Body and head tilt reveals multiple frames of reference for spatial attention.

Most modern theories of spatial attention suggest that it is based on a maplike representation that prioritizes information in some spatial locations over others. However, movement through space changes the relationship between what is "out there" and a person's viewpoint. Does spatial attention move with the viewer, or does it stay in environmental locations? Several recent psychophysical and neuroscience studies have attempted to address this question by probing attention following saccadic eye movements. The alignment of the head and body to the external environment in these studies, however, makes it impossible to determine whether attention is based on the viewer's location in space or on the external environment. The current study therefore introduces a head and/or body tilt through the vertical plane to dissociate viewer-centered from environment-centered representations. Participants first acquired a long-lasting attentional bias to a region of the search display that was likely to contain a target. They then tilted their head or body, and the location of the spatial bias was evaluated. The results suggest that attention has both a viewer-centered component that rotates with the viewer's head and an environment-centered component that is tied to environmental locations.

[1]  Jason B. Mattingley,et al.  Pre-Saccadic Shifts of Visual Attention , 2012, PloS one.

[2]  Marlene Behrmann,et al.  Probability Cuing of Target Location Facilitates Visual Search Implicitly in Normal Participants and Patients with Hemispatial Neglect , 2002, Psychological science.

[3]  J. Theeuwes,et al.  Gradual Remapping Results in Early Retinotopic and Late Spatiotopic Inhibition of Return , 2010, Psychological science.

[4]  R. Wurtz.  Neuronal mechanisms of visual stability , 2008, Vision Research.

[5]  Edward Awh,et al.  Statistical learning induces discrete shifts in the allocation of working memory resources. , 2010, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[6]  J. Pratt,et al.  Oculocentric coding of inhibited eye movements to recently attended locations. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[7]  J. Brockmole,et al.  The hands shield attention from visual interference , 2012, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[8]  Liwei Sun,et al.  Egocentric coding of space for incidentally learned attention: effects of scene context and task instructions. , 2014, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[9]  Yuhong V. Jiang,et al.  Spatial reference frame of incidentally learned attention , 2013, Cognition.

[10]  E. Zohary,et al.  Rapid Formation of Spatiotopic Representations As Revealed by Inhibition of Return , 2010, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[11]  M. Chun,et al.  Implicit, long-term spatial contextual memory. , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[12]  D. Levine,et al.  Left visual spatial neglect is both environment‐centered and body‐centered , 1987, Neurology.

[13]  M. Posner,et al.  Components of visual orienting , 1984 .

[14]  Toshio Inui,et al.  Disambiguation of mental rotation by spatial frames of reference , 2011, i-Perception.

[15]  Maria Concetta Morrone,et al.  Constructing Stable Spatial Maps of the Word , 2012, Perception.

[16]  R. Andersen,et al.  Multimodal representation of space in the posterior parietal cortex and its use in planning movements. , 1997, Annual review of neuroscience.

[17]  P. Cavanagh,et al.  Visual stability based on remapping of attention pointers , 2010, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[18]  Britt Anderson,et al.  Spatial Probability Aids Visual Stimulus Discrimination , 2010, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[19]  Knut Drewing,et al.  Viewer-external frames of reference in the mental transformation of 3-D objects , 2005, Perception & psychophysics.

[20]  Roland J. Baddeley,et al.  The nature of the visual representations involved in eye movements when walking down the street , 2009 .

[21]  Yuhong V Jiang,et al.  Visual search and location probability learning from variable perspectives. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[22]  Julie D. Golomb,et al.  The Native Coordinate System of Spatial Attention Is Retinotopic , 2008, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[23]  M. Goldberg,et al.  Space and attention in parietal cortex. , 1999, Annual review of neuroscience.

[24]  E. Maylor,et al.  Inhibitory component of externally controlled covert orienting in visual space. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[25]  E. Bisiach,et al.  Unilateral Neglect of Representational Space , 1978, Cortex.

[26]  Nancy Kanwisher,et al.  Retinotopic memory is more precise than spatiotopic memory , 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[27]  Christopher C. Davoli,et al.  Altered vision near the hands , 2008, Cognition.

[28]  M. Carrasco,et al.  The eccentricity effect: Target eccentricity affects performance on conjunction searches , 1995, Perception & psychophysics.

[29]  Yuhong V. Jiang,et al.  Rapid acquisition but slow extinction of an attentional bias in space , 2012 .

[30]  P. Carpenter,et al.  Frames of reference for allocating attention to space: Evidence from the neglect syndrome , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[31]  J R Duhamel,et al.  The updating of the representation of visual space in parietal cortex by intended eye movements. , 1992, Science.

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

[33]  HighWire Press.  The journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. , 1981 .

[34]  M. Corballis,et al.  What’s up in mental rotation? , 1976 .

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

[36]  Ehud Zohary,et al.  Multiple Reference Frames for Saccadic Planning in the Human Parietal Cortex , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[37]  D. Bouwhuis,et al.  Attention and performance X : control of language processes , 1986 .