Spatial Distribution Of Attention Research Articles

Implementation of an online spacing flanker task and evaluation of its test-retest reliability using measures of inhibitory control and the distribution of spatial attention.

The flanker task (Eriksen & Eriksen, Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143-149, 1974) has been highly influential and widely used in studies of visual attention. Its simplicity has made it popular to include it in experimental software packages and online platforms. The spacing flanker task (SFT), in which the distance between the target and flankers varies, is useful for studying the distribution of attention across space as well as inhibitory control. Use of the SFT requires that the viewing environment (e.g., stimulus size and viewing distance) be controlled, which is a challenge for online delivery. We implement and evaluate an online version of the SFT that includes two calibration pretests to provide the necessary control. Test-retest and split-half reliability of the online version was compared with a laboratory version on measures of inhibitory control and measures of the distribution of attention across space. Analyses show that the online SFT is comparable to laboratory testing on all measures. Results also identify two measures with good test-retest reliability that hold promise for studying performance in the SFT: the mean flanker effect (ICC = 0.745) and RTs on incongruent trials across distances (ICC = 0.65-0.71).

Breathing shifts visuo-spatial attention

Considering recent findings that breathing influences cognitive processes, two experiments explored the relationship between breathing and visuo-spatial attention. In Experiment 1, a lateralized probe detection task was inserted into the breathing cycles of 21 healthy adults to probe effects of breathing on the distribution of spatial attention. In Experiment 2 (N = 26), the Posner cueing task measured breathing-contingent detection speed for lateralized probes after endogenous or exogenous cueing. We consistently found faster responses for left probes after exhalation and for right probes after inhalation in both experiments. Breathing also affected the speed of re-alignment of spatial attention after invalid cueing in Experiment 2. This novel breathing bias shows that our ability to encode visuo-spatial information systematically fluctuates during breathing.

The Effect of Exogenous Temporal Attention on the Gradient of Spatial Attention

The gradient model of spatial attention states that resources of attention are concentrated in the center of focus and gradually decrease as we move our attention away from the center. Previous studies indicate that triggering temporal attention can significantly improve the subjects’ overall performance in attention tasks. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of temporal attention on the distribution of spatial attention over increasing distance. In our task, two types of trials are presented to the subjects, Rhythmic and Arrhythmic. In rhythmic trials, temporal attention is evoked using an auditory rhythmic cue that indicates the onset of the targets' appearance. In all of the trials, spatial attention is engaged by a circular cue appearing at 7 degrees of visual angle from the fixation cross. Targets are presented at 9 degrees of visual angle in one of five possible distances from the cue. We compared the performance of our subjects in the rhythmic and arrhythmic trials over our various distances. We found that temporal attention significantly improves the reaction time of the correctly answered trials in all distances. Moreover, consistent with the gradient model, the performance gradually decreases as the target moves further from the cue in arrhythmic trials. More interestingly, in rhythmic trials, the participants show the best performance in the third (middle) distance from the cue, and it gradually worsens, as we move away from the middle distance. To be more specific, in rhythmic trials, the gradient model is still noticeable; However, the center of attention is dislocated from the closest position to the middle position from the spatial cue. Consequently, in rhythmic trials, the distance between the fifth (furthest) position and the center of attention is divided in half, which results in maintaining a relatively high performance among all distances.

The Effect of Painting Beauty on Eye Movements.

The current study aimed to determine relationships between oculomotor behavior and aesthetical evaluation of paintings. We hypothesized that paintings evaluated as beautiful compared to nonbeautiful would be associated with different oculomotor behavior in terms of fixation duration, viewing time, and temporal and spatial distribution of attention. To verify these hypotheses, we examined forty participants that looked at and evaluated 140 figurative paintings while their eye movements were recorded. To analyze data, we used divergence point analysis (DPA) and recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). The results of the DPA suggested that fixation durations longer than 229 ms are sensitive to the effect of aesthetical evaluation. We also found that the effect of aesthetical evaluation was significant in the time window between 2.3 s and 19.8 s of viewing a painting. The results of the RQA suggested that the participants viewed paintings evaluated as beautiful in a more structured manner compared to those evaluated as nonbeautiful, which suggests higher involvement of top-down processes while facing beautiful artwork. We discuss and refer these results to the literature on cognitive processes related to aesthetical evaluation of paintings.

The spatial logic of fear

Peripersonal space (PPS) refers to the space surrounding the body. PPS is characterised by distinctive patterns of multisensory integration and sensory-motor interaction. In addition, facial expressions have been shown to modulate PPS representation. In this study we tested whether fearful faces lead to a different distribution of spatial attention, compared to neutral and joyful faces. Participants responded to tactile stimuli on the cheeks, while watching looming neutral, joyful (Experiment 1) or fearful (Experiment 2) faces of an avatar, appearing in far or near space. To probe spatial attention, when the tactile stimulus was delivered, a static ball briefly appeared central or peripheral in participant's vision, respectively ≈1° or ≈10° to the left or right of the face. With neutral and joyful faces, simple reactions to tactile stimuli were facilitated in near rather than in far space, replicating classic PPS effects, and in the presence of central rather than peripheral ball, suggesting that attention may be focused in the immediate surrounding of the face. However, when the face was fearful, response to tactile stimuli was modulated not only by the distance of the face from the participant, but also by the position of the ball. Specifically, in near space only, response to tactile stimuli was additionally facilitated by the peripheral compared to the central ball. These results suggest that as fearful faces come closer to the body, they promote a redirection of attention towards the periphery. Given the sensory-motor functions of PPS, this fear-evoked redirection of attention would enhance the defensive function of PPS specifically when it is most needed, i.e. when the source of threat is nearby, but its location has not yet been identified.

Distance is relative: Inattentional blindness critically depends on the breadth of the attentional focus.

Inattentional blindness - the phenomenon that we sometimes miss salient stimuli in our direct view when they appear unexpectedly and attention is focused on something else - is modulated by various parameters, including distance of the unexpected stimulus from the attentional focus. In two experiments, we expanded the existing literature on spatial factors influencing inattentional blindness as well as theories on the spatial distribution of attention. Noticing rates of unexpected objects were significantly higher when they appeared outside instead of inside the bounds of primary task stimuli. Thus, our results do neither support the account that spatial attention is tuned as a spotlight that includes relevant targets and everything in between nor an account of purely object-based attentional orientation. Instead, the results speak in favor of an inhibitory area between two attended targets. Experiment 2 replicated these surprising findings and additionally demonstrated that they were not confounded by task.

Modulating the interhemispheric activity balance in the intraparietal sulcus using real-time fMRI neurofeedback: Development and proof-of-concept

The intraparietal sulcus (IPS) plays a key role in the distribution of attention across the visual field. In stroke patients, an imbalance between left and right IPS activity has been related to a spatial bias in visual attention characteristic of hemispatial neglect. In this study, we describe the development and implementation of a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback protocol to noninvasively and volitionally control the interhemispheric IPS activity balance in neurologically healthy participants. Six participants performed three neurofeedback training sessions across three weeks. Half of them trained to voluntarily increase brain activity in left relative to right IPS, while the other half trained to regulate the IPS activity balance in the opposite direction. Before and after the training, we estimated the distribution of attention across the visual field using a whole and partial report task. Over the course of the training, two of the three participants in the left-IPS group increased the activity in the left relative to the right IPS, while the participants in the right-IPS group were not able to regulate the interhemispheric IPS activity balance. We found no evidence for a decrease in resting-state functional connectivity between left and right IPS, and the spatial distribution of attention did not change over the course of the experiment. This study indicates the possibility to voluntarily modulate the interhemispheric IPS activity balance. Further research is warranted to examine the effectiveness of this technique in the rehabilitation of post-stroke hemispatial neglect.

Spatial distribution of attention under varying task demands

Spatial distribution of attention under varying task demands

Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?

According to some theoretical models, information contained in visual short-term memory (VSTM) consists of two main memory stages/storages: sensory memory, a system wherein information is stored for a brief time with high detail and low resistance to visual interference, and visual working memory, a low-capacity system wherein information is protected from visual interference and maintained for longer delays. Previous studies have consistently shown a strong relationship between attention and visual working memory. However, evidence is contradictory on whether or not attention modulates the construction and maintenance of visual representations in sensory memory. Here, we examined whether and how spatial attention differentially affects sensory and working memory contents, by separately analysing attentional costs and attentional benefits. Results showed that both sensory memory and visual working memory were reliably affected by the distribution of spatial attention, suggesting that spatial attention modulates the VSTM content starting from very early stages of memory storage. Moreover, endogenously attending a specific location led to similar performance in sensory and working memory, and therefore to larger attentional benefits in working memory (where there was more room for improvement than in sensory memory, because of worse performance in unattended locations). On the other hand, exogenous attentional capture by peripheral unpredictive cues produced invariant attentional costs and invariant attentional benefits regardless of the memory type, with performance being higher in sensory memory than in working memory even at the attended location.

The spatial allocation of attention in an interactive environment

Inattentional blindness methods allow for an unobtrusive measure of the spatial distribution of attention; because subjects do not expect the critical object, they have no reason to devote attention to task-irrelevant regions in anticipation of it. We used inattentional blindness to examine the spatial allocation of attention in an interactive game in which subjects navigated through a dynamic environment and avoided hazards. Subjects were most likely to notice unexpected objects in the areas with the greatest risk of contact with a hazard, and less likely to notice equally proximal objects in inaccessible areas of the display or areas in which hazards no longer posed a threat. These results suggest that both the content of the environment and how a subject can interact with it influence the spatial allocation of attention.

Individual differences in attentional capability are linked to creative decision making

AbstractThere is a link between visual attention and creativity concerning the generation of rare and flexible decisions/solutions. However, the relationship between individual differences in attentional capability and creative decision making has not yet been investigated in detail. The current study scrutinized this link in a sport‐specific divergent thinking task including videos of real game situations and compared performances between football players being divided into two different expertise levels (expert and amateur football players). We conducted a multiple linear regression analysis to assess whether attentional capability along the attentional focus’ meridians (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) and participants’ expertise level predict creative decision making. The attentional capability along the horizontal meridian of participants’ attentional focus and participants’ expertise level emerged as positive predictors. The findings provide evidence of a relationship between football players’ spatial distribution of attention that match the demands of their sport and an expertise advantage in sport‐specific creative decision making. Implications are not only important for sports, but also for all areas in which spatial attention is required in order to generate unusual solutions.

Reproducibility of visual-field asymmetries: Nine replication studies investigating lateralization of visual information processing

Numerous behavioral studies suggest that the processing of various types of visual stimuli and features may be more efficient in either the left or the right visual field. However, not all of these visual-field asymmetries (VFAs) have been observed consistently. Moreover, it is typically unclear whether a failure to observe a particular VFA can be ascribed to certain characteristics of the participants and stimuli, to a lack of statistical power, or to the actual absence of an effect. To increase our understanding of lateralization of visual information processing, we have taken a rigorous methodological and statistical approach to examine the reproducibility of various previously reported VFAs. We did so by performing (near-)exact replications of nine representative previous studies, aiming for sufficient power to detect the effects of interest, and taking into consideration all relevant dependent variables (reaction times and error rates). Following Bayesian analyses –on our data alone as well as on the combined evidence from the original and replication studies– we find precise and reliable evidence that support VFAs in the processing of faces, emotional expressions, global and local information, words, and in the distribution of spatial attention. In contrast, we find less convincing evidence for VFAs in processing of high and low spatial frequencies. Finally, we find no evidence for VFAs in categorical perception of color and shape oddballs, and in the judgments of categorical and coordinate spatial relations. We discuss our results in the light of their implications for theories of visual lateralization.

Enhanced visual attention in university hockey players

Elite athletes exhibit enhanced cognitive abilities related to sport, and athletes' perceptual-cognitive expertise may also transfer to computer-based cognitive tasks in the laboratory (see Voss et al., 2010 for a meta-analysis). The research in this area, however, is notoriously underpowered, often relying upon small sample sizes and producing results that fail to meet statistical significance. One recent study attempted to overcome these limitations by testing a large number of volleyball players on a range of cognitive tasks (Alves et al., 2013), but only small effects were observed, and the tasks employed did not sample the full range of visual-attentional skills. Because athletic training protocols can potentially enhance some aspects of attention but not others (e.g., Appelbaum et al., 2011), we aimed to assess whether superior performance among athletes would be observed when tested on a wider range of perceptual and attention skills. We conducted a comprehensive battery of computer-based visual tasks and compared performance between Cardiff University hockey players and non-athlete student controls. Our measures allowed for a broad assessment of a range of attentional and perceptual skills, including selective attention (flanker compatibility task), sustained dynamic attention (multiple-object tracking task), and spatial distribution of attention (useful field of view task). We found that hockey players demonstrated enhanced performance in measures of selective attention and in identifying transient stimuli at central fixation. Importantly, these perceptual enhancements are apparent after controlling for potential group differences in motivation and strategy. Our results provide novel insight into the potential transferability of athletic training to perceptual skills and have implications for generalised enhancements in cognitive performance.

Eye Tracking and Interhemispheric Interaction in the Distribution of Spatial Attention

The patterns of visual attention allocation were investigated in healthy subjects (n = 43) and patients with focal brain lesions (n = 17) using the original method developed for eye tracking in patients while memorizing a series of stimulatory image triplets. Two processes were estimated: delayed reproduction and recognition of stimuli in a series of consecutive visually similar distractors. In healthy subjects both processes correlated to a great extent (r = 0.6; p = 0.00001). The most significant disorders of voluntary verbal reproduction were observed when the left hemisphere of the brain was affected. The overall effectiveness of recognition in the case of brain damage decreased without significant dependence on the lateralization of the focus. Some correlation was observed between realized and remembered information and the patterns of visual fixations (concentrated on the semantic parts of the image or chaotically distributed in the space of stimulus exposure). Ineffective patterns of visual fixation in patients were more often observed in the area contralateral to the lesion. These contralateral stimuli were reproduced and recognized less efficiently in comparison with the central and ipsilateral images. Complete ignoring of the contralateral image in the triplet was observed both in the absence of visual fixation and in combination with the diffuse pattern.

Do enhanced states exist? Boosting cognitive capacities through an action video-game

This research reports the existence of enhanced cognitive states in which dramatic temporary improvements in temporal and spatial aspects of attention were exhibited by participants who played (but not by those who merely observed) action video-games meeting certain criteria. Specifically, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that the attentional improvements were exhibited only by participants whose skills matched the difficulty level of the video game. Experiment 2 showed that arousal (as reflected by the reduction in parasympathetic activity and increase in sympathetic activity) is a critical physiological condition for enhanced cognitive states and corresponding attentional enhancements. Experiment 3 showed that the cognitive enhancements were transient, and were no longer observed after 30 min of rest following video-gaming. Moreover, the results suggest that the enhancements were specific to tasks requiring visual-spatial focused attention, but not distribution of spatial attention as has been reported to improve significantly and durably as a result of long-term video-game playing. Overall, the results suggest that the observed enhancements cannot be simply due to the activity of video-gaming per se, but might rather represent an enhanced cognitive state resulting from specific conditions (heightened arousal in combination with active engagement and optimal challenge), resonant with what has been described in previous phenomenological literature as “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) or “peak experiences” (Maslov, 1962). The findings provide empirical evidence for the existence of the enhanced cognitive states and suggest possibilities for consciously accessing latent resources of our brain to temporarily boost our cognitive capacities upon demand.

Polarity-dependent Effects of Biparietal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Interplay between Target Location and Distractor Saliency in Visual Attention.

Visual attention allows the allocation of limited neural processing resources to stimuli based on their behavioral priorities. The selection of task-relevant visual targets entails the processing of multiple competing stimuli and the suppression of distractors that may be either perceptually salient or perceptually similar to targets. The posterior parietal cortex controls the interaction between top-down (task-driven) and bottom-up (stimulus-driven) processes competing for attentional selection, as well as spatial distribution of attention. Here, we examined whether biparietal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) would modulate the interaction between top-down and bottom-up processes in visual attention. Visual attention function was assessed with a visual discrimination task, in which a lateralized target was presented alone or together with a contralateral, similar or salient, distractor. The accuracy and RTs were measured before and during three stimulation sessions (sham, right anodal/left cathodal, left anodal/right cathodal). The analyses demonstrated (i) polarity-dependent effects of tDCS on the accuracy of target discrimination, but only when the target was presented with a similar distractor; (ii) the tDCS-triggered effects on the accuracy of discriminating targets, accompanied by a similar distractor, varied according to the target location; and (iii) overall detrimental effects of tDCS on RTs were observed, regardless of target location, distractor type, and polarity of the stimulation. We conclude that the observed polarity, distractor type, and target location-dependent effects of biparietal tDCS on the accuracy of target detection resulted from both a modulation of the interaction between top-down and bottom-up attentional processes and the interhemispheric competition mechanisms guiding attentional selection and spatial deployment of attention.

The exogenous and endogenous control of attentional focusing.

Selective visual attention involves prioritizing both the location (orienting) and distribution (focusing) of processing. To date, much more research has examined attentional orienting than focusing. One of the most well-established findings is that orienting can be exogenous, as when a unique change in luminance draws attention to a spatial location (e.g., Theeuwes in Atten Percept Psychophys 51:599-606, 1992; Yantis and Jonides in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 10:601, 1984), and endogenous, as when a red distractor shape diverts attention when one is looking for a red target (e.g., Bacon and Egeth in Percept Psychophys 55:485-496, 1994; Folk et al. in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:1030, 1992). Here we ask whether attentional focusing-the broadening and contracting of prioritized processing-is influenced by the same two factors. Our methodology involved a dual-stream attentional blink task; participants monitored two spatially separated streams of items for two targets that could appear unpredictably either in the same stream or in opposite streams. The spatial distribution of attention was assessed by examining second-target accuracy in relation to inter-target lag and target location (same or opposite streams). In Experiment 1, we found that attentional contracting was more rapid when the targets differed in luminance from the distractor items. In Experiments 2 and 3, we found that the rate of attentional contracting was slower when there were task-relevant distractors in the stream opposite the first target. These results indicate that the rate of attentional focusing, like orienting, can be modulated by both exogenous and endogenous mechanisms.

First unitary, then divided: The temporal dynamics of dividing attention

Whether focused visual attention can be divided has been the topic of much investigation, and there is a compelling body of evidence showing that, at least under certain conditions, attention can be divided and deployed as two independent foci. Three experiments were conducted to examine whether attention can be deployed in divided form from the outset, or whether it is first deployed as a unitary focus before being divided. To test this, we adapted the methodology of Jefferies, Enns, and Di Lollo (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 40: 465, 2014), who used a dual-stream Attentional Blink paradigm and two letter-pair targets. One aspect of the AB, Lag-1 sparing, has been shown to occur only if the second target pair appears within the focus of attention. By presenting the second target pair at various spatial locations and assessing the magnitude of Lag-1 sparing, we probed the spatial distribution of attention. By systematically manipulating the stimulus-onset-asynchrony between the targets, we also tracked changes to the spatial distribution of attention over time. The results showed that even under conditions which encourage the division of attention, the attentional focus is first deployed in unitary form before being divided. It is then maintained in divided form only briefly before settling on a single location.

Clarifying the role of target similarity, task relevance and feature-based suppression during sustained inattentional blindness.

How is feature-based attention distributed when engaged in a challenging attentional task? Thanks to formative electrophysiological and psychophysical work, we know a great deal about the spatial distribution of attention, but much less is known about how feature-based attention is allocated. In a large-scale online study, we investigated the distribution of attention to color space using a sustained inattentional blindness task. In order to query what parts of color space were being attended or inhibited, we varied the color of an unexpected stimulus on the final trial. Noticing rates for this stimulus indicate that when engaged in a difficult task that involves tracking items of one color and ignoring items of two different colors, observers attend the target color and inhibit the to-be ignored colors. Further, similarity to the target drives detection such that colors more similar to the target are more likely to be detected. Finally, our data suggest that when possible, observers inhibit regions of color space rather than individuating specific colors and adjusting the level of inhibition for a particular color accordingly. Together, our data support the notion of feature-based suppression for task relevant (to-be ignored) information, but we found no evidence of an inhibitory surround based on target color similarity.

Differential age-related changes in localizing a target among distractors across an extended visual field.

Age differences in the spatial distribution of attention over a wide field of view have only been described in terms of the spatial extent, leaving the topographical aspect unexplored. This study examined age differences between younger and older adults in good general health in an important topographical characteristic, the asymmetry between the upper and lower visual fields. In Experiment 1, we found age differences across the entire attentional visual field. In addition, age differences were greater in the upper compared to the lower field. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the finding of a greater age difference in the ability to localize a target among distractors in the upper visual field in Experiment 1 was a result of possible differential age differences between the upper and lower visual fields in the ability to localize a target even when there was no distractor competing for attention. Our results suggested that the age differences we observed were linked to age differences in the ability to filter out distractors that compete with the target for attention rather than the ability to process only the target over a wide field of view. While younger adults demonstrated an upper visual field advantage in the ability to localize a target among distractors, there was no such field advantage in older adults. We discuss this finding of diminished upper visual field advantage in older adults in light of an account of pervasive loss of neural specialization with age. We postulate that one possible explanation of age differences in the asymmetry between the upper and lower visual fields may be an adaptation to age-related physical decline. We also discuss important implications of our findings in risks of falls and vehicle crashes.