Foveal Attention Modulates Responses to Peripheral Stimuli

2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 2443-2452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simo Vanni ◽  
Kimmo Uutela
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
L1 Norm ◽  
Luminance Stimulus ◽  
The Right

When attending to a visual object, peripheral stimuli must be monitored for appropriate redirection of attention and gaze. Earlier work has revealed precentral and posterior parietal activation when attention has been directed to peripheral vision. We wanted to find out whether similar cortical areas are active when stimuli are presented in nonattended regions of the visual field. The timing and distribution of neuromagnetic responses to a peripheral luminance stimulus were studied in human subjects with and without attention to fixation. Cortical current distribution was analyzed with a minimum L1-norm estimate. Attention enhanced responses 100–160 ms after the stimulus onset in the right precentral cortex, close to the known location of the right frontal eye field. In subjects whose right precentral region was not distinctly active before 160 ms, focused attention commonly enhanced right inferior parietal responses between 180 and 240 ms, whereas in the subjects with clear earlier precentral response no parietal enhancement was detected. In control studies both attended and nonattended stimuli in the peripheral visual field evoked the right precentral response, whereas during auditory attention the visual stimuli failed to evoke such response. These results show that during focused visual attention the right precentral cortex is sensitive to stimuli in all parts of the visual field. A rapid response suggests bypassing of elaborate analysis of stimulus features, possibly to encode target location for a saccade or redirection of attention. In addition, load for frontal and parietal nodi of the attentional network seem to vary between individuals.

On the Relation between Visual Spatial Attention and Visual Field Asymmetries

1992 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A Mondor ◽  
M.P. Bryden
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Letter Identification ◽  
Functional Capabilities ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
The Right

In the typical visual laterality experiment, words and letters are more rapidly and accurately identified in the right visual field than in the left. However, while such studies usually control fixation, the deployment of visual attention is rarely restricted. The present studies investigated the influence of visual attention on the visual field asymmetries normally observed in single-letter identification and lexical decision tasks. Attention was controlled using a peripheral cue that provided advance knowledge of the location of the forthcoming stimulus. The time period between the onset of the cue and the onset of the stimulus (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony—SOA) was varied, such that the time available for attention to focus upon the location was controlled. At short SO As a right visual field advantage for identifying single letters and for making lexical decisions was apparent. However, at longer SOAs letters and words presented in the two visual fields were identified equally well. It is concluded that visual field advantages arise from an interaction of attentional and structural factors and that the attentional component in visual field asymmetries must be controlled in order to approximate more closely a true assessment of the relative functional capabilities of the right and left cerebral hemispheres.

Parallel but Temporally Displaced Visual Half-Field Metacontrast Functions

1974 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter F. McKeever ◽  
Max Suberi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Stimulus Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Left Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Field Function ◽  
Processing Delay ◽  
The Right ◽  
Onset Asynchrony

Using a classic letter-ring metacontrast paradigm, left and right visual field meta-contrast functions were separately determined. The parallel U-shaped recognition functions for both half-fields were found to interact differentially with stimulus onset asynchrony, the left visual field function being displaced by 13 ms toward longer test stimulus-masking stimulus separations. This result was consistent with the hypothesis of longer processing time requirements for verbal stimuli delivered to the right than to the left hemisphere. This indicates that the neural locus (loci) responsible for left visual field verbal processing delay is (are) capable of mediating metacontrast phenomena. It was tentatively concluded that a relative processing delay within the right hemisphere underlies the differing visual half-field metacontrast interaction with stimulus onset asynchrony.

scholarly journals Object-guided Spatial Attention in Touch: Holding the Same Object with Both Hands Delays Attentional Selection

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 931-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Gillmeister ◽  
Julia Adler ◽  
Bettina Forster
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Somatosensory Processing ◽  
Common Object ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
The Right

Previous research has shown that attention to a specific location on a uniform visual object spreads throughout the entire object. Here we demonstrate that, similar to the visual system, spatial attention in touch can be object guided. We measured event-related brain potentials to tactile stimuli arising from objects held by observers' hands, when the hands were placed either near each other or far apart, holding two separate objects, or when they were far apart but holding a common object. Observers covertly oriented their attention to the left, to the right, or to both hands, following bilaterally presented tactile cues indicating likely tactile target location(s). Attentional modulations for tactile stimuli at attended compared to unattended locations were present in the time range of early somatosensory components only when the hands were far apart, but not when they were near. This was found to reflect enhanced somatosensory processing at attended locations rather than suppressed processing at unattended locations. Crucially, holding a common object with both hands delayed attentional selection, similar to when the hands were near. This shows that the proprioceptive distance effect on tactile attentional selection arises when distant event locations can be treated as separate and unconnected sources of tactile stimulation, but not when they form part of the same object. These findings suggest that, similar to visual attention, both space- and object-based attentional mechanisms can operate when we select between tactile events on our body surface.

scholarly journals Post-saccadic face processing is modulated by pre-saccadic preview: Evidence from fixation-related potentials

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antimo Buonocore ◽  
Olaf Dimigen ◽  
David Melcher
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Central Visual Field ◽  
Viewing Condition ◽  
Related Potentials

AbstractHumans actively sample their environment with saccadic eye movements to bring relevant information into high-acuity foveal vision. Despite being lower in resolution, peripheral information is also available prior to each saccade. How pre-saccadic extrafoveal preview of a visual object influences its post-saccadic processing is still an unanswered question. Here, we investigated this question by simultaneously recording behavior and fixation-related brain potentials while human subjects made saccades to face stimuli. We manipulated the relationship between pre-saccadic “previews” and post-saccadic images to explicitly isolate the influences of the former. Subjects performed a gender discrimination task on a newly foveated face under three preview conditions: phase-scrambled face, incongruent face (different identity from the foveated face), and congruent face (same identity). As expected, reaction times were faster after a congruent-face preview compared to the phase-scrambled and incongruent conditions. Importantly, a face preview (either incongruent or congruent) resulted in a strong reduction of post-saccadic neural responses. Specifically, we analyzed the classic face-selective N170 component at occipito-temporal EEG electrodes, which was still present in our experiments with active looking. We found that this component was strongly attenuated for face preview conditions compared to scrambled conditions. This large and long-lasting decrease in evoked activity is consistent with an active prediction mechanism influencing category-specific neural processing at the start of a new fixation. These findings constrain theories of visual stability and show that the extrafoveal preview methodology can be a useful tool to investigate its underlying mechanisms.Significance StatementNeural correlates of object recognition have traditionally been studied by flashing stimuli to the central visual field. This procedure differs in fundamental ways from natural vision, where viewers actively sample the environment with eye movements and also obtain a low-resolution preview of soon-to-be-fixated objects. Here we show that the N170, a classic electrophysiological marker of the structural processing of faces, also occurs during a more natural viewing condition but is massively reduced due to extrafoveal preprocessing (preview benefit). Our results therefore highlight the importance of peripheral vision during trans-saccadic processing in building a coherent and stable representation of the world around us.

scholarly journals Attentional Bias for the Left Visual Field in Ambiguous Necker Cube Processing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Maksimenko ◽  
Alexander Kuc ◽  
Artem Badarin ◽  
Vadim Grubov ◽  
Natalia Shusharina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Left Visual Field ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Necker Cube ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Eeg Power ◽  
The Right

Abstract There is a view that people better react to the stimuli presented in their left visual field (LVF) due to the right lateralization of the ventral attentional network (VAN). Previous studies used color-deviant stimuli and reported LVF bias for a bottom-up attentional component. Here we examined this effect for ambiguous stimuli, Necker cubes whose processing requires bottom-up and top-down attention. We instructed subjects to report cube’s orientation, left or right, while manipulated their ambiguity. In line with other works, we suggested that ambiguity enhanced reliance on the top-down mechanisms. For low ambiguity, subjects responded faster to the left-oriented cubes. EEG power increased in the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) for 0.3 s post-stimulus onset. For high ambiguity, we found no difference in response time and EEG power. These results may evidence VAN activation when processing the bottom-up stimulus features. The eye-tracking confirmed that subjects focused on the center of the stimulus. We hypothesized that they used peripheral vision to acquire sensory information. Therefore, the LVF attentional bias might influence the evidence accumulation process. Our results support the bottom-up attentional bias to the left visual field and provide evidence for the vital role of right TPJ in controlling bottom-up attention.

scholarly journals Covert Reorienting and Inhibition of Return: An Event-Related fMRI Study

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jöran Lepsien ◽  
Stefan Pollmann
Keyword(s):  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Supplementary Eye Field ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
The Right

Using event-related fMRI, we analyzed the functional neuroanatomy of covert reorienting and inhibition of return (IOR). Covert reorienting to a target appearing within 250 msec after an invalid contralateral location cue elicited increased activation in the left fronto-polar cortex (LFPC), right anterior and left posterior middle frontal gyrus, and right cerebellum, areas that have previously been associated with attentional processes, specifically attentional change. In contrast, IOR, which leads to prolonged response times to targets that appear at the cued location at a stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA)>250 msec, was accompanied by increased activation in brain areas involved in oculomotor programming, such as the right medial frontal gyrus (supplementary eye field; SEF) and the right inferior precentral sulcus (frontal eye field; FEF), supporting the oculomotor bias theory of IOR. Pre-SEF and pre-FEF areas were involved both in covert reorienting and IOR. The supramarginal gyri were bilaterally involved in IOR, with the right supramarginal gyrus additionally involved in covert reorienting.

Emotional Reactivity to Visual Content as Revealed by ERP Component Clustering

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽  
Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽  
Jan Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. In the study, the neural basis of emotional reactivity was investigated. Reactivity was operationalized as the impact of emotional pictures on the self-reported ongoing affective state. It was used to divide the subjects into high- and low-responders groups. Independent sources of brain activity were identified, localized with the DIPFIT method, and clustered across subjects to analyse the visual evoked potentials to affective pictures. Four of the identified clusters revealed effects of reactivity. The earliest two started about 120 ms from the stimulus onset and were located in the occipital lobe and the right temporoparietal junction. Another two with a latency of 200 ms were found in the orbitofrontal and the right dorsolateral cortices. Additionally, differences in pre-stimulus alpha level over the visual cortex were observed between the groups. The attentional modulation of perceptual processes is proposed as an early source of emotional reactivity, which forms an automatic mechanism of affective control. The role of top-down processes in affective appraisal and, finally, the experience of ongoing emotional states is also discussed.

Visual asymmetries during face encoding Increased dwell time and fixations in the upper and left hemifields

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Maria Felisberti
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Dwell Time ◽  
The Other ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Reading Habits ◽  
The Right

Visual field asymmetries (VFA) in the encoding of groups rather than individual faces has been rarely investigated. Here, eye movements (dwell time (DT) and fixations (Fix)) were recorded during the encoding of three groups of four faces tagged with cheating, cooperative, or neutral behaviours. Faces in each of the three groups were placed in the upper left (UL), upper right (UR), lower left (LL), or lower right (LR) quadrants. Face recognition was equally high in the three groups. In contrast, the proportion of DT and Fix were higher for faces in the left than the right hemifield and in the upper rather than the lower hemifield. The overall time spent looking at the UL was higher than in the other quadrants. The findings are relevant to the understanding of VFA in face processing, especially groups of faces, and might be linked to environmental cues and/or reading habits.

scholarly journals Proning related bilateral anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy in a patient with COVID-19 related acute respiratory distress syndrome

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty Michelle Clarke ◽  
Vivi Riga ◽  
Amy-lee Shirodkar ◽  
Joel Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Ventilation ◽  
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Respiratory Distress Syndrome ◽  
Distress Syndrome ◽  
Vision Loss ◽  
Prone Positioning ◽  
Disc Oedema ◽  
Ischaemic Optic Neuropathy ◽  
The Right

Abstract Background Non-arteritic ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is a rare but harmful complication of prone positioning. Prone mechanical ventilation is a therapeutic strategy which has been used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic to treat acutely hypoxemic patients with COVID-19 related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Though a small number of cases of unilateral NAION have been reported in patients testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we describe what is to our knowledge, the first reported case of bilateral NAION occurring in a patient proned extensively for the treatment of COVID-19 related ARDS. We consider the potential aetiological factors leading to NAION after prone mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19 and suggest strategies to protect against its development. Case presentation : We report a case of severe, irreversible, visual impairment secondary to bilateral anterior ION in a fifty-five-year-old male who underwent eight episodes of prone mechanical ventilation to treat COVID-19 related ARDS. Once weaned from his sedation he reported bilateral painless vision loss, and bedside ophthalmological assessment identified a reduced visual acuity of 3/30 unaided in the left eye and counting fingers in the right. Dilated indirect ophthalmoscopy revealed inferotemporal optic disc oedema with splinter haemorrhages in the right eye and mild disc oedema, temporal pallor, and nerve fibre layer haemorrhages inferiorly in the left eye. Humphrey visual field 24 − 2 testing confirmed a severely constricted visual field with macular sparing on the right and depressed inferonasal vision with preserved peripheral vision on the left eye. OCT disc imaging shortly after diagnosis revealed bilateral disc swelling and flame haemorrhages in the right eye. Conclusions NAION is a devastating, but preventable complication of prone positioning, which may pose significant risk of vision loss in patients with COVID-19 related ARDS.

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