In pursuit of visual attention: SSVEP frequency-tagging moving targets

Abstract

Previous research has shown that visual attention does not always exactly follow gaze direction, leading to the concepts of overt and covert attention. However, it is not yet clear how such covert shifts of visual attention to peripheral regions impact the processing of the targets we directly foveate as they move in our visual field. The current study utilised the coregistration of eye-position and EEG recordings while participants tracked moving targets that were embedded with a 30 Hz frequency tag in a steady-state evoked potentials paradigm.When the task required attention to be divided between the moving target (overt attention) and a peripheral region where a second target might appear (covert attention), the Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials elicited by the tracked car at the 30 Hz frequency band were significantly lower than when participants did not have to covertly monitor for a second target. Our findings suggest that neural responses of overt attention are reduced when attention is divided between covert and overt areas. This neural evidence is in line with theoretical accounts describing attention as a pool of finite resources, such as the perceptual load theory. Altogether, these results have practical implications for many real-world situations where covert shifts of attention may reduce visual processing of objects even when they are directly being tracked with the eyes. Keywords:SSVEP EEG Attention Frequency tagging Smooth pursuitIn pursuit of visual attention

Visual Attention in The Fovea and The Periphery during Visual Search

“…A number of studies suggests different relationship between the foveal and peripheral attentional processes. High level of attentional load in the foveal reduce the detection accuracy of stimuli in the peripheral (Macdonald and Lavie, 2008), and directing attention to peripheral regions reduced the EEG response to foveal stimuli (Lissa et al, 2020), and attending one feature in the central task cost the performance in the periphery (Morrone et al, 2002; VanRullen et al, 2004), while other studies show independent relationship between the foveal and peripheral processes (Ludwig et al, 2014; Morrone et al, 2002; Shen et al, 2003; VanRullen et al, 2004). Simultaneously recording of cells with foveal RF and peripheral RF allows us to obtain further insights into this relationship at neuronal level.…”