Action Intentions Modulate Allocation of Visual Attention: Electrophysiological Evidence

Agnieszka Wykowska,Anna Schubö

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00379

Agnieszka Wykowska, Anna Schubö

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00379

Copy DOI

Abstract

In line with the Theory of Event Coding (Hommel et al., 2001), action planning has been shown to affect perceptual processing – an effect that has been attributed to a so-called intentional weighting mechanism (Wykowska et al., 2009; Hommel, 2010). This paper investigates the electrophysiological correlates of action-related modulations of selection mechanisms in visual perception. A paradigm combining a visual search task for size and luminance targets with a movement task (grasping or pointing) was introduced, and the EEG was recorded while participants were performing the tasks. The results showed that the behavioral congruency effects, i.e., better performance in congruent (relative to incongruent) action-perception trials have been reflected by a modulation of the P1 component as well as the N2pc (an ERP marker of spatial attention). These results support the argumentation that action planning modulates already early perceptual processing and attention mechanisms.

Highlights

Being active agents in the world, humans must have developed means to optimize their interaction with the environment through efficient action planning
The results showed that the behavioral congruency effects, i.e., better performance in congruent action-perception trials have been reflected by a modulation of the P1 component as well as the N2pc
Most importantly for the purposes of this experiment, the interaction of display type, task type and movement type was significant, F (1, 12) = 6, p < 0.05, η2P = 0.33. This interaction reflected the congruency effect for target present trials: when participants searched for size targets, performance was faster in the grasping condition (M = 433 ms, SEM = 12) relative to pointing (M = 439 ms, SEM = 12) whereas in search for luminance targets, the effects were in the opposite direction, i.e., pointing condition yielded faster RTs (M = 410 ms, SEM = 14) than grasping (M = 418 ms, SEM = 14), see Figure 4

Summary

Introduction

Being active agents in the world, humans must have developed means to optimize their interaction with the environment through efficient action planning. According to Hommel et al (2001), the action representation will involve more “distal” sensory effects, such as visual perception of a motion trajectory of the hit ball as well as the sound of the ball struck by the racket. Such a way of representing planned action might prove efficient, as it entails that consequences of actions which do not match expected effects need to be corrected. Similar ideas are implemented in forward models of motor control (e.g., Wolpert and Ghahramani, 2000)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion