Object-based auditory and visual attention

Shinn‐Cunningham, Barbara G.

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.02.003

Cited by 635 publications

(604 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The seemingly long time interval between stimulus onset and the attention-driven alpha lateralization is in agreement with the generally slowly evolving auditory alpha response from the literature (6, 31), which temporally lags behind the onsets of speech items by several hundreds of milliseconds (e.g., 32, 33). Furthermore, the high spectro-temporal overlap of simultaneously presented digits (same voice, same perceptual onset time) probably prolonged the perceptual segregation before selection of attended speech could commence (34). Our results show that alpha power lateralization implements a spatially specific filter that acts on neurally encoded competing sensory information to enhance neural activity related to attended stimuli.…”

Section: Spatial Alpha Power Modulation Reveals Dynamics Of Selectivementioning

confidence: 71%

Spatiotemporal dynamics of auditory attention synchronize with speech

Wöstmann

Herrmann

Maess

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

181

229

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Attention plays a fundamental role in selectively processing stimuli in our environment despite distraction. Spatial attention induces increasing and decreasing power of neural alpha oscillations (8-12 Hz) in brain regions ipsilateral and contralateral to the locus of attention, respectively. This study tested whether the hemispheric lateralization of alpha power codes not just the spatial location but also the temporal structure of the stimulus. Participants attended to spoken digits presented to one ear and ignored tightly synchronized distracting digits presented to the other ear. In the magnetoencephalogram, spatial attention induced lateralization of alpha power in parietal, but notably also in auditory cortical regions. This alpha power lateralization was not maintained steadily but fluctuated in synchrony with the speech rate and lagged the time course of low-frequency (1-5 Hz) sensory synchronization. Higher amplitude of alpha power modulation at the speech rate was predictive of a listener's enhanced performance of stream-specific speech comprehension. Our findings demonstrate that alpha power lateralization is modulated in tune with the sensory input and acts as a spatiotemporal filter controlling the read-out of sensory content.attention | neural oscillations | alpha lateralization | synchronization | speech N eural oscillations are tenable biological substrates to instantiate attentional selection of sensory information from our environment (1-3). The power of alpha oscillations (8-12 Hz) is modulated by the degree of selective attention to a behaviorally relevant stimulus (4-6). Attentive focusing to one side in auditory, visual, or tactile space leads to a relative decrease in alpha power in contralateral compared with ipsilateral sensory brain regions (7-10) and governs success of selective attention, that is, of isolating one stimulus at a specific spatial location (11-13) in the context of other distracting stimuli. In speech, however, spatial selective attention alone does not suffice for successful speech comprehension given the multiple timescales (e.g., syllable and word rate) over which speech varies. Any attentional neural mechanism that respects the temporal structure of auditory sensory inputs must therefore be dynamic over time. Here, we tested the hypothesis that spatial attention to one of two concurrent speech streams induces a lateralization of alpha power that synchronizes with the speech rate over time and enhances speech comprehension.In addition to neural alpha oscillations and their role in selective attention, low-frequency neural oscillations (delta/theta band; 1-5 Hz) in sensory cortices synchronize with the temporal structure of acoustic stimuli (14, 15) such as human speech (16,17), and this synchronization supports perception (18). Furthermore, synchronization of low-frequency neural oscillations with speech is enhanced for speech streams to which participants attend (19,20). Critically, low-frequency oscillations are commonly specified as phase-locked activity (synchroni...

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Section: Spatial Alpha Power Modulation Reveals Dynamics Of Selectivementioning

confidence: 71%

Spatiotemporal dynamics of auditory attention synchronize with speech

Wöstmann

Herrmann

Maess

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

181

229

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…First, objects provide a basis for attentional selection and the heightened processing to accompany it (Bregman 1990;Griffiths and Warren 2004;Shinn-Cunningham 2008). A mosaic of spatial channels would provide the basis for steering spatial attention, a process thought to operate at the level of perceptual objects rather than individual cues (e.g., Shinn-Cunningham 2008; Ding and Simon 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Six Degrees of Auditory Spatial Separation

Carlile

Fox

Orchard-Mills

et al. 2016

JARO

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The location of a sound is derived computationally from acoustical cues rather than being inherent in the topography of the input signal, as in vision. Since Lord Rayleigh, the descriptions of that representation have swung between Blabeled line^and Bopponent process^models. Employing a simple variant of a twopoint separation judgment using concurrent speech sounds, we found that spatial discrimination thresholds changed nonmonotonically as a function of the overall separation. Rather than increasing with separation, spatial discrimination thresholds first declined as two-point separation increased before reaching a turning point and increasing thereafter with further separation. This Bdipper^function, with a minimum at 6°of separation, was seen for regions around the midline as well as for more lateral regions (30 and 45°). The discrimination thresholds for the binaural localization cues were linear over the same range, so these cannot explain the shape of these functions. These data and a simple computational model indicate that the perception of auditory space involves a local code or multichannel mapping emerging subsequent to the binaural cue coding.

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“…Interest in top-down effects on auditory scene analysis has grown in recent years [24,25,29]. There is no doubt that perceptual experience can be modified by attention or intention [23] and by previous experience [17], in a way that is specific for each individual.…”

Section: The Role Of Salience and Attention In Scene Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory and visual scene analysis: an overview

Kondo

Loon

Kawahara

et al. 2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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We perceive the world as stable and composed of discrete objects even though auditory and visual inputs are often ambiguous owing to spatial and temporal occluders and changes in the conditions of observation. This raises important questions regarding where and how ‘scene analysis’ is performed in the brain. Recent advances from both auditory and visual research suggest that the brain does not simply process the incoming scene properties. Rather, top-down processes such as attention, expectations and prior knowledge facilitate scene perception. Thus, scene analysis is linked not only with the extraction of stimulus features and formation and selection of perceptual objects, but also with selective attention, perceptual binding and awareness. This special issue covers novel advances in scene-analysis research obtained using a combination of psychophysics, computational modelling, neuroimaging and neurophysiology, and presents new empirical and theoretical approaches. For integrative understanding of scene analysis beyond and across sensory modalities, we provide a collection of 15 articles that enable comparison and integration of recent findings in auditory and visual scene analysis. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’.

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Object-based auditory and visual attention

Cited by 635 publications

References 48 publications

Spatiotemporal dynamics of auditory attention synchronize with speech

Spatiotemporal dynamics of auditory attention synchronize with speech

Six Degrees of Auditory Spatial Separation

Auditory and visual scene analysis: an overview

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