Visual attention

Attention and Perception: Looking without Paint

by Alessandra Tanesini

This is a Mumford Style Handout not for citation without permission. Any comments welcome

An argument against Block's Mental Paint deploying the pre-motor theory of attention An argument against Block's Mental Paint deploying the pre-motor theory of attention

How prevalent is object-based attention?

by Sarah Creighton

Citation: Pilz KS, Roggeveen AB, Creighton SE, Bennett PJ, Sekuler AB (2012) How Prevalent Is Object-Based Attention? PLoS ONE 7(2): e30693. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030693

Previous research suggests that visual attention can be allocated to locations in space (space-based attention) and to... more Previous research suggests that visual attention can be allocated to locations in space (space-based attention) and to objects (object-based attention). The cueing effects associated with space-based attention tend to be large and are found consistently across experiments. Object-based attention effects, however, are small and found less consistently across experiments. In three experiments we address the possibility that variability in object-based attention effects across studies reflects low incidence of such effects at the level of individual subjects. Experiment 1 measured space-based and object-based cueing effects for horizontal and vertical rectangles in 60 subjects comparing commonly used target detection and discrimination tasks. In Experiment 2 we ran another 120 subjects in a target discrimination task in which rectangle orientation varied between subjects. Using parametric statistical methods, we found object-based effects only for horizontal rectangles. Bootstrapping methods were used to measure effects in individual subjects. Significant space-based cueing effects were found in nearly all subjects in both experiments, across tasks and rectangle orientations. However, only a small number of subjects exhibited significant object-based cueing effects. Experiment 3 measured only object-based attention effects using another common paradigm and again, using bootstrapping, we found only a small number of subjects that exhibited significant object-based cueing effects. Our results show that object-based effects are more prevalent for horizontal rectangles, which is in accordance with the theory that attention may be allocated more easily along the horizontal meridian. The fact that so few individuals exhibit a significant object-based cueing effect presumably is why previous studies of this effect might have yielded inconsistent results. The results from the current study highlight the importance of considering individual subject data in addition to commonly used statistical methods.

Quiet-eye training, perceived control and performing under pressure

by Greg Wood

While previous studies have explored how quiet-eye (QE) training optimizes objective (visual attention) control in... more While previous studies have explored how quiet-eye (QE) training optimizes objective (visual attention) control in aiming tasks, this study examined whether QE training influences perceived (psychological) control and how changes in control beliefs correspond to changes in anxiety, visual attention and performance under pressure.

Two groups of ten experienced soccer penalty takers followed either a QE training program or a practice program where penalty kicks were practiced with no instruction. Measurements of anxiety, gaze, performance and perceived control were recorded over baseline, retention and a competitive, ’shoot-out’ transfer condition.

Not only did the QE training optimize aiming behavior and performance, but these changes in visual attention were mirrored in changes in control beliefs. QE participants significantly reduced their perceptions of outcome uncertainty (contingency) and increased their perceptions of shooting ability (competence) and ability to score and cope with the pressure (control), compared to practice participants. Furthermore, there was an overall and significant relationship between high perceptions of control beliefs and aiming behavior. Specifically, those participants with high control beliefs were more likely to aim optimally and further from the goalkeeper, whereas participants with low control beliefs experienced suboptimal and more centralized aiming behavior.

These findings are the first to highlight the relationship between control beliefs, anxiety and attentional control in sport and offer further explanations regarding the benefits of QE training for performance under pressure.

Functional connectivity for an "Island of sparing" in autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study of visual search

by Patricia Shih

Keehn B., Shih P., Brenner L.A., Townsend J., Müller R.A. (2012). Functional connectivity for an "Island of sparing" in autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study of visual search. Human Brain Mapping. doi:10.1002/hbm.22084

Although autism is usually characterized with respect to sociocommunicative impairments, visual search is known as a... more Although autism is usually characterized with respect to sociocommunicative impairments, visual search is known as a domain of relative performance strength in this disorder. This study used functional MRI during visual search in children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 19; mean age = 13;10) and matched typically developing children (n = 19; mean age = 14;0). We selected regions of interest within two attentional networks known to play a crucial role in visual search processes, such as goal-directed selective attention, filtering of irrelevant distractors, and detection of behaviorally-relevant information, and examined activation and connectivity within and between these attentional networks. Additionally, based on prior research suggesting links between visual search abilities and autism symptomatology, we tested for correlations between sociocommunicative impairments and behavioral and neural indices of search. Contrary to many previous functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging studies of autism that reported functional underconnectivity for task domains of weakness, we found atypically increased connectivity within and between attentional networks in autism. Additionally, we found increased functional connectivity for occipital regions, both locally and for long-distance connections with frontal regions. Both behavioral and neural indices of search were correlated with sociocommunicative impairment in children with autism. This association suggests that strengths in nonsocial visuospatial processing may be related to the development of core autistic sociocommunicative impairments.

Energetic Costs of Incidental Visual Coupling during Treadmill Running

by Daniel Eaves

Adaptive Coding of Task-Relevant Information in Human Frontoparietal Cortex

by Alexandra Woolgar

Journal of Neuroscience

Frontoparietal cortex is thought to be essential for flexible behavior, but the mechanism for control remains elusive.... more Frontoparietal cortex is thought to be essential for flexible behavior, but the mechanism for control remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate
a potentially critical property of this cortex: its dynamic configuration for coding of task-critical information. Using multivoxel pattern analysis of human functional imaging data, we demonstrate an adaptive change in the patterns of activation coding task-relevant stimulus distinctions. When task demands made perceptual information more difficult to discriminate, frontoparietal regions showed increased coding of this information. Visual cortices showed the opposite result: a weaker representation of perceptual information in line with the physical change in the stimulus.Ona longer timescale, a rebalancing of coding was also seen after practice, with a diminished representation of task rules as they became familiar. The results suggest a flexible neural system, exerting cognitive control in a wide range of tasks by adaptively representing the task features most challenging for successful goal-directed behavior.

Interactions between attention and perceptual grouping in human visual cortex

by Elliot Freeman

Lateral Interactions between Targets and Flankers Require Attention

by Elliot Freeman

The Causal Role of Attentional Bias for Threat Cues in Social Anxiety: A Test on a Cyber-Ostracism Task

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Peschard, V., & Philippot, P. (in press). The causal role of attentional bias to threat cues in social anxiety: A test on a cyber-ostracism task. Cognitive Therapy and Research.

Bottom-Up Visual Attention for Virtual Human Animation

by Christopher Edward Peters

Peters, C., and O' Sullivan, C. "Bottom-up visual attention for virtual human animation", Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA), Rutgers University, New York, pp. 111-117, 2003

We present a system for the automatic generation of bottom-up visual attention behaviours in virtual humans. Bottom-up... more We present a system for the automatic generation of bottom-up visual attention behaviours in virtual humans. Bottom-up attention refers to the way in which the environment solicits one’s attention without regard to task-level goals. Our framework is based on the interactions of multiple components: a synthetic vision system for perceiving the virtual world, a model of bottom-up attention for early visual processing of perceived stimuli, a memory system for the storage of previously sensed data and a gaze controller for the generation of resultant behaviours. Our aim is to provide a feeling of presence in inhabited virtual environments by endowing agents with the ability to pay attention to their surroundings.

Fundamentals of agent perception and attention modelling

by Christopher Edward Peters

Peters, C., Castellano, G., Rehm, M., Andre, E., Volpe, G., Camurri, A., Raouzaiou, A., Rapantzikos, K., Karpouzis, K., and Vasalou, A. .
In P. Petta, C. Pelachaud and R. Cowie (Eds.), Emotion-Oriented Systems: The Humaine Handbook, pp. 293-319, Cognitive Technologies Series, Springer, January 2011 isbn:978-3-642-15183-5
Bibtex available here:
http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~cpeters/bibtex/bibtex.html#HandbookPerception2011

Perception and attention mechanisms are of great importance for entities situated within complex dynamic environments.... more Perception and attention mechanisms are of great importance for entities situated within complex dynamic environments. With roles extending greatly beyond passive information services about the external environment, such mechanisms actively prioritise, augment and expedite information to ensure that the potentially relevant is made available so appropriate action can take place. Here, we describe the rationale behind endowing artificial entities, or virtual agents, with real-time perception and attention systems. We cover the fundamentals of designing and building such systems. Once equipped, the resulting agents can achieve a more substantial connection with their environment for the purposes of reacting, planning, decision making and, ultimately, behaving.

Novelty processing and emotion: conceptual developments, empirical findings and virtual environments

by Christopher Edward Peters

Grandjean, D., and Peters, C.
In P. Petta, C. Pelachaud and R. Cowie (Eds.), Emotion-Oriented Systems: The Humaine Handbook, pp. 441-458, Cognitive Technologies Series, Springer, January 2011 isbn:978-3-642-15183-5
Bibtex available here: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~cpeters/bibtex/bibtex.html#HandbookNovelty2011

Novelty detection is a crucial ability of organisms to detect changes in the environment and to adapt their behaviours... more Novelty detection is a crucial ability of organisms to detect changes in the environment and to adapt their behaviours accordingly. In this chapter we review a conceptual framework of novelty detection informed by cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology. The relationship between attentional processes and novelty detection is also discussed and developed, supported by a case study highlighting methods for implementing a novelty detection capability for artificial agents in virtual environments.

A robotics-based approach to modeling of choice reaching experiments on visual attention

by Sören Strauss

Hudson_Nijboer_Jellema_2012

by Matthew Hudson

The limits of top-down control of visual attention

by Judith Peters

Visual spatial attention to multiple locations at once: The jury is still out.

by Judith Peters

Lateralised visual attention is unrelated to language lateralisation, and not influenced by task difficulty-A functional transcranial Doppler study.

by Nicholas Badcock

Contingent capture and inhibition of return: a comparison of mechanisms

by Jordan Taylor

On the relationship between space- and object-based attention

by Tina Liu

Tong Liu1, William G Hayward1, Jason S McCarley2

1Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong
2Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


Topic Descriptor: Visual Attention
Acknowledgements: This study was supported by a grant from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (HKU 744209) to William G. Hayward.

Visual attention research has suggested two distinct and complementary forms of selection: space- and object-based... more Visual attention research has suggested two distinct and complementary forms of selection: space- and object-based attention. Though attention can be allocated to regions of space as well as perceptual objects, the exact relationship between the two modes of selection is not fully understood yet. Egly, Driver, and Rafal (1994) first demonstrated spatial and object-based effects within a single paradigm. However, the space- and object-based reference frames overlapped – targets appeared at the cued location inside the cued object on a large majority of trials. The present study dissociated object and location using a variant of the Egly paradigm. Participants performed a shape discrimination task (T- vs. L-shaped stimuli) in which the target appeared at a cued or uncued location inside a cued or uncued object. The cue denoted object, but not spatial, validity. We found both spatial- and object-cueing effects, as well as an interaction between spatial and object validity – the object-based effect occurred at both uncued and cued locations, but was smaller when the spatial location was cued. The results suggest that selection is fundamentally location-based, which occurs automatically even under conditions of high object validity.

Tachistoscopic treatment of dyslexia changes the distribution of visual-spatial attention

by Alessio Toraldo

Lorusso M.L, Facoetti A., Toraldo A., Molteni M. (2005). Brain and Cognition 57, 135-142.

Twelve children with developmental dyslexia underwent a four-month treatment with tachistoscopic presentation of... more Twelve children with developmental dyslexia underwent a four-month treatment with tachistoscopic presentation of words, according to Bakker’s methodology. One group received standard lateral presentation of words on a PC screen, while the other group received the same stimuli in random lateral position. The spatial distribution of visual attention was measured by means of the Form-Resolving Field (FRF; Geiger, Lettvin, & Zegarra-Moran, 1992), which was administered along with reading tests, before and after treatment. The FRF of children who received random presentation widened at −12.5° on the left side, while the FRF in the group that received standard lateral presentation narrowed at that position. Both groups significantly improved in reading accuracy for both words and nonwords. Some hypotheses are proposed concerning the mechanisms responsible for the changes in the FRF and their correlation with improvements in word and nonword reading. The results of the present study are also compared with data suggesting a left “minineglect” in dyslexia.