The effect of phasic alertness on temporal precision

Abstract

Many previous studies have found that there is a close relationship between attention and temporal precision. As a mechanism that regulates the intensity of attention, alertness has beneficial influences on perceptual processing. However, little is known regarding whether and how phasic alertness affects temporal precision. Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 used visual and auditory warning cues in a visual temporal order judgment (TOJ) task and a simultaneity judgment (SJ) task to investigate the phasic alerting effect on temporal precision. Participants in the TOJ and SJ tasks were required to make judgments of two successive and synchronous stimuli at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Because of dissension regarding the SJ task, Experiment 3 adopted a dual SJ and TOJ task to create a new indicator of participant performance. Although these tasks may differ in the cognitive mechanism they involve, they all produced consistently decreased just noticeable difference (JND) scores and unaltered point of subjective simultaneity (PSS). This suggests that phasic alertness could significantly improve participants' temporal precision (reduced JNDs) of visual perception, without affecting temporal accuracy (unaltered PSS). We then discuss that the alerting effect on temporal sensitivity might be attributed mainly to transient arousal rather than temporal expectancy. Furthermore, the analysis of response ratios at each SOA could distinguish a heightened temporal precision from a reduction of attentional lapses. According to the previous and present studies, phasic alertness might simultaneously benefited the early perceptual processing and late motor execution of responses.

Right hemisphere superiority for executive control of attention

“…Together with the evidence regarding the necessity of the fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular networks of the RH for both the alerting (J. Li et al, 2016;Q. Li et al, 2018;Perin, Godefroy, Fall, & de Marco, 2010;Posner, 2008) and orienting (Bartolomeo, 2014;Chica et al, 2018;Chica et al, 2012;Mesulam, 1999), this neuroimaging evidence is in support of the findings from the present study regarding the executive control of attention.…”

“…For example, efficient dynamics among these functions may ameliorate the inattentional symptoms associated with hemispatial neglect , which may open critical rehabilitation perspectives (Manly, Hawkins, Evans, Woldt, & Robertson, 2002;Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997). Evidence of modulatory effects involving the alerting function were first observed in studies showing the beneficial effect of an alerting cue on the orienting function (Fernandez-Duque & Posner, 1997;Fuentes & Campoy, 2008;Q. Li, Liu, Huang, & Huang, 2018;Mullane, Lawrence, Corkum, Klein, & McLaughlin, 2016;Wiegand, Petersen, Bundesen, & Habekost, 2017), and the detrimental effect of an alerting cue (whether visual or auditory) in conflict resolution (Asanowicz & Marzecová, 2017;Callejas et al, 2005;Callejas et al, 2004;Zani & Proverbio, 2017).…”

Phasic alertness boosts representational momentum

“…In general, R 2 0 6 ≥ . was considered acceptable (Li et al, 2017(Li et al, , 2018. Two participants' data were removed due to R 2 0 6 < .…”

“…In fact, due to the fixed interval between each pair of stimuli, when the cue was presented, observers might tend to infer how many stimuli would appear until the probe showed up according to the distance between the target and the cue; this created a state similar to a countdown. Even though this countdown effect could occur without the cue, the cue obviously enhanced it; moreover, the position where the probe would appear was uncertain, so this task involved the same characteristics as those of alertness: a state of readiness or vigilance for an upcoming stimulus, event, or reaction ( Posner and Peterson, 1990 ; Peterson and Posner, 2012 ; Li et al, 2017 ). However, any advance indication about the timing or location of stimuli should not be involved in alertness ( Weinbach and Henik, 2012 ); nevertheless, the cue in the study of Hubbard et al did hint at the final location of the target.…”

Impulsivity and risk-seeking as Bayesian inference under dopaminergic control

“…However, it should be possible to elicit exactly the opposite result—an increased preference for the smaller/sooner option with DA—under conditions where the central tendency of temporal estimates dominates. For instance, timing precision is affected by the inclusion of temporally-informative cues [84, 89, 90] as well as manipulations of the interval salience, presumably due to changes in the animal’s alertness [91]. Then removing these cues and selectively decreasing the salience during the delay period should promote the temporal central tendency and, if significant enough, overwhelm the central tendency of rewards in the numerator (Fig.…”