Abstract
Introduction. The mechanisms of exogenous attention, having a high sensitivity to the physical characteristics of sensory signals, provide primary adaptation to the environment. We have suggested that non-local features of the visual scene may have different priorities in attracting exogenous attention. The process of exogenous orientation in the situation of pairwise competition of modulated textures was studied for the first time by isolating the N2pc component. As a result of the study, we established the peculiarities of attention distribution in pairs of spatial features modulated on textures, expanding the idea of the work of exogenous control mechanisms in the visual system. Methods. The study involved 32 people aged 18.2 ± 0.4 years with normal vision. The experiment consisted of three parts performed according to the same scheme: the task of the subject was to find the target stimulus (modulated texture) given in the instructions among the decoy (another modulated texture) and distractors. During the experiment, an EEG was recorded in order to analyze the N2pc component. Results. Based on the comparison of the N2pc component, it was found that contrast and orientation modulations attract exogenous attention to a greater extent than spatial frequency modulation. The theoretical significance of the results lies in the study of the fundamental mechanisms of exogenous control in the visual system. The results of studying this process can be applied in the development of graphical interfaces, brain–computer systems, as well as in solving a wide range of problems of engineering psychology related to the optimization of human-machine interaction. Discussion. Contrast and orientation modulations may have a higher priority for exogenous attention than spatial frequency modulation. In a situation of simultaneous presentation with the latter, contrast and orientation modulations can largely distract attention due to their greater salience. The lower latency of the N2pc component in response to orientation modulation suggests the priority of its processing in comparison with contrast and spatial frequency modulations.
References
Babenko, V. V. (1989). A new approach to the question of the mechanisms of visual perception. In Problems of neurocybernetics (pp. 10–11). IRU. (in Russ.).
Babenko, V. V., & Ermakov, P. N. (2015). Specificity of brain reactions to second-order visual stimuli. Visual Neuroscience, 32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952523815000085
Babenko, V. V., & Yavna, D. V. (2018). Competition for attention among spatial modulations of brightness gradients. Russian Psychological Journal, 15(3), 160–189. https://doi.org/10.21702/rpj.2018.3.8
Babenko, V. V., Yavna, D. V., & Rodionov, E. G. (2020). Contributions of different spatial modulations of brightness gradients to the control of visual attention. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 50, 1035–1042. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-020-00994-z
Bachman, M. D., Wang, L., Gamble, M. L., & Woldorff, M. G. (2020). Physical salience and value-driven salience operate through different neural mechanisms to enhance attentional selection. Journal of Neuroscience, 40(28), 5455–5464. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1198-19.2020
Bartolomeo, P., & Malkinson, T. S. (2019). Hemispheric lateralization of attention processes in the human brain. Current Opinion in Psychology, 29, 90–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.12.023
Chandra, A., Stone, C. R., Du, X., Li, W. A., Huber, M., Bremer, R., Geng, X., & Ding, Y. (2017). The cerebral circulation and cerebrovascular disease III: Stroke. Brain Сirculation, 3(2), 66–77. https://doi.org/10.4103/bc.bc_12_17
Chubb, C., & Sperling, G. (1989). Two motion perception mechanisms revealed through distance-driven reversal of apparent motion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 86(8), 2985–2989. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.86.8.2985
Cruickshank, A. G., & Schofield, A. J. (2005). Transfer of tilt after-effects between second-order cues. Spatial Vision, 18(4), 379–397. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568568054389624
Findlay, J. M. (1997). Saccade target selection during visual search. Vision Research, 37(5), 617–631. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0042-6989(96)00218-0
Fogel, I., & Sagi, D. (1989). Gabor filters as texture discriminator. Biological Cybernetics, 61, 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204594
Gaspelin, N., & Luck, S. (2019). Inhibition as a potential resolution to the attentional capture debate. Current Opinion in Psychology, 29, 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.10.013
Gaspelin, N., & Luck, S. J. (2018). Combined electrophysiological and behavioral evidence for the suppression of salient distractors. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 30(9), 1265–1280. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01279
Goller, F., Schoeberl, T., & Ansorge, U. (2020). Testing the top-down contingent capture of attention for abrupt-onset cues: Evidence from cue-elicited N2pc. Psychophysiology, 57(11). https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13655
Han, Y., Tan, Z., Zhuang, H., & Qian, J. (2022). Contrasting effects of exogenous and endogenous attention on size perception. British Journal of Psychology, 113(1), 153–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12529
Hopfinger, J. B., & West, V. M. (2006). Interactions between endogenous and exogenous attention on cortical visual processing. NeuroImage, 31(2), 774–789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.12.049
Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat’s visual cortex. The Journal of Physiology, 160(1), 106–154. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1962.sp006837
Ilse, A., Donohue, S. E., Schoenfeld, M. A., Hopf, J. M., Heinze, H.-J., & Harris, J. A. (2020). Unseen food images capture the attention of hungry viewers: Evidence from event-related potentials. Appetite, 155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104828
Kingdom, F., Prins, N., & Hayes, A. (2003). Mechanism independence for texture-modulation detection is consistent with a filter-rectify-filter mechanism. Visual Neuroscience, 20(1), 65–76. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952523803201073
Klein, R. (2009). On the control of attention. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 63(3), 240–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015807
Luck, S. J. (2006). The operation of attention – millisecond by millisecond – over the first half second. In H. Öğmen, & B. G. Breitmeyer (Eds.), The first half second: The microgenesis and temporal dynamics of unconscious and conscious visual processes (pp. 187–206). MIT Press.
Luck, S. J. (2011). Electrophysiological correlates of the focusing of attention within complex visual scenes: N2pc and related ERP components. In E. S. Kappenman, & S. J. Luck (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of event-related potential components. Oxford Library of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195374148.013.0161
Luck, S. J., & Hillyard, S. A. (1994). Spatial filtering during visual search: Evidence from human electrophysiology. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20(5), 1000–1014. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.20.5.1000
Mudrik, L., & Deouell, L. Y. (2022). Neuroscientific evidence for processing without awareness. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 45, 403–423. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-110920-033151
Rayner, K. (2009). The 35th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture: Eye movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62(8), 1457–1506. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210902816461
Sutter, A., Beck, J., & Graham, N. (1989). Contrast and spatial variables in texture segregation: Testing a simple spatial-frequency channels model. Perception & Psychophysics, 46, 312–332. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03204985
Theeuwes, J. (1994). Stimulus-driven capture and attentional set: selective search for color and visual abrupt onsets. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20(4), 799–806. https://doi.org/10.1037//0096-1523.20.4.799
Theeuwes, J., Atchley, P., & Kramer, A. F. (2000). On the time course of top-down and bottom-up control of visual attention. Attention and Performance, 18, 104–124.
Tikhomirov, G. V., Grigorieva, V. N., & Surkova, A. S. (2021). Visual object agnosia in acute ischemic stroke: A first neuroimaging biomarker. Doctor.Ru, 20(9), 6–10. https://doi.org/10.31550/1727-2378-2021-20-9-6-10 (in Russ.).
Yavna, D. V. (2012). Psychophysiological features of visual perception of spatially modulated features (Candidate dissertation). Southern Federal University. (in Russ.).
Yavna, D., Babenko, V., & Soloviev, A. (2009). Visual search of the second-order targets with uncertainty. Perception, 38, 55.
Zivony, A., Allon, A. S., Luria, R., & Lamy, D. (2018). Dissociating between the N2pc and attentional shifting: An attentional blink study. Neuropsychologia, 121, 153–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.11.003
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2022 Rodionov, E. G.