Top-down attentional control in spatially coincident stimuli enhances activity in both task-relevant and task-irrelevant regions of cortex

It is well known that eye movement patterns are influenced by both goal- and salience-driven factors. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that objects that are nonsalient and task irrelevant can still capture our eyes if moving our eyes to those objects has previously produced reward. Here we demonstrate that training such an association between eye movements to an object and delivery of reward is not needed. Instead, an object that merely signals the availability of reward captures the eyes even when it is physically nonsalient and never relevant for the task. Furthermore, we show that oculomotor capture by reward is more reliably observed in saccades with short latencies. We conclude that a stimulus signaling high reward has the ability to capture the eyes independently of bottom-up physical salience or top-down task relevance and that the effect of reward affects early selection processes.

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The Treatment of Creative Blocks: A Comparison of Waking Imagery, Hypnotic Dream, and Rational Discussion Techniques

Imagination Cognition and Personality ◽

10.2190/69g4-6ycm-n11h-eeew ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 89-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Michael V. Barrios ◽

Jerome L. Singer

Keyword(s):

Attentional Control ◽

Positive Change ◽

Imagery Condition ◽

Public And Private ◽

Induction Procedure ◽

Hypnotic Induction ◽

The Status ◽

Task Irrelevant ◽

And Task

Forty-eight volunteers reporting creative blocks in relation to artistic, literary, scientific, or professional projects, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) Waking Imagery, (2) Hypnotic Dream, (3) Rational Discussion, or (4) Control. In the Waking Imagery condition, participants engaged in ten directed imagination exercises, and subsequently generated three waking fantasies related to their creative projects. In the Hypnotic Dream condition, participants were exposed to a hypnotic induction procedure, and subsequently produced three hypnotic dreams related to their creative projects. The Rational Discussion condition involved a highly focused and logical collaborative examination of participants' creative projects, in which distractions and task-irrelevant thoughts were avoided. The Control condition simply involved encouraging participants, in a nondirective fashion, to discuss their projects. Follow-up a week after conclusion of treatment involved a rating by participants of Satisfaction and an account of changes, if any, in the creative block. Results suggest that the Waking Imagery and Hypnotic Dream conditions were most effective in promoting resolution of creative blocks. An examination of a number of possible predispositional features reveals that, overall, individuals with good attentional control and with low pretreatment levels of dysphoric daydreaming (e.g., guilty or hostile fantasies) were most likely to demonstrate a positive change in the status of their block. Intercorrelations between predispositional measures such as daydreaming styles, Public and Private Self-Consciousness, Absorption, and Hypnotic Susceptibility were also considered.

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