Neural evidence for distracter suppression during visual search in real-world scenes.
Neural evidence for distracter suppression during visual search in real-world scenes.
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.1693-12.2012
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发表时间：
2012-08-22
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Kastner S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Seidl KN;Peelen MV;Kastner S
从杂乱的现实世界场景中选择视觉信息涉及将视觉输入与观察者的注意力集相匹配——与当前行为目标相关的对象的内部表示。当目标发生变化时，需要实例化新的注意力集，从而需要抑制之前的注意力集，以防止不再相关的对象分散注意力。在目前的功能磁共振成像研究中，我们研究了如何在神经水平上实施这种抑制。我们测量了人类大脑对自然场景照片的活动，这些照片可能包含以下对象：（i）当前相关（目标）类别，和/或（ii）以前但目前不相关（分散注意力）类别，和/或（iii）从不相关（中性）类别。在不同条件下，对象选择性皮层（OSC）中的多体素响应模式携带有关场景中存在的对象的信息。然而，该信息很大程度上取决于对象的任务相关性。正如预期的那样，目标类别的信息相对于中性类别显着增加，表明任务相关信息自上而下的增强。重要的是，相对于中性类别，有关干扰类别的信息显着减少，这表明对先前相关对象的处理受到抑制。这种在高阶视觉皮层水平上的主动抑制可能有助于防止错误选择或干扰与正在进行的行为不再相关的对象。我们的结论是，相关信息的增强和干扰信息的抑制都有助于从杂乱的现实世界场景中有效地选择视觉信息。
Selecting visual information from cluttered real-world scenes involves the matching of visual input to the observer’s attentional set -- an internal representation of objects that are relevant for current behavioral goals. When goals change, a new attentional set needs to be instantiated, requiring the suppression of the previous set to prevent distraction by objects that are no longer relevant. In the present fMRI study, we investigated how such suppression is implemented at the neural level. We measured human brain activity in response to natural scene photographs that could contain objects from (i) a currently relevant (target) category, and/or (ii) a previously but not presently relevant (distracter) category, and/or (iii) a never relevant (neutral) category. Across conditions, multi-voxel response patterns in object-selective cortex (OSC) carried information about objects present in the scenes. However, this information strongly depended on the task relevance of the objects. As expected, information about the target category was significantly increased relative to the neutral category, indicating top-down enhancement of task-relevant information. Importantly, information about the distracter category was significantly reduced relative to the neutral category, indicating that the processing of previously relevant objects was suppressed. Such active suppression at the level of high-order visual cortex may serve to prevent the erroneous selection of, or interference from, objects that are no longer relevant to ongoing behavior. We conclude that the enhancement of relevant information and the suppression of distracting information both contribute to the efficient selection of visual information from cluttered real-world scenes.