Neurological evidence

Question 1

P1 component

Answer 1

The response is stronger when a cue is presented in the attended location (aka the spotlight). The first component (positive, goes down) is larger

• It’s specific to the attended location

Question 2

Attentional effect

Answer 2

The difference between the response in the valid trial compared to the invalid. The P1 attention effect is topographically distributed over the cortex in accordance with attended visual field.

attending to left visual field; attention effect in right hemi cortex. Even seen when it’s up or down (opposite in cortex)

Question 3

Inhibition of return response

Answer 3

P1 is decreased in the cued location

Question 4

Monkey V4 area

Answer 4

Neurons have large RF here. In experiment they’re presented with 2 stimuli in 1 RF:
- Effective stimuli: response is strong due to features of this stimuli (favored by the neuron)
- Ineffective stimuli: response is less strong for this stimuli due to features.

Results showed:
If attended to effective stimuli, response is strong. If attended to ineffective stimuli, the response is less strong (regardless of attention)

Question 5

Feature attention

Answer 5

Attention to direction of motion enhances responses to that feature over the whole visual field. There is positive attentional modualtion when the motion in the RF outside of the attended area is in the same direction

Same is seen in attention to color, where the response is also stronger to a preferred stimulus

Question 6

Object based attention

Answer 6

Increases signals of the attended object. Attending to faces enhances activity in the FFA, while to houses enhances the PPA

Question 7

Synchrony

Answer 7

Increases when th eneurons process the attended stimulus covering both RFs