Direct neurophysiological evidence for spatial suppression surrounding the focus of attention in vision

被引:199
作者
Hopf, JM
Boehler, CN
Luck, SJ
Tsotsos, JK
Heinze, H
Schoenfeld, MA
机构
[1] Otto Von Guericke Univ, Dept Neurol 2, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany
[2] Leibniz Inst Neurobiol, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany
[3] Univ Iowa, Dept Psychol, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
[4] York Univ, Ctr Vis Res, N York, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
[5] York Univ, Dept Comp Sci, N York, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
关键词
attention; magnetoencephalography; visual;
D O I
10.1073/pnas.0507746103
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The spatial focus of attention has traditionally been envisioned as a simple spatial gradient of enhanced activity that falls off monotonically with increasing distance. Here, we show with high-density magnetoencephalographic recordings in human observers that the focus of attention is not a simple monotonic gradient but instead contains an excitatory peak surrounded by a narrow inhibitory region. To demonstrate this center-surround profile, we asked subjects to focus attention onto a color pop-out target and then presented probe stimuli at various distances from the target. We observed that the electromagnetic response to the probe was enhanced when the probe was presented at the location of the target, but the probe response was suppressed in a narrow zone surrounding the target and then recovered at more distant locations. Withdrawing attention from the pop-out target by engaging observers in a demanding foveal task eliminated this pattern, confirming a truly attention-cl riven effect. These results indicate that neural enhancement and suppression coexist in a spatially structured manner that is optimal to attenuate the most deleterious noise during visual object identification.
引用
收藏
页码:1053 / 1058
页数:6
相关论文
共 53 条
[1]   Attentional interference at small spatial separations [J].
Bahcall, DO ;
Kowler, E .
VISION RESEARCH, 1999, 39 (01) :71-86
[2]   Attentional selection by distractor suppression [J].
Caputo, G ;
Guerra, S .
VISION RESEARCH, 1998, 38 (05) :669-689
[3]   Flexibility in spatial attention before and after practice [J].
Cave, KR ;
Zimmerman, JM .
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 1997, 8 (05) :399-403
[4]   A NEURAL BASIS FOR VISUAL-SEARCH IN INFERIOR TEMPORAL CORTEX [J].
CHELAZZI, L ;
MILLER, EK ;
DUNCAN, J ;
DESIMONE, R .
NATURE, 1993, 363 (6427) :345-347
[5]   Responses of neurons in macaque area V4 during memory-guided visual search [J].
Chelazzi, L ;
Miller, EK ;
Duncan, J ;
Desimone, R .
CEREBRAL CORTEX, 2001, 11 (08) :761-772
[6]   ATTENTIONAL MODULATION OF NEURAL PROCESSING OF SHAPE, COLOR, AND VELOCITY IN HUMANS [J].
CORBETTA, M ;
MIEZIN, FM ;
DOBMEYER, S ;
SHULMAN, GL ;
PETERSEN, SE .
SCIENCE, 1990, 248 (4962) :1556-1559
[7]   The selective tuning model of attention: psychophysical evidence for a suppressive annulus around an attended item [J].
Cutzu, F ;
Tsotsos, JK .
VISION RESEARCH, 2003, 43 (02) :205-219
[8]   A hierarchical neural system with attentional top-down enhancement of the spatial resolution for object recognition [J].
Deco, G ;
Schürmann, B .
VISION RESEARCH, 2000, 40 (20) :2845-2859
[9]   Neural Mechanisms of Selective Visual Attention [J].
Moore, Tirin ;
Zirnsak, Marc .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY, VOL 68, 2017, 68 :47-72
[10]   Visual attention mediated by biased competition in extrastriate visual cortex [J].
Desimone, R .
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 1998, 353 (1373) :1245-1255