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Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation

BACKGROUND: Selective visual attention is the process by which the visual system enhances behaviorally relevant stimuli and filters out others. Visual attention is thought to operate through a cortical mechanism known as biased competition. Representations of stimuli within cortical visual areas com...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hilimire, Matthew R., Mounts, Jeffrey R. W., Parks, Nathan A., Corballis, Paul M.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2940761/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20862327
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012677
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author Hilimire, Matthew R.
Mounts, Jeffrey R. W.
Parks, Nathan A.
Corballis, Paul M.
author_facet Hilimire, Matthew R.
Mounts, Jeffrey R. W.
Parks, Nathan A.
Corballis, Paul M.
author_sort Hilimire, Matthew R.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Selective visual attention is the process by which the visual system enhances behaviorally relevant stimuli and filters out others. Visual attention is thought to operate through a cortical mechanism known as biased competition. Representations of stimuli within cortical visual areas compete such that they mutually suppress each others' neural response. Competition increases with stimulus proximity and can be biased in favor of one stimulus (over another) as a function of stimulus significance, salience, or expectancy. Though there is considerable evidence of biased competition within the human visual system, the dynamics of the process remain unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we used scalp-recorded electroencephalography (EEG) to examine neural correlates of biased competition in the human visual system. In two experiments, subjects performed a task requiring them to either simultaneously identify two targets (Experiment 1) or discriminate one target while ignoring a decoy (Experiment 2). Competition was manipulated by altering the spatial separation between target(s) and/or decoy. Both experimental tasks should induce competition between stimuli. However, only the task of Experiment 2 should invoke a strong bias in favor of the target (over the decoy). The amplitude of two lateralized components of the event-related potential, the N2pc and Ptc, mirrored these predictions. N2pc amplitude increased with increasing stimulus separation in Experiments 1 and 2. However, Ptc amplitude varied only in Experiment 2, becoming more positive with decreased spatial separation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that N2pc and Ptc components may index distinct processes of biased competition—N2pc reflecting visual competitive interactions and Ptc reflecting a bias in processing necessary to individuate task-relevant stimuli.
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spelling pubmed-29407612010-09-22 Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation Hilimire, Matthew R. Mounts, Jeffrey R. W. Parks, Nathan A. Corballis, Paul M. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Selective visual attention is the process by which the visual system enhances behaviorally relevant stimuli and filters out others. Visual attention is thought to operate through a cortical mechanism known as biased competition. Representations of stimuli within cortical visual areas compete such that they mutually suppress each others' neural response. Competition increases with stimulus proximity and can be biased in favor of one stimulus (over another) as a function of stimulus significance, salience, or expectancy. Though there is considerable evidence of biased competition within the human visual system, the dynamics of the process remain unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we used scalp-recorded electroencephalography (EEG) to examine neural correlates of biased competition in the human visual system. In two experiments, subjects performed a task requiring them to either simultaneously identify two targets (Experiment 1) or discriminate one target while ignoring a decoy (Experiment 2). Competition was manipulated by altering the spatial separation between target(s) and/or decoy. Both experimental tasks should induce competition between stimuli. However, only the task of Experiment 2 should invoke a strong bias in favor of the target (over the decoy). The amplitude of two lateralized components of the event-related potential, the N2pc and Ptc, mirrored these predictions. N2pc amplitude increased with increasing stimulus separation in Experiments 1 and 2. However, Ptc amplitude varied only in Experiment 2, becoming more positive with decreased spatial separation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that N2pc and Ptc components may index distinct processes of biased competition—N2pc reflecting visual competitive interactions and Ptc reflecting a bias in processing necessary to individuate task-relevant stimuli. Public Library of Science 2010-09-16 /pmc/articles/PMC2940761/ /pubmed/20862327 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012677 Text en Hilimire et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hilimire, Matthew R.
Mounts, Jeffrey R. W.
Parks, Nathan A.
Corballis, Paul M.
Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation
title Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation
title_full Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation
title_fullStr Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation
title_full_unstemmed Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation
title_short Event-Related Potentials Dissociate Effects of Salience and Space in Biased Competition for Visual Representation
title_sort event-related potentials dissociate effects of salience and space in biased competition for visual representation
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2940761/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20862327
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012677
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