Visual Spatial Attention Research Articles

Differential neural mechanisms underlie cortical gating of visual spatial attention mediated by alpha-band oscillations

Selective attention relies on neural mechanisms that facilitate processing of behaviorally relevant sensory information while suppressing irrelevant information, consistently linked to alpha-band oscillations in human M/EEG studies. We analyzed cortical alpha responses from intracranial electrodes implanted in eight epilepsy patients, who performed a visual spatial attention task. Electrocorticographic data revealed a spatiotemporal dissociation between attention-modulated alpha desynchronization, associated with the enhancement of sensory processing, and alpha synchronization, associated with the suppression of sensory processing, during the cue-target interval. Dorsal intraparietal areas contralateral to the attended hemifield primarily exhibited a delayed and sustained alpha desynchronization, while ventrolateral extrastriatal areas ipsilateral to the attended hemifield primarily exhibited an earlier and sustained alpha synchronization. Analyses of cross-frequency coupling between alpha phase and broadband high-frequency activity (HFA) further revealed cross-frequency interactions along the visual hierarchy contralateral to the attended locations. Directionality analyses indicate that alpha phase in early and extrastriatal visual areas modulated HFA power in downstream visual areas, thus potentially facilitating the feedforward processing of an upcoming, spatially predictable target. In contrast, in areas ipsilateral to the attended locations, HFA power modulated local alpha phase in early and extrastriatal visual areas, with suppressed interareal interactions, potentially attenuating the processing of distractors. Our findings reveal divergent alpha-mediated neural mechanisms underlying target enhancement and distractor suppression during the deployment of spatial attention, reflecting enhanced functional connectivity at attended locations, while suppressed functional connectivity at unattended locations. The collective dynamics of these alpha-mediated neural mechanisms play complementary roles in the efficient gating of sensory information.

Mapping cognitive activity from electrocorticography field potentials in humans performing NBack task

Objective. Advancements in data science and assistive technologies have made invasive brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) increasingly viable for enhancing the quality of life in physically disabled individuals. Intracortical microelectrode implants are a common choice for such a communication system due to their fine temporal and spatial resolution. The small size of these implants makes the implantation plan critical for the successful exfiltration of information, particularly when targeting representations of task goals that lack robust anatomical correlates. Approach. Working memory processes including encoding, retrieval, and maintenance are observed in many areas of the brain. Using human electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings during a working memory experiment, we provide proof that it is possible to localize cognitive activity associated with the task and to identify key locations involved with executive memory functions. Results. From the analysis, we could propose an optimal iBCI implant location with the desired features. The general approach is not limited to working memory but could also be used to map other goal-encoding factors such as movement intentions, decision-making, and visual-spatial attention. Significance. Deciphering the intended action of a BCI user is a complex challenge that involves the extraction and integration of cognitive factors such as movement planning, working memory, visual-spatial attention, and the decision state. Examining field potentials from ECoG electrodes while participants engaged in tailored cognitive tasks can pinpoint location with valuable information related to anticipated actions. This manuscript demonstrates the feasibility of identifying electrodes involved in cognitive activity related to working memory during user engagement in the NBack task. Devoting time in meticulous preparation to identify the optimal brain regions for BCI implant locations will increase the likelihood of rich signal outcomes, thereby improving the overall BCI user experience.

The developmental dyslexia scale for standard mandarin: A study among early primary students

BackgroundDevelopmental dyslexia (DD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disease that poses challenges in both early intervention and long-term development for children with DD. However, there is a lack of a standardized and comprehensive tool for the diagnosis of DD in Mainland China. AimTo develop a standardized tool (i.e., Developmental Dyslexia Scale for Standard Mandarin [DDSSM]) for the diagnosis of DD in Mainland China and evaluate its reliability and validity. Methods and proceduresDDSSM consists of 10 subtests. The initial draft was created after Delphi expert consultation, and the final version was revised to improve discriminability with a pilot study involving 450 children from grades 1–3. The reliability and validity were then confirmed with 53 children from grades 1–2. Outcomes and resultsThe Delphi expert consultation demonstrated that the expert panel had good authority, and that all agreed on the subtest setup. The DDSSM exhibited great internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the model aligns with the theoretical structure (P > 0.05, χ2/df < 2.00, root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) < 0.08, comparative fit index (CFI) > 0.90, TLI > 0.90). The Dyslexia Checklist for Chinese Children and children’s academic performance agreed well with the DDSSM. Conclusions and implicationsThe DDSAM is reliable and valid for assessing and diagnosing DD in Standard Mandarin-speaking primary school children from grades 1–2. What this paper adds?Although a number of scales and tools have been proposed for assessing developmental dyslexia (DD) in Chinese, there is still a lack of diagnostic tools for Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China. In this study, we developed one of the most comprehensive diagnostic tools for DD in Mandarin Chinese for lower graders. We included visual-spatial attention (VA) and compounding awareness (CA), two tests that have been recently suggested as reliable measures for identifying DD in the Chinese language. This assessment tool has been verified for robust reliability and validity.This study also provided confirmation of the core deficits of DD in Chinese, which were orthographic awareness (OA). In addition, VA, rapid automatized naming (RAN) and morphological awareness (MA) were found to be the most important cognitive abilities for word reading in Chinese lower graders in this study.

Spatial prediction modulates the rhythm of attentional sampling.

Recent studies demonstrate that behavioral performance during visual spatial attention fluctuates at theta (4 to 8Hz) and alpha (8 to 16Hz) frequencies, linked to phase-amplitude coupling of neural oscillations within the visual and attentional system depending on task demands. To investigate the influence of prior spatial prediction, we employed an adaptive discrimination task with variable cue-target onset asynchronies (300 to 1,300ms) and different cue validity (100% & 50%). We recorded electroencephalography concurrently and adopted adaptive electroencephalography data analytical methods, namely, Holo-Holo-Hilbert spectral analysis and Holo-Hilbert cross-frequency phase clustering. Our findings indicate that response precision for near-threshold Landolt rings fluctuates at the theta band (4Hz) under certain predictions and at alpha & beta bands (15 & 19Hz) with uncertain predictions. Furthermore, spatial prediction strengthens theta-alpha modulations at parietal-occipital areas, frontal theta/parietal-occipital alpha phase-amplitude coupling, and within frontal theta-alpha phase-amplitude coupling. Notably, during the pretarget period, beta-modulated gamma oscillations in parietal-occipital areas predict response precision under uncertain prediction, while frontal theta/parietal-occipital alpha phase-amplitude coupling predicts response precision in spatially certain conditions. In conclusion, our study highlights the critical role of spatial prediction in attentional sampling rhythms with both behavioral and electroencephalography evidence.

Correlated variability and its attentional modulation depend on anatomical connectivity

Visual cortical neurons show variability in their responses to repeated presentations of a stimulus and a portion of this variability is shared across neurons. Attention may enhance visual perception by reducing shared spiking variability. However, shared variability and its attentional modulation are not consistent within or across cortical areas, and depend on additional factors such as neuronal type. A critical factor that has not been tested is actual anatomical connectivity. We measured spike count correlations among pairs of simultaneously recorded neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) for which anatomical connectivity was inferred from spiking cross-correlations. Neurons were recorded in monkeys performing a contrast-change discrimination task requiring covert shifts in visual spatial attention. Accordingly, spike count correlations were compared across trials in which attention was directed toward or away from the visual stimulus overlapping recorded neuronal receptive fields. Consistent with prior findings, attention did not significantly alter spike count correlations among random pairings of unconnected V1 neurons. However, V1 neurons connected via excitatory synapses showed a significant reduction in spike count correlations with attention. Interestingly, V1 neurons connected via inhibitory synapses demonstrated high spike count correlations overall that were not modulated by attention. Correlated variability in excitatory circuits also depended upon neuronal tuning for contrast, the task-relevant stimulus feature. These results indicate that shared variability depends on the type of connectivity in neuronal circuits. Also, attention significantly reduces shared variability in excitatory circuits, even when attention effects on randomly sampled neurons within the same area are weak.

The right posterior parietal cortex mediates spatial reorienting of attentional choice bias

Attention facilitates behavior by enhancing perceptual sensitivity (sensory processing) and choice bias (decisional weighting) for attended information. Whether distinct neural substrates mediate these distinct components of attention remains unknown. We investigate the causal role of key nodes of the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) in the forebrain attention network in sensitivity versus bias control. Two groups of participants performed a cued attention task while we applied either inhibitory, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (n = 28) or 40 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (n = 26) to the dorsal rPPC. We show that rPPC stimulation – with either modality – impairs task performance by selectively altering attentional modulation of bias but not sensitivity. Specifically, participants’ bias toward the uncued, but not the cued, location reduced significantly following rPPC stimulation – an effect that was consistent across both neurostimulation cohorts. In sum, the dorsal rPPC causally mediates the reorienting of choice bias, one particular component of visual spatial attention.

Striking a balance: Exploring attention, attack accuracy and speed in fencing performance.

In fencing, it remains unclear whether practice enhances visual-spatial attention allocation. We explored whether this ability is improved in fencers and if it is related to attack speed and accuracy. Twelve novices (<1year of experience) and 12 trained epee fencers (18±10years of experience) visited the laboratory twice (familiarization and testing session). They performed a covert orienting of visuospatial attention test (COVAT) on a computer and an epee test, involving 30 trials of 3 shuttles followed by fast attack phases where the fencers quickly hit a target (randomly proposed out of 8). We measured COVAT reaction time, number of successful target hits, and execution time to hit in the fencing test. We found shorter COVAT reaction time for trained fencers (332±24ms) versus novices (367±32ms; p<0.001). The number of hits was greater for trained fencers (22±3) versus novices (16±3; p<0.001). ANCOVA showed a difference in execution time at the test (823±73ms vs. 913±141ms, p=0.035). A relationship was found between hits and execution time and between execution time and COVAT reaction time for the trained group (r=0.62, p=0.03 and r=0.70, p=0.01, respectively) but not in the novice group (r=0.11, p=0.72 and r=0.45, p=0.14, respectively). Mediation analysis showed that the relationship between execution time and number of hits (ADE: p=0.008) was not mediated by COVAT reaction time (ACME: p=0.17). These results evidence the importance of visual-spatial attention allocation in fencing and evidence differences between novices and trained fencers with important implications for talent development in the early career stage.

Locus coeruleus norepinephrine contributes to visual-spatial attention by selectively enhancing perceptual sensitivity.

Selectively focusing on a behaviorally relevant stimulus while ignoring irrelevant stimuli improves perception. Enhanced neuronal response gain is thought to support attention-related improvements in detection and discrimination. However, understanding of the neuronal pathways regulating perceptual sensitivity remains limited. Here, we report that responses of norepinephrine (NE) neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) of non-human primates to behaviorally relevant sensory stimuli promote visual discrimination in a spatially selective way. LC-NE neurons spike in response to a visual stimulus appearing in the contralateral hemifield only when that stimulus is attended. This spiking is associated with enhanced behavioral sensitivity, is independent of motor control, and is absent on error trials. Furthermore, optogenetically activating LC-NE neurons selectively improves monkeys' contralateral stimulus detection without affecting motor criteria, supporting NE's causal role in granular cognitive control of selective attention at a cellular level, beyond its known diffuse and non-selective functions.

On the relationship between spatial attention and semantics in the context of a Stroop paradigm.

A controversial issue in the literature on single word reading concerns whether semantic activation from a printed word can be stopped. Several reports have claimed that, even when attention is directed to a single letter in a word, semantic interference persists full blown in the context of variants of Stroop's paradigm. Incidental word recognition is thus claimed to be unaffected by directed spatial attention and hence to be automatic by this criterion. In contrast, the literature examining the relation between intentional visual word recognition and spatial attention in tasks like lexical decision and reading aloud suggests that spatial attention is a necessary preliminary to lexical/semantic processing of a word. These opposing conclusions raise the question of whether there is a qualitative difference between incidental and intentional visual word recognition when spatial attention is considered. We first consider the methodology from Stroop experiments in which putatively narrowed spatial attention manipulations failed to prevent interference from semantics. We then report a new experiment that better promotes focused spatial attention. The results yield clear evidence that the effect of semantic activation can indeed be sidelined because one or more prior processes were in large measure stopped. We conclude that incidental word recognition is not automatic in the sense of occurring without any kind of attention.

Study on correlation between perioperative cognitive function and nutritional status in elderly patients with gastric cancer

Objective: To investigate the cognitive function and nutritional status of elderly patients with gastric cancer during perioperative period, and to analyze their correlation. Methods: Aged patients undergoing gastric cancer surgery in The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Shandong First Medical University from March to October 2021 were selected as the subjects of this study. The monitoring data of cognitive function and nutritional status were retrospectively analyzed from 1 to 3 days before surgery, 1 and 3 days after surgery, 7 days after surgery (before discharge) and 30 days after surgery to analyze the correlation between cognitive function and nutritional status in elderly patients with gastric cancer. Results: the incidence of mild cognitive impairment in elderly patients with gastric cancer was 52.43 %, the visual space of the two groups' (mild cognitive impairment) ability of execution, name, attention, language, abstract thinking, delayed memory and cognitive function scores were lower than 1 set of directional force (cognitive function in normal group), statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The nutritional status of elderly patients with gastric cancer was lower than that of healthy elderly group at the same period (P < 0.05). The scores of visual spatial executive function, name, attention, delayed memory, orientation and total score of cognitive function in elderly gastric cancer patients were positively correlated with nutritional status (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The cognitive function and nutritional status of elderly patients with gastric cancer are both in a low state during treatment and a higher level of cognitive function can help patients maintain a more correct nutritional cognition, and the nutritional status of patients will be relatively better. There is a positive correlation between cognitive function and nutritional status in elderly patients with gastric cancer, which should be paid attention to in the treatment.

Impaired Ability in Visual-Spatial Attention in Chinese Children With Developmental Dyslexia.

A growing body of evidence suggests that children with dyslexia in alphabetic languages exhibit visual-spatial attention deficits that can obstruct reading acquisition by impairing their phonological decoding skills. However, it remains an open question whether these visual-spatial attention deficits are present in children with dyslexia in non-alphabetic languages. Chinese, with its logographic writing system, offers a unique opportunity to explore this question. The presence of visual-spatial attention deficits in Chinese children with dyslexia remains insufficiently investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether such deficits exist, employing a visual search paradigm. Three visual search tasks were conducted, encompassing two singleton feature search tasks and a serial conjunction search task. The results indicated that Chinese children with dyslexia performed as well as chronological age-matched control children in color search tasks but less effectively in orientation search, suggesting a difficulty in the rapid visual processing of orientation: a deficit potentially specific to Chinese dyslexia. Crucially, Chinese children with dyslexia also exhibited lower accuracy, longer reaction times, and steeper slopes in the reaction times by set size function in the conjunction search task compared to control children, which is indicative of a visual-spatial attention deficit.

Pathways from the superior colliculus and the nucleus of the optic tract to the posterior parietal cortex in macaque monkeys: Functional frameworks for representation updating and online movement guidance.

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) integrates multisensory and motor-related information for generating and updating body representations and movement plans. We used retrograde transneuronal transfer of rabies virus combined with a conventional tracer in macaque monkeys to identify direct and disynaptic pathways to the arm-related rostral medial intraparietal area (MIP), the ventral lateral intraparietal area (LIPv), belonging to the parietal eye field, and the pursuit-related lateral subdivision of the medial superior temporal area (MSTl). We found that these areas receive major disynaptic pathways via the thalamus from the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT) and the superior colliculus (SC), mainly ipsilaterally. NOT pathways, targeting MSTl most prominently, serve to process the sensory consequences of slow eye movements for which the NOT is the key sensorimotor interface. They potentially contribute to the directional asymmetry of the pursuit and optokinetic systems. MSTl and LIPv receive feedforward inputs from SC visual layers, which are potential correlates for fast detection of motion, perceptual saccadic suppression and visual spatial attention. MSTl is the target of efference copy pathways from saccade- and head-related compartments of SC motor layers and head-related reticulospinal neurons. They are potential sources of extraretinal signals related to eye and head movement in MSTl visual-tracking neurons. LIPv and rostral MIP receive efference copy pathways from all SC motor layers, providing online estimates of eye, head and arm movements. Our findings have important implications for understanding the role of the PPC in representation updating, internal models for online movement guidance, eye-hand coordination and optic ataxia.

Accelerating P300-based neurofeedback training for attention enhancement using iterative learning control: a randomised controlled trial

Objective. Neurofeedback (NFB) training through brain–computer interfacing has demonstrated efficacy in treating neurological deficits and diseases, and enhancing cognitive abilities in healthy individuals. It was previously shown that event-related potential (ERP)-based NFB training using a P300 speller can improve attention in healthy adults by incrementally increasing the difficulty of the spelling task. This study aims to assess the impact of task difficulty adaptation on ERP-based attention training in healthy adults. To achieve this, we introduce a novel adaptation employing iterative learning control (ILC) and compare it against an existing method and a control group with random task difficulty variation. Approach. The study involved 45 healthy participants in a single-blind, three-arm randomised controlled trial. Each group underwent one NFB training session, using different methods to adapt task difficulty in a P300 spelling task: two groups with personalised difficulty adjustments (our proposed ILC and an existing approach) and one group with random difficulty. Cognitive performance was evaluated before and after the training session using a visual spatial attention task and we gathered participant feedback through questionnaires. Main results. All groups demonstrated a significant performance improvement in the spatial attention task post-training, with an average increase of 12.63%. Notably, the group using the proposed iterative learning controller achieved a 22% increase in P300 amplitude during training and a 17% reduction in post-training alpha power, all while significantly accelerating the training process compared to other groups. Significance. Our results suggest that ERP-based NFB training using a P300 speller effectively enhances attention in healthy adults, with significant improvements observed after a single session. Personalised task difficulty adaptation using ILC not only accelerates the training but also enhances ERPs during the training. Accelerating NFB training, while maintaining its effectiveness, is vital for its acceptability by both end-users and clinicians.

Application of transcranial alternating current stimulation to improve eSports-related cognitive performance.

Electronic Sports (eSports) is a popular and still emerging sport. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) and First/Third Person Shooting Games (FPS/TPS) require excellent visual attention abilities. Visual attention involves specific frontal and parietal areas, and is associated with alpha coherence. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a principally suitable tool to improve cognitive functions by modulation of regional oscillatory cortical networks that alters regional and larger network connectivity. In this single-blinded crossover study, 27 healthy college students were recruited and exposed to 10 Hz tACS of the right frontoparietal network. Subjects conducted a Visual Spatial Attention Distraction task in three phases: T0 (pre-stimulation), T1 (during stimulation), T2 (after-stimulation), and an eSports performance task which contained three games ("Exact Aiming," "Flick Aiming," "Press Reaction") before and after stimulation. The results showed performance improvements in the "Exact Aiming" task and hint for a prevention of reaction time performance decline in the "Press Reaction" task in the real, as compared to the sham stimulation group. We also found a significant decrease of reaction time in the visual spatial attention distraction task at T1 compared to T0 in the real, but not sham intervention group. However, accuracy and inverse efficiency scores (IES) did not differ between intervention groups in this task. These results suggest that 10 Hz tACS over the right frontal and parietal cortex might improve eSports-related skill performance in specific tasks, and also improve visual attention in healthy students during stimulation. This tACS protocol is a potential tool to modulate neurocognitive performance involving tracking targets, and might be a foundation for the development of a new concept to enhance eSports performance. This will require however proof in real life scenarios, as well optimization.

A spatial-attentional mechanism underlies action-related distortions of time judgment

Temporal binding has been understood as an illusion in timing judgment. When an action triggers an outcome (e.g. a sound) after a brief delay, the action is reported to occur later than if the outcome does not occur, and the outcome is reported to occur earlier than a similar outcome not caused by an action. We show here that an attention mechanism underlies the seeming illusion of timing judgment. In one method, participants watch a rotating clock hand and report event times by noting the clock hand position when the event occurs. We find that visual spatial attention is critically involved in shaping event time reports made in this way. This occurs because action and outcome events result in shifts of attention around the clock rim, thereby biasing the perceived location of the clock hand. Using a probe detection task to measure attention, we show a difference in the distribution of visual spatial attention between a single-event condition (sound only or action only) and a two-event agency condition (action plus sound). Participants accordingly report the timing of the same event (the sound or the action) differently in the two conditions: spatial attentional shifts masquerading as temporal binding. Furthermore, computational modeling based on the attention measure can reproduce the temporal binding effect. Studies that use time judgment as an implicit marker of voluntary agency should first discount the artefactual changes in event timing reports that actually reflect differences in spatial attention. The study also has important implications for related results in mental chronometry obtained with the clock-like method since Wundt, as attention may well be a critical confounding factor in the interpretation of these studies.

Spatial Decoding for Gaze Independent Brain-Computer Interface Based on Covert Visual Attention Shift Using Electroencephalography.

The gaze-independent brain-computer interface (BCI) device is used to re-establish interaction for individuals who have abnormal eye movement. It may be possible to control the BCI by shifting your attention spatially. However, spatial attention is rarely employed to increase the effectiveness of target detection and is typically used to provide a simple "yes" or "no" response to the target recognition inquiry. To improve the effectiveness of detecting target, it is crucial to take advantage of the possible advantages of spatial attention. N2-posterior-contralateral (N2pc) component reflects correlates of visual spatial attention and is used to determine target position. In this study, a long-short-term memory (LSTM) network is used to answer "yes/no" questions by decoding covert spatial attention based on N2pc characteristics using EEG signals. The proposed LSTM-based model's average decoding accuracy is 92.79%. The target detection efficiency was successfully increased by about 4% when compared to conventional machine learning algorithms. The proposed model is tested on the independent dataset to validate its performance. The results of this work show that N2pc characteristics can be employed in gaze-independent BCIs for tracking covert attention shifts, which may help persons with poor eye mobility to connect with their environment.

What are we really decoding? Unveiling biases in EEG-based decoding of the spatial focus of auditory attention

Objective. Spatial auditory attention decoding (Sp-AAD) refers to the task of identifying the direction of the speaker to which a person is attending in a multi-talker setting, based on the listener’s neural recordings, e.g. electroencephalography (EEG). The goal of this study is to thoroughly investigate potential biases when training such Sp-AAD decoders on EEG data, particularly eye-gaze biases and latent trial-dependent confounds, which may result in Sp-AAD models that decode eye-gaze or trial-specific fingerprints rather than spatial auditory attention. Approach. We designed a two-speaker audiovisual Sp-AAD protocol in which the spatial auditory and visual attention were enforced to be either congruent or incongruent, and we recorded EEG data from sixteen participants undergoing several trials recorded at distinct timepoints. We trained a simple linear model for Sp-AAD based on common spatial patterns filters in combination with either linear discriminant analysis (LDA) or k-means clustering, and evaluated them both across- and within-trial. Main results. We found that even a simple linear Sp-AAD model is susceptible to overfitting to confounding signal patterns such as eye-gaze and trial fingerprints (e.g. due to feature shifts across trials), resulting in artificially high decoding accuracies. Furthermore, we found that changes in the EEG signal statistics across trials deteriorate the trial generalization of the classifier, even when the latter is retrained on the test trial with an unsupervised algorithm. Significance. Collectively, our findings confirm that there exist subtle biases and confounds that can strongly interfere with the decoding of spatial auditory attention from EEG. It is expected that more complicated non-linear models based on deep neural networks, which are often used for Sp-AAD, are even more vulnerable to such biases. Future work should perform experiments and model evaluations that avoid and/or control for such biases in Sp-AAD tasks.

Children with dyslexia show no deficit in exogenous spatial attention but show differences in visual encoding.

In the search for mechanisms that contribute to dyslexia, the term "attention" has been invoked to explain performance in a variety of tasks, creating confusion since all tasks do, indeed, demand "attention." Many studies lack an experimental manipulation of attention that would be necessary to determine its influence on task performance. Nonetheless, an emerging view is that children with dyslexia have an impairment in the exogenous (automatic/reflexive) orienting of spatial attention. Here we investigated the link between exogenous attention and reading ability by presenting exogenous spatial cues in the multi-letter processing task-a task relevant for reading. The task was gamified and administered online to a large sample of children (N=187) between 6 and 17 years. Children with dyslexia performed worse overall at rapidly recognizing and reporting strings of letters. However, we found no evidence for a difference in the utilization of exogenous spatial cues, resolving two decades of ambiguity in the field. Previous studies that claimed otherwise may have failed to distinguish attention effects from overall task performance or found spurious group differences in small samples. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We manipulated exogenous visual spatial attention using pre-cues in a task that is relevant for reading and we see robust task effects of exogenous attention. We found no evidence for a deficit in utilizing exogenous spatial pre-cues in children with dyslexia. However, children with dyslexia showed reduced recognition ability for all letter positions. Children with dyslexia were just as likely to make letter transposition errors as typical readers.

Alpha oscillations encode Bayesian belief updating underlying attentional allocation in dynamic environments

In a dynamic environment, expectations of the future constantly change based on updated evidence and affect the dynamic allocation of attention. To further investigate the neural mechanisms underlying attentional expectancies, we employed a modified Central Cue Posner Paradigm in which the probability of cues being valid (that is, accurately indicated the upcoming target location) was manipulated. Attentional deployment to the cued location (α), which was governed by precision of predictions on previous trials, was estimated using a hierarchical Bayesian model and was included as a regressor in the analyses of electrophysiological (EEG) data. Our results revealed that before the target appeared, alpha oscillations (8∼13 Hz) for high-predictability cues (88 % valid) were significantly predicted by precision-dependent attention (α). This relationship was not observed under low-predictability conditions (69 % and 50 % valid cues). After the target appeared, precision-dependent attention (α) correlated with alpha band oscillations only in the valid cue condition and not in the invalid condition. Further analysis under conditions of significant attentional modulation by precision suggested a separate effect of cue orientation. These results provide new insights on how trial-by-trial Bayesian belief updating relates to alpha band encoding of environmentally-sensitive allocation of visual spatial attention.

Decoding fMRI data with support vector machines and deep neural networks

BackgroundMultivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) examines fMRI activation patterns associated with different cognitive conditions. Support vector machines (SVMs) are the predominant method in MVPA. While SVM is intuitive and easy to apply, it is mainly suitable for analyzing data that are linearly separable. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are known to have the ability to approximate nonlinear relationships. Applications of CNN to fMRI data are beginning to appear with increasing frequency, but our understanding of the similarities and differences between CNN models and SVM models is limited. New methodWe compared the two methods when they are applied to the same datasets. Two datasets were considered: (1) fMRI data collected from participants during a cued visual spatial attention task and (2) fMRI data collected from participants viewing natural images containing varying degrees of affective content. ResultsWe found that (1) both SVM and CNN are able to achieve above-chance decoding accuracies for attention control and emotion processing in both the primary visual cortex and the whole brain, (2) the CNN decoding accuracies are consistently higher than that of the SVM, (3) the SVM and CNN decoding accuracies are generally not correlated, and (4) the heatmaps derived from SVM and CNN are not significantly overlapping. Comparison with existing methodsBy comparing SVM and CNN we pointed out the similarities and differences between the two methods. ConclusionsSVM and CNN rely on different neural features for classification. Applying both to the same data may yield a more comprehensive understanding of neuroimaging data.