Cross-modal orienting of exogenous attention results in visual-cortical facilitation, not suppression

Jonathan M Keefe,Emilia Pokta,Viola S Störmer

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-89654-x

Jonathan M Keefe, Emilia Pokta + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89654-x

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Abstract

Attention may be oriented exogenously (i.e., involuntarily) to the location of salient stimuli, resulting in improved perception. However, it is unknown whether exogenous attention improves perception by facilitating processing of attended information, suppressing processing of unattended information, or both. To test this question, we measured behavioral performance and cue-elicited neural changes in the electroencephalogram as participants (N = 19) performed a task in which a spatially non-predictive auditory cue preceded a visual target. Critically, this cue was either presented at a peripheral target location or from the center of the screen, allowing us to isolate spatially specific attentional activity. We find that both behavior and attention-mediated changes in visual-cortical activity are enhanced at the location of a cue prior to the onset of a target, but that behavior and neural activity at an unattended target location is equivalent to that following a central cue that does not direct attention (i.e., baseline). These results suggest that exogenous attention operates via facilitation of information at an attended location.

Highlights

Attention may be oriented exogenously to the location of salient stimuli, resulting in improved perception
Preregistered followup t-tests were performed for the short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) condition, revealing that accuracy was significantly higher following valid cues compared to invalid cues, t(18) = 4.39, p < 0.001, d = 1.01, and central cues, t(18) = 3.67, p = 0.002, d = 0.84
In order to investigate whether cross-modal exogenous attention improved performance on the visual task by facilitating visual-cortical processing at the cued location, suppressing visual-cortical processing at the uncued location, or both, we examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the peripheral cues relative to the central cues at parietal-occipital electrode sites

Summary

Introduction

Attention may be oriented exogenously (i.e., involuntarily) to the location of salient stimuli, resulting in improved perception. It is unknown whether exogenous attention improves perception by facilitating processing of attended information, suppressing processing of unattended information, or both To test this question, we measured behavioral performance and cue-elicited neural changes in the electroencephalogram as participants (N = 19) performed a task in which a spatially non-predictive auditory cue preceded a visual target. If exogenous attention is primarily supported by neural enhancement, we would expect increased neural activity over contralateral cortex relative to the no-shift cue; alternatively, if exogenous attention is primarily supported by neural suppression, we would expect decreased activity over ipsilateral cortex relative to the central no-shift cue; an intermediate level of activity elicited by the no-shift cue would suggest the involvement of both enhancement and suppression In addition to these neural measures, we analyzed behavioral performance examining costs and benefits at the cued and uncued location relative to the central cue. These measures would provide converging evidence of how spatial exogenous attention improves perceptual processing of a target at attended relative to unattended locations

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