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Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc

The time needed to find a visual target amongst distractors (search task) can increase as a function of the distractors’ number (set-size) in the search-array (inefficient search). While the allocation of attention in search tasks has been extensively investigated and debated in the visual domain, l...

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Autores principales: Gherri, Elena, Fiorino, Fabiola Rosaria, Iani, Cristina, Rubichi, Sandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10323430/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37425293
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1209555
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author Gherri, Elena
Fiorino, Fabiola Rosaria
Iani, Cristina
Rubichi, Sandro
author_facet Gherri, Elena
Fiorino, Fabiola Rosaria
Iani, Cristina
Rubichi, Sandro
author_sort Gherri, Elena
collection PubMed
description The time needed to find a visual target amongst distractors (search task) can increase as a function of the distractors’ number (set-size) in the search-array (inefficient search). While the allocation of attention in search tasks has been extensively investigated and debated in the visual domain, little is known about these mechanisms in touch. Initial behavioral evidence shows inefficient search behavior when participants have to distinguish between target and distractors defined by their vibro-tactile frequencies. In the present study, to investigate the allocation of attention to items of the search-array we measured the N140cc during a tactile task in which the set-size was manipulated. The N140cc is a lateralized component of event-related brain potentials recently described as a psychophysiological marker of attentional allocation in tactile search tasks. Participants localized the target, a singleton frequency, while ignoring one, three or five homogeneous distractors. Results showed that error rates linearly increased as a function of set-size, while response times were not affected. Reliable N140cc components were observed for all set-sizes. Crucially, the N140cc amplitude decreased as the number of distractors increased. We argue that the presence of additional distractors hindered the preattentive analysis of the search array resulting in increased uncertainty about the target location (inefficient preattentive stage). This, in turn, increased the variability of the deployment of attention to the target, resulting in reduced N140cc amplitudes. Consistent with existing behavioral evidence, these findings highlight systematic differences between the visual and the tactile attentional systems.
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spelling pubmed-103234302023-07-07 Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc Gherri, Elena Fiorino, Fabiola Rosaria Iani, Cristina Rubichi, Sandro Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience The time needed to find a visual target amongst distractors (search task) can increase as a function of the distractors’ number (set-size) in the search-array (inefficient search). While the allocation of attention in search tasks has been extensively investigated and debated in the visual domain, little is known about these mechanisms in touch. Initial behavioral evidence shows inefficient search behavior when participants have to distinguish between target and distractors defined by their vibro-tactile frequencies. In the present study, to investigate the allocation of attention to items of the search-array we measured the N140cc during a tactile task in which the set-size was manipulated. The N140cc is a lateralized component of event-related brain potentials recently described as a psychophysiological marker of attentional allocation in tactile search tasks. Participants localized the target, a singleton frequency, while ignoring one, three or five homogeneous distractors. Results showed that error rates linearly increased as a function of set-size, while response times were not affected. Reliable N140cc components were observed for all set-sizes. Crucially, the N140cc amplitude decreased as the number of distractors increased. We argue that the presence of additional distractors hindered the preattentive analysis of the search array resulting in increased uncertainty about the target location (inefficient preattentive stage). This, in turn, increased the variability of the deployment of attention to the target, resulting in reduced N140cc amplitudes. Consistent with existing behavioral evidence, these findings highlight systematic differences between the visual and the tactile attentional systems. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10323430/ /pubmed/37425293 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1209555 Text en Copyright © 2023 Gherri, Fiorino, Iani and Rubichi. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Gherri, Elena
Fiorino, Fabiola Rosaria
Iani, Cristina
Rubichi, Sandro
Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
title Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
title_full Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
title_fullStr Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
title_full_unstemmed Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
title_short Searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the N140cc
title_sort searching for a tactile target: the impact of set-size on the n140cc
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10323430/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37425293
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1209555
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