Elsevier

Vision Research

Volume 29, Issue 11, 1989, Pages 1631-1647
Vision Research

Sustained and transient components of focal visual attention

https://doi.org/10.1016/0042-6989(89)90144-2Get rights and content

Abstract

Human observers fixated the center of a search array and were required to discriminate the color of an odd target if it was present. The array consisted of horizontal or vertical black or white bars. In the simple case, only orientation was necessary to define the odd target, whereas in the conjunctive case, both orientation and color were necessary. A cue located at the critical target position was either visible all the time (sustained cuing) or it appeared at a short variable delay before the array presentation (transient cuing). Sustained visual cuing enhanced perception greatly in the conjunctive, but not in the simple condition. Perception of the odd target in the conjunctive display was improved even further by transient cuing, and peak discrimination performance occurred if the cue preceded the target array by 70–150 msec. Longer delays led to a marked downturn in performance. Control experiments indicated that this transient attentional component was independent of the observers' prior knowledge of target position and was not subject to voluntary control. We provide evidence to suggest that the transient component does not originate at the earliest stages of visual processing, since it could not be extended in duration by flickering the cue, nor did it require a local sensory transient to trigger its onset. Neither the variation in retinal eccentricity nor changing the paradigm to a vernier acuity task altered the basic pattern of results. Our findings indicate the existence of a sustained and a transient component of attention, and we hypothesize that of the two, the transient component is operative at an earlier stage of visual cortical processing.

References (66)

  • H.S. Bashinski et al.

    Enhancement of perceptual sensitivity as the result of selective attending to spatial locations

    Perception and Psychophysics

    (1980)
  • J.R. Bergen et al.

    Rapid discrimination of visual patterns

    IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics

    (1983)
  • C. Blakemore et al.

    Lateral inhibition between orientation detectors in the cat's visual cortex

    Experimental Brain Research

    (1972)
  • C. Blakemore et al.

    Organization of post-natal development of the monkey's lateral geniculate nucleus

    Journal of Physiology, London

    (1986)
  • B.G. Breitmeyer

    Visual masking: An integrative approach

    (1984)
  • B.G. Breitmeyer et al.

    Implications of sustained and transient channel for theories of visual pattern masking, saccadic suppression and information processing

    Psycolgy Review

    (1976)
  • B. Brown et al.

    A clinically useful eye movement recording system

    American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics

    (1977)
  • M.C. Bushnell et al.

    Behavioral enhancement of visual responses in monkey cerebral cortex. I. Modulation in posterior parietal cortex related to selective visual attention

    Journal of Neurophysiology

    (1981)
  • E.A.E. DeYoe et al.

    Single unit responses to static and dynamic texture patterns in macaque V2 and V1 cortex

    Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

    (1986)
  • C.J. Downing

    Expectancy and visual-spatial attention: Effects on perceptual quality

    Journal of Experimental Psycology: Human Perception and Performance

    (1988)
  • C.W. Eriksen et al.

    Some characteristics of selective attention in visual perception determined by vocal reaction time

    Perception and Psychophysics

    (1972)
  • C.W. Eriksen et al.

    Movement of altentional focus across the visual field: A critical look at the evidence

    Perception and Psychophysics

    (1987)
  • C.W. Eriksen et al.

    Visual attention within and around the field of focal attention: A zoom lens model

    Perception and Psychophysics

    (1986)
  • B. Fischer

    The preparation of visually guided saccades

    Reviews in Physiology and Biochemical Pharmacology

    (1987)
  • B.J. Frost et al.

    Single neurons code opposing motion independent of direction

    Science, New York

    (1983)
  • B.J. Frost et al.

    Having background patterns reveal double opponency of directionally specific pigeon tectal neurons

    Experimental Brain Research

    (1981)
  • C.G. Grindley et al.

    Voluntary attention in peripheral vision and its effects on acuity and differential thresholds

    Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

    (1968)
  • W.L. Hayes

    Statistics for the social sciences

    (1973)
  • H.von Helmholtz
  • P.F. Hitchcock et al.

    Ocular dominance columns: Evidence for their presence in humans

    Brain Research

    (1980)
  • W.A. Johnston et al.

    Selective attention

    Annual Review of Psychology

    (1986)
  • E.G. Jones et al.

    Intracortical connectivity of architectonic fields in the somatic sensory, motor, and parietal cortex of monkeys

    Journal of Comparative Neurology

    (1978)
  • B. Julesz

    Toward an axiomatic theory of preattentive vision

  • Cited by (844)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text