Visual attention modulates signal detectability.

The mechanism by which visual-spatial attention affects the detection of faint signals has been the subject of considerable debate. It is well known that spatial cuing speeds signal detection. This may imply that attentional cuing modulates the processing of sensory information during detection or, alternatively, that cuing acts to create decision bias favoring input at the cued location. These possibilities were evaluated in 3 spatial cuing experiments. Peripheral cues were used in Experiment 1 and central cues were used in Experiments 2 and 3. Cuing similarly enhanced measured sensitivity, P(A) and d', for simple luminance detection in all 3 experiments. Under some conditions it also induced shifts in decision criteria (beta). These findings indicate that visual-spatial attention facilitates the processing of sensory input during detection either by increasing sensory gain for inputs at cued locations or by prioritizing the processing of cued inputs.

[1]  D. M. Green,et al.  Signal detection theory and psychophysics , 1966 .

[2]  Saul Sternberg,et al.  The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method , 1969 .

[3]  Marilyn L. Shaw,et al.  A capacity allocation model for reaction time. , 1978 .

[4]  William C. Ogden,et al.  Attended and unattended processing modes: The role of set for spatial location , 2014 .

[5]  J. Duncan.  The locus of interference in the perception of simultaneous stimuli. , 1980, Psychological review.

[6]  Howard S. Bashinski,et al.  Enhancement of perceptual sensitivity as the result of selectively attending to spatial locations , 1980, Perception & psychophysics.

[7]  John Duncan,et al.  The demonstration of capacity limitation , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.

[8]  M. Posner,et al.  Orienting of Attention* , 1980, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[9]  M. Posner,et al.  Attention and the detection of signals. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology.

[10]  Marilyn L Shaw,et al.  Attending to multiple sources of information: I. The integration of information in decision making , 1982, Cognitive Psychology.

[11]  H. Hughes,et al.  Effects of flash luminance and positional expectancies on visual response latency , 1984, Perception & psychophysics.

[12]  J. Jonides,et al.  On the Cost and Benefit of Cost and Benefit , 1984 .

[13]  S A Hillyard,et al.  The spatial orienting of attention: sensory facilitation or response bias? , 1987, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology. Supplement.

[14]  J. Findlay,et al.  Sensitivity and criterion effects in the spatial cuing of visual attention , 1987, Perception & psychophysics.

[15]  R. Klein,et al.  Is Posner's "beam" the same as Treisman's "glue"?: On the relation between visual orienting and feature integration theory. , 1987, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[16]  G. Shulman,et al.  Relating Sensitivity and Criterion Effects to the Internal Mechanisms of Visual Spatial Attention , 1988 .

[17]  H L Hawkins,et al.  Effects of target luminance and cue validity on the latency of visual detection , 1988, Perception & psychophysics.

[18]  C. J. Downing.  Expectancy and visual-spatial attention: effects on perceptual quality. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  B. T. Backus,et al.  Attentional tradeoff across space early in visual processing-new evidence , 1988 .

[20]  S A Hillyard,et al.  Spatial gradients of visual attention: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. , 1988, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[21]  J. Duncan,et al.  Visual search and stimulus similarity. , 1989, Psychological review.

[22]  H. J. Muller,et al.  Reflexive and voluntary orienting of visual attention: time course of activation and resistance to interruption. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[23]  G W Humphreys,et al.  Luminance-increment detection: capacity-limited or not? , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.