scholarly journals Automatic capture of attention by flicker

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Stolte ◽  
Ulrich Ansorge
Keyword(s):  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Target Display ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Detection Mode ◽  
Analysis Of Results ◽  
Automatic Capture ◽  
Benefits And Costs ◽  
Subsequent Target

AbstractVisual motion captures attention, but little is known about the automaticity of these effects. Here, we tested if deviant flicker frequencies, as one form of motion, automatically capture attention. Observers searched for a vertical target among tilted distractors. Prior to the target display, a cue array of sinusoidally modulating (flickering) annuli, each surrounding one location of the subsequent target(-plus-distractors) display was presented for variable durations. Annuli either flickered all at 1 Hz (neutral condition, no-singleton cue), or a single annulus flickered at a unique frequency of 5 Hz, 10 Hz, or 15 Hz. The location of this singleton-frequency cue was uncorrelated with target location. Thus, we could measure benefits (target at cued location) and costs (target ≠ cued location) for cues of different frequencies and durations. The results showed that deviant flicker frequencies capture attention, as we observed benefits and costs, falsifying that nonspatial filtering accounted for the cueing effect. In line with automatic capture, cueing was effective in singleton (Experiment 1) and nonsingleton search tasks (Experiment 2), and is thus not dependent on (“top-down”) singleton detection mode. Moreover, analysis of results ruled out trial-by-trial “swapping” of flicker frequencies from preceding target to subsequent distractor locations. Results also revealed increasing cueing effects with higher cue flicker frequency and longer duration. This indicates a significantly longer period of automatic capture by sinusoidal flicker than the typical inhibition of return observed around 250 ms after the onset of uninformative static or single-transient cues.

scholarly journals Statistical regularities cause attentional suppression with target-matching distractors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Kerzel ◽  
Stanislas Huynh Cong
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Target Display ◽  
Distractor Location ◽  
Target Feature ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Target Matching

AbstractVisual search may be disrupted by the presentation of salient, but irrelevant stimuli. To reduce the impact of salient distractors, attention may suppress their processing below baseline level. While there are many studies on the attentional suppression of distractors with features distinct from the target (e.g., a color distractor with a shape target), there is little and inconsistent evidence for attentional suppression with distractors sharing the target feature. In this study, distractor and target were temporally separated in a cue–target paradigm, where the cue was shown briefly before the target display. With target-matching cues, RTs were shorter when the cue appeared at the target location (valid cues) compared with when it appeared at a nontarget location (invalid cues). To induce attentional suppression, we presented the cue more frequently at one out of four possible target positions. We found that invalid cues appearing at the high-frequency cue position produced less interference than invalid cues appearing at a low-frequency cue position. Crucially, target processing was also impaired at the high-frequency cue position, providing strong evidence for attentional suppression of the cued location. Overall, attentional suppression of the frequent distractor location could be established through feature-based attention, suggesting that feature-based attention may guide attentional suppression just as it guides attentional enhancement.

scholarly journals Working-memory capacity predicts the executive control of visual search among distractors: The influences of sustained and selective attention

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 1430-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley J. Poole ◽  
Michael J. Kane
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Span Tasks ◽  
Target Locations

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.

Inhibition of Return, but Not Facilitation, Disappears Under Vigilance Decrease Due to Sleep Deprivation

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Martella ◽  
Andrea Marotta ◽  
Luis J. Fuentes ◽  
Maria Casagrande
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Deprivation ◽  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Target Interval ◽  
Facilitation Effect ◽  
Peripheral Cues ◽  
Endogenous Component ◽  
Phasic Alerting

In this study, we assessed whether unspecific attention processes signaled by general reaction times (RTs), as well as specific facilitatory (validity or facilitation effect) and inhibitory (inhibition of return, IOR) effects involved in the attentional orienting network, are affected by low vigilance due to both circadian factors and sleep deprivation (SD). Eighteen male participants performed a cuing task in which peripheral cues were nonpredictive about the target location and the cue-target interval varied at three levels: 200 ms, 800 ms, and 1,100 ms. Facilitation with the shortest and IOR with the longest cue-target intervals were observed in the baseline session, thus replicating previous related studies. Under SD condition, RTs were generally slower, indicating a reduction in the participants’ arousal level. The inclusion of a phasic alerting tone in several trials partially compensated for the reduction in tonic alertness, but not with the longest cue-target interval. With regard to orienting, whereas the facilitation effect due to reflexive shifts of attention was preserved with sleep loss, the IOR was not observed. These results suggest that the decrease of vigilance produced by SD affects both the compensatory effects of phasic alerting and the endogenous component involved in disengaging attention from the cued location, a requisite for the IOR effect being observed.

Online gain update for manual following response accompanied by gaze shift during arm reaching

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 1206-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naotoshi Abekawa ◽  
Hiroaki Gomi
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Reaching Movement ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Arm Reaching ◽  
Online Corrections ◽  
The Brain

To capture objects by hand, online motor corrections are required to compensate for self-body movements. Recent studies have shown that background visual motion, usually caused by body movement, plays a significant role in such online corrections. Visual motion applied during a reaching movement induces a rapid and automatic manual following response (MFR) in the direction of the visual motion. Importantly, the MFR amplitude is modulated by the gaze direction relative to the reach target location (i.e., foveal or peripheral reaching). That is, the brain specifies the adequate visuomotor gain for an online controller based on gaze-reach coordination. However, the time or state point at which the brain specifies this visuomotor gain remains unclear. More specifically, does the gain change occur even during the execution of reaching? In the present study, we measured MFR amplitudes during a task in which the participant performed a saccadic eye movement that altered the gaze-reach coordination during reaching. The results indicate that the MFR amplitude immediately after the saccade termination changed according to the new gaze-reach coordination, suggesting a flexible online updating of the MFR gain during reaching. An additional experiment showed that this gain updating mostly started before the saccade terminated. Therefore, the MFR gain updating process would be triggered by an ocular command related to saccade planning or execution based on forthcoming changes in the gaze-reach coordination. Our findings suggest that the brain flexibly updates the visuomotor gain for an online controller even during reaching movements based on continuous monitoring of the gaze-reach coordination.

scholarly journals The contribution of forward masking to saccadic inhibition of return

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Souto ◽  
Sabine Born ◽  
Dirk Kerzel
Keyword(s):  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Forward Masking ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Contrast Gain Control ◽  
Saccadic Reaction Times ◽  
Return Effect

Inhibition of return is the name typically given to the prolonged latency of motor responses directed to a previously cued target location. There is intense debate about the origins of this effect and its function, but most take for granted (despite lack of evidence) that it depends little on forward masking. Therefore, we re-examined the role of forward masking in inhibition of return. Forward masking was indexed by slower saccadic reaction times (SRTs) when the target orientation repeated the cue orientation at the same location. We confirmed effects of orientation repetition in the absence of an attentional bias when cues were presented on both sides of fixation (bilateral presentation). The effect of orientation repetition was reduced with high target contrast, consistent with a low-level origin such as contrast gain control in early visual areas. When presenting cues on only one side of fixation (unilateral presentation), we obtained inhibition of return with longer cue-target intervals and facilitation with targets presented shortly after the cue. The effect of orientation repetition was reduced when facilitation was observed, but was as strong as with bilateral cues when inhibition of return was observed. Therefore, forward masking may contribute to the inhibition of return effect by delaying reaction times to repeated features at the same location, but is not a principal cause of inhibition of return; in agreement with previous views.

scholarly journals Modeling Bottom-Up and Top-Down Attention with a Neurodynamic Model of V1

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Berga ◽  
Xavier Otazu
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Saliency Prediction ◽  
Cortical Magnification ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Characteristics ◽  
Selection Mechanisms

ABSTRACTPrevious studies suggested that lateral interactions of V1 cells are responsible, among other visual effects, of bottom-up visual attention (alternatively named visual salience or saliency). Our objective is to mimic these connections with a neurodynamic network of firing-rate neurons in order to predict visual attention. Early visual subcortical processes (i.e. retinal and thalamic) are functionally simulated. An implementation of the cortical magnification function is included to define the retinotopical projections towards V1, processing neuronal activity for each distinct view during scene observation. Novel computational definitions of top-down inhibition (in terms of inhibition of return and selection mechanisms), are also proposed to predict attention in Free-Viewing and Visual Search tasks. Results show that our model outpeforms other biologically-inpired models of saliency prediction while predicting visual saccade sequences with the same model. We also show how temporal and spatial characteristics of inhibition of return can improve prediction of saccades, as well as how distinct search strategies (in terms of feature-selective or category-specific inhibition) can predict attention at distinct image contexts.

scholarly journals Can the reward associated with gaze leading train faster gaze shifts to a jointly attended target?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Kasprzyk ◽  
Margaret Jackson ◽  
Bert Timmermans
Keyword(s):  
Joint Attention ◽  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Target Location ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Previous Trial ◽  
Learning Effects ◽  
Reward Contingency ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Gaze Behaviour

We investigated whether the reward that has previously been associated with initiated joint attention (the experience of having one’s gaze followed by someone else; Pfeiffer et al., 2014, Schilbach et al., 2010) can influence gaze behaviour and, similarly to monetary rewards (Blaukopf & DiGirolamo, 2005; Manohar et al., 2017; Milstein & Dorris, 2007), elicit learning effects. To this end, we adapted Milstein and Dorris (2007) gaze contingent paradigm, so it required participants to look at an anthropomorphic avatar and then conduct a saccade towards the left or right peripheral target. If participants were fast enough, they could experience social reward in terms of the avatar looking at the same target as they did and thus engaging with them in joint attention. One side had higher reward probability than the other (80 % vs 20 %; on the other fast trials the avatar would simply keep staring ahead). We expected that if participants learned about the reward contingency and if they found the experience of having their gaze followed rewarding, their latency and success rate would improve for saccades to the high rewarded targets. Although our current study did not demonstrate that such social reward has a long lasting effect on gaze behaviour, we found that latencies became shorter over time and that latencies were longer on congruent trials (target location was identical to the previous trial) than on noncongruent trials (target location different than on the previous trial), which could reflect inhibition of return.

Do Children With Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Have Difficulties With Interference Control, Visuospatial Working Memory, and Selective Attention? Developmental Patterns and the Role of Severity and Persistence of DLD

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 3036-3050
Author(s):  
Elma Blom ◽  
Tessel Boerma
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
Developmental Patterns ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have weaknesses in executive functioning (EF), specifically in tasks testing interference control and working memory. It is unknown how EF develops in children with DLD, if EF abilities are related to DLD severity and persistence, and if EF weaknesses expand to selective attention. This study aimed to address these gaps. Method Data from 78 children with DLD and 39 typically developing (TD) children were collected at three times with 1-year intervals. At Time 1, the children were 5 or 6 years old. Flanker, Dot Matrix, and Sky Search tasks tested interference control, visuospatial working memory, and selective attention, respectively. DLD severity was based on children's language ability. DLD persistence was based on stability of the DLD diagnosis. Results Performance on all tasks improved in both groups. TD children outperformed children with DLD on interference control. No differences were found for visuospatial working memory and selective attention. An interference control gap between the DLD and TD groups emerged between Time 1 and Time 2. Severity and persistence of DLD were related to interference control and working memory; the impact on working memory was stronger. Selective attention was unrelated to DLD severity and persistence. Conclusions Age and DLD severity and persistence determine whether or not children with DLD show EF weaknesses. Interference control is most clearly impaired in children with DLD who are 6 years and older. Visuospatial working memory is impaired in children with severe and persistent DLD. Selective attention is spared.

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