Embodied Attention: Attentional Guidance by Body Position

在冰箱里找番茄酱是一项需要使用视觉注意力的日常活动。当面对一个杂乱的视觉环境（冰箱）时，人类的视觉系统可以分离出一个单一的、与行为相关的物品（番茄酱）。视觉注意力降低了视觉世界的复杂性，使我们能够成功地导航和工作，而不会被大量的视觉信息所淹没。但是注意力怎么知道该选择什么呢？一些理论认为，注意力是指向显著的物体，而另一些理论认为，注意力是指向与目标相关的物体。这两种解释的一个局限是，它们没有认识到注意力通常是与行动一起使用的，这涉及到你的身体与环境中的物体的协调。这个研究项目的目标是了解身体及其位置（比如伸出的手臂伸进冰箱）是如何控制视觉注意力的。研究小组将使用行为和脑成像（事件相关电位）方法来研究“具身注意”的概念。对具身注意的研究对于更全面地解释身心如何相互作用以在世界上成功运作是很重要的。这项研究还为改善老年人和那些有神经心理缺陷的人的生活提供了可能性，因为这些人通常在运动功能和注意力使用方面都有缺陷。也许，了解身体姿势和注意力之间的联系将有助于提高这些目标人群在世界上发挥作用的能力。

Finding the ketchup in the refrigerator is an everyday activity that requires the use of visual attention. When faced with a cluttered visual environment (the refrigerator), the human visual system can isolate a single, behaviorally relevant item (the ketchup). Visual attention reduces the complexity of the visual world, enabling us to successfully navigate and function without being overwhelmed with the sheer amount of visual information. But how does attention know what to select? Some theoretical accounts propose that attention is directed toward salient (conspicuous) objects, whereas other accounts state that attention is directed toward goal-relevant objects. One limitation of both of these accounts is that they fail to acknowledge that attention is typically used in conjunction with action, which involves coordinating your body with objects in the environment. The goal of this research project is to understand how the body and its position (such as an outstretched arm reaching into the refrigerator) controls visual attention. The research team will investigate this notion of 'embodied attention' using both behavioral and brain imaging (event-related potential) methods.Research on embodied attention is important in providing a fuller account of how the mind and body interact to function successfully in the world. The research also offers the possibility to improve the lives of older adults and those with neuropsychological deficits, because these people often have impairments in both motor function and the use of attention. It may be that understanding the connection between body position and attention will lead to treatments that increase the ability of these target populations to function in the world.