Your divided attention, please! The maintenance of multiple attentional control sets over distinct regions in space

All set, indeed! N2pc components reveal simultaneous attentional control settings for multiple target colors.

“…Although there is some evidence that attentional task sets can represent only one feature in a given dimension at any one time (e.g., Wolfe et al, 1990;Dombrowe et al, 2011; see also also Olivers, Peters, Houtkamp, & Roelfsema, 2011), other findings suggest that visual selection can be guided more flexibly by multiple features (e.g., Adamo et al, 2008;Moore & Weissman, 2010;Irons et al, 2012). The current study was motivated by a recent demonstration of behavioural task-set contingent attentional capture effects during multiple-colour visual search (Irons et al, 2012).…”

Searching for two things at once: Establishment of multiple attentional control settings on a trial-by-trial basis

“…Current estimates based on the contralateral-delay activity (CDA) eventrelated potential (ERP) suggest that a target template can be transferred from visual working memory to a more robust longer-term storage in fewer than ten trials (Carlisle, Arita, Pardo, & Woodman, 2011;Woodman, Luck, & Schall, 2007;see Vogel & Machizawa, 2004, for an index of the CDA ERP component). To date, studies investigating the maintenance of multiple attentional control settings have employed consistent, predictable targets that can be readily offloaded into long-term memory (Adamo et al, 2008;Adamo et al, 2010;Folk & Anderson, 2010;Irons et al, 2012;Moore & Weissman, 2010. Can multiple control settings be established and maintained on a trial-by-trial basis?…”

“…For example, in tying control settings to spatial locations, Adamo et al's (2008) procedure might have allowed perceptual priming to affect reaction times (RTs). When a blue target appeared in the left location and was preceded by a blue distractor, RTs could have been shorter because of location-based color priming; this priming would be weakened if color and location mismatched.…”

Fearful Attention: Investigating Event-related Potentials in Spider Phobia

“…Several behavior studies showed spatial visual attention to be like a spotlight that moves across space (LaBerge, 1983). Some studies showed that this spotlight could be multiplied (Adamo, Pun, Pratt & Ferber, 2008), meaning that it would be possible to attend to several places at the same time. However, these findings have not replicated well (Driver, & Baylis, 1989;Jans, Peters, & de Weerd, 2010).…”