areas specific to the modality. We found that selective attention to rhythms led to increased BOLD responses in basal ganglia, and basal ganglia activity was observed only after the rhythms had cycled enough times for a stable pulse percept to develop. These observations suggest that attention is needed to recruit motor activations associated with the perception of pulse in complex rhythms. Moreover, attention to the auditory stimulus enhanced activity in an attentional sensory network including primary auditory cortex, insula, anterior cingulate, and prefrontal cortex, and suppressed activity in sensory areas associated with attending to the visual stimulus. PMID:21833279

Visual attention mitigates information loss in small- and large-scale neural codes

PubMed Central

Sprague, Thomas C; Saproo, Sameer; Serences, John T

2015-01-01

Summary The visual system transforms complex inputs into robust and parsimonious neural codes that efficiently guide behavior. Because neural communication is stochastic, the amount of encoded visual information necessarily decreases with each synapse. This constraint requires processing sensory signals in a manner that protects information about relevant stimuli from degradation. Such selective processing – or selective attention – is implemented via several mechanisms, including neural gain and changes in tuning properties. However, examining each of these effects in isolation obscures their joint impact on the fidelity of stimulus feature representations by large-scale population codes. Instead, large-scale activity patterns can be used to reconstruct representations of relevant and irrelevant stimuli, providing a holistic understanding about how neuron-level modulations collectively impact stimulus encoding. PMID:25769502

Neural bases of selective attention in action video game players.

PubMed

Bavelier, D; Achtman, R L; Mani, M; Föcker, J

2012-05-15

Over the past few years, the very act of playing action video games has been shown to enhance several different aspects of visual selective attention, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that mediate such attentional benefits. A review of the aspects of attention enhanced in action game players suggests there are changes in the mechanisms that control attention allocation and its efficiency (Hubert-Wallander, Green, & Bavelier, 2010). The present study used brain imaging to test this hypothesis by comparing attentional network recruitment and distractor processing in action gamers versus non-gamers as attentional demands increased. Moving distractors were found to elicit lesser activation of the visual motion-sensitive area (MT/MST) in gamers as compared to non-gamers, suggestive of a better early filtering of irrelevant information in gamers. As expected, a fronto-parietal network of areas showed greater recruitment as attentional demands increased in non-gamers. In contrast, gamers barely engaged this network as attentional demands increased. This reduced activity in the fronto-parietal network that is hypothesized to control the flexible allocation of top-down attention is compatible with the proposal that action game players may allocate attentional resources more automatically, possibly allowing more efficient early filtering of irrelevant information. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Augmenting distractor filtering via transcranial magnetic stimulation of the lateral occipital cortex.

PubMed

Eštočinová, Jana; Lo Gerfo, Emanuele; Della Libera, Chiara; Chelazzi, Leonardo; Santandrea, Elisa

2016-11-01

Visual selective attention (VSA) optimizes perception and behavioral control by enabling efficient selection of relevant information and filtering of distractors. While focusing resources on task-relevant information helps counteract distraction, dedicated filtering mechanisms have recently been demonstrated, allowing neural systems to implement suitable policies for the suppression of potential interference. Limited evidence is presently available concerning the neural underpinnings of these mechanisms, and whether neural circuitry within the visual cortex might play a causal role in their instantiation, a possibility that we directly tested here. In two related experiments, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied over the lateral occipital cortex of healthy humans at different times during the execution of a behavioral task which entailed varying levels of distractor interference and need for attentional engagement. While earlier TMS boosted target selection, stimulation within a restricted time epoch close to (and in the course of) stimulus presentation engendered selective enhancement of distractor suppression, by affecting the ongoing, reactive instantiation of attentional filtering mechanisms required by specific task conditions. The results attest to a causal role of mid-tier ventral visual areas in distractor filtering and offer insights into the mechanisms through which TMS may have affected ongoing neural activity in the stimulated tissue. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptual load corresponds with factors known to influence visual search

PubMed Central

Roper, Zachary J. J.; Cosman, Joshua D.; Vecera, Shaun P.

2014-01-01

One account of the early versus late selection debate in attention proposes that perceptual load determines the locus of selection. Attention selects stimuli at a late processing level under low-load conditions but selects stimuli at an early level under high-load conditions. Despite the successes of perceptual load theory, a non-circular definition of perceptual load remains elusive. We investigated the factors that influence perceptual load by using manipulations that have been studied extensively in visual search, namely target-distractor similarity and distractor-distractor similarity. Consistent with previous work, search was most efficient when targets and distractors were dissimilar and the displays contained homogeneous distractors; search became less efficient when target-distractor similarity increased irrespective of display heterogeneity. Importantly, we used these same stimuli in a typical perceptual load task that measured attentional spill-over to a task-irrelevant flanker. We found a strong correspondence between search efficiency and perceptual load; stimuli that generated efficient searches produced flanker interference effects, suggesting that such displays involved low perceptual load. Flanker interference effects were reduced in displays that produced less efficient searches. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that search difficulty, as measured by search intercept, has little bearing on perceptual load. These results suggest that perceptual load might be defined in part by well-characterized, continuous factors that influence visual search. PMID:23398258

Working memory load and distraction: dissociable effects of visual maintenance and cognitive control.

PubMed

Konstantinou, Nikos; Beal, Eleanor; King, Jean-Remi; Lavie, Nilli

2014-10-01

We establish a new dissociation between the roles of working memory (WM) cognitive control and visual maintenance in selective attention as measured by the efficiency of distractor rejection. The extent to which focused selective attention can prevent distraction has been shown to critically depend on the level and type of load involved in the task. High perceptual load that consumes perceptual capacity leads to reduced distractor processing, whereas high WM load that reduces WM ability to exert priority-based executive cognitive control over the task results in increased distractor processing (e.g., Lavie, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(2), 75-82, 2005). WM also serves to maintain task-relevant visual representations, and such visual maintenance is known to recruit the same sensory cortices as those involved in perception (e.g., Pasternak & Greenlee, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(2), 97-107, 2005). These findings led us to hypothesize that loading WM with visual maintenance would reduce visual capacity involved in perception, thus resulting in reduced distractor processing-similar to perceptual load and opposite to WM cognitive control load. Distractor processing was assessed in a response competition task, presented during the memory interval (or during encoding; Experiment 1a) of a WM task. Loading visual maintenance or encoding by increased set size for a memory sample of shapes, colors, and locations led to reduced distractor response competition effects. In contrast, loading WM cognitive control with verbal rehearsal of a random letter set led to increased distractor effects. These findings confirm load theory predictions and provide a novel functional distinction between the roles of WM maintenance and cognitive control in selective attention.

Selective impairment of auditory selective attention under concurrent cognitive load.

PubMed

Dittrich, Kerstin; Stahl, Christoph

2012-06-01

Load theory predicts that concurrent cognitive load impairs selective attention. For visual stimuli, it has been shown that this impairment can be selective: Distraction was specifically increased when the stimulus material used in the cognitive load task matches that of the selective attention task. Here, we report four experiments that demonstrate such selective load effects for auditory selective attention. The effect of two different cognitive load tasks on two different auditory Stroop tasks was examined, and selective load effects were observed: Interference in a nonverbal-auditory Stroop task was increased under concurrent nonverbal-auditory cognitive load (compared with a no-load condition), but not under concurrent verbal-auditory cognitive load. By contrast, interference in a verbal-auditory Stroop task was increased under concurrent verbal-auditory cognitive load but not under nonverbal-auditory cognitive load. This double-dissociation pattern suggests the existence of different and separable verbal and nonverbal processing resources in the auditory domain.

Chronic cannabis use and ERP correlates of visual selective attention during the performance of a flanker go/nogo task.

PubMed

Nicholls, Clare; Bruno, Raimondo; Matthews, Allison

2015-09-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between chronic cannabis use and visual selective attention by examining event-related potentials (ERPs) during the performance of a flanker go/nogo task. Male participants were 15 chronic cannabis users (minimum two years use, at least once per week) and 15 drug naive controls. Cannabis users showed longer reaction times compared to controls with equivalent accuracy. Cannabis users also showed a reduction in the N2 'nogo effect' at frontal sites, particularly for incongruent stimuli, and particularly in the right hemisphere. This suggests differences between chronic cannabis users and controls in terms of inhibitory processing within the executive control network, and may implicate the right inferior frontal cortex. There was also preliminary evidence for differences in early selective attention, with controls but not cannabis users showing modulation of N1 amplitude by flanker congruency. Further investigation is required to examine the potential reversibility of these residual effects after long-term abstinence and to examine the role of early selective attention mechanisms in more detail. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Objects Classification by Learning-Based Visual Saliency Model and Convolutional Neural Network.

PubMed

Li, Na; Zhao, Xinbo; Yang, Yongjia; Zou, Xiaochun

2016-01-01

Humans can easily classify different kinds of objects whereas it is quite difficult for computers. As a hot and difficult problem, objects classification has been receiving extensive interests with broad prospects. Inspired by neuroscience, deep learning concept is proposed. Convolutional neural network (CNN) as one of the methods of deep learning can be used to solve classification problem. But most of deep learning methods, including CNN, all ignore the human visual information processing mechanism when a person is classifying objects. Therefore, in this paper, inspiring the completed processing that humans classify different kinds of objects, we bring forth a new classification method which combines visual attention model and CNN. Firstly, we use the visual attention model to simulate the processing of human visual selection mechanism. Secondly, we use CNN to simulate the processing of how humans select features and extract the local features of those selected areas. Finally, not only does our classification method depend on those local features, but also it adds the human semantic features to classify objects. Our classification method has apparently advantages in biology. Experimental results demonstrated that our method made the efficiency of classification improve significantly.

Top-down modulation of visual and auditory cortical processing in aging.

PubMed

Guerreiro, Maria J S; Eck, Judith; Moerel, Michelle; Evers, Elisabeth A T; Van Gerven, Pascal W M

2015-02-01

Age-related cognitive decline has been accounted for by an age-related deficit in top-down attentional modulation of sensory cortical processing. In light of recent behavioral findings showing that age-related differences in selective attention are modality dependent, our goal was to investigate the role of sensory modality in age-related differences in top-down modulation of sensory cortical processing. This question was addressed by testing younger and older individuals in several memory tasks while undergoing fMRI. Throughout these tasks, perceptual features were kept constant while attentional instructions were varied, allowing us to devise all combinations of relevant and irrelevant, visual and auditory information. We found no top-down modulation of auditory sensory cortical processing in either age group. In contrast, we found top-down modulation of visual cortical processing in both age groups, and this effect did not differ between age groups. That is, older adults enhanced cortical processing of relevant visual information and suppressed cortical processing of visual distractors during auditory attention to the same extent as younger adults. The present results indicate that older adults are capable of suppressing irrelevant visual information in the context of cross-modal auditory attention, and thereby challenge the view that age-related attentional and cognitive decline is due to a general deficits in the ability to suppress irrelevant information. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reward-associated stimuli capture the eyes in spite of strategic attentional set.

PubMed

Hickey, Clayton; van Zoest, Wieske

2013-11-01

Theories of reinforcement learning have proposed that the association of reward to visual stimuli may cause these objects to become fundamentally salient and thus attention-drawing. A number of recent studies have investigated the oculomotor correlates of this reward-priming effect, but there is some ambiguity in this literature regarding the involvement of top-down attentional set. Existing paradigms tend to create a situation where participants are actively looking for a reward-associated stimulus before subsequently showing that this selective bias sustains when it no longer has strategic purpose. This perseveration of attentional set is potentially different in nature than the direct impact of reward proposed by theory. Here we investigate the effect of reward on saccadic selection in a paradigm where strategic attentional set is decoupled from the effect of reward. We find that during search for a uniquely oriented target, the receipt of reward following selection of a target characterized by an irrelevant unique color causes subsequent stimuli characterized by this color to be preferentially selected. Importantly, this occurs regardless of whether the color characterizes the target or distractor. Other analyses demonstrate that only features associated with correct selection of the target prime the target representation, and that the magnitude of this effect can be predicted by variability in saccadic indices of feedback processing. These results add to a growing literature demonstrating that reward guides visual selection, often in spite of our strategic efforts otherwise. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of spatial organization of targets and distractors on the capacity to selectively memorize objects in visual short-term memory

PubMed Central

Abbes, Aymen Ben; Gavault, Emmanuelle; Ripoll, Thierry

2014-01-01

We conducted a series of experiments to explore how the spatial configuration of objects influences the selection and the processing of these objects in a visual short-term memory task. We designed a new experiment in which participants had to memorize 4 targets presented among 4 distractors. Targets were cued during the presentation of distractor objects. Their locations varied according to 4 spatial configurations. From the first to the last configuration, the distance between targets’ locations was progressively increased. The results revealed a high capacity to select and memorize targets embedded among distractors even when targets were extremely distant from each other. This capacity is discussed in relation to the unitary conception of attention, models of split attention, and the competitive interaction model. Finally, we propose that the spatial dispersion of objects has different effects on attentional allocation and processing stages. Thus, when targets are extremely distant from each other, attentional allocation becomes more difficult while processing becomes easier. This finding implicates that these 2 aspects of attention need to be more clearly distinguished in future research. PMID:25339978

Resolution of spatial and temporal visual attention in infants with fragile X syndrome.

PubMed

Farzin, Faraz; Rivera, Susan M; Whitney, David

2011-11-01

Fragile X syndrome is the most common cause of inherited intellectual impairment and the most common single-gene cause of autism. Individuals with fragile X syndrome present with a neurobehavioural phenotype that includes selective deficits in spatiotemporal visual perception associated with neural processing in frontal-parietal networks of the brain. The goal of the current study was to examine whether reduced resolution of spatial and/or temporal visual attention may underlie perceptual deficits related to fragile X syndrome. Eye tracking was used to psychophysically measure the limits of spatial and temporal attention in infants with fragile X syndrome and age-matched neurotypically developing infants. Results from these experiments revealed that infants with fragile X syndrome experience drastically reduced resolution of temporal attention in a genetic dose-sensitive manner, but have a spatial resolution of attention that is not impaired. Coarse temporal attention could have significant knock-on effects for the development of perceptual, cognitive and motor abilities in individuals with the disorder.

Resolution of spatial and temporal visual attention in infants with fragile X syndrome

PubMed Central

Rivera, Susan M.; Whitney, David

2011-01-01

Fragile X syndrome is the most common cause of inherited intellectual impairment and the most common single-gene cause of autism. Individuals with fragile X syndrome present with a neurobehavioural phenotype that includes selective deficits in spatiotemporal visual perception associated with neural processing in frontal–parietal networks of the brain. The goal of the current study was to examine whether reduced resolution of spatial and/or temporal visual attention may underlie perceptual deficits related to fragile X syndrome. Eye tracking was used to psychophysically measure the limits of spatial and temporal attention in infants with fragile X syndrome and age-matched neurotypically developing infants. Results from these experiments revealed that infants with fragile X syndrome experience drastically reduced resolution of temporal attention in a genetic dose-sensitive manner, but have a spatial resolution of attention that is not impaired. Coarse temporal attention could have significant knock-on effects for the development of perceptual, cognitive and motor abilities in individuals with the disorder. PMID:22075522

Visual training paired with electrical stimulation of the basal forebrain improves orientation-selective visual acuity in the rat.

PubMed

Kang, Jun Il; Groleau, Marianne; Dotigny, Florence; Giguère, Hugo; Vaucher, Elvire

2014-07-01

The cholinergic afferents from the basal forebrain to the primary visual cortex play a key role in visual attention and cortical plasticity. These afferent fibers modulate acute and long-term responses of visual neurons to specific stimuli. The present study evaluates whether this cholinergic modulation of visual neurons results in cortical activity and visual perception changes. Awake adult rats were exposed repeatedly for 2 weeks to an orientation-specific grating with or without coupling this visual stimulation to an electrical stimulation of the basal forebrain. The visual acuity, as measured using a visual water maze before and after the exposure to the orientation-specific grating, was increased in the group of trained rats with simultaneous basal forebrain/visual stimulation. The increase in visual acuity was not observed when visual training or basal forebrain stimulation was performed separately or when cholinergic fibers were selectively lesioned prior to the visual stimulation. The visual evoked potentials show a long-lasting increase in cortical reactivity of the primary visual cortex after coupled visual/cholinergic stimulation, as well as c-Fos immunoreactivity of both pyramidal and GABAergic interneuron. These findings demonstrate that when coupled with visual training, the cholinergic system improves visual performance for the trained orientation probably through enhancement of attentional processes and cortical plasticity in V1 related to the ratio of excitatory/inhibitory inputs. This study opens the possibility of establishing efficient rehabilitation strategies for facilitating visual capacity.

From attentional gating in macaque primary visual cortex to dyslexia in humans.

PubMed

Vidyasagar, T R

2001-01-01

Selective attention is an important aspect of brain function that we need in coping with the immense and constant barrage of sensory information. One model of attention (Feature Integration Theory) that suggests an early selection of spatial locations of objects via an attentional spotlight would also solve the 'binding problem' (that is how do different attributes of each object get correctly bound together?). Our experiments have demonstrated modulation of specific locations of interest at the level of the primary visual cortex both in visual discrimination and memory tasks, where the actual locations of the targets was also important in being able to perform the task. It is suggested that the feedback mediating the modulation arises from the posterior parietal cortex, which would also be consistent with its known role in attentional control. In primates, the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) pathways are the two major streams of inputs from the retina, carrying distinctly different types of information and they remain fairly segregated in their projections to the primary visual cortex and further into the extra-striate regions. The P inputs go mainly into the ventral (temporal) stream, while the dorsal (parietal) stream is dominated by M inputs. A theory of attentional gating is proposed here where the M dominated dorsal stream gates the P inputs into the ventral stream. This framework is used to provide a neural explanation of the processes involved in reading and in learning to read. This scheme also explains how a magnocellular deficit could cause the common reading impairment, dyslexia.

Cognitive control over working memory biases of selection.

PubMed

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias; Soto, David

2012-08-01

Across many studies, researchers have found that representations in working memory (WM) can guide visual attention toward items that match the features of the WM contents. While some researchers have contended that this occurs involuntarily, others have suggested that the impact of WM contents on attention can be strategically controlled. Here, we varied the probability that WM items would coincide with either targets or distractors in a visual search task to examine (1) whether participants could intentionally enhance or inhibit the influence of WM items on attention and (2) whether cognitive control over WM biases would also affect access to the memory contents in a surprise recognition test. We found visual search to be faster when the WM item coincided with the search target, and this effect was enhanced when the memory item reliably predicted the location of the target. Conversely, visual search was slowed when the memory item coincided with a search distractor, and this effect was diminished, but not abolished, when the memory item was reliably associated with distractors. This strategic dampening of the influence of WM items on attention came at a price to memory, however, as participants were slowest to perform WM recognition tests on blocks in which the WM contents were consistently invalid. These results document that attentional capture by WM contents is partly, but not fully, malleable by top-down control, which appears to adjust the state of the WM contents to optimize search behavior. These data illustrate the role of cognitive control in modulating the strength of WM biases of selection, and they support a tight coupling between WM and attention.

Visual Search by Children with and without ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mullane, Jennifer C.; Klein, Raymond M.

2008-01-01

Objective: To summarize the literature that has employed visual search tasks to assess automatic and effortful selective visual attention in children with and without ADHD. Method: Seven studies with a combined sample of 180 children with ADHD (M age = 10.9) and 193 normally developing children (M age = 10.8) are located. Results: Using a…

People with stroke living in the community: Attention deficits, balance, ADL ability and falls.

PubMed

Hyndman, D; Ashburn, A

2003-08-05

To describe levels of attention deficits among people with stroke living in the community and explore relationships between attention, balance, function and falls. Forty-eight mobile community-dwelling people with stroke (30 men, 18 women, mean age 68.4 +/- 11.2) were recruited to this cross-sectional investigation through General Practitioners. Twenty-six participants had a right, 21 a left hemisphere infarction and one had a brain stem lesion; mean time since stroke was 46 months (range five to 204). Participants' were interviewed about fall-events; attention, balance and function were assessed using standardised tests. Visual inattention was identified in five participants (10%), deficits of sustained attention in 15 (31%), auditory selective attention in nine (19%), visual selective attention in 17 (35%) and divided attention deficits in 21 participants (43%). Sustained and divided attention scores correlated with balance, ADL ability and fall-status (p < 0.01). The balance and function of subjects with normal attention were better than those with abnormal scores (p < 0.01). Analysis of variance revealed differences between repeat-fallers and non-fallers with no near-falls for divided attention, balance and ADL ability (p < 0.01). Attention deficits were common among this sample; sustained and divided attention deficits correlated with functional impairments and falls, highlighting that attention deficits might contribute to accident prone behaviour and falling.

Attending to Multiple Visual Streams: Interactions between Location-Based and Category-Based Attentional Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagioli, Sabrina; Macaluso, Emiliano

2009-01-01

Behavioral studies indicate that subjects are able to divide attention between multiple streams of information at different locations. However, it is still unclear to what extent the observed costs reflect processes specifically associated with spatial attention, versus more general interference due the concurrent monitoring of multiple streams of…

Treatment Effects of Methylphenidate on Cognitive Functioning in Children with Mental Retardation and ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearson, Deborah A.; Santos, Cynthia W.; Casat, Charles D.; Lane, David M.; Jerger, Susan W.; Roache, John D.; Loveland, Katherine A.; Lachar, David; Faria, Laura P.; Payne, Christa D.; Cleveland, Lynne A.

2004-01-01

Objective: Cognitive effects of stimulant medication were investigated in children with mental retardation (MR) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: Performance on tasks tapping sustained attention, visual and auditory selective attention, inhibition, and immediate memory was assessed for 24 children (mean age 10.9 years)…

Inhibition of Return and Object-Based Attentional Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

List, Alexandra; Robertson, Lynn C.

2007-01-01

Visual attention research has revealed that attentional allocation can occur in space- and/or object-based coordinates. Using the direct and elegant design of R. Egly, J. Driver, and R. Rafal (1994), the present experiments tested whether space- and object-based inhibition of return (IOR) emerge under similar time courses. The experiments were…

Oculomotor guidance and capture by irrelevant faces.

PubMed

Devue, Christel; Belopolsky, Artem V; Theeuwes, Jan

2012-01-01

Even though it is generally agreed that face stimuli constitute a special class of stimuli, which are treated preferentially by our visual system, it remains unclear whether faces can capture attention in a stimulus-driven manner. Moreover, there is a long-standing debate regarding the mechanism underlying the preferential bias of selecting faces. Some claim that faces constitute a set of special low-level features to which our visual system is tuned; others claim that the visual system is capable of extracting the meaning of faces very rapidly, driving attentional selection. Those debates continue because many studies contain methodological peculiarities and manipulations that prevent a definitive conclusion. Here, we present a new visual search task in which observers had to make a saccade to a uniquely colored circle while completely irrelevant objects were also present in the visual field. The results indicate that faces capture and guide the eyes more than other animated objects and that our visual system is not only tuned to the low-level features that make up a face but also to its meaning.

Do the Contents of Visual Working Memory Automatically Influence Attentional Selection During Visual Search?

PubMed Central

Woodman, Geoffrey F.; Luck, Steven J.

2007-01-01

In many theories of cognition, researchers propose that working memory and perception operate interactively. For example, in previous studies researchers have suggested that sensory inputs matching the contents of working memory will have an automatic advantage in the competition for processing resources. The authors tested this hypothesis by requiring observers to perform a visual search task while concurrently maintaining object representations in visual working memory. The hypothesis that working memory activation produces a simple but uncontrollable bias signal leads to the prediction that items matching the contents of working memory will automatically capture attention. However, no evidence for automatic attentional capture was obtained; instead, the participants avoided attending to these items. Thus, the contents of working memory can be used in a flexible manner for facilitation or inhibition of processing. PMID:17469973

Do the contents of visual working memory automatically influence attentional selection during visual search?

PubMed

Woodman, Geoffrey F; Luck, Steven J

2007-04-01

In many theories of cognition, researchers propose that working memory and perception operate interactively. For example, in previous studies researchers have suggested that sensory inputs matching the contents of working memory will have an automatic advantage in the competition for processing resources. The authors tested this hypothesis by requiring observers to perform a visual search task while concurrently maintaining object representations in visual working memory. The hypothesis that working memory activation produces a simple but uncontrollable bias signal leads to the prediction that items matching the contents of working memory will automatically capture attention. However, no evidence for automatic attentional capture was obtained; instead, the participants avoided attending to these items. Thus, the contents of working memory can be used in a flexible manner for facilitation or inhibition of processing.

Cognitive processes facilitated by contextual cueing: evidence from event-related brain potentials.

PubMed

Schankin, Andrea; Schubö, Anna

2009-05-01

Finding a target in repeated search displays is faster than finding the same target in novel ones (contextual cueing). It is assumed that the visual context (the arrangement of the distracting objects) is used to guide attention efficiently to the target location. Alternatively, other factors, e.g., facilitation in early visual processing or in response selection, may play a role as well. In a contextual cueing experiment, participant's electrophysiological brain activity was recorded. Participants identified the target faster and more accurately in repeatedly presented displays. In this condition, the N2pc, a component reflecting the allocation of visual-spatial attention, was enhanced, indicating that attention was allocated more efficiently to those targets. However, also response-related processes, reflected by the LRP, were facilitated, indicating that guidance of attention cannot account for the entire contextual cueing benefit.

Selective attention and avoidance on a pictorial cueing task during stress in clinically anxious and depressed participants.

PubMed

Ellenbogen, Mark A; Schwartzman, Alex E

2009-02-01

Although it is well established that attentional biases exist in anxious populations, the specific components of visual orienting towards and away from emotional stimuli are not well delineated. The present study was designed to examine these processes. We used a modified spatial cueing task to assess the speed of engagement and disengagement from supraliminal and masked pictorial cues depicting threat, dysphoria, or neutral content in 36 clinically anxious, 41 depressed and 41 control participants. Participants were randomly assigned to a stress or neutral condition. During stress, anxious participants were slow to disengage from masked left hemifield pictures depicting threat or dysphoria, but were quick to disengage from supraliminal threat pictures. Information processing in anxious participants during stress was characterized by early selective attention of emotional stimuli, occurring prior to full conscious awareness, followed by effortful avoidance of threat. Depressed participants were distinct from the anxious group, displaying selective attention for stimuli depicting dysphoria, but not threat, during the neutral condition. In sum, attentional biases in clinical populations are associated with difficulties in the disengagement component of visual orienting. Further, a vigilant-avoidant pattern of attentional bias may represent a strategic attempt to compensate for the early activation of a fear response.

A relational structure of voluntary visual-attention abilities

PubMed Central

Skogsberg, KatieAnn; Grabowecky, Marcia; Wilt, Joshua; Revelle, William; Iordanescu, Lucica; Suzuki, Satoru

2015-01-01

Many studies have examined attention mechanisms involved in specific behavioral tasks (e.g., search, tracking, distractor inhibition). However, relatively little is known about the relationships among those attention mechanisms. Is there a fundamental attention faculty that makes a person superior or inferior at most types of attention tasks, or do relatively independent processes mediate different attention skills? We focused on individual differences in voluntary visual-attention abilities using a battery of eleven representative tasks. An application of parallel analysis, hierarchical-cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling to the inter-task correlation matrix revealed four functional clusters, representing spatiotemporal attention, global attention, transient attention, and sustained attention, organized along two dimensions, one contrasting spatiotemporal and global attention and the other contrasting transient and sustained attention. Comparison with the neuroscience literature suggests that the spatiotemporal-global dimension corresponds to the dorsal frontoparietal circuit and the transient-sustained dimension corresponds to the ventral frontoparietal circuit, with distinct sub-regions mediating the separate clusters within each dimension. We also obtained highly specific patterns of gender difference, and of deficits for college students with elevated ADHD traits. These group differences suggest that different mechanisms of voluntary visual attention can be selectively strengthened or weakened based on genetic, experiential, and/or pathological factors. PMID:25867505

Attentional load and sensory competition in human vision: modulation of fMRI responses by load at fixation during task-irrelevant stimulation in the peripheral visual field.

PubMed

Schwartz, Sophie; Vuilleumier, Patrik; Hutton, Chloe; Maravita, Angelo; Dolan, Raymond J; Driver, Jon

2005-06-01

Perceptual suppression of distractors may depend on both endogenous and exogenous factors, such as attentional load of the current task and sensory competition among simultaneous stimuli, respectively. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare these two types of attentional effects and examine how they may interact in the human brain. We varied the attentional load of a visual monitoring task performed on a rapid stream at central fixation without altering the central stimuli themselves, while measuring the impact on fMRI responses to task-irrelevant peripheral checkerboards presented either unilaterally or bilaterally. Activations in visual cortex for irrelevant peripheral stimulation decreased with increasing attentional load at fixation. This relative decrease was present even in V1, but became larger for successive visual areas through to V4. Decreases in activation for contralateral peripheral checkerboards due to higher central load were more pronounced within retinotopic cortex corresponding to 'inner' peripheral locations relatively near the central targets than for more eccentric 'outer' locations, demonstrating a predominant suppression of nearby surround rather than strict 'tunnel vision' during higher task load at central fixation. Contralateral activations for peripheral stimulation in one hemifield were reduced by competition with concurrent stimulation in the other hemifield only in inferior parietal cortex, not in retinotopic areas of occipital visual cortex. In addition, central attentional load interacted with competition due to bilateral versus unilateral peripheral stimuli specifically in posterior parietal and fusiform regions. These results reveal that task-dependent attentional load, and interhemifield stimulus-competition, can produce distinct influences on the neural responses to peripheral visual stimuli within the human visual system. These distinct mechanisms in selective visual processing may be integrated within posterior parietal areas, rather than earlier occipital cortex.

The spread of attention across features of a surface

PubMed Central

Ernst, Zachary Raymond; Jazayeri, Mehrdad

2013-01-01

Contrasting theories of visual attention have emphasized selection by spatial location, individual features, and whole objects. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to ask whether and how attention to one feature of an object spreads to other features of the same object. Subjects viewed two spatially superimposed surfaces of random dots that were segregated by distinct color-motion conjunctions. The color and direction of motion of each surface changed smoothly and in a cyclical fashion. Subjects were required to track one feature (e.g., color) of one of the two surfaces and detect brief moments when the attended feature diverged from its smooth trajectory. To tease apart the effect of attention to individual features on the hemodynamic response, we used a frequency-tagging scheme. In this scheme, the stimulus features (color and direction of motion) are modulated periodically at distinct frequencies so that the contribution of each feature to the hemodynamics can be inferred from the harmonic response at the corresponding frequency. We found that attention to one feature (e.g., color) of one surface increased the response modulation not only to the attended feature but also to the other feature (e.g., motion) of the same surface. This attentional modulation was evident in multiple visual areas and was present as early as V1. The spread of attention to the behaviorally irrelevant features of a surface suggests that attention may automatically select all features of a single object. Thus object-based attention may be supported by an enhancement of feature-specific sensory signals in the visual cortex. PMID:23883860

Pre- and postprandial variation in implicit attention to food images reflects appetite and sensory-specific satiety.

PubMed

Davidson, Graeme R; Giesbrecht, Timo; Thomas, Anna M; Kirkham, Tim C

2018-06-01

Implicit attentional processes are biased toward food-related stimuli, with the extent of that bias reflecting relative motivation to eat. These interactions have typically been investigated by comparisons between fasted and sated individuals. In this study, temporal changes in implicit attention to food were assessed in relation to natural, spontaneous changes in appetite occurring before and after an anticipated midday meal. Non-fasted adults performed an emotional blink of attention (EBA) task at intervals, before and after consuming preferred, pre-selected sandwiches to satiety. Participants were required to detect targets within a rapid visual stream, presented after task-irrelevant food (preferred or non-preferred sandwiches, or desserts) or non-food distractor images. All categories of food distractor preferentially captured attention even when appetite levels were low, but became more distracting as appetite increased preprandially, reducing task accuracy maximally as hunger peaked before lunch. Postprandially, attentional capture was markedly reduced for images of the specific sandwich type consumed and, to a lesser extent, for images of other sandwich types that had not been eaten. Attentional capture by images of desserts was unaffected by satiation. These findings support an important role of selective visual attention in the guidance of motivated behaviour. Naturalistic, meal-related changes in appetite are accompanied by changes in implicit attention to visual food stimuli that are easily detected using the EBA paradigm. Preprandial enhancement of attention capture by food cues likely reflects increases in the incentive motivational value of all food stimuli, perhaps providing an implicit index of wanting. Postprandial EBA responses confirm that satiation on a particular food results in relative inattention to that food, supporting an important attentional component in the operation of sensory-specific satiety. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Effect of attention therapy on reading comprehension.

PubMed

Solan, Harold A; Shelley-Tremblay, John; Ficarra, Anthony; Silverman, Michael; Larson, Steven

2003-01-01

This study quantified the influence of visual attention therapy on the reading comprehension of Grade 6 children with moderate reading disabilities (RD) in the absence of specific reading remediation. Thirty students with below-average reading scores were identified using standardized reading comprehension tests. Fifteen children were placed randomly in the experimental group and 15 in the control group. The Attention Battery of the Cognitive Assessment System was administered to all participants. The experimental group received 12 one-hour sessions of individually monitored, computer-based attention therapy programs; the control group received no therapy during their 12-week period. Each group was retested on attention and reading comprehension measures. In order to stimulate selective and sustained visual attention, the vision therapy stressed various aspects of arousal, activation, and vigilance. At the completion of attention therapy, the mean standard attention and reading comprehension scores of the experimental group had improved significantly. The control group, however, showed no significant improvement in reading comprehension scores after 12 weeks. Although uncertainties still exist, this investigation supports the notion that visual attention is malleable and that attention therapy has a significant effect on reading comprehension in this often neglected population.

Both memory and attention systems contribute to visual search for targets cued by implicitly learned context

PubMed Central

Giesbrecht, Barry; Sy, Jocelyn L.; Guerin, Scott A.

2012-01-01

Environmental context learned without awareness can facilitate visual processing of goal-relevant information. According to one view, the benefit of implicitly learned context relies on the neural systems involved in spatial attention and hippocampus-mediated memory. While this view has received empirical support, it contradicts traditional models of hippocampal function. The purpose of the present work was to clarify the influence of spatial context on visual search performance and on brain structures involved memory and attention. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that activity in the hippocampus as well as in visual and parietal cortex was modulated by learned visual context even though participants’ subjective reports and performance on a post-experiment recognition task indicated no explicit knowledge of the learned context. Moreover, the magnitude of the initial selective hippocampus response predicted the magnitude of the behavioral benefit due to context observed at the end of the experiment. The results suggest that implicit contextual learning is mediated by attention and memory and that these systems interact to support search of our environment. PMID:23099047

Positive mood broadens visual attention to positive stimuli.

PubMed

Wadlinger, Heather A; Isaacowitz, Derek M

2006-03-01

In an attempt to investigate the impact of positive emotions on visual attention within the context of Fredrickson's (1998) broaden-and-build model, eye tracking was used in two studies to measure visual attentional preferences of college students (n=58, n=26) to emotional pictures. Half of each sample experienced induced positive mood immediately before viewing slides of three similarly-valenced images, in varying central-peripheral arrays. Attentional breadth was determined by measuring the percentage viewing time to peripheral images as well as by the number of visual saccades participants made per slide. Consistent with Fredrickson's theory, the first study showed that individuals induced into positive mood fixated more on peripheral stimuli than did control participants; however, this only held true for highly-valenced positive stimuli. Participants under induced positive mood also made more frequent saccades for slides of neutral and positive valence. A second study showed that these effects were not simply due to differences in emotional arousal between stimuli. Selective attentional broadening to positive stimuli may act both to facilitate later building of resources as well as to maintain current positive affective states.

Difference in Perseverative Errors during a Visual Attention Task with Auditory Distractors in Alpha-9 Nicotinic Receptor Subunit Wild Type and Knock-Out Mice.

PubMed

Jorratt, Pascal; Delano, Paul H; Delgado, Carolina; Dagnino-Subiabre, Alexies; Terreros, Gonzalo

2017-01-01

The auditory efferent system is a neural network that originates in the auditory cortex and projects to the cochlear receptor through olivocochlear (OC) neurons. Medial OC neurons make cholinergic synapses with outer hair cells (OHCs) through nicotinic receptors constituted by α9 and α10 subunits. One of the physiological functions of the α9 nicotinic receptor subunit (α9-nAChR) is the suppression of auditory distractors during selective attention to visual stimuli. In a recent study we demonstrated that the behavioral performance of alpha-9 nicotinic receptor knock-out (KO) mice is altered during selective attention to visual stimuli with auditory distractors since they made less correct responses and more omissions than wild type (WT) mice. As the inhibition of the behavioral responses to irrelevant stimuli is an important mechanism of the selective attention processes, behavioral errors are relevant measures that can reflect altered inhibitory control. Errors produced during a cued attention task can be classified as premature, target and perseverative errors. Perseverative responses can be considered as an inability to inhibit the repetition of an action already planned, while premature responses can be considered as an index of the ability to wait or retain an action. Here, we studied premature, target and perseverative errors during a visual attention task with auditory distractors in WT and KO mice. We found that α9-KO mice make fewer perseverative errors with longer latencies than WT mice in the presence of auditory distractors. In addition, although we found no significant difference in the number of target error between genotypes, KO mice made more short-latency target errors than WT mice during the presentation of auditory distractors. The fewer perseverative error made by α9-KO mice could be explained by a reduced motivation for reward and an increased impulsivity during decision making with auditory distraction in KO mice.

Attention Bias toward Threat in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Amy Krain; Vasa, Roma A.; Bruck, Maggie; Mogg, Karin; Bradley, Brendan P.; Sweeney, Michael; Bergman, R. Lindsey; McClure-Tone, Erin B.; Pine, Daniel S.

2008-01-01

Attention bias towards threat faces is examined for a large sample of anxiety-disordered youths using visual probe task. The results showed that anxious individuals showed a selective bias towards threat due to perturbation in neural mechanisms that control vigilance.

The scope and control of attention as separate aspects of working memory.

PubMed

Shipstead, Zach; Redick, Thomas S; Hicks, Kenny L; Engle, Randall W

2012-01-01

The present study examines two varieties of working memory (WM) capacity task: visual arrays (i.e., a measure of the amount of information that can be maintained in working memory) and complex span (i.e., a task that taps WM-related attentional control). Using previously collected data sets we employ confirmatory factor analysis to demonstrate that visual arrays and complex span tasks load on separate, but correlated, factors. A subsequent series of structural equation models and regression analyses demonstrate that these factors contribute both common and unique variance to the prediction of general fluid intelligence (Gf). However, while visual arrays does contribute uniquely to higher cognition, its overall correlation to Gf is largely mediated by variance associated with the complex span factor. Thus we argue that visual arrays performance is not strictly driven by a limited-capacity storage system (e.g., the focus of attention; Cowan, 2001), but may also rely on control processes such as selective attention and controlled memory search.

Foveal Processing Under Concurrent Peripheral Load in Profoundly Deaf Adults

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Development of the visual system typically proceeds in concert with the development of audition. One result is that the visual system of profoundly deaf individuals differs from that of those with typical auditory systems. While past research has suggested deaf people have enhanced attention in the visual periphery, it is still unclear whether or not this enhancement entails deficits in central vision. Profoundly deaf and typically hearing adults were administered a variant of the useful field of view task that independently assessed performance on concurrent central and peripheral tasks. Identification of a foveated target was impaired by a concurrent selective peripheral attention task, more so in profoundly deaf adults than in the typically hearing. Previous findings of enhanced performance on the peripheral task were not replicated. These data are discussed in terms of flexible allocation of spatial attention targeted towards perceived task demands, and support a modified “division of labor” hypothesis whereby attentional resources co-opted to process peripheral space result in reduced resources in the central visual field. PMID:26657078

Selective attention in peacocks during predator detection.

PubMed

Yorzinski, Jessica L; Platt, Michael L

2014-05-01

Predation can exert strong selective pressure on the evolution of behavioral and morphological traits in birds. Because predator avoidance is key to survival and birds rely heavily on visual perception, predation may have shaped avian visual systems as well. To address this question, we examined the role of visual attention in antipredator behavior in peacocks (Pavo cristatus). Peacocks were exposed to a model predator while their gaze was continuously recorded with a telemetric eye-tracker. We found that peacocks spent more time looking at and made more fixations on the predator compared to the same spatial location before the predator was revealed. The duration of fixations they directed toward conspecifics and environmental features decreased after the predator was revealed, indicating that the peacocks were rapidly scanning their environment with their eyes. Maximum eye movement amplitudes and amplitudes of consecutive saccades were similar before and after the predator was revealed. In cases where conspecifics detected the predator first, peacocks appeared to learn that danger was present by observing conspecifics' antipredator behavior. Peacocks were faster to detect the predator when they were fixating closer to the area where the predator would eventually appear. In addition, pupil size increased after predator exposure, consistent with increased physiological arousal. These findings demonstrate that peacocks selectively direct their attention toward predatory threats and suggest that predation has influenced the evolution of visual orienting systems.

Executive and Perceptual Distraction in Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The contents of visual working memory are likely to reflect the influence of both executive control resources and information present in the environment. We investigated whether executive attention is critical in the ability to exclude unwanted stimuli by introducing concurrent potentially distracting irrelevant items to a visual working memory paradigm, and manipulating executive load using simple or more demanding secondary verbal tasks. Across 7 experiments varying in presentation format, timing, stimulus set, and distractor number, we observed clear disruptive effects of executive load and visual distraction, but relatively minimal evidence supporting an interactive relationship between these factors. These findings are in line with recent evidence using delay-based interference, and suggest that different forms of attentional selection operate relatively independently in visual working memory. PMID:28414499

Individual differences in working memory capacity predict visual attention allocation.

PubMed

Bleckley, M Kathryn; Durso, Francis T; Crutchfield, Jerry M; Engle, Randall W; Khanna, Maya M

2003-12-01

To the extent that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) reflect differences in attention (Baddeley, 1993; Engle, Kane, & Tuholski, 1999), differences in WMC should predict performance on visual attention tasks. Individuals who scored in the upper and lower quartiles on the OSPAN working memory test performed a modification of Egly and Homa's (1984) selective attention task. In this task, the participants identified a central letter and localized a displaced letter flashed somewhere on one of three concentric rings. When the displaced letter occurred closer to fixation than the cue implied, high-WMC, but not low-WMC, individuals showed a cost in the letter localization task. This suggests that low-WMC participants allocated attention as a spotlight, whereas those with high WMC showed flexible allocation.

Effectiveness of a visual attention retraining program on the driving performance of clients with stroke.

PubMed

Mazer, Barbara L; Sofer, Susan; Korner-Bitensky, Nicol; Gelinas, Isabelle; Hanley, James; Wood-Dauphinee, Sharon

2003-04-01

To compare the effectiveness of a visual attention retraining program using the Useful Field of View (UFOV) with a traditional visuoperception treatment program on the driving performance of clients with stroke. Randomized controlled trial. Rehabilitation hospital located in Quebec, Canada. Ninety-seven individuals referred for driving evaluation after a stroke. Participants were randomized to receive 20 sessions of either UFOV training of visual processing speed, divided attention, and selective attention or traditional computerized visuoperception retraining. Subjects were evaluated with an on-road driving evaluation, visuoperception tests, and the Test of Everyday Attention. An occupational therapist unaware of group assignment conducted all evaluations. Eighty-four participants completed the outcome evaluation. There were no significant differences between groups on any of the outcome measures. There was, however, almost a 2-fold increase (52.4% vs 28.6%) in the rate of success on the on-road driving evaluation after UFOV training for subjects with right-sided lesions. Rehabilitation that targets visual attention skills was not significantly more beneficial than traditional perceptual training in improving the outcome of an on-road driving evaluation. However, results suggest a potential improvement for subjects with right-sided lesions, indicating that training must target specific skills.

New rules for visual selection: Isolating procedural attention.

PubMed

Ramamurthy, Mahalakshmi; Blaser, Erik

2017-02-01

High performance in well-practiced, everyday tasks-driving, sports, gaming-suggests a kind of procedural attention that can allocate processing resources to behaviorally relevant information in an unsupervised manner. Here we show that training can lead to a new, automatic attentional selection rule that operates in the absence of bottom-up, salience-driven triggers and willful top-down selection. Taking advantage of the fact that attention modulates motion aftereffects, observers were presented with a bivectorial display with overlapping, iso-salient red and green dot fields moving to the right and left, respectively, while distracted by a demanding auditory two-back memory task. Before training, since the motion vectors canceled each other out, no net motion aftereffect (MAE) was found. However, after 3 days (0.5 hr/day) of training, during which observers practiced selectively attending to the red, rightward field, a significant net MAE was observed-even when top-down selection was again distracted. Further experiments showed that these results were not due to perceptual learning, and that the new rule targeted the motion, and not the color of the target dot field, and global, not local, motion signals; thus, the new rule was: "select the rightward field." This study builds on recent work on selection history-driven and reward-driven biases, but uses a novel paradigm where the allocation of visual processing resources are measured passively, offline, and when the observer's ability to execute top-down selection is defeated.

Combined contributions of feedforward and feedback inputs to bottom-up attention

PubMed Central

Khorsand, Peyman; Moore, Tirin; Soltani, Alireza

2015-01-01

In order to deal with a large amount of information carried by visual inputs entering the brain at any given point in time, the brain swiftly uses the same inputs to enhance processing in one part of visual field at the expense of the others. These processes, collectively called bottom-up attentional selection, are assumed to solely rely on feedforward processing of the external inputs, as it is implied by the nomenclature. Nevertheless, evidence from recent experimental and modeling studies points to the role of feedback in bottom-up attention. Here, we review behavioral and neural evidence that feedback inputs are important for the formation of signals that could guide attentional selection based on exogenous inputs. Moreover, we review results from a modeling study elucidating mechanisms underlying the emergence of these signals in successive layers of neural populations and how they depend on feedback from higher visual areas. We use these results to interpret and discuss more recent findings that can further unravel feedforward and feedback neural mechanisms underlying bottom-up attention. We argue that while it is descriptively useful to separate feedforward and feedback processes underlying bottom-up attention, these processes cannot be mechanistically separated into two successive stages as they occur at almost the same time and affect neural activity within the same brain areas using similar neural mechanisms. Therefore, understanding the interaction and integration of feedforward and feedback inputs is crucial for better understanding of bottom-up attention. PMID:25784883

Adaptive attunement of selective covert attention to evolutionary-relevant emotional visual scenes.

PubMed

Fernández-Martín, Andrés; Gutiérrez-García, Aída; Capafons, Juan; Calvo, Manuel G

2017-05-01

We investigated selective attention to emotional scenes in peripheral vision, as a function of adaptive relevance of scene affective content for male and female observers. Pairs of emotional-neutral images appeared peripherally-with perceptual stimulus differences controlled-while viewers were fixating on a different stimulus in central vision. Early selective orienting was assessed by the probability of directing the first fixation towards either scene, and the time until first fixation. Emotional scenes selectively captured covert attention even when they were task-irrelevant, thus revealing involuntary, automatic processing. Sex of observers and specific emotional scene content (e.g., male-to-female-aggression, families and babies, etc.) interactively modulated covert attention, depending on adaptive priorities and goals for each sex, both for pleasant and unpleasant content. The attentional system exhibits domain-specific and sex-specific biases and attunements, probably rooted in evolutionary pressures to enhance reproductive and protective success. Emotional cues selectively capture covert attention based on their bio-social significance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The relationship between visual attention and visual working memory encoding: A dissociation between covert and overt orienting.

PubMed

Tas, A Caglar; Luck, Steven J; Hollingworth, Andrew

2016-08-01

There is substantial debate over whether visual working memory (VWM) and visual attention constitute a single system for the selection of task-relevant perceptual information or whether they are distinct systems that can be dissociated when their representational demands diverge. In the present study, we focused on the relationship between visual attention and the encoding of objects into VWM. Participants performed a color change-detection task. During the retention interval, a secondary object, irrelevant to the memory task, was presented. Participants were instructed either to execute an overt shift of gaze to this object (Experiments 1-3) or to attend it covertly (Experiments 4 and 5). Our goal was to determine whether these overt and covert shifts of attention disrupted the information held in VWM. We hypothesized that saccades, which typically introduce a memorial demand to bridge perceptual disruption, would lead to automatic encoding of the secondary object. However, purely covert shifts of attention, which introduce no such demand, would not result in automatic memory encoding. The results supported these predictions. Saccades to the secondary object produced substantial interference with VWM performance, but covert shifts of attention to this object produced no interference with VWM performance. These results challenge prevailing theories that consider attention and VWM to reflect a common mechanism. In addition, they indicate that the relationship between attention and VWM is dependent on the memorial demands of the orienting behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Role of Oculoproprioception in Coding the Locus of Attention.

PubMed

Odoj, Bartholomaeus; Balslev, Daniela

2016-03-01

The most common neural representations for spatial attention encode locations retinotopically, relative to center of gaze. To keep track of visual objects across saccades or to orient toward sounds, retinotopic representations must be combined with information about the rotation of one's own eyes in the orbits. Although gaze input is critical for a correct allocation of attention, the source of this input has so far remained unidentified. Two main signals are available: corollary discharge (copy of oculomotor command) and oculoproprioception (feedback from extraocular muscles). Here we asked whether the oculoproprioceptive signal relayed from the somatosensory cortex contributes to coding the locus of attention. We used continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over a human oculoproprioceptive area in the postcentral gyrus (S1EYE). S1EYE-cTBS reduces proprioceptive processing, causing ∼1° underestimation of gaze angle. Participants discriminated visual targets whose location was cued in a nonvisual modality. Throughout the visual space, S1EYE-cTBS shifted the locus of attention away from the cue by ∼1°, in the same direction and by the same magnitude as the oculoproprioceptive bias. This systematic shift cannot be attributed to visual mislocalization. Accuracy of open-loop pointing to the same visual targets, a function thought to rely mainly on the corollary discharge, was unchanged. We argue that oculoproprioception is selective for attention maps. By identifying a potential substrate for the coupling between eye and attention, this study contributes to the theoretical models for spatial attention.

ERP markers of target selection discriminate children with high vs. low working memory capacity.

PubMed

Shimi, Andria; Nobre, Anna Christina; Scerif, Gaia

2015-01-01

Selective attention enables enhancing a subset out of multiple competing items to maximize the capacity of our limited visual working memory (VWM) system. Multiple behavioral and electrophysiological studies have revealed the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting adults' selective attention of visual percepts for encoding in VWM. However, research on children is more limited. What are the neural mechanisms involved in children's selection of incoming percepts in service of VWM? Do these differ from the ones subserving adults' selection? Ten-year-olds and adults used a spatial arrow cue to select a colored item for later recognition from an array of four colored items. The temporal dynamics of selection were investigated through EEG signals locked to the onset of the memory array. Both children and adults elicited significantly more negative activity over posterior scalp locations contralateral to the item to-be-selected for encoding (N2pc). However, this activity was elicited later and for longer in children compared to adults. Furthermore, although children as a group did not elicit a significant N2pc during the time-window in which N2pc was elicited in adults, the magnitude of N2pc during the "adult time-window" related to their behavioral performance during the later recognition phase of the task. This in turn highlights how children's neural activity subserving attention during encoding relates to better subsequent VWM performance. Significant differences were observed when children were divided into groups of high vs. low VWM capacity as a function of cueing benefit. Children with large cue benefits in VWM capacity elicited an adult-like contralateral negativity following attentional selection of the to-be-encoded item, whereas children with low VWM capacity did not. These results corroborate the close coupling between selective attention and VWM from childhood and elucidate further the attentional mechanisms constraining VWM performance in children.

Multisensory brand search: How the meaning of sounds guides consumers' visual attention.

PubMed

Knoeferle, Klemens M; Knoeferle, Pia; Velasco, Carlos; Spence, Charles

2016-06-01

Building on models of crossmodal attention, the present research proposes that brand search is inherently multisensory, in that the consumers' visual search for a specific brand can be facilitated by semantically related stimuli that are presented in another sensory modality. A series of 5 experiments demonstrates that the presentation of spatially nonpredictive auditory stimuli associated with products (e.g., usage sounds or product-related jingles) can crossmodally facilitate consumers' visual search for, and selection of, products. Eye-tracking data (Experiment 2) revealed that the crossmodal effect of auditory cues on visual search manifested itself not only in RTs, but also in the earliest stages of visual attentional processing, thus suggesting that the semantic information embedded within sounds can modulate the perceptual saliency of the target products' visual representations. Crossmodal facilitation was even observed for newly learnt associations between unfamiliar brands and sonic logos, implicating multisensory short-term learning in establishing audiovisual semantic associations. The facilitation effect was stronger when searching complex rather than simple visual displays, thus suggesting a modulatory role of perceptual load. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Attentive Motion Discrimination Recruits an Area in Inferotemporal Cortex

PubMed Central

Stemmann, Heiko

2016-01-01

Attentional selection requires the interplay of multiple brain areas. Theoretical accounts of selective attention predict different areas with different functional properties to support endogenous covert attention. To test these predictions, we devised a demanding attention task requiring motion discrimination and spatial selection and performed whole-brain imaging in macaque monkeys. Attention modulated the early visual cortex, motion-selective dorsal stream areas, the lateral intraparietal area, and the frontal eye fields. This pattern of activation supports early selection, feature-based, and biased-competition attention accounts, as well as the frontoparietal theory of attentional control. While high-level motion-selective dorsal stream areas did not exhibit strong attentional modulation, ventral stream areas V4d and the dorsal posterior inferotemporal cortex (PITd) did. The PITd in fact was, consistently across task variations, the most significantly and most strongly attention-modulated area, even though it did not exhibit signs of motion selectivity. Thus the recruitment of the PITd in attention tasks involving different kinds of motion analysis is not predicted by any theoretical account of attention. These functional data, together with known anatomical connections, suggest a general and possibly critical role of the PITd in attentional selection. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention is the key cognitive function that selects sensory information relevant to the current goals, relegating other information to the shadows of consciousness. To better understand the neural mechanisms of this interplay between sensory processing and internal cognitive state, we must learn more about the brain areas supporting attentional selection. Here, to test theoretical accounts of attentional selection, we used a novel task requiring sustained attention to motion. We found that, surprisingly, among the most strongly attention-modulated areas is one that is neither selective for the sensory feature relevant for current goals nor one hitherto thought to be involved in attentional control. This discovery suggests a need for an extension of current theoretical accounts of the brain circuits for attentional selection. PMID:27881778

Using neuronal populations to study the mechanisms underlying spatial and feature attention

PubMed Central

Cohen, Marlene R.; Maunsell, John H.R.

2012-01-01

Summary Visual attention affects both perception and neuronal responses. Whether the same neuronal mechanisms mediate spatial attention, which improves perception of attended locations, and non-spatial forms of attention has been a subject of considerable debate. Spatial and feature attention have similar effects on individual neurons. Because visual cortex is retinotopically organized, however, spatial attention can co-modulate local neuronal populations, while feature attention generally requires more selective modulation. We compared the effects of feature and spatial attention on local and spatially separated populations by recording simultaneously from dozens of neurons in both hemispheres of V4. Feature and spatial attention affect the activity of local populations similarly, modulating both firing rates and correlations between pairs of nearby neurons. However, while spatial attention appears to act on local populations, feature attention is coordinated across hemispheres. Our results are consistent with a unified attentional mechanism that can modulate the responses of arbitrary subgroups of neurons. PMID:21689604

Attention Influences Single Unit and Local Field Potential Response Latencies in Visual Cortical Area V4

PubMed Central

Sundberg, Kristy A.; Mitchell, Jude F.; Gawne, Timothy J.

2012-01-01

Many previous studies have demonstrated that changes in selective attention can alter the response magnitude of visual cortical neurons, but there has been little evidence for attention affecting response latency. Small latency differences, though hard to detect, can potentially be of functional importance, and may also give insight into the mechanisms of neuronal computation. We therefore reexamined the effect of attention on the response latency of both single units and the local field potential (LFP) in primate visual cortical area V4. We find that attention does produce small (1–2 ms) but significant reductions in the latency of both the spiking and LFP responses. Though attention, like contrast elevation, reduces response latencies, we find that the two have different effects on the magnitude of the LFP. Contrast elevations increase and attention decreases the magnitude of the initial deflection of the stimulus-evoked LFP. Both contrast elevation and attention increase the magnitude of the spiking response. We speculate that latencies may be reduced at higher contrast because stronger stimulus inputs drive neurons more rapidly to spiking threshold, while attention may reduce latencies by placing neurons in a more depolarized state closer to threshold before stimulus onset. PMID:23136440

Attention Enhances Synaptic Efficacy and Signal-to-Noise in Neural Circuits

PubMed Central

Briggs, Farran; Mangun, George R.; Usrey, W. Martin

2013-01-01

Summary Attention is a critical component of perception. However, the mechanisms by which attention modulates neuronal communication to guide behavior are poorly understood. To elucidate the synaptic mechanisms of attention, we developed a sensitive assay of attentional modulation of neuronal communication. In alert monkeys performing a visual spatial attention task, we probed thalamocortical communication by electrically stimulating neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus while simultaneously recording shock-evoked responses from monosynaptically connected neurons in primary visual cortex. We found that attention enhances neuronal communication by (1) increasing the efficacy of presynaptic input in driving postsynaptic responses, (2) increasing synchronous responses among ensembles of postsynaptic neurons receiving independent input, and (3) decreasing redundant signals between postsynaptic neurons receiving common input. These results demonstrate that attention finely tunes neuronal communication at the synaptic level by selectively altering synaptic weights, enabling enhanced detection of salient events in the noisy sensory milieu. PMID:23803766

Visual attention mitigates information loss in small- and large-scale neural codes.

PubMed

Sprague, Thomas C; Saproo, Sameer; Serences, John T

2015-04-01

The visual system transforms complex inputs into robust and parsimonious neural codes that efficiently guide behavior. Because neural communication is stochastic, the amount of encoded visual information necessarily decreases with each synapse. This constraint requires that sensory signals are processed in a manner that protects information about relevant stimuli from degradation. Such selective processing--or selective attention--is implemented via several mechanisms, including neural gain and changes in tuning properties. However, examining each of these effects in isolation obscures their joint impact on the fidelity of stimulus feature representations by large-scale population codes. Instead, large-scale activity patterns can be used to reconstruct representations of relevant and irrelevant stimuli, thereby providing a holistic understanding about how neuron-level modulations collectively impact stimulus encoding. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feature-based and spatial attentional selection in visual working memory.

PubMed

Heuer, Anna; Schubö, Anna

2016-05-01

The contents of visual working memory (VWM) can be modulated by spatial cues presented during the maintenance interval ("retrocues"). Here, we examined whether attentional selection of representations in VWM can also be based on features. In addition, we investigated whether the mechanisms of feature-based and spatial attention in VWM differ with respect to parallel access to noncontiguous locations. In two experiments, we tested the efficacy of valid retrocues relying on different kinds of information. Specifically, participants were presented with a typical spatial retrocue pointing to two locations, a symbolic spatial retrocue (numbers mapping onto two locations), and two feature-based retrocues: a color retrocue (a blob of the same color as two of the items) and a shape retrocue (an outline of the shape of two of the items). The two cued items were presented at either contiguous or noncontiguous locations. Overall retrocueing benefits, as compared to a neutral condition, were observed for all retrocue types. Whereas feature-based retrocues yielded benefits for cued items presented at both contiguous and noncontiguous locations, spatial retrocues were only effective when the cued items had been presented at contiguous locations. These findings demonstrate that attentional selection and updating in VWM can operate on different kinds of information, allowing for a flexible and efficient use of this limited system. The observation that the representations of items presented at noncontiguous locations could only be reliably selected with feature-based retrocues suggests that feature-based and spatial attentional selection in VWM rely on different mechanisms, as has been shown for attentional orienting in the external world.

The Effect of Visual Perceptual Load on Auditory Awareness in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tillmann, Julian; Olguin, Andrea; Tuomainen, Jyrki; Swettenham, John

2015-01-01

Recent work on visual selective attention has shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate an increased perceptual capacity. The current study examined whether increasing visual perceptual load also has less of an effect on auditory awareness in children with ASD. Participants performed either a high- or low load version…

Role of Frontal Cortex in Attentional Capture by Singleton Distractors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Fockert, Jan W.; Theeuwes, Jan

2012-01-01

The role of frontal cortex in selective attention to visual distractors was examined in an attentional capture task in which participants searched for a unique shape in the presence or absence of an additional colour singleton distractor. The presence of the additional singleton was associated with slower behavioural responses to the shape target,…

Time Course of Attention and Decision Making during a Volleyball Set

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sibley, Benjamin A.; Etnier, Jennifer L.

2004-01-01

Attention is a term that has been used to describe a broad range of topics in the sport and exercise literature (Nougier, Stein, & Bonnel, 1991). Research focusing on attention has included studies on selectivity, concentration, mental set, visual search, arousal, and information processing (Abernethy, 2001), and a variety of techniques (e.g.,…

Laminar Organization of Attentional Modulation in Macaque Visual Area V4.

PubMed

Nandy, Anirvan S; Nassi, Jonathan J; Reynolds, John H

2017-01-04

Attention is critical to perception, serving to select behaviorally relevant information for privileged processing. To understand the neural mechanisms of attention, we must discern how attentional modulation varies by cell type and across cortical layers. Here, we test whether attention acts non-selectively across cortical layers or whether it engages the laminar circuit in specific and selective ways. We find layer- and cell-class-specific differences in several different forms of attentional modulation in area V4. Broad-spiking neurons in the superficial layers exhibit attention-mediated increases in firing rate and decreases in variability. Spike count correlations are highest in the input layer and attention serves to reduce these correlations. Superficial and input layer neurons exhibit attention-dependent decreases in low-frequency (<10 Hz) coherence, but deep layer neurons exhibit increases in coherence in the beta and gamma frequency ranges. Our study provides a template for attention-mediated laminar information processing that might be applicable across sensory modalities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Endogenous attention modulates early selective attention in psychopathy: An ERP investigation.

PubMed

Krusemark, Elizabeth A; Kiehl, Kent A; Newman, Joseph P

2016-10-01

Psychopathic individuals are prone to act on urges without adequate consideration of future consequences or the rights of other individuals. One interpretation of this behavior is that it reflects abnormal selective attention (i.e., a failure to process information that is incongruent with their primary focus of attention; Hiatt, Schmitt, & Newman, Neuropsychology, 18, 50-59, 2004). Unfortunately, it is unclear whether this selective attention abnormality reflects top-down endogenous influences, such as the strength or specificity of attention focus (i.e., top-down set) apart from other, more exogenous (bottom-up), effects on attention. To explore this question, we used an early visual event-related potential (N2pc) in combination with a modified visual search task designed to assess the effect of early endogenous (i.e., top-down) attention on the processing of set-congruent information. The task was administered to a sample of 70 incarcerated adult males, who were assigned to high, intermediate, and low psychopathy groups using Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003). Based on the assumption that their failure to process set-incongruent information reflects the exaggerated effects of endogenous attention, we predicted that participants with high psychopathy scores would show an exaggerated N2pc response to set-congruent information. The results supported the hypothesis and provide novel electrophysiological evidence that psychopathy is associated with exaggerated endogenous attention effects during early stages of processing. Further research is needed to examine the implications of this finding for the well-established failure of psychopathic individuals to process set-incongruent information and inhibit inappropriate responses.

Recurrent Activation of Neural Circuits during Attention to Global and Local Visual Information.

PubMed

Iglesias-Fuster, Jorge; Piña-Novo, Daniela; Ontivero-Ortega, Marlis; Lage-Castellanos, Agustín; Valdés-Sosa, Mitchell

2018-05-28

The attentional selection of different hierarchical level within compound (Navon) figures has been studied with event related potentials (ERPs), by controlling the ERPs obtained during attention to the global or the local echelon. These studies, using the canonical Navon figures, have produced contradictory results, with doubts regarding the scalp distribution of the effects. Moreover, the evidence about the temporal evolution of the processing of these two levels is not clear. Here, we unveiled global and local letters at distinct times, which enabled separation of their ERP responses. We combine this approach with the temporal generalization methodology, a novel multivariate technique which facilitates exploring the temporal structure of these ERPs. Opposite lateralization patterns were obtained for the selection negativities generated when attending global and local distracters (D statistics, p < .005), with maxima in right and left occipito-temporal scalp regions, respectively (η2 = .111, p < .01; η2 = .042, p < .04). However, both discrimination negativities elicited when comparing targets and distractors at the global or the local level were lateralized to the left hemisphere (η2 = .25, p < .03 and η2 = .142, p < .05 respectively). Recurrent activation patterns were found for both global and local stimuli, with scalp topographies corresponding to early preparatory stages reemerging during the attentional selection process, thus indicating recursive attentional activation. This implies that selective attention to global and local hierarchical levels recycles similar neural correlates at different time points. These neural correlates appear to be mediated by visual extra-striate areas.

Automatic selective attention as a function of sensory modality in aging.

PubMed

Guerreiro, Maria J S; Adam, Jos J; Van Gerven, Pascal W M

2012-03-01

It was recently hypothesized that age-related differences in selective attention depend on sensory modality (Guerreiro, M. J. S., Murphy, D. R., & Van Gerven, P. W. M. (2010). The role of sensory modality in age-related distraction: A critical review and a renewed view. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 975-1022. doi:10.1037/a0020731). So far, this hypothesis has not been tested in automatic selective attention. The current study addressed this issue by investigating age-related differences in automatic spatial cueing effects (i.e., facilitation and inhibition of return [IOR]) across sensory modalities. Thirty younger (mean age = 22.4 years) and 25 older adults (mean age = 68.8 years) performed 4 left-right target localization tasks, involving all combinations of visual and auditory cues and targets. We used stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 100, 500, 1,000, and 1,500 ms between cue and target. The results showed facilitation (shorter reaction times with valid relative to invalid cues at shorter SOAs) in the unimodal auditory and in both cross-modal tasks but not in the unimodal visual task. In contrast, there was IOR (longer reaction times with valid relative to invalid cues at longer SOAs) in both unimodal tasks but not in either of the cross-modal tasks. Most important, these spatial cueing effects were independent of age. The results suggest that the modality hypothesis of age-related differences in selective attention does not extend into the realm of automatic selective attention.

Predictive distractor context facilitates attentional selection of high, but not intermediate and low, salience targets.

PubMed

Töllner, Thomas; Conci, Markus; Müller, Hermann J

2015-03-01

It is well established that we can focally attend to a specific region in visual space without shifting our eyes, so as to extract action-relevant sensory information from covertly attended locations. The underlying mechanisms that determine how fast we engage our attentional spotlight in visual-search scenarios, however, remain controversial. One dominant view advocated by perceptual decision-making models holds that the times taken for focal-attentional selection are mediated by an internal template that biases perceptual coding and selection decisions exclusively through target-defining feature coding. This notion directly predicts that search times remain unaffected whether or not participants can anticipate the upcoming distractor context. Here we tested this hypothesis by employing an illusory-figure localization task that required participants to search for an invariant target amongst a variable distractor context, which gradually changed--either randomly or predictably--as a function of distractor-target similarity. We observed a graded decrease in internal focal-attentional selection times--correlated with external behavioral latencies--for distractor contexts of higher relative to lower similarity to the target. Critically, for low but not intermediate and high distractor-target similarity, these context-driven effects were cortically and behaviorally amplified when participants could reliably predict the type of distractors. This interactive pattern demonstrates that search guidance signals can integrate information about distractor, in addition to target, identities to optimize distractor-target competition for focal-attentional selection. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Behavioral performance follows the time course of neural facilitation and suppression during cued shifts of feature-selective attention.

PubMed

Andersen, S K; Müller, M M

2010-08-03

A central question in the field of attention is whether visual processing is a strictly limited resource, which must be allocated by selective attention. If this were the case, attentional enhancement of one stimulus should invariably lead to suppression of unattended distracter stimuli. Here we examine voluntary cued shifts of feature-selective attention to either one of two superimposed red or blue random dot kinematograms (RDKs) to test whether such a reciprocal relationship between enhancement of an attended and suppression of an unattended stimulus can be observed. The steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), an oscillatory brain response elicited by the flickering RDKs, was measured in human EEG. Supporting limited resources, we observed both an enhancement of the attended and a suppression of the unattended RDK, but this observed reciprocity did not occur concurrently: enhancement of the attended RDK started at 220 ms after cue onset and preceded suppression of the unattended RDK by about 130 ms. Furthermore, we found that behavior was significantly correlated with the SSVEP time course of a measure of selectivity (attended minus unattended) but not with a measure of total activity (attended plus unattended). The significant deviations from a temporally synchronized reciprocity between enhancement and suppression suggest that the enhancement of the attended stimulus may cause the suppression of the unattended stimulus in the present experiment.

Feature-selective Attention in Frontoparietal Cortex: Multivoxel Codes Adjust to Prioritize Task-relevant Information.

PubMed

Jackson, Jade; Rich, Anina N; Williams, Mark A; Woolgar, Alexandra

2017-02-01

Human cognition is characterized by astounding flexibility, enabling us to select appropriate information according to the objectives of our current task. A circuit of frontal and parietal brain regions, often referred to as the frontoparietal attention network or multiple-demand (MD) regions, are believed to play a fundamental role in this flexibility. There is evidence that these regions dynamically adjust their responses to selectively process information that is currently relevant for behavior, as proposed by the "adaptive coding hypothesis" [Duncan, J. An adaptive coding model of neural function in prefrontal cortex. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2, 820-829, 2001]. Could this provide a neural mechanism for feature-selective attention, the process by which we preferentially process one feature of a stimulus over another? We used multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data during a perceptually challenging categorization task to investigate whether the representation of visual object features in the MD regions flexibly adjusts according to task relevance. Participants were trained to categorize visually similar novel objects along two orthogonal stimulus dimensions (length/orientation) and performed short alternating blocks in which only one of these dimensions was relevant. We found that multivoxel patterns of activation in the MD regions encoded the task-relevant distinctions more strongly than the task-irrelevant distinctions: The MD regions discriminated between stimuli of different lengths when length was relevant and between the same objects according to orientation when orientation was relevant. The data suggest a flexible neural system that adjusts its representation of visual objects to preferentially encode stimulus features that are currently relevant for behavior, providing a neural mechanism for feature-selective attention.

Steady-State Somatosensory Evoked Potential for Brain-Computer Interface—Present and Future

PubMed Central

Ahn, Sangtae; Kim, Kiwoong; Jun, Sung Chan

2016-01-01

Brain-computer interface (BCI) performance has achieved continued improvement over recent decades, and sensorimotor rhythm-based BCIs that use motor function have been popular subjects of investigation. However, it remains problematic to introduce them to the public market because of their low reliability. As an alternative resolution to this issue, visual-based BCIs that use P300 or steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) seem promising; however, the inherent visual fatigue that occurs with these BCIs may be unavoidable. For these reasons, steady-state somatosensory evoked potential (SSSEP) BCIs, which are based on tactile selective attention, have gained increasing attention recently. These may reduce the fatigue induced by visual attention and overcome the low reliability of motor activity. In this literature survey, recent findings on SSSEP and its methodological uses in BCI are reviewed. Further, existing limitations of SSSEP BCI and potential future directions for the technique are discussed. PMID:26834611

Attention, Intention, and Priority in the Parietal Lobe

PubMed Central

Bisley, James W.; Goldberg, Michael E.

2013-01-01

For many years there has been a debate about the role of the parietal lobe in the generation of behavior. Does it generate movement plans (intention) or choose objects in the environment for further processing? To answer this, we focus on the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), an area that has been shown to play independent roles in target selection for saccades and the generation of visual attention. Based on results from a variety of tasks, we propose that LIP acts as a priority map in which objects are represented by activity proportional to their behavioral priority. We present evidence to show that the priority map combines bottom-up inputs like a rapid visual response with an array of top-down signals like a saccade plan. The spatial location representing the peak of the map is used by the oculomotor system to target saccades and by the visual system to guide visual attention. PMID:20192813

Single Canonical Model of Reflexive Memory and Spatial Attention

PubMed Central

Patel, Saumil S.; Red, Stuart; Lin, Eric; Sereno, Anne B.

2015-01-01

Many neurons in the dorsal and ventral visual stream have the property that after a brief visual stimulus presentation in their receptive field, the spiking activity in these neurons persists above their baseline levels for several seconds. This maintained activity is not always correlated with the monkey’s task and its origin is unknown. We have previously proposed a simple neural network model, based on shape selective neurons in monkey lateral intraparietal cortex, which predicts the valence and time course of reflexive (bottom-up) spatial attention. In the same simple model, we demonstrate here that passive maintained activity or short-term memory of specific visual events can result without need for an external or top-down modulatory signal. Mutual inhibition and neuronal adaptation play distinct roles in reflexive attention and memory. This modest 4-cell model provides the first simple and unified physiologically plausible mechanism of reflexive spatial attention and passive short-term memory processes. PMID:26493949

Interaction of hypertension and age in visual selective attention performance.

PubMed

Madden, D J; Blumenthal, J A

1998-01-01

Previous research suggests that some aspects of cognitive performance decline as a joint function of age and hypertension. In this experiment, 51 unmedicated individuals with mild essential hypertension and 48 normotensive individuals, 18-78 years of age, performed a visual search task. The estimated time required to identify a display character and shift attention between display positions increased with age. This attention shift time did not differ significantly between hypertensive and normotensive participants, but regression analyses indicated some mediation of the age effect by blood pressure. For individuals less than 60 years of age, the error rate was greater for hypertensive than for normotensive participants. Although the present design could detect effects of only moderate to large size, the results suggest that effects of hypertension may be more evident in a relatively general measure of performance (mean error rate) than in the speed of shifting visual attention.

Perceptual load, voluntary attention, and aging: an event-related potential study

PubMed Central

Wang, Yan; Fu, Shimin; Greenwood, Pamela; Luo, Yuejia; Parasuraman, Raja

2012-01-01

The locus of attentional selection is known to vary with perceptual load (Lavie et al., 2004). Under voluntary attention, perceptual load modulates selective visual processing at an early cortical stage, as reflected in the posterior P1 and N1 components of the event-related potentials (ERPs). Adult aging also affects both behavioral and ERP signs of attentional selection. However, it is not known whether perceptual load modulates this relationship. Accordingly, in the present study ERPs were recorded in a voluntary attention task. Young and old participants were asked to discriminate the direction of a target line embedded within a display of four lines that appeared in the left or right visual field. Participants responded faster and more accurately to valid relative to invalid trials and to low-load relative to high-load condition. Older participants responded more slowly and with lower accuracy than young participants in all conditions. The amplitudes of the posterior contralateral P1 and N1 components in valid trials were larger than that in invalid trials in all conditions. N1 amplitude was larger under the high load condition than that in the low load condition. Moreover, in the high perceptual load condition, the old group had a larger N1 than the young group at contralateral sites. The findings suggest that under voluntary attention, perceptual load and aging modulates attentional selection at an early but not the earliest stage, during the N1 (120–200ms) time range. Increased N1 amplitude in older adults may reflect increased demands on target discrimination in high perceptual load. PMID:22248536

The allocation of attention and working memory in visual crowding.

PubMed

Bacigalupo, Felix; Luck, Steven J

2015-06-01

When the distance between a visual target and nearby flankers falls below a critical distance, target discrimination declines precipitously. This is called "crowding." Many researchers have proposed that selective attention plays a role in crowding. However, although some research has examined the effects of directing attention toward versus away from the targets, no previous research has assessed how attentional allocation varies as a function of target-flanker distance in crowding. Here, we used ERPs to assess the operation of attention during crowding, focusing on the attention-related N2pc component. We used a typical crowding task in which participants were asked to report the category (vowel/consonant) of a lateralized target letter flanked by distractor letters at different distances. We tested the hypothesis that attention fails when the target-flanker distance becomes too small for attention to operate effectively. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that N2pc amplitude was maximal at intermediate target-flanker distances and decreased substantially when crowding became severe. In addition, we examined the sustained posterior contralateral negativity (SPCN), which reflects the amount of information being maintained in working memory. Unlike the N2pc component, the SPCN increased in amplitude at small target-flanker distances, suggesting that observers stored information about the target and flankers in working memory when attention failed to select the target. Together, the N2pc and SPCN results suggest that attention and working memory play distinctive roles in crowding: Attention operates to minimize interference from the flankers at intermediate target-flanker distances, whereas working memory may be recruited when attention fails to select the target at small target-flanker distances.

Effects of set-size and selective spatial attention on motion processing.

PubMed

Dobkins, K R; Bosworth, R G

2001-05-01

In order to investigate the effects of divided attention and selective spatial attention on motion processing, we obtained direction-of-motion thresholds using a stochastic motion display under various attentional manipulations and stimulus durations (100-600 ms). To investigate divided attention, we compared motion thresholds obtained when a single motion stimulus was presented in the visual field (set-size=1) to those obtained when the motion stimulus was presented amongst three confusable noise distractors (set-size=4). The magnitude of the observed detriment in performance with an increase in set-size from 1 to 4 could be accounted for by a simple decision model based on signal detection theory, which assumes that attentional resources are not limited in capacity. To investigate selective attention, we compared motion thresholds obtained when a valid pre-cue alerted the subject to the location of the to-be-presented motion stimulus to those obtained when no pre-cue was provided. As expected, the effect of pre-cueing was large when the visual field contained noise distractors, an effect we attribute to "noise reduction" (i.e. the pre-cue allows subjects to exclude irrelevant distractors that would otherwise impair performance). In the single motion stimulus display, we found a significant benefit of pre-cueing only at short durations (< or =150 ms), a result that can potentially be explained by a "time-to-orient" hypothesis (i.e. the pre-cue improves performance by eliminating the time it takes to orient attention to a peripheral stimulus at its onset, thereby increasing the time spent processing the stimulus). Thus, our results suggest that the visual motion system can analyze several stimuli simultaneously without limitations on sensory processing per se, and that spatial pre-cueing serves to reduce the effects of distractors and perhaps increase the effective processing time of the stimulus.

Difference in Visual Processing Assessed by Eye Vergence Movements

PubMed Central

Solé Puig, Maria; Puigcerver, Laura; Aznar-Casanova, J. Antonio; Supèr, Hans

2013-01-01

Orienting visual attention is closely linked to the oculomotor system. For example, a shift of attention is usually followed by a saccadic eye movement and can be revealed by micro saccades. Recently we reported a novel role of another type of eye movement, namely eye vergence, in orienting visual attention. Shifts in visuospatial attention are characterized by the response modulation to a selected target. However, unlike (micro-) saccades, eye vergence movements do not carry spatial information (except for depth) and are thus not specific to a particular visual location. To further understand the role of eye vergence in visual attention, we tested subjects with different perceptual styles. Perceptual style refers to the characteristic way individuals perceive environmental stimuli, and is characterized by a spatial difference (local vs. global) in perceptual processing. We tested field independent (local; FI) and field dependent (global; FD) observers in a cue/no-cue task and a matching task. We found that FI observers responded faster and had stronger modulation in eye vergence in both tasks than FD subjects. The results may suggest that eye vergence modulation may relate to the trade-off between the size of spatial region covered by attention and the processing efficiency of sensory information. Alternatively, vergence modulation may have a role in the switch in cortical state to prepare the visual system for new incoming sensory information. In conclusion, vergence eye movements may be added to the growing list of functions of fixational eye movements in visual perception. However, further studies are needed to elucidate its role. PMID:24069140

Aging effects on selective attention-related electroencephalographic patterns during face encoding.

PubMed

Deiber, M-P; Rodriguez, C; Jaques, D; Missonnier, P; Emch, J; Millet, P; Gold, G; Giannakopoulos, P; Ibañez, V

2010-11-24

Previous electrophysiological studies revealed that human faces elicit an early visual event-related potential (ERP) within the occipito-temporal cortex, the N170 component. Although face perception has been proposed to rely on automatic processing, the impact of selective attention on N170 remains controversial both in young and elderly individuals. Using early visual ERP and alpha power analysis, we assessed the influence of aging on selective attention to faces during delayed-recognition tasks for face and letter stimuli, examining 36 elderly and 20 young adults with preserved cognition. Face recognition performance worsened with age. Aging induced a latency delay of the N1 component for faces and letters, as well as of the face N170 component. Contrasting with letters, ignored faces elicited larger N1 and N170 components than attended faces in both age groups. This counterintuitive attention effect on face processing persisted when scenes replaced letters. In contrast with young, elderly subjects failed to suppress irrelevant letters when attending faces. Whereas attended stimuli induced a parietal alpha band desynchronization within 300-1000 ms post-stimulus with bilateral-to-right distribution for faces and left lateralization for letters, ignored and passively viewed stimuli elicited a central alpha synchronization larger on the right hemisphere. Aging delayed the latency of this alpha synchronization for both face and letter stimuli, and reduced its amplitude for ignored letters. These results suggest that due to their social relevance, human faces may cause paradoxical attention effects on early visual ERP components, but they still undergo classical top-down control as a function of endogenous selective attention. Aging does not affect the face bottom-up alerting mechanism but reduces the top-down suppression of distracting letters, possibly impinging upon face recognition, and more generally delays the top-down suppression of task-irrelevant information. Copyright © 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Object selection costs in visual working memory: A diffusion model analysis of the focus of attention.

PubMed

Sewell, David K; Lilburn, Simon D; Smith, Philip L

2016-11-01

A central question in working memory research concerns the degree to which information in working memory is accessible to other cognitive processes (e.g., decision-making). Theories assuming that the focus of attention can only store a single object at a time require the focus to orient to a target representation before further processing can occur. The need to orient the focus of attention implies that single-object accounts typically predict response time costs associated with object selection even when working memory is not full (i.e., memory load is less than 4 items). For other theories that assume storage of multiple items in the focus of attention, predictions depend on specific assumptions about the way resources are allocated among items held in the focus, and how this affects the time course of retrieval of items from the focus. These broad theoretical accounts have been difficult to distinguish because conventional analyses fail to separate components of empirical response times related to decision-making from components related to selection and retrieval processes associated with accessing information in working memory. To better distinguish these response time components from one another, we analyze data from a probed visual working memory task using extensions of the diffusion decision model. Analysis of model parameters revealed that increases in memory load resulted in (a) reductions in the quality of the underlying stimulus representations in a manner consistent with a sample size model of visual working memory capacity and (b) systematic increases in the time needed to selectively access a probed representation in memory. The results are consistent with single-object theories of the focus of attention. The results are also consistent with a subset of theories that assume a multiobject focus of attention in which resource allocation diminishes both the quality and accessibility of the underlying representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Linguistic processing in visual and modality-nonspecific brain areas: PET recordings during selective attention.

PubMed

Vorobyev, Victor A; Alho, Kimmo; Medvedev, Svyatoslav V; Pakhomov, Sergey V; Roudas, Marina S; Rutkovskaya, Julia M; Tervaniemi, Mari; Van Zuijen, Titia L; Näätänen, Risto

2004-07-01

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate the neural basis of selective processing of linguistic material during concurrent presentation of multiple stimulus streams ("cocktail-party effect"). Fifteen healthy right-handed adult males were to attend to one of three simultaneously presented messages: one presented visually, one to the left ear, and one to the right ear. During the control condition, subjects attended to visually presented consonant letter strings and ignored auditory messages. This paper reports the modality-nonspecific language processing and visual word-form processing, whereas the auditory attention effects have been reported elsewhere [Cogn. Brain Res. 17 (2003) 201]. The left-hemisphere areas activated by both the selective processing of text and speech were as follows: the inferior prefrontal (Brodmann's area, BA 45, 47), anterior temporal (BA 38), posterior insular (BA 13), inferior (BA 20) and middle temporal (BA 21), occipital (BA 18/30) cortices, the caudate nucleus, and the amygdala. In addition, bilateral activations were observed in the medial occipito-temporal cortex and the cerebellum. Decreases of activation during both text and speech processing were found in the parietal (BA 7, 40), frontal (BA 6, 8, 44) and occipito-temporal (BA 37) regions of the right hemisphere. Furthermore, the present data suggest that the left occipito-temporal cortex (BA 18, 20, 37, 21) can be subdivided into three functionally distinct regions in the posterior-anterior direction on the basis of their activation during attentive processing of sublexical orthography, visual word form, and supramodal higher-level aspects of language.

Individual differences in selective attention predict speech identification at a cocktail party.

PubMed

Oberfeld, Daniel; Klöckner-Nowotny, Felicitas

2016-08-31

Listeners with normal hearing show considerable individual differences in speech understanding when competing speakers are present, as in a crowded restaurant. Here, we show that one source of this variance are individual differences in the ability to focus selective attention on a target stimulus in the presence of distractors. In 50 young normal-hearing listeners, the performance in tasks measuring auditory and visual selective attention was associated with sentence identification in the presence of spatially separated competing speakers. Together, the measures of selective attention explained a similar proportion of variance as the binaural sensitivity for the acoustic temporal fine structure. Working memory span, age, and audiometric thresholds showed no significant association with speech understanding. These results suggest that a reduced ability to focus attention on a target is one reason why some listeners with normal hearing sensitivity have difficulty communicating in situations with background noise.

Effect of Message Type on the Visual Attention of Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury.

PubMed

Thiessen, Amber; Brown, Jessica; Beukelman, David; Hux, Karen; Myers, Angela

2017-05-17

The purpose of this investigation was to measure the effect of message type (i.e., action, naming) on the visual attention patterns of individuals with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) when viewing grids composed of 3 types of images (i.e., icons, decontextualized photographs, and contextualized photographs). Fourteen adults with TBI and 14 without TBI-assigned either to an action or naming message condition-viewed grids composed of 3 different image types. Participants' task was to select/sustain visual fixation on the image they felt best represented a stated message (i.e., action or naming). With final fixation location serving as a proxy for selection, participants in the naming message condition selected decontextualized photographs significantly more often than the other 2 image types. Participants in the action message condition selected contextualized photographs significantly more frequently than the other 2 image types. Minimal differences were noted between participant groups. This investigation provides preliminary evidence of the relationship between image and message type. Clinicians involved in the selection of images used for message representation should consider the message being represented when designing supports for people with TBI. Further research is necessary to fully understand the relationship between images and message type.

Perceptual load corresponds with factors known to influence visual search.

PubMed

Roper, Zachary J J; Cosman, Joshua D; Vecera, Shaun P

2013-10-01

One account of the early versus late selection debate in attention proposes that perceptual load determines the locus of selection. Attention selects stimuli at a late processing level under low-load conditions but selects stimuli at an early level under high-load conditions. Despite the successes of perceptual load theory, a noncircular definition of perceptual load remains elusive. We investigated the factors that influence perceptual load by using manipulations that have been studied extensively in visual search, namely target-distractor similarity and distractor-distractor similarity. Consistent with previous work, search was most efficient when targets and distractors were dissimilar and the displays contained homogeneous distractors; search became less efficient when target-distractor similarity increased irrespective of display heterogeneity. Importantly, we used these same stimuli in a typical perceptual load task that measured attentional spillover to a task-irrelevant flanker. We found a strong correspondence between search efficiency and perceptual load; stimuli that generated efficient searches produced flanker interference effects, suggesting that such displays involved low perceptual load. Flanker interference effects were reduced in displays that produced less efficient searches. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that search difficulty, as measured by search intercept, has little bearing on perceptual load. We conclude that rather than be arbitrarily defined, perceptual load might be defined by well-characterized, continuous factors that influence visual search. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Effects of perceptual load and socially meaningful stimuli on crossmodal selective attention in Autism Spectrum Disorder and neurotypical samples.

PubMed

Tyndall, Ian; Ragless, Liam; O'Hora, Denis

2018-04-01

The present study examined whether increasing visual perceptual load differentially affected both Socially Meaningful and Non-socially Meaningful auditory stimulus awareness in neurotypical (NT, n = 59) adults and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, n = 57) adults. On a target trial, an unexpected critical auditory stimulus (CAS), either a Non-socially Meaningful ('beep' sound) or Socially Meaningful ('hi') stimulus, was played concurrently with the presentation of the visual task. Under conditions of low visual perceptual load both NT and ASD samples reliably noticed the CAS at similar rates (77-81%), whether the CAS was Socially Meaningful or Non-socially Meaningful. However, during high visual perceptual load NT and ASD participants reliably noticed the meaningful CAS (NT = 71%, ASD = 67%), but NT participants were unlikely to notice the Non-meaningful CAS (20%), whereas ASD participants reliably noticed it (80%), suggesting an inability to engage selective attention to ignore non-salient irrelevant distractor stimuli in ASD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Attentional Inhibition Training and Perceptual Discrimination Training in a Visual Flanker Task

PubMed Central

Melara, Robert D.; Singh, Shalini; Hien, Denise A.

2018-01-01

Two groups of healthy young adults were exposed to 3 weeks of cognitive training in a modified version of the visual flanker task, one group trained to discriminate the target (discrimination training) and the other group to ignore the flankers (inhibition training). Inhibition training, but not discrimination training, led to significant reductions in both Garner interference, indicating improved selective attention, and in Stroop interference, indicating more efficient resolution of stimulus conflict. The behavioral gains from training were greatest in participants who showed the poorest selective attention at pretest. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that inhibition training increased the magnitude of Rejection Positivity (RP) to incongruent distractors, an event-related potential (ERP) component associated with inhibitory control. Source modeling of RP uncovered a dipole in the medial frontal gyrus for those participants receiving inhibition training, but in the cingulate gyrus for those participants receiving discrimination training. Results suggest that inhibitory control is plastic; inhibition training improves conflict resolution, particularly in individuals with poor attention skills. PMID:29875644

Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Attentional Inhibition Training and Perceptual Discrimination Training in a Visual Flanker Task.

PubMed

Melara, Robert D; Singh, Shalini; Hien, Denise A

2018-01-01

Two groups of healthy young adults were exposed to 3 weeks of cognitive training in a modified version of the visual flanker task, one group trained to discriminate the target (discrimination training) and the other group to ignore the flankers (inhibition training). Inhibition training, but not discrimination training, led to significant reductions in both Garner interference, indicating improved selective attention, and in Stroop interference, indicating more efficient resolution of stimulus conflict. The behavioral gains from training were greatest in participants who showed the poorest selective attention at pretest. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that inhibition training increased the magnitude of Rejection Positivity (RP) to incongruent distractors, an event-related potential (ERP) component associated with inhibitory control. Source modeling of RP uncovered a dipole in the medial frontal gyrus for those participants receiving inhibition training, but in the cingulate gyrus for those participants receiving discrimination training. Results suggest that inhibitory control is plastic; inhibition training improves conflict resolution, particularly in individuals with poor attention skills.

Working-memory capacity predicts the executive control of visual search among distractors: the influences of sustained and selective attention.

PubMed

Poole, Bradley J; Kane, Michael J

2009-07-01

Variation in working-memory capacity (WMC) predicts individual differences in only some attention-control capabilities. Whereas higher WMC subjects outperform lower WMC subjects in tasks requiring the restraint of prepotent but inappropriate responses, and the constraint of attentional focus to target stimuli against distractors, they do not differ in prototypical visual-search tasks, even those that yield steep search slopes and engender top-down control. The present three experiments tested whether WMC, as measured by complex memory span tasks, would predict search latencies when the 1-8 target locations to be searched appeared alone, versus appearing among distractor locations to be ignored, with the latter requiring selective attentional focus. Subjects viewed target-location cues and then fixated on those locations over either long (1,500-1,550 ms) or short (300 ms) delays. Higher WMC subjects identified targets faster than did lower WMC subjects only in the presence of distractors and only over long fixation delays. WMC thus appears to affect subjects' ability to maintain a constrained attentional focus over time.

When memory is not enough: Electrophysiological evidence for goal-dependent use of working memory representations in guiding visual attention

PubMed Central

Carlisle, Nancy B.; Woodman, Geoffrey F.

2014-01-01

Biased competition theory proposes that representations in working memory drive visual attention to select similar inputs. However, behavioral tests of this hypothesis have led to mixed results. These inconsistent findings could be due to the inability of behavioral measures to reliably detect the early, automatic effects on attentional deployment that the memory representations exert. Alternatively, executive mechanisms may govern how working memory representations influence attention based on higher-level goals. In the present study, we tested these hypotheses using the N2pc component of participants’ event-related potentials (ERPs) to directly measure the early deployments of covert attention. Participants searched for a target in an array that sometimes contained a memory-matching distractor. In Experiments 1–3, we manipulated the difficulty of the target discrimination and the proximity of distractors, but consistently observed that covert attention was deployed to the search targets and not the memory-matching distractors. In Experiment 4, we showed that when participants’ goal involved attending to memory-matching items that these items elicited a large and early N2pc. Our findings demonstrate that working memory representations alone are not sufficient to guide early deployments of visual attention to matching inputs and that goal-dependent executive control mediates the interactions between working memory representations and visual attention. PMID:21254796

Attention modulates trans-saccadic integration.

PubMed

Stewart, Emma E M; Schütz, Alexander C

2018-01-01

With every saccade, humans must reconcile the low resolution peripheral information available before a saccade, with the high resolution foveal information acquired after the saccade. While research has shown that we are able to integrate peripheral and foveal vision in a near-optimal manner, it is still unclear which mechanisms may underpin this important perceptual process. One potential mechanism that may moderate this integration process is visual attention. Pre-saccadic attention is a well documented phenomenon, whereby visual attention shifts to the location of an upcoming saccade before the saccade is executed. While it plays an important role in other peri-saccadic processes such as predictive remapping, the role of attention in the integration process is as yet unknown. This study aimed to determine whether the presentation of an attentional distractor during a saccade impaired trans-saccadic integration, and to measure the time-course of this impairment. Results showed that presenting an attentional distractor impaired integration performance both before saccade onset, and during the saccade, in selected subjects who showed integration in the absence of a distractor. This suggests that visual attention may be a mechanism that facilitates trans-saccadic integration. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.