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fMRI evidence for objects as the units of attentional selection

Nature volume 401, pages 584–587 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Contrasting theories of visual attention emphasize selection by spatial location1, visual features (such as motion or colour)2,3,4 or whole objects5,6. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test key predictions of the object-based theory, which proposes that pre-attentive mechanisms segment the visual array into discrete objects, groups, or surfaces, which serve as targets for visual attention5,6,7,8,9. Subjects viewed stimuli consisting of a face transparently superimposed on a house, with one moving and the other stationary. In different conditions, subjects attended to the face, the house or the motion. The magnetic resonance signal from each subject's fusiform face area10, parahippocampal place area11 and area MT/MST12 provided a measure of the processing of faces, houses and visual motion, respectively. Although all three attributes occupied the same location, attending to one attribute of an object (such as the motion of a moving face) enhanced the neural representation not only of that attribute but also of the other attribute of the same object (for example, the face), compared with attributes of the other object (for example, the house). These results cannot be explained by models in which attention selects locations or features, and provide physiological evidence that whole objects are selected even when only one visual attribute is relevant.

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Figure 1: Sample stimuli.
Figure 2: Design and results of Experiment 1.
Figure 3: Means of the peak evoked responses from Experiment 2 in the FFA and PPA as a function of task (attend moving or attend static) and stimulus (face moving or house moving).

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Rosen and others at the MGH-NMR Center for support; H. Wyatt for consultation on eye movements; and B. Anderson, J. Driver, R. Epstein, J. Mausell, M. Potter, G.Rainer, F. Tong, A. Wagner and members of our lab for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts General Hospital NMR Center, Building 149 13th St., Charlestown, 02129, Massachusetts, USA

    Kathleen M. O'Craven, Paul E. Downing & Nancy Kanwisher

  2. Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, 34 Concord Ave, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Kathleen M. O'Craven

  3. MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Kathleen M. O'Craven, Paul E. Downing & Nancy Kanwisher

Authors
  1. Kathleen M. O'Craven
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Correspondence to Nancy Kanwisher.

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O'Craven, K., Downing, P. & Kanwisher, N. fMRI evidence for objects as the units of attentional selection. Nature 401, 584–587 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/44134

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