HOW DOES ATTENTION ALTER APPEARANCE? PSYCHOPHYSICS AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

注意力如何改变外表？

• 批准号: 8061346
• 负责人: Katharina Anton-Erxleben
• 金额: $ 5.13万
• 依托单位: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-03-01 至 2014-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8061346
• 关键词: Accounting; Affect; Appearance; Attention; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Basic Science; Cells; Classification; Complement; Contrast Sensitivity; Disease; Dorsal; Environment; Exhibits; Foundations; Frequencies; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Homologous Gene; Human; Illusions; Label; Link; Location; Measurement; Measures; Mediating; Methods; Modeling; Neurons; Outcome; Pattern; Perception; Performance; Physical environment; Physiological; Population; Process; Psychophysics; Psychophysiology; Research; Resolution; Resources; Speed; Stimulus; Stream; Techniques; Testing; Vision; Visual; Visual Cortex; Visual Perception; Visual attention; Visual system structure; Visuospatial; area MT; attentional modulation; base; clinical application; cost; experience; extrastriate visual cortex; improved; information processing; neglect; neurophysiology; research study; response; visual process; visual processing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Visual perception is not always a veridical representation of our environment. Instead, processing of the visual scene is influenced by the selective allocation of attention. Vision at an attended location is faster, more accurate, and of higher spatial resolution [1-11, for a review see 12]. By improving information processing at attended locations at the cost of unattended locations, attention allows us to make most efficient use of the visual system's limited resources. Recent studies show that attention not only improves performance but also alters the appearance of several basic visual features [13-22]. Some authors have criticized the interpretation of these findings and suggested alternative explanations based on a decisional bias, i.e., people are more likely to select an attended stimulus but do not perceive it differently [23-26]. Although this account has been counter-argued by control experiments [13, 15-21] and empirical replies [14, 27, 28], the issue is still hotly debated. The physiological basis of such an attentional modulation of phenomenological experience is not yet known. Whereas an enhanced neuronal response explains increased performance with attention, it does not necessarily imply a change of appearance. Instead, the appearance of stimulus features has often been associated with the activity of neuronal populations selectively tuned for these features, and misperceptions have been related to shifts in their selectivity [49]. Therefore, a change of appearance should be mediated by shifts in the selectivity of those neuronal populations involved in processing the attended stimulus. The proposed research will be the first to test effects of spatial attention on neuronal population selectivity for basic visual features and will thereby significantly contribute to understanding the mechanisms of spatial attention. Furthermore, it will provide a definitive answer to the question whether attention truly modulates appearance. An adaptation paradigm will be employed in which neuronal populations tuned to specific stimulus features can be selectively targeted in a psychophysical paradigm, so that an interaction of adaptation and attention will reveal if these neurons mediate the attentional effect on appearance. Then, population selectivity will be directly measured with and without attention using adaptation in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm [29]. Speed and spatial frequency were chosen as two respective examples from the dorsal and ventral streams, because attention modulates the appearance of both speed [18, 20] and spatial frequency [15, 30] and because neurons tuned for both speed and spatial frequency exist in early visual cortex [31-38]. Results from both the psychophysical and the fMRI study will provide converging and complementing evidence for how spatial attention changes appearance. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research will further our understanding of the physiological basis and mechanisms of visual attention. Such basic research lays the foundation to develop clinical applications to treat attention-related disorders, for example unilateral neglect or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

描述（由申请人提供）：视觉感知并不总是我们环境的真实再现。相反，视觉场景的处理受到选择性注意力分配的影响。有人值守的位置的视觉更快、更准确，并且空间分辨率更高[1-11，有关评论，请参阅 12]。通过以无人值守位置为代价来改进有人值守位置的信息处理，注意力使我们能够最有效地利用视觉系统的有限资源。最近的研究表明，注意力不仅可以提高表现，还可以改变一些基本视觉特征的外观[13-22]。一些作者批评了对这些发现的解释，并提出了基于决策偏差的替代解释，即人们更有可能选择参与的刺激，但不会以不同的方式感知它[23-26]。尽管这一说法已被控制实验 [13, 15-21] 和实证答复 [14, 27, 28] 反驳，但这个问题仍然存在激烈争论。这种现象学经验的注意力调节的生理学基础尚不清楚。虽然神经元反应增强可以解释注意力的提高，但它并不一定意味着外观的变化。相反，刺激特征的出现通常与选择性地针对这些特征进行调整的神经元群的活动相关，而误解则与其选择性的变化有关[49]。因此，外观的变化应该是通过参与处理所关注刺激的神经元群的选择性变化来介导的。拟议的研究将首次测试空间注意力对神经元群体对基本视觉特征的选择性的影响，从而极大地有助于理解空间注意力的机制。此外，它将为注意力是否真正调节外表的问题提供明确的答案。将采用适应范式，其中调整到特定刺激特征的神经元群体可以在心理物理学范式中选择性地定位，以便适应和注意力的相互作用将揭示这些神经元是否介导对外观的注意力效应。然后，使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）范式中的适应性，在有或没有注意的情况下直接测量群体选择性[29]。选择速度和空间频率作为背侧和腹侧流的两个例子，因为注意力调节速度 [18, 20] 和空间频率 [15, 30] 的出现，并且因为早期视觉皮层中存在针对速度和空间频率调整的神经元 [31-38]。心理物理学和功能磁共振成像研究的结果将为空间注意力如何改变外观提供聚合和补充的证据。 公共健康相关性：拟议的研究将进一步加深我们对视觉注意力的生理基础和机制的理解。此类基础研究为开发治疗注意力相关疾病的临床应用奠定了基础，例如单方面忽视或注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）。