Using spatial uncertainty to manipulate the size of the attention focus

Huang, Dan; Liu, Xue; Wang, Xin; Chen, Yao

doi:10.1038/srep32364

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The primary goal of the dot stimulus was to present a broadband, isotropic, and spatially-localized stimulus that would be free from the bias towards specific orientations, features, and regions. This stimulus has been largely used to investigate the processes of spatial attention [29][30][31][32]. It was also superior than grating acuity because oriented gratings suffer from meridional neural bias, which may cause orientation-dependent difference in acuity.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the impact of blur under mobile attentional orientation using a vision simulator

Lestrange-Anginieur

Kee

2020

PLoS ONE

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It is well-known that correction of blur can improve visual perception. However, it is unclear how the beneficial effect of correction is affected by the regions of correction and the spatial uncertainty introduced by the retinal stimulation. The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to compare the impacts of blur correction between isoeccentric locations of the visual field; and second, to evaluate the effect of spatial cueing in each corrected location on performing a simple task. Five subjects were asked to complete a simple detection task of a small dark spot stimulus presented randomly at four cardinal retinal locations (eccentricity: 5˚) under manipulation of attention via an exogenous cue. Both clear and blurred targets were randomly displayed across the visual field and viewed monocularly through a vision simulator, used to minimize peripheral ocular aberrations. Results confirmed the advantage of clear vs/ blurred images under spatial uncertainty. It was also found that the visual benefit from blur correction is unequal at isoeccentric locations, even for a simple detection task. While manipulation of attention in the presence of spatial uncertainty significantly modulated response time (RT) performance, no differential effect was observed for clear and blurred stimuli, suggesting that attention has only a small effect on the optical benefit for a simple detection task when the display is depleted (no distractor). Those observations highlight the importance of field performance asymmetries in optical interventions and may offer useful implications for the design of extrafoveal refractive correction. Further studies are needed to elucidate how the focus of attention interacts with the perceived gain of vision correction.

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Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the impact of blur under mobile attentional orientation using a vision simulator

Lestrange-Anginieur

Kee

2020

PLoS ONE

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“…Herrmann et al ( 2010 ) confirmed such manipulation; using fMRI, they showed a larger spatial extent of increased neural activity in V1 when observers performed the task with than without spatial uncertainty. Attention-field size is also affected by cue size (e.g., Yeshurun & Carrasco, 2008 ), but that manipulation may not be as effective as spatial uncertainty (Huang et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Psychophysical studies have confirmed some of these predictions for covert spatial attention by manipulating the attention-field size via spatial uncertainty of stimulus locations (Herrmann et al, 2010 ) and for feature-based attention by manipulating the uncertainty range of the relevant features (Herrmann, Heeger, & Carrasco, 2012 ). Indeed, a recent study has confirmed that spatial uncertainty of the target location is an effective manipulation of attention-field size (Huang, Xue, Wang, & Chen, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

On spatial attention and its field size on the repulsion effect

2018

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We investigated the attentional repulsion effect—stimuli appear displaced further away from attended locations—in three experiments: one with exogenous (involuntary) attention, and two with endogenous (voluntary) attention with different attention-field sizes. It has been proposed that differences in attention-field size can account for qualitative differences in neural responses elicited by attended stimuli. We used psychophysical comparative judgments and manipulated either exogenous attention via peripheral cues or endogenous attention via central cues and a demanding rapid serial visual presentation task. We manipulated the attention field size of endogenous attention by presenting streams of letters at two specific locations or at two of many possible locations during each block. We found a robust attentional repulsion effect in all three experiments: with endogenous and exogenous attention and with both attention-field sizes. These findings advance our understanding of the influence of spatial attention on the perception of visual space and help relate this repulsion effect to possible neurophysiological correlates.

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“…In order to optimise the selection of relevant information from a rich visual world, the focus of attention can be flexibly changed in several ways: it can, for example, be shifted from one object or location to another (attentional orienting;LaBerge, 1995;Posner, 1980;Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987) or it can be expanded or contracted in spatial extent to encompass larger or smaller objects (attentional focusing; Benso, Turatto, Mascetti, & Umiltà, 1998;Castiello & Umiltà, 1990;Eriksen & Yeh, 1985;Huang, Xue, Wang, & Chen, 2016;Jefferies, Gmeindl, & Yantis, 2014). It has been intensely debated whether the focus of attention can also be divided and deployed independently to spatially separated objects or locations.…”

Section: First Unitary Then Divided: the Temporal Dynamics Of Dividimentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jefferies

Witt

2018

Psychological Research

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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.

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Using spatial uncertainty to manipulate the size of the attention focus

Cited by 8 publications

References 36 publications

Investigation of the impact of blur under mobile attentional orientation using a vision simulator

Investigation of the impact of blur under mobile attentional orientation using a vision simulator

On spatial attention and its field size on the repulsion effect

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

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