Event Abstract Back to Event Strategic filtering within and between sensory modalities in tactile spatial attention Francesco Marini1*, Leonardo Chelazzi2 and Angelo Maravita1 1 Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy 2 Università degli Studi di Verona, Italy Spatial attention, a key mechanism mediating interactions between humans and the environment, relies on both stimulus-driven and top-down mechanisms. A wide literature investigates attentional processes by means of target-distracter discrimination tasks, primarily in the visual and, recently, in the tactile modality. Nevertheless, the effect exerted by a potential, yet absent, distracter has rarely been assessed. The present study focuses on this aspect of strategic attentional processes in the tactile modality. We suggest that, when an endogenous filtering mechanism is engaged to cope with potential distraction, this might result in a cost regardless of the actual presence of distracters. Here we introduce a novel approach, whereby we focus our analysis on distracter-free trials in a speeded tactile discrimination task. We present four experiments in which different manipulations of the contextual distracters, such as probability, task relevance, and sensory modality, were adopted. Results highlight a cost of a potentially distracting-context (i.e. higher reaction times) in no-distracter trials. The robustness of this effect is proven by its persistence across all contextual manipulations. Moreover, the cost of potential distraction in no-distracter trials is independent of the presence of a distracter in the previous trial, suggesting a general, rather than contingent, underlying mechanism for the strategic filtering of potential distraction in the human brain. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that a supramodal monitoring and filtering system is engaged whenever potential distraction is foreseen. Although its activation is indisputably beneficial when distraction occurs, it leads to robust costs when distraction is actually expected but currently absent. Keywords: Attention, supramodal Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Neurophysiology of Cognition and Attention Citation: Marini F, Chelazzi L and Maravita A (2011). Strategic filtering within and between sensory modalities in tactile spatial attention. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00467 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 25 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Mr. Francesco Marini, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, francesco.pd@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Francesco Marini Leonardo Chelazzi Angelo Maravita Google Francesco Marini Leonardo Chelazzi Angelo Maravita Google Scholar Francesco Marini Leonardo Chelazzi Angelo Maravita PubMed Francesco Marini Leonardo Chelazzi Angelo Maravita Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.