Precuing Task Research Articles

Contrasting effects of exogenous and endogenous attention on size perception.

Although neuroimaging studies have shown that exogenous and endogenous attention are dissociable, only a few behavioural studies have explored their differential effects on visual sensitivity, and none have directly focused on visual appearance. Here, we show that exogenous and endogenous attention produces contrasting effects on apparent size. Participants performed a spatial pre-cueing comparative judgement task that had been frequently used to test the attentional effects on visual perception. The results showed that a smaller stimulus within the focus of exogenous attention was perceived to be equal in size as a larger unattended stimulus, whereas a larger stimulus within the focus of endogenous attention was perceived to be equal in size as a smaller unattended stimulus. In other words, exogenous attention increased the perceived size while endogenous attention decreased the perceived size. The contrasting effects may be attributed to the mechanism that exogenous attention favours parvocellular processing for which more neurons with smaller receptive fields (RFs) are activated for a given size, whereas endogenous attention favours magnocellular processing for which fewer neurons with larger RFs are activated. This finding shows that exogenous and endogenous attention acts differentially on size perception, and provides supportive evidence for the distinct mechanisms underlying the two types of attentional processing.

An Analysis of Driver’s Exogenous Attention During Driving at Night by a Pre-cueing Task

An Analysis of Driver’s Exogenous Attention During Driving at Night by a Pre-cueing Task

Age-Related Differences in Executive Functions Within High-Level Youth Soccer Players

Background: When measuring executive functions (EF), it is common for athletes to be assessed on their ability to detect and process explicit sources of information. Yet not all of the information is perceived explicitly in an environment. Aim: This study aimed to include a new assessment that measures the impact of implicitly perceived congruent and incongruent visual precues on response times. Method: Seventy-four male soccer players: U12 (n=15), U13 (n=17), U17 (n=21) and U19 (n=21) representing a German 1st league club were assessed on four cognitive tasks. Results: The MANOVAs revealed a multivariate effect of age group on a reactive stress tolerance task (F(6,140)=11.670, p<0.001, ES=0.38) and a Stop Signal Reaction Time task (F(6,144)=6.142, p<0.001, ES=0.20). A one-way ANOVA revealed an age group effect for response accuracy in a multiple-object-tracking task (F(3,74)=4.05, p=0.01, ES=0.14). Lastly, a within-subjects effect of congruency on the implicit precued task (F(1,74)=51.32, p<0.001, ES=0.41) and a between-subjects effect of age group (F(3,74)=4.30, p=0.008, ES=0.15) was observed. Interpretation: The results provided support for including an implicit precueing task, while the overall testing demonstrated that the magnitude of the increase in EF performance between ages was greater across the younger age groups compared to the older age groups.

The Age Effects on the Cognitive Processes of Intention-Based and Stimulus-Based Actions: An ERP Study.

The functional decline in action among older adults is caused not only by physical weakness but also by cognitive decline. In this study, we aimed to compare the cognitive effects of age between intention-based and stimulus-based action modes electrophysiologically. Because age-related declines in cognitive function might proceed distinctly according to specific action modes and processes, four specific cognitive processes, action-effect binding, stimulus-response linkage, action-effect feedback control, and effect-action retrieval, were investigated. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) during a modified acquisition-test paradigm in young (mean age = 21, SD = 2) and old (mean age = 69, SD = 5) groups. A temporal bisection task and a movement pre-cuing task were used during the acquisition and test phases, respectively. Using ERP indices including readiness potential (RP), P3, N2 and contingent negative variation (CNV) to identify these four specific processes for the two action modes, we revealed the effects of age on each ERP index. The results showed similar patterns of waveforms but consistently decreasing amplitudes of all four ERP indices in the old age group compared with the young age group, which indicates not only generally declining functions of action preparation in older adults but also age effects specific to the action modes and processes that might otherwise be mixed together under confounding experimental conditions. Particularly, an interference effect indexed by the differences in the amplitudes of CNV between congruent and incongruent tasks was observed in the young age group, which is consistent with previous behavioral reports. However, this effect was absent in the old age group, indicating a specific age-related deficit in the effect-action retrieval process of intention-based action, which might be caused by an age-related deficit in associative memory. In sum, this study investigated the cognitive processes of two action modes from a developmental perspective and suggests the importance of adding associative memory training to interventions for older adults with the aim of improving intention-based action.

Separating Visual and Motor Components of Motor Cortex Activation for Multiple Reach Targets: A Visuomotor Adaptation Study.

There is growing evidence that the motor cortex routinely prepares for different movements simultaneously, each suited to a possible course of events in the immediate environment. The preparatory motor cortex activity for different movements can be seen as a competition between groups of neurons. This competition is influenced by how similar the alternative movements are; for example, in terms of direction, determined by the proximity of alternative movement goals. This study investigates whether the proximity of alternative reach goals has a direct influence on motor cortex activity (in the form of brain oscillations) or if it has an effect only through conscious evaluation of the separation between targets. We establish that there is a direct effect, supporting the biased competition model of action selection.

Interaction between the premotor processes of eye and hand movements: Possible mechanism underlying eye–hand coordination

Interaction between the execution process of eye movement and that of hand movement must be indispensable for eye–hand coordination. The present study investigated corticospinal excitability in the hand muscles during the premotor processes of eye and/or hand movement to elucidate interaction between these processes. Healthy humans performed a precued reaction task of eye and/or finger movement and motor-evoked potentials in the hand muscles were evoked in the reaction time. Leftward eye movement suppressed corticospinal excitability in the right abductor digiti minimi muscle only when little finger abduction was simultaneously executed. Corticospinal excitability in the first dorsal interosseous muscle was not suppressed by eye movement regardless of whether or not it was accompanied by finger movement. Suppression of corticospinal excitability in the hand muscles induced by eye movement in the premotor period depends on the direction of eye movement, the muscle tested, and the premotor process of the tested muscle. The suppression may reflect interaction between the motor process of eye movement and that of hand movement particularly active during eye–hand coordination tasks during which both processes proceed.

Frontoparietal theta activity supports behavioral decisions in movement-target selection

There is recent EEG evidence describing task-related changes of theta power in spatial attention and reaching/pointing tasks. Here, we aim to better characterize this theta activity and determine whether it is associated with visuospatial memory or with visuospatial selection functions of the frontoparietal cortex. We recorded EEG from 20 participants during a movement precuing task with center-out joystick movements. Precues displayed 1, 2, or 4 potential targets and were followed (stimulus onset asynchrony 1.2 s) by a central response cue indicating the movement-target. Remembering the precued target location(s) was mandatory in one and optional in a second version of the task. Analyses evaluated two slow brain potentials (CNV, contingent negative variation and CDA, contralateral delay activity) and task-related power changes. Results showed a differential modulation of frontal CNV and parietal CDA, consistent with earlier described set-size effects on motor preparation and visual short-term memory. Short-lived phases of theta event-related synchronization (ERS) were found 150–500 ms after precue and response cue presentation, exhibiting parietal and frontal maxima. The increase of frontoparietal theta power following response cue presentation was strongly modulated by target load, i.e., absent for 1-target (when the movement-target could be selected in advance), contrasting with a robust 20–50% ERS response in 2- and 4-target conditions. The scalp distribution, the timing, and the modulation by set-size suggest a role of theta activity in movement-target selection. The results support a recently proposed view of theta as emerging around behavioral decision points, linked to the evaluation of choice-relevant information.

Planning of visually guided reach‐to‐grasp movements: Inference from reaction time and contingent negative variation (CNV)

We performed electroencephalogram (EEG) recording in a precuing task to investigate the planning processes of reach-to-grasp movements in human. In this reaction time (RT) task, subjects had to reach, grasp, and pull an object as fast as possible after a visual GO signal. We manipulated two parameters: the hand shape for grasping (precision grip or side grip) and the force required to pull the object (high or low). Three seconds before the GO onset, a cue provided advance information about force, grip, both parameters, or no information at all. EEG data show that reach-to-grasp movements generate differences in the topographic distribution of the late Contingent Negative Variation (ICNV) amplitude between the 4 precuing conditions. Along with RT data, it confirms that two distinct functional networks are involved with different time courses in the planning of grip and force. Finally, we outline the composite nature of the lCNV that might reflect both high- and low-level planning processes.

Effects of Parametrical and Trial-to-Trial Variation in Prior Probability Processing Revealed by Simultaneous Electroencephalogram/Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Prior knowledge of the probabilities concerning decision alternatives facilitates the selection of more likely alternatives to the disadvantage of others. The neural basis of prior probability (PP) integration into the decision-making process and associated preparatory processes is, however, still essentially unknown. Furthermore, trial-to-trial fluctuations in PP processing have not been considered thus far. In a previous study, we found that the amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV) in a precueing task is sensitive to PP information (Scheibe et al., 2009). We investigated brain regions with a parametric relationship between neural activity and PP and those regions involved in PP processing on a trial-to-trial basis in simultaneously recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Conventional fMRI analysis focusing on the information content of the probability precue revealed increasing activation of the posterior medial frontal cortex with increasing PP, supporting its putative role in updating action values. EEG-informed fMRI analysis relating single-trial CNV amplitudes to the hemodynamic signal addressed trial-to-trial fluctuations in PP processing. We identified a set of regions mainly consisting of frontal, parietal, and striatal regions that represents unspecific response preparation on a trial-to-trial basis. A subset of these regions, namely, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobule, showed activations that exclusively represented the contributions of PP to the trial-to-trial fluctuations of the CNV.

Oculomotor interference during manual response preparation: evidence from the response-cueing paradigm

Preparation provided by visual location cues is known to speed up behavior. However, the role of concurrent saccades in response to visual cues remains unclear. In this study, participants performed a spatial precueing task by pressing one of four response keys with one of four fingers (two of each hand) while eye movements were monitored. Prior to the stimulus, we presented a neutral cue (baseline), a hand cue (corresponding to left vs. right positions), or a finger cue (corresponding to inner vs. outer positions). Participants either remained fixated on a central fixation point or moved their eyes freely. The results demonstrated that saccades during the cueing interval altered the pattern of cueing effects. Finger cueing trials in which saccades were spatially incompatible (vs. compatible) with the subsequently required manual response exhibited slower manual RTs. We propose that interference between saccades and manual responses affects manual motor preparation.

Motor programming of finger sequences of different complexity

In a response precuing task, we used behavioral and electrophysiological measures – Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and the readiness potential (RP) – to investigate the programming of three-element response sequences of different complexity. Precuing effects on foreperiod CNV and RT indicated the use of advance information about response hand and response sequence. Crucially, with advance information about both hand and sequence, heterogeneous response sequences (e.g., 1 → 2 → 2) elicited larger foreperiod CNV activity over medial motor areas than homogeneous response sequences (e.g., 1 → 2 → 3), whereas CNV activity over lateral motor areas was not influenced by sequence complexity. It was only before response execution that lateral but not medial RP activity was stronger for heterogeneous than homogeneous response sequences. Both behavioral and electrophysiological measures indicated finger-order dependent influences on the duration of on-line response programming during response execution.

Are temporal response features prepared in fixed order? Inferences from movement‐related potentials

Using a response precuing task, we investigated whether motor preparation of temporal response features follows a fixed order as implied by the generalized motor program (GMP) view. Relative timing and overall duration of sequential key presses were factorially manipulated. Precues either provided no information, provided partial information about relative or overall duration, or fully specified the response. Reaction time decreased with the amount of advance information, reflecting the reduction of response alternatives by the precue and influences on preparatory motor processes. The contingent negative variation (CNV) over the left but not the medial and right motor regions increased with the amount of advance information provided. The foreperiod lateralized readiness potential indicated hand-specific activation for the full precue condition only. These findings disagree with the assumption that a GMP's invariant and variable response features are prepared in fixed order.

Identifying experimental methods to determine the effect of pain on attention: a review of pain, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine studies

To review published studies of the effects that pain and common psychopharmacological substances have on the attentional performance of healthy adults. To identify which attentional tasks have the greatest potential to investigate the effect of pain on attention and provide recommendations for future research. A search was conducted for reports of experimental studies of attention in the context of pain. This was supplemented with studies on attention and caffeine, nicotine and alcohol. Studies were included if they used a healthy adult sample, used experimental or quasi-experimental methods, were relevant to the study of attention or interruption of pain and/or examined the acute effects of a substance on attention. Thirty-two papers, with 49 different experimental studies were identified (12 pain, 21 nicotine, 7 caffeine, 9 alcohol). Fourteen different tasks were reviewed across six domains of attention. The most promising measures of attention were the continuous performance task, flanker task, endogenous pre-cuing task, n-back task, inhibition task and dual task. There are reliable tasks that could be used to determine the effects of pain on attention. Future research is required that develops the utility of these tasks to improve our understanding of the effects pain and analgesia have on attentional performance.

The Influence of Approach and Avoidance Behavior on Visual Selective Attention

ABSTRACT Recent findings indicate that enactment of approach behavior broadens the focus of perceptual attention. The aim of the present study was to examine how approach and avoidance behavior influence visual selective attention. To achieve this, the authors combined approach and avoidance manipulations with a visual precueing task (local vs. global cues preceding either local or global targets). The authors hypothesized that participants with an enactment of approach behavior would show faster attentional orienting with compatible cue-target-relations than in incompatible trials. The results support that enactment of approach behavior leads to faster attentional orienting in compatible trials compared with incompatible trials. Although participants showed significant attentional learning effects across blocks, learning was not enhanced by approach and avoidance manipulations.

Planning of rapid aiming movements and the contingent negative variation: Are movement duration and extent specified independently?

In the present study we investigated motor programming constraints implied by the Generalized Motor Program (GMP) view. A response precuing task was used in which participants performed aiming movements of either short or long duration to either a near or a far target position. Precues provided either no advance information or partial information about extent or duration or fully specified the aiming movement. Reaction time (RT) decreased and late Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) amplitude increased with the amount of advance information. In contrast to predictions of the GMP view, the extent precue led to faster responses and larger CNV amplitude than the duration precue. We conclude that late CNV amplitude reflects independent parameter specification processes at an abstract level at which GMP's motor programming constraints do not apply.

Motor programming of rapid finger sequences: Inferences from movement‐related brain potentials

The present study investigated the predictions of two prominent models (Klapp, 1995, 2003; Rosenbaum, Inhoff, & Gordon, 1984) of programming of response sequences with the help of behavioral data, the foreperiod Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and the Lateralized Readiness Potential (LRP). Participants performed one-key and three-key responses with their left or right hand in a precuing task. Sequence length was manipulated across blocks and precues provided either no information, partial information about hand or start finger, or full information about the response. A sequence length effect was indicated by reaction time when the precue provided partial or full information. The LRP data suggested that the duration of motor processes increases with sequence length. Foreperiod LRP and CNV revealed that participants preprogram only the first element of the sequence and prepare multiple responses if the precue provides only partial information. We discuss the implications of current findings for the two models.

Psychomotor speed is related to perceived performance in rowers

The goal of the present study was to determine if psychomotor speed is related to perceived performance. It was hypothesized that lower perceived performance was related to longer reaction times. A total of 85 measurements were taken in 26 varsity rowers (mean age 21.3 years, s=1.6) on five occasions over the course of the season. Perceived performance was measured with the “Reduced Sense of Accomplishment” scale of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire. Reaction times were measured with the finger pre-cueing task and with the action and reaction modes of the determination test. The complex structured data were analysed with multi-level modelling. Random intercept linear models showed that perceived performance was not related to reaction times on the finger pre-cueing task. Perceived performance significantly predicted reaction times on the action and reaction modes of the determination test. In rowers who were not selected for the team after completing two measurement sessions, this relationship did not exist in the action mode; deselection was a moderator. Thus, a significant relationship between reaction times on the determination test and perceived performance was observed. It was concluded that the determination test could be a useful tool to monitor rowers’ responses to training, although several issues should be resolved before it can be used in practice.

Evidence for concurrent and mutually inhibiting representations of reaching directions in the primary motor and the dorsal premotor cortex: An EEG study

Event Abstract Back to Event Evidence for concurrent and mutually inhibiting representations of reaching directions in the primary motor and the dorsal premotor cortex: An EEG study Dimitrios Kourtis1* and Peter Praamstra1, 2 1 University of Birmingham, United Kingdom 2 University Hospital Birmingham, United Kingdom Single-cell recordings have shown that representations of multiple reaching directions are realized in the primary motor and the dorsal premotor cortex in a simultaneous and mutually inhibiting manner (Cisek and Kalaska, 2005). Here, we employed a movement precuing task in which participants had to prepare reaching movements towards targets arranged in a circular configuration. A centrally presented cue stimulus indicated one, two or three potential targets always located at the side of the responding hand, followed by an imperative stimulus which specified the direction of the reaching movement. The experiment was modelled after a single-cell recording study by Bastian et al. (2003). Our results showed a scaling of reaction times with fastest reactions when the reaching direction was fully cued, and slowest when the cue indicated three possible reaching directions. The amplitudes of lateralized EEG potentials, originating from the primary motor cortex (lateralized readiness potential - LRP) and the dorsal premotor cortex (anterior directing-attention negativity - ADAN), which developed during the preparatory period, were scaled depending on the directional information conveyed by the cue. The LRP is an index of movement-related preparatory processes whereas the ADAN is related to executive control of attention and to response selection processes. Both the LRP and the ADAN components were higher when a target was fully determined by the cue and smaller when the participants were facing three potential targets. Importantly, the LRP and the ADAN amplitudes displayed intermediate values when the cue indicated two potential targets. In addition to these findings, the amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV), a preparatory slow brain potential, which during its later phase originates mainly from motor and premotor structures, was scaled in a similar manner to the lateralized EEG activity. Our results are in accordance with the above-mentioned primate studies, which provided evidence for the existence of a cortical mechanism, through which different movement options are encoded in a simultaneous and mutually inhibiting manner. It is reasonable to argue that the cue-dependent scaling of the LRP and ADAN components is a manifestation of this mechanism at the level of scalp-recorded EEG.

Planning keypress and reaching responses: Effects of response location and number of potential effectors.

In previous work the authors argued that the potential number of effectors in the response set is crucial in discriminating (multiple-effector) keypress from (single-effector) reaching responses. It is not clear, however, what influence the locus of responding (on vs. off the stimulus location for reaching and keypressing, respectively) has on reaction time (RT) performance. In 3 experiments, the authors systematically manipulated response location and response type using a spatial precuing task. The results consistently showed that even though response location did influence the RTs of keypress and reaching responses, the effect of the number of potential effectors was dominant in shaping the prototypical RT profiles of the 2 response types. These outcomes underscore the importance of the anatomical identity, in addition to response location, in response coding and corroborate the notion that distinct mechanisms dominate performance in single- and multiple-effector visuomotor tasks.

Planning keypress and reaching responses: Manipulating number of effectors and preparation interval

This study tested the hypothesis that separate mechanisms mediate the planning of reaching and keypress responses. Participants performed a spatial precueing task with two preparation intervals (100 ms and 1000 ms) and three response sets: (a) pressing one of four response keys; (b) reaching with one of two hands; and (c) reaching with one hand. Reaction time results showed a pattern of precueing effects that strongly depended on the number of effectors in the response set and on the preparation interval. This outcome was interpreted as evidence that distinct mechanisms mediate the planning of multiple-effector and single-effector actions, with effector selection being relevant in the former but not in the latter. The theoretical implications of this conclusion are discussed.