scholarly journals Rapid Parallel Attentional Selection Can Be Controlled by Shape and Alphanumerical Category

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1672-1687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jenkins ◽  
Anna Grubert ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Control ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Multiple Target ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Selection Tasks ◽  
Selection Of

Previous research has shown that when two color-defined target objects appear in rapid succession at different locations, attention is deployed independently and in parallel to both targets. This study investigated whether this rapid simultaneous attentional target selection mechanism can also be employed in tasks where targets are defined by a different visual feature (shape) or when alphanumerical category is the target selection attribute. Two displays that both contained a target and a nontarget object on opposite sides were presented successively, and the SOA between the two displays was 100, 50, 20, or 10 msec in different blocks. N2pc components were recorded to both targets as a temporal marker of their attentional selection. When observers searched for shape-defined targets (Experiment 1), N2pc components to the two targets were equal in size and overlapped in time when the SOA between the two displays was short, reflecting two parallel shape-guided target selection processes with their own independent time course. Essentially the same temporal pattern of N2pc components was observed when alphanumerical category was the target-defining attribute (Experiment 2), demonstrating that the rapid parallel attentional selection of multiple target objects is not restricted to situations where the deployment of attention can be guided by elementary visual features but that these processes can even be employed in category-based attentional selection tasks. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the cognitive and neural basis of top–down attentional control.

scholarly journals On the origin of event-related potentials indexing covert attentional selection during visual search: timing of selection by macaque frontal eye field and event-related potentials during pop-out search

2013 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Braden A. Purcell ◽  
Jeffrey D. Schall ◽  
Geoffrey F. Woodman
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Eye Field

Event-related potentials (ERPs) have provided crucial data concerning the time course of psychological processes, but the neural mechanisms producing ERP components remain poorly understood. This study continues a program of research in which we investigated the neural basis of attention-related ERP components by simultaneously recording intracranially and extracranially from macaque monkeys. Here, we compare the timing of attentional selection by the macaque homologue of the human N2pc component (m-N2pc) with the timing of selection in the frontal eye field (FEF), an attentional-control structure believed to influence posterior visual areas thought to generate the N2pc. We recorded FEF single-unit spiking and local field potentials (LFPs) simultaneously with the m-N2pc in monkeys performing an efficient pop-out search task. We assessed how the timing of attentional selection depends on task demands by direct comparison with a previous study of inefficient search in the same monkeys (e.g., finding a T among Ls). Target selection by FEF spikes, LFPs, and the m-N2pc was earlier during efficient pop-out search rather than during inefficient search. The timing and magnitude of selection in all three signals varied with set size during inefficient but not efficient search. During pop-out search, attentional selection was evident in FEF spiking and LFP before the m-N2pc, following the same sequence observed during inefficient search. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that feedback from FEF modulates neural activity in posterior regions that appear to generate the m-N2pc even when competition for attention among items in a visual scene is minimal.

scholarly journals Multivariate EEG analyses support high-resolution tracking of feature-based attentional selection

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort ◽  
Anna Grubert ◽  
Christian N. L. Olivers ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Forward Model ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Feature Based

AbstractThe primary electrophysiological marker of feature-based selection is the N2pc, a lateralized posterior negativity emerging around 180-200 ms. As it relies on hemispheric differences, its ability to discriminate the locus of focal attention is severely limited. Here we demonstrate that multivariate analyses of raw EEG data provide a much more fine-grained spatial profile of feature-based target selection. When training a pattern classifier to determine target position from EEG, we were able to decode target positions on the vertical midline, which cannot be achieved using standard N2pc methodology. Next, we used a forward encoding model to construct a channel tuning function that describes the continuous relationship between target position and multivariate EEG in an eight-position display. This model can spatially discriminate individual target positions in these displays and is fully invertible, enabling us to construct hypothetical topographic activation maps for target positions that were never used. When tested against the real pattern of neural activity obtained from a different group of subjects, the constructed maps from the forward model turned out statistically indistinguishable, thus providing independent validation of our model. Our findings demonstrate the power of multivariate EEG analysis to track feature-based target selection with high spatial and temporal precision.Significance StatementFeature-based attentional selection enables observers to find objects in their visual field. The spatiotemporal profile of this process is difficult to assess with standard electrophysiological methods, which rely on activity differences between cerebral hemispheres. We demonstrate that multivariate analyses of EEG data can track target selection across the visual field with high temporal and spatial resolution. Using a forward model, we were able to capture the continuous relationship between target position and EEG measurements, allowing us to reconstruct the distribution of cortical activity for target locations that were never shown during the experiment. Our findings demonstrate the existence of a temporally and spatially precise EEG signal that can be used to study the neural basis of feature-based attentional selection.

An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Einat Rashal ◽  
Mehdi Senoussi ◽  
Elisa Santandrea ◽  
Suliann Ben Hamed ◽  
Emiliano Macaluso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Search Tasks

This work reports an investigation of the effect of combined top-down and bottom-up attentional control sources, using known attention-related EEG components that are thought to reflect target selection (N2pc) and distractor suppression (PD), in easy and difficult visual search tasks.

The Interrelations between Verbal Working Memory and Visual Selection of Emotional Faces

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1189-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Grecucci ◽  
David Soto ◽  
Raffaella Ida Rumiati ◽  
Glyn W. Humphreys ◽  
Pia Rotshtein
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Visual Selection ◽  
Emotional Word ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Orbital Gyrus ◽  
High Level ◽  
Selection Of

Working memory (WM) and visual selection processes interact in a reciprocal fashion based on overlapping representations abstracted from the physical characteristics of stimuli. Here, we assessed the neural basis of this interaction using facial expressions that conveyed emotion information. Participants memorized an emotional word for a later recognition test and then searched for a face of a particular gender presented in a display with two faces that differed in gender and expression. The relation between the emotional word and the expressions of the target and distractor faces was varied. RTs for the memory test were faster when the target face matched the emotional word held in WM (on valid trials) relative to when the emotional word matched the expression of the distractor (on invalid trials). There was also enhanced activation on valid compared with invalid trials in the lateral orbital gyrus, superior frontal polar (BA 10), lateral occipital sulcus, and pulvinar. Re-presentation of the WM stimulus in the search display led to an earlier onset of activity in the superior and inferior frontal gyri and the anterior hippocampus irrespective of the search validity of the re-presented stimulus. The data indicate that the middle temporal and prefrontal cortices are sensitive to the reappearance of stimuli that are held in WM, whereas a fronto-thalamic occipital network is sensitive to the behavioral significance of the match between WM and targets for selection. We conclude that these networks are modulated by high-level matches between the contents of WM, behavioral goals, and current sensory input.

scholarly journals Brain and Cognitive Mechanisms of Top–Down Attentional Control in a Multisensory World: Benefits of Electrical Neuroimaging

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawel J. Matusz ◽  
Nora Turoman ◽  
Ruxandra I. Tivadar ◽  
Chrysa Retsa ◽  
Micah M. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
Object Representations ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Electrical Neuroimaging ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Selection Of

In real-world environments, information is typically multisensory, and objects are a primary unit of information processing. Object recognition and action necessitate attentional selection of task-relevant from among task-irrelevant objects. However, the brain and cognitive mechanisms governing these processes remain not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that attentional selection of visual objects is controlled by integrated top–down audiovisual object representations (“attentional templates”) while revealing a new brain mechanism through which they can operate. In multistimulus (visual) arrays, attentional selection of objects in humans and animal models is traditionally quantified via “the N2pc component”: spatially selective enhancements of neural processing of objects within ventral visual cortices at approximately 150–300 msec poststimulus. In our adaptation of Folk et al.'s [Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., & Johnston, J. C. Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18, 1030–1044, 1992] spatial cueing paradigm, visual cues elicited weaker behavioral attention capture and an attenuated N2pc during audiovisual versus visual search. To provide direct evidence for the brain, and so, cognitive, mechanisms underlying top–down control in multisensory search, we analyzed global features of the electrical field at the scalp across our N2pcs. In the N2pc time window (170–270 msec), color cues elicited brain responses differing in strength and their topography. This latter finding is indicative of changes in active brain sources. Thus, in multisensory environments, attentional selection is controlled via integrated top–down object representations, and so not only by separate sensory-specific top–down feature templates (as suggested by traditional N2pc analyses). We discuss how the electrical neuroimaging approach can aid research on top–down attentional control in naturalistic, multisensory settings and on other neurocognitive functions in the growing area of real-world neuroscience.

scholarly journals Implicit Attentional Selection of Bound Visual Features

Neuron ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 723-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Melcher ◽  
Thomas V. Papathomas ◽  
Zoltán Vidnyánszky
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Selection Of

scholarly journals Retrospective Selection in Visual and Tactile Working Memory Is Mediated by Shared Control Mechanisms

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 546-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Katus ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Synergy Effects ◽  
Tactile Working Memory ◽  
Attention To Task ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Attention Shifts

Selective attention regulates the activation of working memory (WM) representations. Retro-cues, presented after memory sample stimuli have been stored, modulate these activation states by triggering shifts of attention to task-relevant samples. Here, we investigated whether the control of such attention shifts is modality-specific or shared across sensory modalities. Participants memorized bilateral tactile and visual sample stimuli before an auditory retro-cue indicated which visual and tactile stimuli had to be retained. Critically, these cued samples were located on the same side or opposite sides, thus requiring spatially congruent or incongruent attention shifts in tactile and visual WM. To track the attentional selection of retro-cued samples, tactile and visual contralateral delay activities (tCDA and CDA components) were measured. Clear evidence for spatial synergy effects from attention shifts in visual WM on concurrent shifts in tactile WM were observed: Tactile WM performance was impaired, and tCDA components triggered by retro-cues were strongly attenuated on opposite-sides relative to same-side trials. These spatial congruency effects were eliminated when cued attention shifts in tactile WM occurred in the absence of simultaneous shifts within visual WM. Results show that, in contrast to other modality-specific aspects of WM control, concurrent attentional selection processes within tactile and visual WM are mediated by shared supramodal control processes.

scholarly journals Searching for Something Familiar or Novel: Top–Down Attentional Selection of Specific Items or Object Categories

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 719-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Wu ◽  
Gaia Scerif ◽  
Richard N. Aslin ◽  
Tim J. Smith ◽  
Rebecca Nako ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Prime Stimulus ◽  
Attentional Guidance ◽  
Object Categories ◽  
Item Level ◽  
Category Search ◽  
Selection Of

Visual search is often guided by top–down attentional templates that specify target-defining features. But search can also occur at the level of object categories. We measured the N2pc component, a marker of attentional target selection, in two visual search experiments where targets were defined either categorically (e.g., any letter) or at the item level (e.g., the letter C) by a prime stimulus. In both experiments, an N2pc was elicited during category search, in both familiar and novel contexts (Experiment 1) and with symbolic primes (Experiment 2), indicating that, even when targets are only defined at the category level, they are selected at early sensory-perceptual stages. However, the N2pc emerged earlier and was larger during item-based search compared with category-based search, demonstrating the superiority of attentional guidance by item-specific templates. We discuss the implications of these findings for attentional control and category learning.

scholarly journals Mind-wandering Is Accompanied by Both Local Sleep and Enhanced Processes of Spatial Attention Allocation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Wienke ◽  
Mandy V Bartsch ◽  
Lena Vogelgesang ◽  
Christoph Reichert ◽  
Hermann Hinrichs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Search Task ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cortical Processing ◽  
High Frequency Activity ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
Local Sleep

Abstract Mind-wandering (MW) is a subjective, cognitive phenomenon, in which thoughts move away from the task toward an internal train of thoughts, possibly during phases of neuronal sleep-like activity (local sleep, LS). MW decreases cortical processing of external stimuli and is assumed to decouple attention from the external world. Here, we directly tested how indicators of LS, cortical processing, and attentional selection change in a pop-out visual search task during phases of MW. Participants’ brain activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography, MW was assessed via self-report using randomly interspersed probes. As expected, the performance decreased under MW. Consistent with the occurrence of LS, MW was accompanied by a decrease in high-frequency activity (HFA, 80–150 Hz) and an increase in slow wave activity (SWA, 1–6 Hz). In contrast, visual attentional selection as indexed by the N2pc component was enhanced during MW with the N2pc amplitude being directly linked to participants’ performance. This observation clearly contradicts accounts of attentional decoupling that would predict a decrease in attention-related responses to external stimuli during MW. Together, our results suggest that MW occurs during phases of LS with processes of attentional target selection being upregulated, potentially to compensate for the mental distraction during MW.

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