Tuning Attention to Object Categories: Spatially Global Effects of Attention to Faces in Visual Processing
Tuning Attention to Object Categories: Spatially Global Effects of Attention to Faces in Visual Processing
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn_a_01400
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发表时间：
2019-05
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Viola S. Störmer;M. Cohen;G. Alvarez
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Viola S. Störmer;M. Cohen;G. Alvarez
众所周知，基于特征的注意力可以增强整个视野的视觉处理，即使是在与任务无关的位置。在这里，我们询问对对象类别的关注，特别是面部，是否表现出类似的与位置无关的调整。利用脑电图，我们测量了脑电图信号的面部选择性N170成分，以检查当参与者注意另一个任务相关位置的面部时，他们对任务无关位置的面部的神经反应。在两个实验中，我们发现，当参与者专注于面部时，相对于专注于建筑物或混乱的面部部分时，他们在与任务无关的位置对面部的视觉处理被放大了。我们在N170中看到的这种增强表明，这些注意力效应发生在面部处理的最早阶段。另外两个行为实验表明，相对于两个不同的类别，在整个视野中更容易注意到同一类别的物体，这与基于物体的注意力在全球范围内传播是一致的。综上所述，这些结果表明，对高水平物体类别的关注与对简单、个体、低水平特征的关注对视觉加工的空间整体影响相似。
Feature-based attention is known to enhance visual processing globally across the visual field, even at task-irrelevant locations. Here, we asked whether attention to object categories, in particular faces, shows similar location-independent tuning. Using EEG, we measured the face-selective N170 component of the EEG signal to examine neural responses to faces at task-irrelevant locations while participants attended to faces at another task-relevant location. Across two experiments, we found that visual processing of faces was amplified at task-irrelevant locations when participants attended to faces relative to when participants attended to either buildings or scrambled face parts. The fact that we see this enhancement with the N170 suggests that these attentional effects occur at the earliest stage of face processing. Two additional behavioral experiments showed that it is easier to attend to the same object category across the visual field relative to two distinct categories, consistent with object-based attention spreading globally. Together, these results suggest that attention to high-level object categories shows similar spatially global effects on visual processing as attention to simple, individual, low-level features.