The attentional effects of peripheral cueing as revealed by two event-related potential studies

OBJECTIVE The mechanism of visual spatial attention elicited by peripheral cueing was investigated in two studies. METHOD Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when the subjects were performing a spatial frequency discrimination task and a location discrimination task. Stimuli were randomly flashed in the left or right visual field. Prior to each stimulus a peripheral cue was presented with a validity of 75%. RESULTS The subjects responded faster to valid trials than to invalid trials. The earliest visual ERP component, C1, was not modulated by the cue validity, suggesting that visual spatial attention elicited by peripheral cueing does not involve striate cortex. Valid trials elicited larger contralateral P1 but a smaller contralateral N1 than invalid trials. The early onsets of these attentional effects show that spatial attention affects stimulus processing at early sensory/perceptual stages. The latencies of contralateral P1 and contralateral N1 were shorter for invalid trials, however. The ipsilateral N1 was enhanced by valid trials in the spatial frequency discrimination task but was not in the location discrimination task, whereas the contralateral N1 was larger for invalid trials than for valid trials in both tasks. CONCLUSION The results indicate that involuntary allocation of attention involves different mechanisms from voluntary allocation of attention.

[1]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Selective attention to the color and direction of moving stimuli: Electrophysiological correlates of hierarchical feature selection , 1996, Perception & psychophysics.

[2]  M Eimer,et al.  Spatial cueing, sensory gating and selective response preparation: an ERP study on visuo-spatial orienting. , 1993, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[3]  S. Miyauchi,et al.  Attention-regulated activity in human primary visual cortex. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[4]  S A Hillyard,et al.  Sensory gating as a physiological mechanism for visual selective attention. , 1987, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology. Supplement.

[5]  M. Eimer.  “Sensory gating” as a mechanism for visuospatial orienting: Electrophysiological evidence from trial-by-trial cuing experiments , 1994, Perception & psychophysics.

[6]  Pieter R. Roelfsema,et al.  Object-based attention in the primary visual cortex of the macaque monkey , 1998, Nature.

[7]  E Donchin,et al.  A metric for thought: a comparison of P300 latency and reaction time. , 1981, Science.

[8]  A. Dale,et al.  The Retinotopy of Visual Spatial Attention , 1998, Neuron.

[9]  S J Luck,et al.  Visual event-related potentials index focused attention within bilateral stimulus arrays. II. Functional dissociation of P1 and N1 components. , 1990, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[10]  S. Butler,et al.  Cortical generators of the CI component of the pattern-onset visual evoked potential. , 1987, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[11]  L. Riggio,et al.  The relationship between central cues and peripheral cues in covert visual orientation , 1997, Perception & psychophysics.

[12]  G. Mangun.  Neural mechanisms of visual selective attention. , 1995, Psychophysiology.

[13]  A. Proverbio,et al.  ERP signs of early selective attention effects to check size. , 1995, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[14]  Steven A. Hillyard,et al.  The Cuing of Attention to Visual Field Locations: Analysis with ERP Recordings , 1994 .

[15]  T R Vidyasagar,et al.  Gating of neuronal responses in macaque primary visual cortex by an attentional spotlight , 1998, Neuroreport.

[16]  M. R. Harter,et al.  Hemispheric differences in the neural processing of stimulus location and type: Effects of selective attention on visual evoked potentials , 1982, Neuropsychologia.

[17]  H J Müller.  Qualitative differences in response bias from spatial cueing. , 1994, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[18]  R. Näätänen.  Attention and brain function , 1992 .

[19]  H. Hawkins,et al.  Visual attention modulates signal detectability. , 1990 .

[20]  J. Rohrbaugh,et al.  Current trends in event-related potential research , 1987 .

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

[22]  S. Kobayashi,et al.  Electrophysiologic correlates of visuo-spatial attention shift. , 1995, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

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

[24]  S. Yantis,et al.  Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: voluntary versus automatic allocation. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[25]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Allocation of visual attention to spatial locations: Tradeoff functions for event-related brain potentials and detection performance , 1990, Perception & psychophysics.

[26]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Spatial Selective Attention Affects Early Extrastriate But Not Striate Components of the Visual Evoked Potential , 1996, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

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

[28]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Modulations of sensory-evoked brain potentials indicate changes in perceptual processing during visual-spatial priming. , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[29]  M. Cheal,et al.  Importance of precue location in directing attention. , 1991, Acta psychologica.

[30]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Attention Modulates Contextual Influences in the Primary Visual Cortex of Alert Monkeys , 1999, Neuron.

[31]  B. C. Motter.  Focal attention produces spatially selective processing in visual cortical areas V1, V2, and V4 in the presence of competing stimuli. , 1993, Journal of neurophysiology.

[32]  F. J. Friedrich,et al.  Effects of parietal injury on covert orienting of attention , 1984, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[33]  J. C. Woestenburg,et al.  Modulation of early ERP components with peripheral precues: a trend analysis , 1997, Biological Psychology.

[34]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Selective attention to color and location: An analysis with event-related brain potentials , 1984, Perception & psychophysics.

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

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

[37]  S. Luck,et al.  Electrocortical substrates of visual selective attention , 1993 .

[38]  S J Luck,et al.  Visual event-related potentials index focused attention within bilateral stimulus arrays. I. Evidence for early selection. , 1990, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[39]  Alexander M. Harner,et al.  Task-dependent influences of attention on the activation of human primary visual cortex. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[40]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Reflexive and voluntary orienting of visual attention: time course of activation and resistance to interruption , 1989 .

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

[42]  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.

[43]  P. Keuss,et al.  Threefold effect of peripheral precues: alertness, orienting, and response tendencies. , 1996, Acta psychologica.

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

[45]  J. Juola,et al.  Tradeoffs between attentional effects of spatial cues and abrupt onsets , 1995, Perception & psychophysics.

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

[47]  D. Meyer,et al.  Attention and Performance XIV , 1973 .

[48]  S. Yantis,et al.  Stimulus-driven attentional capture: evidence from equiluminant visual objects. , 1994, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[49]  G. Mangun,et al.  Covariations in ERP and PET measures of spatial selective attention in human extrastriate visual cortex , 1997, Human brain mapping.

[50]  Yinpeng Jin,et al.  Attention-sensitive visual event-related potentials elicited by kinetic forms , 1999, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[51]  P. Fox,et al.  Retinotopic organization of early visual spatial attention effects as revealed by PET and ERPs , 1997, Human brain mapping.

[52]  C Alain,et al.  Evidence of strategic effects in the modulation of orienting of attention. , 1996, Ergonomics.

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

[54]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Identification of early visual evoked potential generators by retinotopic and topographic analyses , 1994 .

[55]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Involvement of striate and extrastriate visual cortical areas in spatial attention , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[56]  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.

[57]  A. Lambert,et al.  Peripheral visual changes and spatial attention. , 1991, Acta psychologica.

[58]  J. Juola,et al.  Voluntary allocation versus automatic capture of visual attention , 1990, Perception & psychophysics.

[59]  Helen J. Neville,et al.  Attention to central and peripheral visual space in a movement detection task: an event-related potential and behavioral study. I. Normal hearing adults , 1987, Brain Research.

[60]  M. Gazzaniga,et al.  Combined spatial and temporal imaging of brain activity during visual selective attention in humans , 1994, Nature.

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

[62]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Visual evoked potentials and selective attention to points in space , 1977 .

[63]  D. Somers,et al.  Functional MRI reveals spatially specific attentional modulation in human primary visual cortex. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[64]  S. Kobayashi,et al.  Electroencephalographic activity associated with shifts of visuospatial attention. , 1994, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[65]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Varieties of attention , 1984 .

[66]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Contour, color and shape analysis beyond the striate cortex , 1985, Vision Research.

[67]  L. Anllo-Vento.  Shifting attention in visual space: the effects of peripheral cueing on brain cortical potentials. , 1995, The International journal of neuroscience.

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

[69]  M. Eimer.  An ERP study on visual spatial priming with peripheral onsets. , 1994, Psychophysiology.