Temporal attention improves perception similarly at foveal and parafoveal locations

Abstract

Temporal attention, the prioritization of information at a specific point in time, improves visual performance, but it is unknown whether it does so to the same extent across the visual field. This knowledge is necessary to establish whether temporal attention compensates for heterogeneities in discriminability and speed of processing across the visual field. Discriminability and rate of information accrual depend on eccentricity as well as on polar angle, a characteristic known as performance fields. Spatial attention improves speed of processing more at locations at which discriminability is lower and information accrual is slower, but it improves discriminability to the same extent across isoeccentric locations. Here we asked whether temporal attention benefits discriminability in a similar or differential way across the visual field. Observers were asked to report the orientation of one of two targets presented at different points in time at the same spatial location (fovea, right horizontal meridian, or upper vertical meridian, blocked). Temporal attention improved discriminability and shortened reaction times at the foveal and each parafoveal location similarly. These results provide evidence that temporal attention is similarly effective at multiple locations in the visual field. Consequently, at the tested locations, performance fields are preserved with temporal orienting of attention.

Temporal attention selectively enhances target features

“…Stimulus enhancement, signal enhancement, and noise exclusion each have distinct signatures depending on the amount of noise present in a display ( Figure 1 ). Notably, stimulus enhancement and signal enhancement both predict an improvement in perceptual sensitivity in the absence of noise, as has been reported in past studies of temporal attention ( Correa, Lupiáñez, et al, 2006 ; Denison, Heeger, & Carrasco, 2017 ; Fernández, Denison, & Carrasco, 2019 ; Nobre, Correa, & Coull, 2007 ; Nobre & Van Ede, 2018 ; Shalev, Nobre, & van Ede, 2019 ). However, because temporal attention studies have typically used noise-free displays, it is unclear whether temporal attention improves perception solely via stimulus enhancement or signal enhancement, or some combination of the proposed mechanisms.…”

“…Our ability to appropriately respond to dynamic and often noisy environments involves the recruitment of temporal attention, the allocation of attention to a moment in time ( Denison, Heeger, & Carrasco, 2017 ; Griffin, Miniussi, & Nobre, 2001 ; Lange, Krämer, & Röder, 2006 ; Milliken, Lupiáñez, Roberts, & Stevanovski, 2003 ; Nobre & Rohenkohl, 2014 ; Zokaei, Board, Manohar, & Nobre, 2019 ). A growing body of evidence has demonstrated that temporal attention improves perceptual detection and discriminability ( Correa, Lupiáñez, & Tudela, 2005 ; Correa, Lupiáñez, Milliken, & Tudela, 2004 ; Coull, Frith, Büchel, & Nobre, 2000 ; Fernández, Denison, & Carrasco, 2019 ; Griffin, Miniussi, & Nobre, 2001 ; Rohenkohl, Cravo, Wyart, & Nobre, 2012 ), which is thought to be mediated by improvements in early visual processing ( Correa, Lupiáñez, Madrid, & Tudela, 2006 ; Correa, Sanabria, Spence, Tudela, & Lupiáñez, 2006 ; Denison, Yuval-Greenberg, & Carrasco, 2019 ; Rolke & Hofmann, 2007 ). However, the computational mechanisms subserving these improvements in target detection and discriminability due to temporal attention remain unclear ( Nobre & Rohenkohl, 2014 ; Nobre & Van Ede, 2018 ; Weinbach & Henik, 2012 ).…”

Oculomotor freezing reflects tactile temporal expectation and aids tactile perception

“…The possibility that temporal expectations are supramodal is in line with the definition of expectation as regarding the prior probability for an event independent of the event's task relevance. The distinction between expectation and attention (related to the event's task relevance, which was constant in both conditions in this study) in the temporal domain 27,29,30 is based on the well-established distinction between expectation and attention in both the spatial 2,31,32 and the feature 2,33 domains. Supporting the distinction in the temporal domain, modulations of evoked potentials caused by visual-tactile temporal expectation precede those caused by modality-specific attention 34 .…”

Oculomotor freezing reflects tactile temporal expectation and aids tactile perception

“…The possibility that temporal expectations are supramodal is in line with the definition of expectation as regarding the prior probability for an event independent of the event’s task relevance. The distinction between expectation and attention (related to the event’s task relevance, which was constant in both conditions in this study) in the temporal domain 27,29,30 is based on the well-established distinction between expectation and attention in both the spatial 2,31,32 and the feature 2,33 domains. Supporting the distinction in the temporal domain, modulations of evoked potentials caused by visual-tactile temporal expectation precede those caused by modality-specific attention 34 .…”