Cognitive processes facilitated by contextual cueing: Evidence from event‐related brain potentials

Schankin, Andrea; Schubö, Anna

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00807.x

Cited by 70 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Although this view is compatible with our data, it has difficulty explaining previous eyetracking and ERP/MEG data in which repeated displays were associated with significantly fewer eye movements before the target was found (Peterson & Kramer, 2001;Tseng & Li, 2004;Zhao et al, 2012). In addition, the N2pc component of the ERP is greater for old than for new displays (Johnson et al, 2007;Schankin & Schubö, 2009). This component is known to index spatial attention rather than postperceptual decision and response (Luck & Hillyard, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 46%

“…Similarly, scalp event-related potential (ERP) studies have reported a significantly greater N2pc component for repeated than for unrepeated displays approximately 200 ms after display onset (Johnson, Woodman, Braun, & Luck, 2007;Schankin & Schubö, 2009). Because N2pc is an index of spatial attention (Luck & Hillyard, 1994), these differences suggest that contextual cueing affects spatial attention relatively early.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The time course of attentional deployment in contextual cueing

2012

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The time course of attention is a major characteristic on which different types of attention diverge. In addition to explicit goals and salient stimuli, spatial attention is influenced by past experience. In contextual cueing, behaviorally relevant stimuli are more quickly found when they appear in a spatial context that has previously been encountered than when they appear in a new context. In this study, we investigated the time that it takes for contextual cueing to develop following the onset of search layout cues. In three experiments, participants searched for a T target in an array of Ls. Each array was consistently associated with a single target location. In a testing phase, we manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the repeated spatial layout and the search display. Contextual cueing was equivalent for a wide range of SOAs between 0 and 1,000 ms. The lack of an increase in contextual cueing with increasing cue durations suggests that as an implicit learning mechanism, contextual cueing cannot be effectively used until search begins.Keywords Spatial attention . Contextual cueing . Visual search . Implicit learningThe modern world presents us with a myriad of sensory inputs, only a subset of which are behaviorally relevant. Selective attention depends partially on one's previous experience. For example, in studies on contextual cueing, participants become faster searching for a target on displays that occasionally repeat (Chun & Jiang, 1998). Several neurophysiological studies have investigated the time course of contextual cueing, demonstrating relatively rapid emergence of the cueing effect. However, these findings have not been corroborated in behavioral work. The goal of the present study was to characterize the time course of contextual cueing in behavior.In an intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) study, Olson, Chun, and Allison (2001) observed a significantly greater N210 wave (in V1/V2) approximately 200 ms after viewing of a previously encountered display rather than a new display. Similarly, scalp event-related potential (ERP) studies have reported a significantly greater N2pc component for repeated than for unrepeated displays approximately 200 ms after display onset (Johnson, Woodman, Braun, & Luck, 2007;Schankin & Schubö, 2009). Because N2pc is an index of spatial attention (Luck & Hillyard, 1994), these differences suggest that contextual cueing affects spatial attention relatively early. Earlier time differences were observed with magnetoencephalography (MEG). In one MEG study, participants were presented with repeated search layouts, some with consistent and others with random target locations. After search onset, greater gamma activity occurred 100-300 ms earlier in the consistent than in the random condition (Chaumon, Drouet, & Tallon-Baudry, 2008). Predictable search layouts appear to affect brain activity shortly after search onset.Does the early time course that has been observed with ERPs and MEG translate into an early behavioral gain? This question ha...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 46%

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confidence: 99%

The time course of attentional deployment in contextual cueing

2012

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“…This finding has been widely accepted as reflecting a case in which implicit learning affects the attentional system: The learned implicit spatial context guides attention toward the target location (Chun & Jiang, 1998, 1999Chun & Nakayama, 2000;van Asselen & Castelo-Branco, 2009). This finding has been supported by eye movement studies (Manginelli & Pollmann, 2009;Peterson & Kramer, 2001;Tseng & Li, 2004;van Asselen, Sampaio, Pina, & CasteloBranco, 2011) and electrophysiological studies (Olson, Chun, & Allison, 2001;Schankin & Schubö, 2009). Furthermore, the contextual-cueing effect is impenetrable to awareness, and knowledge of the repetition of displays in an experiment changes little with regard to the observed effects.…”

supporting

confidence: 63%

Rewarding context accelerates implicit guidance in visual search

Tseng

Lleras

2012

Atten Percept Psychophys

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It is well known that observers can implicitly learn the spatial context of complex visual searches, such that future searches through repeated contexts are completed faster than those through novel contexts, even though observers remain at chance at discriminating repeated from new contexts. This contextual-cueing effect arises quickly (within less than five exposures) and asymptotes within 30 exposures to repeated contexts. In spite of being a robust effect (its magnitude is over 100 ms at the asymptotic level), the effect is implicit: Participants are usually at chance at discriminating old from new contexts at the end of an experiment, in spite of having seen each repeated context more than 30 times throughout a 50-min experiment. Here, we demonstrate that the speed at which the contextual-cueing effect arises can be modulated by external rewards associated with the search contexts (not with the performance itself). Following each visual search trial (and irrespective of a participant's search speed on the trial), we provided a reward, a penalty, or no feedback to the participant. Crucially, the type of feedback obtained was associated with the specific contexts, such that some repeated contexts were always associated with reward, and others were always associated with penalties. Implicit learning occurred fastest for contexts associated with positive feedback, though penalizing contexts also showed a learning benefit. Consistent feedback also produced faster learning than did variable feedback, though unexpected penalties produced the largest immediate effects on search performance.

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“…Furthermore, because the target appears embedded within distractors, it is not possible to test for perceptual modulations unambiguously. Performance improvements could occur because LTM changed the perception of the target within its familiar context, facilitated retrieval of the configuration of distractors, or facilitated decision making or action selection (Kunar et al, 2007;Schankin and Schubö, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biasing Perception by Spatial Long-Term Memory

Summerfield¹,

Rao²,

Garside³

et al. 2011

J. Neurosci.

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Human perception is highly flexible and adaptive. Selective processing is tuned dynamically according to current task goals and expectations to optimize behavior. Arguably, the major source of our expectations about events yet to unfold is our past experience; however, the ability of long-term memories to bias early perceptual analysis has remained untested. We used a noninvasive method with high temporal resolution to record neural activity while human participants detected visual targets that appeared at remembered versus novel locations within naturalistic visual scenes. Upon viewing a familiar scene, spatial memories changed oscillatory brain activity in anticipation of the target location. Memory also enhanced neural activity during early stages of visual analysis of the target and improved behavioral performance. Both measures correlated with subsequent target-detection performance. We therefore demonstrated that memory can directly enhance perceptual functions in the human brain.

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Cognitive processes facilitated by contextual cueing: Evidence from event‐related brain potentials

Cited by 70 publications

References 58 publications

The time course of attentional deployment in contextual cueing

The time course of attentional deployment in contextual cueing

Rewarding context accelerates implicit guidance in visual search

Biasing Perception by Spatial Long-Term Memory

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