State-dependent attention modulation of human primary visual cortex: A high density ERP study

Abstract

Converging electrophysiological and brain-imaging results show that sensory processing in V1 can be modulated by attention. In this study, we tested the prediction that this early filtering effect depends on the current affective state of the participant. We recorded visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to visual peripheral distractors while participants performed a demanding task at fixation, whose perceptual load was manipulated in a parametric fashion. Crucially, levels of negative affect were either increased or decreased independently of changes in perceptual load.Concurrent psychophysiological measurements and self-report scales confirmed that changes in emotional state were effective. In the control condition, ERP results showed that the C1 component generated in response to the exact same peripheral distractors systematically varied in amplitude with the amount of perceptual load imposed at fixation, being larger when perceptual load decreased. However, this early modulatory effect in V1 was disrupted when participants transiently experienced increased state anxiety, resulting in a decreased C1 amplitude even though task load at fixation remained low. These results suggest that early bottom-up processing in V1 is not only influenced by the amount of attention resources available, but also by the current internal state of the participant.

Negative affective state mimics effects of perceptual load on spatial perception.

“…In line with the brain-imaging evidence and the interpretation put forward by Schmitz and colleagues, in a recent event related brain potential (ERP) study, we showed that affective states reliably influenced the earliest sweep of cortical activation in response to irrelevant neutral peripheral stimuli (Rossi & Pourtois, 2012). This early cortical response was quantified as the amplitude of the C1 (Clark, Fan & Hillyard, 1995;Foxe & Simpson, 2002;Rauss, Schwartz, & Pourtois, 2011), an ERP component classically ascribed to activations in the fundus of the calcarine cortex.…”

“…Furthermore, based on our previous ERP findings showing that load-dependent modulatory effects influencing early visual cortex were basically abolished when participants experienced enhanced levels of NA (Rossi & Pourtois, 2012), we also surmised that the transient experience of NA could mimic the effects of perceptual load, namely reduce the precise spatial localization of the peripheral stimuli even under low load.…”

“…no affective manipulations), while the other half underwent a validated NA induction procedure based on the use of bogus negative feedbacks on one's own task performance (Rossi & Pourtois, 2012). First, we tested the prediction that increasing perceptual load at fixation would alter the ability to determine the exact spatial localization of the peripheral stimuli, in agreement with our previous ERP results.…”

The influence of cognitive control training on stress reactivity and rumination in response to a lab stressor and naturalistic stress

“…We used a validated procedure to induce stress in the lab (Rossi & Pourtois, 2012) and modified the cover story so that it would fit the context of our study.…”

“…In line with Rossi and Pourtois (2012), seven visual analogue scales (VAS) were adopted from the Profile Of Mood States (McNair, Lorr, & Dropplemann, 1992) to assess effects of the stress induction on mood. Three scales provided a mean estimate of positive affect (Dutch equivalents of 'energetic', 'satisfied', and 'happy'), another three scales provided a mean estimate of negative affect (Dutch equivalents of 'angry', 'tense', and 'depressed').…”