Abstract
IntroductionMany goal‐directed and spontaneous everyday activities (e.g., planning, mind wandering) rely on an internal focus of attention. Internally directed cognition (IDC) was shown to differ from externally directed cognition in a range of neurophysiological indicators such as electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha activity and eye behavior.MethodsIn this EEG–eye‐tracking coregistration study, we investigated effects of attention direction on EEG alpha activity and various relevant eye parameters. We used an established paradigm to manipulate internal attention demands in the visual domain within tasks by means of conditional stimulus masking.ResultsConsistent with previous research, IDC involved relatively higher EEG alpha activity (lower alpha desynchronization) at posterior cortical sites. Moreover, IDC was characterized by greater pupil diameter (PD), fewer microsaccades, fixations, and saccades. These findings show that internal versus external cognition is associated with robust differences in several indicators at the neural and perceptual level. In a second line of analysis, we explored the intrinsic temporal covariation between EEG alpha activity and eye parameters during rest. This analysis revealed a positive correlation of EEG alpha power with PD especially in bilateral parieto‐occipital regions.ConclusionTogether, these findings suggest that EEG alpha activity and PD represent time‐sensitive indicators of internal attention demands, which may be involved in a neurophysiological gating mechanism serving to shield internal cognition from irrelevant sensory information.
Highlights
Many goal-directed and spontaneous everyday activities rely on an internal focus of attention
Together, these findings suggest that EEG alpha activity and pupil diameter (PD) represent time-sensitive indicators of internal attention demands, which may be involved in a neurophysiological gating mechanism serving to shield internal cognition from irrelevant sensory information
This study provided additional evidence that Internally directed cognition (IDC) is consistently associated with relatively higher EEG alpha activity over posterior brain regions, which is viewed to serve the inhibition of task-irrelevant sensory processing
Summary
But not always seeing, as we spend a considerable amount of time focusing our attention on internal processes (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010; Song & Wang, 2012). There is substantial evidence that alpha activity increases as a function of internal attention demands and plays a role in the inhibition of task-irrelevant (sensory) processes to shield ongoing thought from distraction (Händel, Haarmeier, & Jensen, 2011; Rihs, Michel, & Thut, 2007; for reviews, see Benedek, 2018; Jensen & Mazaheri, 2010; Klimesch, 2012; Palva & Palva, 2007; Zabelina, 2018). For tasks with well-controlled sensory demands, eye behavior can serve as physiological indicator of an internal versus external focus of attention
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