Combined Electrophysiological and Behavioral Evidence for the Suppression of Salient Distractors
Combined Electrophysiological and Behavioral Evidence for the Suppression of Salient Distractors
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn_a_01279
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发表时间：
2018-09-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Luck, Steven J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gaspelin, Nicholas;Luck, Steven J.
长期以来，研究人员一直在争论显著但不相关的特征是如何引导视觉注意力的。纯粹的刺激驱动理论认为，无论目标如何，显著刺激都会自动吸引注意力，而纯粹的目标驱动理论则认为，个体的注意力控制设置决定了显著刺激是否会吸引注意力。然而，最近的研究提出了一种混合模型，其中显着刺激吸引视觉注意，但可以被自上而下的注意机制主动抑制。支持这一混合模型的主要是ERP研究，这些研究表明，不能引起注意的显著刺激也会引起分心物正性（P-D）成分，这是一种假定的抑制神经指数。其他的支持来自一些行为研究，这些研究表明，与其他位置相比，显著位置的处理受到抑制。目前的研究旨在通过将ERP记录与提供抑制行为测量的实验范式相结合，将行为和神经证据联系起来。我们发现，当一个显著的分心物引起P-D成分时，该分心物所在位置的加工被抑制在基线水平以下。此外，行为抑制的程度和P-D分量的程度在参与者之间存在协变。这些发现提供了抑制的行为和神经测量之间的重要联系，这为使用P-D成分来评估行为观察到的抑制的时间和神经基质打开了大门。
Researchers have long debated how salient-but-irrelevant features guide visual attention. Pure stimulus-driven theories claim that salient stimuli automatically capture attention irrespective of goals, whereas pure goal-driven theories propose that an individual's attentional control settings determine whether salient stimuli capture attention. However, recent studies have suggested a hybrid model in which salient stimuli attract visual attention but can be actively suppressed by top-down attentional mechanisms. Support for this hybrid model has primarily come from ERP studies demonstrating that salient stimuli, which fail to capture attention, also elicit a distractor positivity (P-D) component, a putative neural index of suppression. Other support comes from a handful of behavioral studies showing that processing at the salient locations is inhibited compared with other locations. The current study was designed to link the behavioral and neural evidence by combining ERP recordings with an experimental paradigm that provides a behavioral measure of suppression. We found that, when a salient distractor item elicited the P-D component, processing at the location of this distractor was suppressed below baseline levels. Furthermore, the magnitude of behavioral suppression and the magnitude of the P-D component covaried across participants. These findings provide a crucial connection between the behavioral and neural measures of suppression, which opens the door to using the P-D component to assess the timing and neural substrates of the behaviorally observed suppression.