Effects of attentional load on early visual processing depend on stimulus timing

Rauss, Karsten; Pourtois, Gilles; Vuilleumier, Patrik; Schwartz, Sophie

doi:10.1002/hbm.21193

Scientific article

English

Effects of attentional load on early visual processing depend on stimulus timing

Contributors

Rauss, Karsten; Pourtois, Gilles; Vuilleumier, Patrik

; Schwartz, Sophie

Published in

Human brain mapping, vol. 33, no. 1, p. 63-74

Publication date

2012

Abstract

A growing number of studies suggest that early visual processing is not only affected by low-level perceptual attributes but also by higher order cognitive factors such as attention or emotion. Using high-density electroencephalography, we recently demonstrated that attentional load of a task at fixation reduces the response of primary visual cortex to irrelevant peripheral stimuli, as indexed by the C1 component. In the latter study, peripheral stimuli were always presented during intervals without task-relevant stimuli. Here, we use a similar paradigm but present central task stimuli and irrelevant peripheral stimuli simultaneously while keeping all other stimulus characteristics constant. Results show that rather than to suppress responses to peripheral stimulation, high attentional load elicits higher C1 amplitudes under these conditions. These findings suggest that stimulus timing can profoundly alter the effects of attentional load on the earliest stages of processing in human visual cortex.

Keywords

Adult
Attention/physiology
Brain Mapping
Electroencephalography
Female
Humans
Male
Photic Stimulation
Reaction Time/physiology
Vision, Ocular/physiology
Visual Cortex/physiology
Visual Pathways/physiology
Visual Perception/physiology

UNIGE affiliation entities

Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine fondamentale / Département de neurosciences fondamentales

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

RAUSS, Karsten et al. Effects of attentional load on early visual processing depend on stimulus timing. In: Human brain mapping, 2012, vol. 33, n° 1, p. 63–74. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21193

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

PID : unige:31497
DOI : 10.1002/hbm.21193
PMID : 21438076

Journal ISSN

1065-9471

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08/11/2024 11:12:36

Effects of attentional load on early visual processing depend on stimulus timing

Contributors

Published in

Publication date

Abstract

Keywords

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

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Journal ISSN

Technical informations

Creation

First validation

Update

Status update

Last indexation