Spatial distribution of visual attention: Perceptual sensitivity and response latency

Studies of the spatial distribution of visual attention have shown that attentional facilitation monotonically decreases in a graded fashion with increasing distance from an attended location. However, reaction time (RT) measures have typically shown broader gradients than have signal detection (SD) measures of perceptual sensitivity. It is not clear whether these differences have arisen because the stages of information processing indexed by RT measures are different from those indexed by SD measures, or whether these differences are due to methodological confounds in the SD studies. In the present set of experiments, the spatial distribution of attention was studied by using a luminance detection task in an endogenous cuing paradigm that was designed to permit accurate calculations of SD and RT measures for targets at cued and uncued locations. Subjects made target-present/absent decisions at one of six possible cued or uncued upper visual hemifield locations on each trial. The results from three experiments suggest that the differences between broad and focal attentional distributions are not the result of different stages of information processing indexed by RT measures as opposed to SD measures. Rather, the differing distributions appear to reflect variations in attentional allocation strategies induced by the perceptual requirements typical of RT paradigms as opposed to SD paradigms. These findings support numerous prior studies showing that spatial attention affects perceptual sensitivity and that the strategic allocation of attention is a highly flexible process.     

Divided attention at encoding and retrieval for once- and thrice-presented items: A micro-level analysis of attentional costs

Several recent studies have indicated that retrieval, unlike encoding, is only minimally affected by dividing attention, but is associated with significant secondary task costs. The reported experiment further investigated the effects of divided attention at encoding and retrieval on recall by manipulating the number of presentations of word pairs and using a cued-recall paradigm and a multimeasure approach. This allowed the assessment of accuracy and latency of retrievals of once- and thrice-presented items, as well as of overall attentional costs and the temporal distribution of attentional costs incurred by these retrievals. The results obtained show that providing episodic enhancement to the cue–target relationships, by presenting word pairs three times during the study phase, increases both the probability of retrieval success and the speed of the retrieval. In addition, repetition leads to retrieval which requires less attentional resources. In particular, repeated items require fewer attentional resources during the cue-elaboration/search component. This effect seems to be mediated by a change in the nature of retrievals of the thrice-presented pairs, which seem to mostly bypass the search process, making it faster and less dependent on attentional resources.     

空白重叠范式对自闭症儿童的早期预测

摘 要 空白重叠范式是研究视觉注意特征常用的实验范式。自闭症儿童普遍存在注意解离缺陷,空白重叠范式揭示出该群体注意解离存在异常。国外开始重视将该范式用于自闭症的预测,而我国在这方面的研究很少。本文对空白重叠范式的操作程序、基本原理和数据分析等内容进行了系统地介绍,并就空白重叠范式在自闭症婴幼儿预测中的作用、使用时需注意的方法论等问题进行了展望,以期促进空白重叠范式在我国自闭症早期预测中的运用。     

On the value-dependence of value-driven attentional capture

Findings from an increasingly large number of studies have been used to argue that attentional capture can be dependent on the learned value of a stimulus, or value-driven. However, under certain circumstances attention can be biased to select stimuli that previously served as targets, independent of reward history. Value-driven attentional capture, as studied using the training phase-test phase design introduced by Anderson and colleagues, is widely presumed to reflect the combined influence of learned value and selection history. However, the degree to which attentional capture is at all dependent on value learning in this paradigm has recently been questioned. Support for value-dependence can be provided through one of two means: (1) greater attentional capture by prior targets following rewarded training than following unrewarded training, and (2) greater attentional capture by prior targets previously associated with high compared to low value. Using a variant of the original value-driven attentional capture paradigm, Sha and Jiang (Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 78, 403–414, 2016) failed to find evidence of either, and raised criticisms regarding the adequacy of evidence provided by prior studies using this particular paradigm. To address this disparity, here we provided a stringent test of the value-dependence hypothesis using the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm. With a sufficiently large sample size, value-dependence was observed based on both criteria, with no evidence of attentional capture without rewards during training. Our findings support the validity of the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm in measuring what its name purports to measure.     

Attentional prioritization to contextually new objects

Using a hybrid paradigm of a contextual cuing task and a probe detection task, we tested whether or not contextually new objects can be prioritized in visual search. After several hundred visual search practice trials with repeated and nonrepeated layouts, an additional distractor that was contextually new was presented in the repeated layouts. The results showed that detection of probe dots appearing at the location of a search target was faster in the repeated than in the nonrepeated layouts. More importantly, detection of probe dots at the new object locations was as fast as that of probe dots at the target locations in repeated layouts, suggesting that the attentional system implicitly prioritizes the processing of a location where a change in contextual information has occurred.     

Auditory attentional capture: implicit and explicit approaches

The extent to which distracting items capture attention despite being irrelevant to the task at hand can be measured either implicitly or explicitly (e.g., Simons, Trends Cogn Sci 4:147–155, 2000). Implicit approaches include the standard attentional capture paradigm in which distraction is measured in terms of reaction time and/or accuracy costs within a focal task in the presence (vs. absence) of a task-irrelevant distractor. Explicit measures include the inattention paradigm in which people are asked directly about their noticing of an unexpected task-irrelevant item. Although the processes of attentional capture have been studied extensively using both approaches in the visual domain, there is much less research on similar processes as they may operate within audition, and the research that does exist in the auditory domain has tended to focus exclusively on either an explicit or an implicit approach. This paper provides an overview of recent research on auditory attentional capture, integrating the key conclusions that may be drawn from both methodological approaches.     

An attention account of neural priming

Repetition priming of familiar stimuli (e.g., objects) produces a decrease in visual cortical activity for repeated versus novel items, which has been attributed to more fluent processing for repeated items. By contrast, priming of unfamiliar stimuli (e.g., abstract shapes) produces an increase in visual cortical activity. The mechanism for priming-related increases in activity for repeated unfamiliar stimuli is unknown. We hypothesised that such increases in activity may reflect attentional allocation to these items. We tested this hypothesis using a priming-spatial attention paradigm. During Phase 1 of Experiment 1, participants viewed unfamiliar abstract shapes and familiar objects. During Phase 2, participants identified target letters (S or H). Each target letter was preceded by a non-informative shape or object cue that was repeated (from Phase 1) or novel in the same (valid) or opposite (invalid) hemifield. In Experiment 2, we manipulated shape familiarity by presenting shapes once or six times during Phase 1. For both experiments, at valid locations, target identification accuracy was higher following repeated versus novel unfamiliar item cues and lower following repeated versus novel familiar item cues. These findings support our hypothesis that priming-related increases in visual cortical activity for repeated unfamiliar items may, in part, reflect attentional allocation.     

Sex differences in functional cerebral asymmetries in a repeated measures design

The aim of the present study was to analyze whether task repetitions which are an inevitable part of repeated measures designs might induce performance alterations specific for gender and hemisphere. Male and female subjects conducted twice a lexical decision, a polygon recognition, and a face discrimination task as a visual half field paradigm with the two experimental sessions repeated by 2 weeks. The results show that only in female subjects can a session effect for the lexical decision and the polygon recognition task be demonstrated which is hemisphere specific. Thus, repeated measures designs seem to have a gender- and hemisphere-specific effects of their own which could confound with other variables under study.     

Disentangling the adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder endophenotype: parametric measurement of attention

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists frequently into adulthood. The decomposition of endophenotypes by means of experimental neuro-cognitive assessment has the potential to improve diagnostic assessment, evaluation of treatment response, and disentanglement of genetic and environmental influences. We assessed four parameters of attentional capacity and selectivity derived from simple psychophysical tasks (verbal report of briefly presented letter displays) and based on a "theory of visual attention." These parameters are mathematically independent, quantitative measures, and previous studies have shown that they are highly sensitive for subtle attention deficits. Potential reductions of attentional capacity, that is, of perceptual processing speed and working memory storage capacity, were assessed with a whole report paradigm. Furthermore, possible pathologies of attentional selectivity, that is, selection of task-relevant information and bias in the spatial distribution of attention, were measured with a partial report paradigm. A group of 30 unmedicated adult ADHD patients and a group of 30 demographically matched healthy controls were tested. ADHD patients showed significant reductions of working memory storage capacity of a moderate to large effect size. Perceptual processing speed, task-based, and spatial selection were unaffected. The results imply a working memory deficit as an important source of behavioral impairments. The theory of visual attention parameter working memory storage capacity might constitute a quantifiable and testable endophenotype of ADHD.     

Reflexive attention attenuates change blindness (but only briefly)

Humans are remarkably insensitive to large changes in a visual display if the change occurs simultaneously with a secondary perceptual event. A widely held view is that this change blindness occurs because the secondary perceptual event prevents the change from capturing attention. However, whereas some studies have shown that top-down attentional priming can attenuate change blindness, the evidence regarding the effect of bottom-up attentional capture on change blindness is less clear-cut. Here, we compare the effects of attentional capture on change detection with participants' performance on a well-established attentional paradigm (a Posner-style cuing task). Experiment 1 established the time course of attentional capture in our paradigm. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this attentional capture was associated with facilitated change detection at short (150-msec), but not long (480-msec), latencies. These data show that reflexive attentional shifts facilitate change detection and are consistent with the view that shifts of attention are a necessary precondition for visual awareness.     

颜色字词的识别真的无需注意力资源的参与?——来自Stroop范式的证据

3个实验采用颜色词、颜色词同音词以及颜色语义联想词作为启动词,使启动词的语义和颜色实现时空分离、启动词处于非空间注意焦点位置、降低启动词可视度的情境下,考察具有自动化加工特征的启动词是否受到注意力资源的制约以及启动词在获得不同数量的注意力资源时其自动化程度是否存在显著的差异。结果发现:(1)注意力资源实质性地决定着自动化加工能否顺利进行,具有自动激活特征的刺激在无法获得注意力资源时,自动化加工过程终止。(2)可用的注意力资源数量调控着自动化加工的效率和语义提取的效果,可用的注意力资源数量越多,对启动刺激的语义加工越完善,对目标刺激的促进效果也越有效。本研究结果支持注意力敏感模型关于自动化加工受认知系统的支持和配置才能完成的假设。     

Effortful control, executive attention, and emotional regulation in 7–10-year-old children

In this study, self-regulation was investigated in 7- to 10-year-old children using three different measures: (1) parent and child report questionnaires measuring temperamental effortful control, (2) a conflict task assessing efficiency of executive attention, and (3) the mistaken gift paradigm assessing social smiling in response to an undesirable gift. Both efficiency in executive attention and smiling to the undesired gift increased over age. Executive attention was related to both parent-reported temperamental effortful control and smiling, suggesting links between attentional capacities, broad temperament measures, and social situations requiring attentional control.     

内隐序列学习与注意负荷关系的实验研究

采用2(注意负荷:高、低)单因素被试内实验设计,以18名在校大学生为被试,运用行为实验及事件相关电位技术,对内隐序列学习是否需要注意负荷的参与进行实验研究。结果发现:(1)在高、低注意负荷条件下都出现了内隐序列学习效应;(2)高注意负荷序列探测刺激诱发的P1、N1波幅显著大于低注意负荷序列探测刺激诱发的,表明高注意负荷条件下需要更多的注意;(3)高、低注意负荷序列内隐序列学习量差异不显著,表明内隐序列学习不受注意负荷影响。     

Skilled swimmers maintain performance stability under changing attentional focus constraints

Focusing attention externally, rather than internally, has generally proved advantageous as it avoids interfering with self-organzing processes. However, some research has suggested that this may not necessarily be the case with highly skilled individuals who by definition possess a greater capacity to either adapt or maintain stability under varied task constraints. This study aimed to address this gap by comparing the performance of skilled athletes under internal and external attentional focus conditions using the swimming dive start as a task vehicle.Using a counterbalanced repeated measures design, skilled swimmers performed dive starts in conditions of differing attentional focus – internal and external attentional focus. Kinetic and kinematic variables were collected and statistical analyses conducted to compare differences between conditions.The results revealed no differences in outcome performance (relative peak power, horizontal velocity, and time to 5 m) between internal and external focus conditions. However, remaining kinematic and kinetic measures revealed that all movement events occurred earlier in the movement sequence, suggesting superior self-organization of movement in the external focus condition. An external focus may be beneficial for the organization of movement control in skilled swimmers, but may not have an immediate impact upon the outcome of the task.     

Attentional biases in social anxiety: an investigation using the inattentional blindness paradigm

One line of research has examined attentional bias as a potential maintenance factor in social anxiety using cognitive experiment paradigms. The present study sought to examine the utility of the inattentional blindness (IB) paradigm for assessing attentional bias in social anxiety. Unlike other existing paradigms such as the emotional Stroop or dot-probe tasks, the IB paradigm has the advantage of eliminating the individual's expectation and intention to search for social cues, which would reduce strategic or effortful responses. Two independent experiments were conducted using college students scoring high or low on the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. In both Experiments 1 and 2, participants were randomized to one of three IB experiment conditions, in which a positive face, a negative face, or a neutral item was unexpectedly presented, in the presence/absence of a bogus-speech threat. The overall pattern of our data suggests the presence of hypervigilant attentional processing in social anxiety. The IB paradigm appears to be a useful addition to existing experiment paradigms for investigating attentional bias in social anxiety and perhaps other psychopathology.     

Evidence for intact memory-guided attention in school-aged children

Visual scenes contain many statistical regularities such as the likely identity and location of objects that are present; with experience, such regularities can be encoded and can ultimately facilitate the deployment of spatial attention to important locations. Memory-guided attention has been extensively examined in adults with the 'contextual cueing' paradigm and has been linked to specific neural substrates – a medial temporal lobe (MTL)-frontoparietal network. However, it currently remains unknown when this ability comes 'online' during development. Thus, we examined the performance of school-aged children on an age-appropriate version of the contextual cueing paradigm. Children searched for a target fish among distractor fish in new displays and in 'old' displays on a touchscreen computer. Old displays repeated across blocks of trials and thus provided an opportunity for prior experience with the invariant configuration of the stimuli to guide attentional deployment. We found that over time children searched old displays significantly faster than new displays, thus revealing intact memory-guided attention and presumed function of an MTL-frontoparietal network in 5- to 9-year-olds. More generally, our findings suggest that children are remarkably sensitive to the inherent structure of their visual environment and this enables attentional deployment to become more efficient with experience.     

The composite face illusion: A whole window into our understanding of holistic face perception

Two identical top halves of a face are perceived as being different when their bottom halves belong to different faces, showing that the parts of a face cannot be perceived independently from the whole face. When this visual illusion is inserted in a matching task, observers make more mistakes and/or are slower at matching identical top face halves aligned with different bottom halves than when the bottom halves are spatially offset: The composite face effect. This composite face paradigm has been used in more than 60 studies that have provided information about the specificity and nature of perceptual integration between facial parts (“holistic face perception”), the impairment of this process in acquired prosopagnosia, its developmental course, temporal dynamics, and neural basis. Following a review of the main contributions made with the paradigm, I explain its rationale and strengths, and discuss its methodological parameters, making a number of proposals for its optimal use and refinement in order to improve our understanding of holistic face perception. Finally, I explain how this standard composite face paradigm is fundamentally different than the application to facial parts of a congruency/interference paradigm that has a long tradition in experimental psychology since Stroop (1935), and which was originally developed to measure attentional and response interference between different representations rather than perceptual integration. Moreover, a version of this congruency/interference paradigm used extensively over the past years with composite faces lacks a baseline measure and has decisional, attentional, and stimulus confounds, making the findings of these studies impossible to interpret in terms of holistic perception. I conclude by encouraging researchers in this field to concentrate fully on the standard composite face paradigm, gaze contingency, and other behavioural measures that can help us take one of the most important challenges of visual perception research: Understanding the neural mechanisms of holistic face perception.     

Affective states leak into movement execution: Automatic avoidance of threatening stimuli in fear of spider is visible in reach trajectories

Several studies have shown that the attentional blink (AB; Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992) is diminished for highly arousing T2 stimuli (e.g., Anderson, 2005). Whereas this effect is most often interpreted as evidence for a more efficient processing of arousing information, it could be due also to a bias to report more arousing stimuli than neutral stimuli. We introduce a paradigm that allows one to control for such a response bias. Using this paradigm, we obtained evidence that the diminished AB for taboo words cannot be explained by a response bias. This supports the idea that the emotional modulation of the AB is caused by attentional processes.     

Is the emotional modulation of the attentional blink driven by response bias?

Several studies have shown that the attentional blink (AB; Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992) is diminished for highly arousing T2 stimuli (e.g., Anderson, 2005). Whereas this effect is most often interpreted as evidence for a more efficient processing of arousing information, it could be due also to a bias to report more arousing stimuli than neutral stimuli. We introduce a paradigm that allows one to control for such a response bias. Using this paradigm, we obtained evidence that the diminished AB for taboo words cannot be explained by a response bias. This supports the idea that the emotional modulation of the AB is caused by attentional processes.     

Probing attentional modulation of contextual cueing

The repetition of spatial layout implicitly facilitates visual search (contextual cueing effect; Chun & Jiang, 1998). Although a substantial number of studies have explored the mechanism underlying the contextual cueing effect, the manner in which contextual information guides spatial attention to a target location during a visual search remains unclear. We investigated the nature of attentional modulation by contextual cueing, using a hybrid paradigm of a visual search task and a probe dot detection task. In the case of a repeated spatial layout, detection of a probe dot was facilitated at a search target location and was inhibited at distractor locations relative to nonrepeated spatial layouts. Furthermore, these facilitatory and inhibitory effects possessed different learning properties across epochs (Experiment 1) and different time courses within a trial (Experiment 2). These results suggest that contextual cueing modulates attentional processing via both facilitation to the location of “to-be-attended” stimuli and inhibition to the locations of “to-be-ignored” stimuli.