Time for the Fourth Dimension in Attention

Abstract

This chapter takes attention into the fourth dimension by considering research that explores how predictive information in the temporal structure of events can contribute to optimizing perception. The authors review behavioural and neural findings from three lines of investigation in which the temporal regularity and predictability of events are manipulated through rhythms, hazard functions, and cues. The findings highlight the fundamental role temporal expectations play in shaping several aspects of performance, from early perceptual analysis to motor preparation. They also reveal modulation of neural activity by temporal expectations all across the brain. General principles of how temporal expectations are generated and bias information processing are still emerging. The picture so far suggests that there may be multiple sources of temporal expectation, which can bias multiple stages of stimulus analysis depending on the stages of information processing that are critical for task performance. Neural oscillations are likely to provide an important medium through which the anticipated timing of events can regulate neuronal excitability.

Combining spatial and temporal expectations to improve visual perception

“…However, so far, a unified theoretical framework explaining both types of effects has been lacking. In the current experiment we tested the recent proposal that temporal expectation interacts with predictions about spatial receptive-field properties to improve visual perception (Doherty et al, 2005;Nobre & Rohenkohl, 2014;.…”

“…In nature such predictions often combine information about the location (where) and timing (when) of relevant events. In the laboratory, however, we tend to study each type of expectation in isolation (for further discussion see Nobre, 2010;Nobre & Rohenkohl, 2014). We risk, therefore, missing important interactions between different sources of expectations.…”

“…Recent findings have also demonstrated behavioral consequences linked to perceptual modulation by predictable structure of events (Vangkilde, Petersen, & Bundesen, 2013; for a review see Nobre & Rohenkohl, 2014). For example, temporally predictive symbolic cues enhance perceptual sensitivity (d 0 ) for identifying target letters embedded within a stream of distractors under rapid-serial-visual-presentation (RSVP) conditions (Correa, Lupiáñez, & Tudela, 2005;Davranche, Nazarian, Vidal, & Coull, 2011).…”

“…Furthermore, using pharmacological manipulations, it is possible to dissociate effects of selective temporal expectation from those of general alertness in cueing tasks (Coull, Nobre, & Frith, 2001). A recent, promising proposal is that temporal expectation operates synergistically with other anticipatory topdown biasing mechanisms to enhance their effect (Doherty et al, 2005;Nobre, 2010;Nobre & Rohenkohl, 2014). For example, spatial expectation leads to relative increases in firing rate in neurons with receptive fields covering the attended location (Luck et al, 1997), and leads to relative desynchronisation of low-frequency alpha-band oscillations at the neuronal ensemble level.…”

Time in Cortical Circuits

“…The brain is able to make use of these to optimize the selection of the relevant items and events occurring at the right moments. Therefore, top-down biases not only carry information about receptive field properties, but also harbor information about how those receptive field properties are likely to unfold in time Nobre et al, 2012;Nobre and Rohenkohl, 2014).…”