How Attention Enhances Spatial Resolution: Evidence from Selective Adaptation to Spatial Frequency P343 Cv Jp Dj

In this study, we investigated how spatial resolution and covert attention affect performance in a texture segmentation task in which performance peaks at midperiphery and drops at peripheral and central retinal locations. The central impairment is called thecentral performance drop (CPD; Kehrer, 1989). It has been established that attending to the target location improves performance in the periphery where resolution is too low for the task, but impairs it at central locations where resolution is too high. This is called thecentral attention impairment (CAI; Yeshurun & Carrasco, 1998, 2000). We employed a cuing procedure in conjunction with selective adaptation to explore (1) whether the CPD is due to the inhibition of low spatial frequency responses by high spatial frequency responses in central locations, and (2) whether the CAI is due to attention’s shifting sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies. We found that adaptation to low spatial frequencies does not change performance in this texture segmentation task. However, adaptation to high spatial frequencies diminishes the CPD and eliminates the CAI. These results indicate that the CPD is primarily due to the dominance of high spatial frequency responses and that covert attention enhances spatial resolution by shifting sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies.

[1]  M. Morgan,et al.  Visual Search for a Tilted Target: Tests of Spatial Uncertainty Models , 1998, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[2]  David C Burr,et al.  Feature-based integration of orientation signals in visual search , 2000, Vision Research.

[3]  J D Victor,et al.  Striate cortex extracts higher-order spatial correlations from visual textures. , 1994, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  Gunther W. Balz,et al.  The Effect of Attentional Spread on Spatial Resolution , 1997, Vision Research.

[5]  A. Saul,et al.  Adaptation in single units in visual cortex: The tuning of aftereffects in the spatial domain , 1989, Visual Neuroscience.

[6]  Arnulf Remole,et al.  VISUAL MASKING: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH , 1985 .

[7]  Harold Pashler,et al.  Spatial attention and vernier acuity , 1995, Vision Research.

[8]  R. Desimone,et al.  Attention Increases Sensitivity of V4 Neurons , 2000, Neuron.

[9]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Attention Alters the Appearance of Spatial Frequency and Gap Size , 2005, Psychological science.

[10]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Transient Attention Enhances Perceptual Performance and fMRI Response in Human Visual Cortex , 2005, Neuron.

[11]  R. Gurnsey,et al.  Texture segmentation along the horizontal meridian: nonmonotonic changes in performance with eccentricity. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[12]  Y Tsal,et al.  Inattention magnifies perceived length: the attentional receptive field hypothesis. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[13]  M. Carrasco,et al.  The locus of attentional effects in texture segmentation , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[14]  P. Lennie,et al.  Pattern-selective adaptation in visual cortical neurones , 1979, Nature.

[15]  R. Desimone,et al.  Neural mechanisms of spatial selective attention in areas V1, V2, and V4 of macaque visual cortex. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[16]  Mark E. McCourt,et al.  Spatial frequency interference on grating-induction , 1985, Vision Research.

[17]  Lothar Kehrer,et al.  A space-variant filter model of texture segregation: Parameter adjustment guided by psychophysical data , 2003, Biological Cybernetics.

[18]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Sustained and transient covert attention enhance the signal via different contrast response functions , 2006, Vision Research.

[19]  M. Cheal,et al.  Central and Peripheral Precuing of Forced-Choice Discrimination , 1991, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[20]  Marisa Carrasco,et al.  Attention improves or impairs visual performance by enhancing spatial resolution , 1998, Nature.

[21]  RussLL L. Ds Vnlos,et al.  SPATIAL FREQUENCY SELECTIVITY OF CELLS IN MACAQUE VISUAL CORTEX , 2022 .

[22]  D. Heeger Normalization of cell responses in cat striate cortex , 1992, Visual Neuroscience.

[23]  E. DeYoe,et al.  A physiological correlate of the 'spotlight' of visual attention , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[24]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Spatial covert attention increases contrast sensitivity across the CSF: support for signal enhancement , 2000, Vision Research.

[25]  Robert J. Snowden,et al.  Orientation bandwidth: The effect of spatial and temporal frequency , 1992, Vision Research.

[26]  J. Reynolds,et al.  Attentional modulation of visual processing. , 2004, Annual review of neuroscience.

[27]  J. Jonides Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind's eye's movement , 1981 .

[28]  M. Carrasco,et al.  The contribution of covert attention to the set-size and eccentricity effects in visual search. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[29]  B. Dosher,et al.  Mechanisms of perceptual attention in precuing of location , 2000, Vision Research.

[30]  Michael J. Spivey,et al.  Selective visual attention modulates the direct tilt aftereffect , 2000, Perception & psychophysics.

[31]  L. D. Harmon Some Aspects of Recognition of Human Faces , 1971 .

[32]  E. Rolls,et al.  A Neurodynamical Model of Visual Attention , 2005 .

[33]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Characterizing visual performance fields: effects of transient covert attention, spatial frequency, eccentricity, task and set size. , 2001, Spatial vision.

[34]  P. O. Bishop,et al.  Spatial vision. , 1971, Annual review of psychology.

[35]  Marisa Carrasco,et al.  Temporal performance fields: visual and attentional factors , 2004, Vision Research.

[36]  M. Carrasco,et al.  A Test of the Spatial-Frequency Explanation of the Müller-Lyer Illusion , 1986, Perception.

[37]  Leila Montaser-Kouhsari,et al.  Attentional modulation of adaptation to illusory lines. , 2004, Journal of vision.

[38]  B McElree,et al.  Covert attention accelerates the rate of visual information processing , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[39]  Victor A. F. Lamme The neurophysiology of figure-ground segregation in primary visual cortex , 1995, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[40]  L. Kehrer Perceptual segregation and retinal position. , 1987, Spatial vision.

[41]  B. Dosher,et al.  External noise distinguishes attention mechanisms , 1998, Vision Research.

[42]  Rick Gurnsey,et al.  Backward masking and the central performance drop , 2004, Vision Research.

[43]  D G Pelli,et al.  The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies. , 1997, Spatial vision.

[44]  N. Graham,et al.  Normalization: contrast-gain control in simple (Fourier) and complex (non-Fourier) pathways of pattern vision , 2000, Vision Research.

[45]  Matthew Flatt,et al.  PsyScope: An interactive graphic system for designing and controlling experiments in the psychology laboratory using Macintosh computers , 1993 .

[46]  B. Dosher,et al.  Spatial attention: different mechanisms for central and peripheral temporal precues? , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[47]  M. Eckstein The Lower Visual Search Efficiency for Conjunctions Is Due to Noise and not Serial Attentional Processing , 1998 .

[48]  J. Rovamo,et al.  Cortical magnification factor predicts the photopic contrast sensitivity of peripheral vision , 1978, Nature.

[49]  S. Trehub The developmental origins of musicality , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[50]  R. Desimone,et al.  Selective attention gates visual processing in the extrastriate cortex. , 1985, Science.

[51]  D. Heeger,et al.  Spatial attention affects brain activity in human primary visual cortex. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[52]  M. McCourt A spatial frequency dependent grating-induction effect , 1982, Vision Research.

[53]  Rick Gurnsey,et al.  Backward masking is not required to elicit the central performance drop. , 2003, Spatial vision.

[54]  Kazunori Morikawa,et al.  Central performance drop in texture segmentation: the role of spatial and temporal factors , 2000, Vision Research.

[55]  C. Blakemore,et al.  Orientation Specificity and Spatial Selectivity in Human Vision , 1973, Perception.

[56]  C Meinecke,et al.  Peripheral and foveal segmentation of angle textures , 1994, Perception & psychophysics.

[57]  J. Robson,et al.  Grating summation in fovea and periphery , 1978, Vision Research.

[58]  A. Chaudhuri Modulation of the motion aftereffect by selective attention , 1990, Nature.

[59]  J. M. Foley,et al.  Spatial attention: effect of position uncertainty and number of distractor patterns on the threshold-versus-contrast function for contrast discrimination , 1998 .

[60]  J. M. Foley,et al.  Human luminance pattern-vision mechanisms: masking experiments require a new model. , 1994, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[61]  L. Kehrer Central performance drop on perceptual segregation tasks. , 1989, Spatial vision.

[62]  Yaffa Yeshurun,et al.  Covert attention increases spatial resolution with or without masks: support for signal enhancement. , 2002, Journal of vision.

[63]  D H Brainard,et al.  The Psychophysics Toolbox. , 1997, Spatial vision.

[64]  D. G. Albrecht,et al.  Spatial frequency selectivity of cells in macaque visual cortex , 1982, Vision Research.

[65]  Lothar Kehrer The central performance drop in texture segmentation: a simulation based on a spatial filter model , 1997, Biological Cybernetics.

[66]  C T Scialfa,et al.  Texture segmentation as a function of eccentricity, spatial frequency and target size. , 1995, Spatial vision.

[67]  Jens von Berg,et al.  Texture segmentation performance related to cortical geometry , 2002, Vision Research.

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

[69]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Covert attention affects the psychometric function of contrast sensitivity , 2002, Vision Research.

[70]  B. Dosher,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article NOISE EXCLUSION IN SPATIAL ATTENTION , 2022 .

[71]  Preeti Verghese,et al.  The psychophysics of visual search , 2000, Vision Research.

[72]  MARISA CARRASCO,et al.  Cortical Magnification Neutralizes the Eccentricity Effect in Visual Search , 1997, Vision Research.

[73]  S. Suzuki Attention-dependent brief adaptation to contour orientation: a high-level aftereffect for convexity? , 2001, Vision Research.

[74]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Vertical meridian asymmetry in spatial resolution: Visual and attentional factors , 2002, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[75]  K. Nakayama,et al.  Sustained and transient components of focal visual attention , 1989, Vision Research.

[76]  C Blakemore,et al.  On the existence of neurones in the human visual system selectively sensitive to the orientation and size of retinal images , 1969, The Journal of physiology.

[77]  Peter Thier,et al.  Improvement of visual acuity by spatial cueing: a comparative study in human and non-human primates , 2004, Vision Research.

[78]  C. Koch,et al.  Attention activates winner-take-all competition among visual filters , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[79]  R. Desimone,et al.  The Role of Neural Mechanisms of Attention in Solving the Binding Problem , 1999, Neuron.

[80]  Marisa Carrasco,et al.  Speed of visual processing increases with eccentricity , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[81]  M. Carrasco,et al.  Signal detection theory applied to three visual search tasks--identification, yes/no detection and localization. , 2004, Spatial vision.

[82]  Alice J. O'Toole,et al.  Repetition-based familiarity improves person recognition in novel contexts , 2004 .

[83]  Burkhart Fischer,et al.  THE ROLE OF ATTENTION IN THE PREPARATION OF VISUALLY GUIDED SACCADIC EYE MOVEMENTS IN MAN , 1987 .

[84]  N. Graham,et al.  Spatial-frequency- and orientation-selectivity of simple and complex channels in region segregation , 1993, Vision Research.

[85]  Marisa Carrasco,et al.  Attention speeds processing across eccentricity: Feature and conjunction searches , 2006, Vision Research.

[86]  A. Johnston,et al.  Spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity and visual field locus , 1983, Vision Research.

[87]  N. Graham Visual Pattern Analyzers , 1989 .

[88]  J. K. O'Regan,et al.  Eye movements : from physiology to cognition : selected/edited proceedings of the Third European Conference on Eye Movements, Dourdan, France, September 1985 , 1987 .