Toward the influence of temporal attention on the selection of targets in a visual search task: An ERP study

Rolke, Bettina; Festl, Freya; Seibold, Verena C.

doi:10.1111/psyp.12734

Cited by 27 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(125 reference statements)

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“…Although spatial attention and temporal attention are dissociable in some cases (Coull & Nobre, 1998;Rolke, Festl, & Seibold, 2016), in the current study the predictions with regard to the effects of GABA intake were similar. In general, ingestion of 800 mg of GABA (cf.…”

Section: The Present Studysupporting

confidence: 53%

Supplementation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) affects temporal, but not spatial visual attention

Leonte

Colzato

Steenbergen

et al. 2018

Brain and Cognition

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Section: The Present Studysupporting

confidence: 53%

Supplementation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) affects temporal, but not spatial visual attention

Leonte

Colzato

Steenbergen

et al. 2018

Brain and Cognition

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“…The N2pc is a transient negative deflection that is seen contralateral to a selected item in a visual display, typically occurring 150-300 ms after display onset. Prior work has shown that N2pc latency is sensitive to a range of manipulations such as search difficulty (18), temporal cues (19), and reward (20). This work suggests that the N2pc may be particularly well suited for testing whether spatial attention alters the speed of visual processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Covert spatial attention speeds target individuation

Foster

Bsales

Awh

2019

Preprint

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Covert spatial attention has long been thought to speed visual processing. Psychophysics studies have shown that target information accrues faster at attended locations than at unattended locations. However, with behavioral evidence alone, it is difficult to determine whether attention speeds visual processing of the target, or subsequent post-perceptual stages of processing (e.g. decision making and response selection). Moreover, while many studies have shown that that attention can boost the amplitude of visually-evoked neural responses, no effect has been observed on the latency of those neural responses. Here, we offer new evidence that may reconcile the neural and behavioral findings. Our study focused on the N2pc, an EEG marker of visual selection that has been linked with object individuation -the formation of an object representation that is distinct from the background and from other objects. In two experiments, we manipulated whether or not covert attention was precisely deployed to the location of an impending search target. We found that the target-evoked N2pc onset approximately 20 ms earlier when the target location was cued than when it was not cued. Thus, although attention may not speed the earliest stages of sensory processing, attention does speed the critical transition between raw sensory encoding and the formation of individuated object representations. Attention Speeds Target Individuation 3 Significance StatementCovert spatial attention improves processing at attended locations. Past behavioral studies have shown that information about visual targets accrues faster at attended than at unattended locations. However, it has remained unclear whether attention speeds perceptual analysis or subsequent post-perceptual stages of processing. Here we present robust evidence that attention speeds the N2pc, an electrophysiological signal that indexes the formation of individuated object representations. Our findings show that attention speeds a relatively early stage of perceptual processing, while also elucidating the specific perceptual process that is speeded. Attention Speeds Target Individuation

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“…Regarding the neurophysiology of temporal attention, several studies have described the left inferior parietal cortex (Coull & Nobre, ), intraparietal sulcus (Davranche et al, ), premotor and supplementary motor areas, and a network of bilateral frontoparietal areas (Coull, Frith, Büchel, & Nobre, ; Coull & Nobre, ) as key neuroanatomical regions responsible for temporal expectations. Modulatory effects of temporal expectancies on the ERPs N1, N2, N2pc, and P300 (Griffin, Miniussi, & Nobre, ; Miniussi et al, ; Rolke, Festl, & Seibold, ; Seibold, Fiedler, & Rolke, ; Seibold & Rolke, ; see Correa, Lupiáñez, Madrid, & Tudela, , for details), and event‐related synchronization/desynchronization of the ongoing EEG (Babiloni et al, ; Rohenkohl & Nobre, ) components have previously been described in several electrophysiological studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the feasibility of the steady‐state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) to study temporal attention

2017

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Improvements in perceptual performance can be obtained when events in the environment are temporally predictable-and temporal predictability improves attention and sensory processing. The amplitude of the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) has been shown to correlate with attention paid to a flickering stimulus even if the flickering stimulus is irrelevant for the task. However, to our knowledge, the validity of the SSVEP to study temporal attention has not been established. Therefore, we designed an SSVEP temporal attention task to evaluate whether the SSVEP and its temporal dynamics can be used to study temporal attention. We used a forced-choice perceptual detection task while presenting task-irrelevant visual flicker at alpha (10 Hz) and two surrounding frequencies (6 or 15 Hz). Temporal predictability was manipulated by having the interstimulus intervals (ISI) be constant or variable. Behavioral results replicated previous studies confirming the benefits of temporal expectations on performance for trials with constant ISI. EEG analyses revealed robust SSVEP amplitudes for all flicker frequencies, although a main effect of temporal expectations on SSVEP amplitude was not significant. Additional analyses revealed temporal predictability-related modulations of SSVEP amplitude at 10 Hz and its second harmonic (20 Hz). The effect of temporal predictability was also observed for the 6 Hz flicker, but not for 15 Hz for any ISI condition. These results provide some evidence for the feasibility of the SSVEP technique to study temporal attention for stimuli with flicker frequencies around the alpha band.

show abstract

Toward the influence of temporal attention on the selection of targets in a visual search task: An ERP study

Cited by 27 publications

References 64 publications

Supplementation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) affects temporal, but not spatial visual attention

Supplementation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) affects temporal, but not spatial visual attention

Covert spatial attention speeds target individuation

Evaluating the feasibility of the steady‐state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) to study temporal attention

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