Abstract
What is the role of attention in multiple-object tracking? Does attention enhance target representations, suppress distractor representations, or both? It is difficult to ask this question in a purely behavioral paradigm without altering the very attentional allocation one is trying to measure. In the present study, we used event-related potentials to examine the early visual evoked responses to task-irrelevant probes without requiring an additional detection task. Subjects tracked two targets among four moving distractors and four stationary distractors. Brief probes were flashed on targets, moving distractors, stationary distractors, or empty space. We obtained a significant enhancement of the visually evoked P1 and N1 components (∼100–150 msec) for probes on targets, relative to distractors. Furthermore, good trackers showed larger differences between target and distractor probes than did poor trackers. These results provide evidence of early attentional enhancement of tracked target items and also provide a novel approach to measuring attentional allocation during tracking.
Article PDF
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alvarez, G. A., & Scholl, B. J. (2005). How does attention select and track spatially extended objects? New effects of attentional concentration and amplification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 461–476.
Cave, K. R., & Zimmerman, J. M. (1997). Flexibility in spatial attention before and after practice. Psychological Science, 8, 399–403.
Cepeda, N. J., Cave, K. R., Bichot, N. P., & Kim, M.-S. (1998). Spatial selection via feature-driven inhibition of distractor locations. Perception & Psychophysics, 60, 727–746.
Drew, T., & Vogel, E. (2008). Neural measures of individual differences in selecting and tracking multiple moving objects. Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 4183–4191.
Egly, R., Driver, J., & Rafal, R. D. (1994). Shifting visual attention between objects and locations: Evidence from normal and parietal lesion subjects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 161–177.
Feria, C. S. (2008). The distribution of attention within objects in multiple-object scenes: Prioritization by spatial probabilities and a center bias. Perception & Psychophysics, 70, 1185–1196.
Flombaum, J. I., Scholl, B. J., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2008). Attentional resources in tracking through occlusion: The high-beams effect. Cognition, 107, 904–931.
Heinze, H.-J., Luck, S. J., Mangun, G. R., & Hillyard, S. A. (1990). Visual event-related potentials index focused attention within bilateral stimulus arrays: I. Evidence for early selection. Electroencephalography & Clinical Neurophysiology, 75, 511–527.
Heinze, H.-J., Luck, S. J., Münte, T. F., Gös, A., Mangun, G. R., & Hillyard, S. A. (1994). Attention to adjacent and separate positions in space: An electrophysiological analysis. Perception & Psychophysics, 56, 42–52.
Heinze, H.-J., Mangun, G. R., Burchert, W., Hinrichs, H., Scholz, M., Münte, T. F., et al. (1994). Combined spatial and temporal imaging of brain activity during visual selective attention in humans. Nature, 372, 543–546.
Hillyard, S. A., Vogel, E. K., & Luck, S. J. (1998). Sensory gain control (amplification) as a mechanism of selective attention: Electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 353, 1257–1270.
Hopf, J.-M., Boehler, C. N., Luck, S. J., Tsotsos, J. K., Heinze, H.-J., & Schoenfeld, M. A. (2006). Direct neurophysiological evidence for spatial suppression surrounding the focus of attention in vision. PNAS, 103, 1053–1058.
Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2003). Working memory capacity and the control of attention: The contribution of goal neglect, response competition, and task set to Stroop interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 47–70.
Klein, R. (1988). Inhibitory tagging system facilitates visual search. Nature, 334, 430–431.
Luck, S. J. (1995). Multiple mechanisms of visual-spatial attention: Recent evidence from human electrophysiology. Behavioural Brain Research, 71, 113–123.
Luck, S. J., Hillyard, S. A., Mouloua, M., Woldorff, M. G., Clark, V. P., & Hawkins, H. L. (1994). Effects of spatial cuing on luminance detectability: Psychophysical and electrophysiological evidence for early selection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 20, 887–904.
Mangun, G. R., & Hillyard, S. A. (1991). Modulations of sensoryevoked brain potentials indicate changes in perceptual processing during visual〔spatial priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 17, 1057–1074.
Martinez, A., Teder-Sälejärvi, W., Vazquez, M., Molholm, S., Foxe, J. J., Javitt, D. C., et al. (2006). Objects are highlighted by spatial attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 298–310.
McNab, F., & Klingberg, T. (2008). Prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia control access to working memory. Nature Neuroscience, 11, 103–107.
Moran, J., & Desimone, R. (1985). Selective attention gates visual processing in the extrastriate cortex. Science, 229, 782–784.
Posner, M. I., & Dehaene, S. (1994). Attentional networks. Trends in Neurosciences, 17, 75–79.
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2006). Some puzzling findings in multiple object tracking (MOT): II. Inhibition of moving nontargets. Visual Cognition, 14, 175–198.
Pylyshyn, Z. W., Haladjian, H. H., King, C. E., & Reilly, J. E. (2008). Selective nontarget inhibition in multiple object tracking (MOT). Visual Cognition, 16, 1011–1021.
Pylyshyn, Z. W., & Storm, R. W. (1988). Tracking multiple independent targets: Evidence for a parallel tracking mechanism. Spatial Vision, 3, 179–197.
Scholl, B. J. (2001). Objects and attention: The state of the art. Cognition, 80, 1–46.
Scholl, B. J., Pylyshyn, Z. W., & Feldman, J. (2001). What is a visual object? Evidence from target merging in multiple object tracking. Cognition, 80, 159–177.
vanMarle, K., & Scholl, B. J. (2003). Attentive tracking of objects versus substances. Psychological Science, 14, 498–504.
Vogel, E. K., Luck, S. J., & Shapiro, K. L. (1998). Electrophysiological evidence for a postperceptual locus of suppression during the attentional blink. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 24, 1656–1674.
Vogel, E. K., McCollough, A. W., & Machizawa, M. G. (2005). Neural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory. Nature, 438, 500–503.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by NSF Grant BCS-0617681, awarded to E.K.V., and NIH Grant MH-65576, awarded to T.S.H. and E.K.V.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Drew, T., McCollough, A.W., Horowitz, T.S. et al. Attentional enhancement during multiple-object tracking. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 16, 411–417 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.16.2.411
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.16.2.411