Mechanisms of attentional orienting

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Attention modulates processing of incoming sensory information and regulates selection of appropriate goals and responses. In my lab, we study how attention influences complex everyday behaviors. For example, we are interested in discovering how humans pay attention to symbolic visual information (e.g., arrow direction, finger point). Recent studies, including my own, demonstrate that common symbols influence attentional orienting, even when they are irrelevant for the task at hand. However, these data are difficult to explain within the prevailing framework of attentional processes, as the results do not fit in either of the two well-established categories of attentional selection: reflexive and volitional orienting. The proposed studies are aimed at addressing and resolving this inconsistency between the theory and the recent data. The proposal put forward is that this discrepancy arises from the unique but systematic ways that behaviorally relevant stimuli engage attention. This idea will be tested by varying the factors that influence classic attentional effects in predictable ways and examining their effect on orienting elicited by behaviorally relevant cues. To discover how behaviorally relevant cues affect behavior and neural activity, examinations of manual and oculomotor performances as well as brain electrical activity will be performed. Three programs of research are outlined. The studies in Programs 1 and 2 will examine the effects of the stimulus spatial information (Program 1) and temporal information (Program 2) on manual and oculomotor behavior and underlying neural activity. The studies proposed in Program 3 will investigate the origins of orienting to behaviorally relevant cues by examining their developmental progression. Together, the results of these studies will reveal whether attention is uniquely engaged by behaviorally relevant visual information. If so, these data will facilitate expansions of the current theoretical frameworks of attention and the formulation of viable future research hypotheses. Finally, because the proposed program of research applies multiple interdisciplinary methodologies to address a timely theoretical question, it will promote the creation of exceptional student training opportunities.