Attention to faces modulates early face processing during low but not high face discriminability

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated whether attention to faces results in sensory gain modulation. Participants were cued to attend either to faces or to scenes in superimposed face-scene images for which face discriminability was manipulated parametrically. The face-sensitive N170 event-related potential component was used as a measure of early face processing. Attention to faces modulated N170 amplitude, but only when faces were not highly discriminable. Additionally, directing attention to faces modulated later processing (~230-300 msec) for all discriminability levels. These results demonstrate that attention to faces can modulate perceptual processing of faces at multiple stages of processing, including early sensory levels. Critically, the early attentional benefit is present only when the "face signal" (i.e., the perceptual quality of the face) in the environment is suboptimal.

Distinct mechanisms for the impact of distraction and interruption on working memory in aging

“…The N170, an ERP component selective for face stimuli (Bentin et al, 1996) that has been localized to cortical areas in lateral visual association cortex (Gomez Gonzalez et al, 1994) has been shown to not only be a marker of attention (Clapp et al, 2009; Gazzaley et al, 2008; Gazzaley, Cooney, McEvoy et al, 2005; Sreenivasan et al, 2009; Sreenivasan and Jha, 2007; Sreenivasan et al, 2007; Zanto et al, 2009), but also an effective measure to assess differences in attentional allocation to faces across populations (Campanella et al, 2006; Chaby et al, 2003; Gazzaley et al, 2008; McPartland et al, 2004; Nakamura et al, 2001; Tanaka and Curran, 2001; Taylor et al, 2001; Zanto et al, 2009). For example, younger adults show earlier N170 latencies for faces that were attended (i.e.…”

Shyness and the first 100 ms of emotional face processing

“…The N170 is sensitive to high-level visual information, reflecting the structural encoding of facial features (Rossion & Jacques, 2008). It is also sensitive to attentional demands, although the results are controversial (Cauquil, Edmonds, & Taylor, 2000;Sreenivasan, Goldstein, Lustig, Rivas, & Jha, 2009). Reports of the modulations of the N170 by emotional faces have been inconsistent, some studies reporting modulations in amplitudes and latency for happy faces (Ashley, Vuilleumier, & Swick, 2004;Batty & Taylor, 2003) and fearful faces (Batty & Taylor, 2003;Blau, Maurer, Tottenham, & McCandliss, 2007), and others reporting no effects (for a review, see Vuilleumier & Pourtois, 2007).…”

Spatial and Temporal Attention Modulate the Early Stages of Face Processing: Behavioural Evidence from a Reaching Paradigm

“…Accordingly, we might expect that any attentional benefit relating to this process would be difficult to detect, since performance is already very close to ceiling. Sreenivasan and colleagues have documented this, showing no attentional modulation of the face-specific event-related potential (ERP) known as the N170 for highly discriminable faces, but a clear attentional benefit on the same component when the perceptual quality of faces is degraded, effectively reducing the signal-to-noise ratio [29]. Given that attentional effects are clearest with degraded faces [29], it is reasonable to think that the modulatory effects of attention would be fleeting, if they are present at all, with non-degraded faces.…”

“…Sreenivasan and colleagues have documented this, showing no attentional modulation of the face-specific event-related potential (ERP) known as the N170 for highly discriminable faces, but a clear attentional benefit on the same component when the perceptual quality of faces is degraded, effectively reducing the signal-to-noise ratio [29]. Given that attentional effects are clearest with degraded faces [29], it is reasonable to think that the modulatory effects of attention would be fleeting, if they are present at all, with non-degraded faces. With this in mind, we reasoned that the possibility of observing attentional effects would be the greatest during the earliest stages of stimulus processing, when perceptual evidence is still being accumulated.…”