Temporal dissociation between the focal and orientation components of spatial attention in central and peripheral vision

Albonico, Andrea; Malaspina, Manuela; Bricolo, Emanuela; Martelli, Marialuisa; Daini, Roberta

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.10.003

Cited by 12 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It seems that in visual periphery orienting might be faster than focusing (Castiello & Umiltà, 1990), supporting the hypothesis of a low efficiency of focusing when it is deployed outside the fovea (Eriksen & St. James, 1986). Our previous results (Albonico, Malaspina, Bricolo, Martelli, & Daini, 2016) have found a behavioral dissociation between the orienting and focusing components of attention in central and peripheral view. In particular, by using single-letter detection and discrimination tasks with fixed target location (no side uncertainty), we demonstrated that although, a strong effect of the orientation component was evident in the periphery, this was not true for the focal component.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Here we aim at replicating the attentional advantage while reducing the location-side uncertainty. Based on recent findings (Albonico et al, 2016), we predict the orienting component to dominate the peripheral attentional advantage. In this vein, we used different cue types to elicit the orienting and focusing attentional components: (a) similar to Yeshurun and Rashal (2010), a red dot, as the optimal cue for the orientation component (e.g., Posner, 1980;Castiello & Umiltà, 1990); (b) a small square just the size of the target stimulus as the optimal cue for the focal component (e.g., Maringelli & Umiltà, 1998;Turatto et al, 2000); and (c) a big square large enough to include the whole triplet in the largest spacing condition as a nonoptimal cue for the focal and orienting components (Maringelli & Umiltà, 1998;Turatto et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…In order to directly compare the effects of orienting and focusing attention at different retinal location the target position uncertainty should be minimized or equated. For this reason, we used a paradigm based on our previous study (Albonico et al, 2016), with no side uncertainty (i.e., the peripheral target always appears at the same location) and we investigated whether focusing and orienting differently modulate foveal and peripheral crowding. In particular, we hypothesized that orienting would have a strong role in the periphery, while focusing would be more effective in reducing the critical distance only at central locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lastly, a baseline condition in which the target appearance was not precued was also included. The presentation time of the cue was chosen on the basis of a previous study (Albonico et al, 2016) to enhance the attentional effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Focusing and orienting spatial attention differently modulate crowding in central and peripheral vision

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The allocation of attentional resources to a particular location or object in space involves two distinct processes: an orienting process and a focusing process. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that performance of different visual tasks can be improved when a cue, such as a dot, anticipates the position of the target (orienting), or when its dimensions (as in the case of a small square) inform about the size of the attentional window (focusing). Here, we examine the role of these two components of visuo-spatial attention (orienting and focusing) in modulating crowding in peripheral (Experiment 1 and Experiment 3a) and foveal (Experiment 2 and Experiment 3b) vision. The task required to discriminate the orientation of a target letter "T," close to acuity threshold, presented with left and right "H" flankers, as a function of target-flanker distance. Three cue types have been used: a red dot, a small square, and a big square. In peripheral vision (Experiment 1 and Experiment 3a), we found a significant improvement with the red dot and no advantage when a small square was used as a cue. In central vision (Experiment 2 and Experiment 3b), only the small square significantly improved participants' performance, reducing the critical distance needed to recover target identification. Taken together, the results indicate a behavioral dissociation of orienting and focusing attention in their capability of modulating crowding. In particular, we confirmed that orientation of attention can modulate crowding in visual periphery, while we found that focal attention can modulate foveal crowding.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Focusing and orienting spatial attention differently modulate crowding in central and peripheral vision

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Efficient performance on the spatial cueing paradigm requires to quickly orient attention towards the target and to adequately adjust the attentional window according to task demands [27]. [9,11] argued that individuals with dyslexia have difficulties shifting attention to cues, thus sustaining the Sluggish Attentional Shifting theory (SAS) proposed by [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visuo-spatial cueing in children with differential reading and spelling profiles

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dyslexia has been claimed to be causally related to deficits in visuo-spatial attention. In particular, inefficient shifting of visual attention during spatial cueing paradigms is assumed to be associated with problems in graphemic parsing during sublexical reading. The current study investigated visuo-spatial attention performance in an exogenous cueing paradigm in a large sample (N = 191) of third and fourth graders with different reading and spelling profiles (controls, isolated reading deficit, isolated spelling deficit, combined deficit in reading and spelling). Once individual variability in reaction times was taken into account by means of z-transformation, a cueing deficit (i.e. no significant difference between valid and invalid trials) was found for children with combined deficits in reading and spelling. However, poor readers without spelling problems showed a cueing effect comparable to controls, but exhibited a particularly strong right-over-left advantage (position effect). Isolated poor spellers showed a significant cueing effect, but no position effect. While we replicated earlier findings of a reduced cueing effect among poor nonword readers (indicating deficits in sublexical processing), we also found a reduced cueing effect among children with particularly poor orthographic spelling (indicating deficits in lexical processing). Thus, earlier claims of a specific association with nonword reading could not be confirmed. Controlling for ADHD-symptoms reported in a parental questionnaire did not impact on the statistical analysis, indicating that cueing deficits are not caused by more general attentional limitations. Between 31 and 48% of participants in the three reading and/or spelling deficit groups as well as 32% of the control group showed reduced spatial cueing. These findings indicate a significant, but moderate association between certain aspects of visuo-spatial attention and subcomponents of written language processing, the causal status of which is yet unclear.

show abstract

Impaired mechanism of visual focal attention in posterior cortical atrophy.

Primativo¹,

Crutch

Pavisic

et al. 2020

Neuropsychology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Simultanagnosia, a deficit in holistic visual perception, is among the most prominent features of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). Deficits in visuo-perceptual and attentional mechanisms could contribute to simultanagnosia. In the present study, we explored the impaired visual perception of global configuration with two main hypotheses: 1) it is due to a deficit in processing low-spatial frequency stimuli; 2) it arises from deficits in adjusting attentional focus. Method: The visuo-perceptual mechanism was explored by asking participants (5 PCA patients and 20 age-and education-matched healthy controls) to report the local and global elements of incongruent hierarchical letters. Stimuli were unbiased (black letters/white background) and parvocellular-biased (red letters/green background). A cued T-detection task, where the stimulus onset asynchrony and the cues' features varied, was used to explore focal attention. Results: PCA patients systematically failed in reporting the global, but not the local element. The parvocellular-biased condition partially improved the performance in only one patient. In the Tdetection task, controls responded faster to targets cued by red dots and small cues as compared to no cues. Conversely, the cue's features did not affect patients' performance. Conclusions: Results only partially support the hypothesis according to which simultanagnosia is driven by an impairment in processing low-spatial frequencies. Data indicate a deficit in the flexibility of focal attention that prevents PCA patients from adapting the attentional window to the stimulus features. Simultanagnosia in PCA can be conceptualized as a complex result of a deficit involving visuo-perceptual and exogenous attentional mechanisms.

show abstract

Temporal dissociation between the focal and orientation components of spatial attention in central and peripheral vision

Cited by 12 publications

References 43 publications

Focusing and orienting spatial attention differently modulate crowding in central and peripheral vision

Focusing and orienting spatial attention differently modulate crowding in central and peripheral vision

Visuo-spatial cueing in children with differential reading and spelling profiles

Impaired mechanism of visual focal attention in posterior cortical atrophy.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About