The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks
Representations of task-relevant object attributes (attentional templates) control the adaptive selectivity of visual processing. Previous studies have demonstrated that templates involved in the guidance of attention during visual search are activated in a preparatory fashion prior to the arrival o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Cognition |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/341 |
| _version_ | 1797315764307361792 |
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| author | Gordon Dodwell Rebecca Nako Martin Eimer |
| author_facet | Gordon Dodwell Rebecca Nako Martin Eimer |
| author_sort | Gordon Dodwell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Representations of task-relevant object attributes (attentional templates) control the adaptive selectivity of visual processing. Previous studies have demonstrated that templates involved in the guidance of attention during visual search are activated in a preparatory fashion prior to the arrival of visual search displays. The current study investigated whether such proactive mechanisms are also triggered in non-search tasks, where attentional templates do not mediate the guidance of attention towards targets amongst distractors but are still necessary for subsequent target recognition processes. Participants either searched for colour-defined targets among multiple distractors or performed two other non-search tasks where imperative stimuli appeared without competing distractors (a colour-based Go/NoGo task, and a shape discrimination task where target colour was constant and could thus be ignored). Preparatory activation of colour-selective templates was tracked by measuring N2pc components (markers of attention allocation) to task-irrelevant colour singleton probes flashed every 200 ms during the interval between target displays. As expected, N2pcs were triggered by target-coloured probes in the search task, indicating that a corresponding guidance template was triggered proactively. Critically, clear probe N2pcs were also observed in the Go/NoGo task, and even in the shape discrimination task in an attenuated fashion. These findings demonstrate that the preparatory activation of feature-selective attentional task settings is not uniquely associated with the guidance of visual search but is also present in other types of visual selection tasks where guidance is not required. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:08:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18e04955a919475b985a63d478cd45a0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2514-4820 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:08:34Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Cognition |
| spelling | doaj.art-18e04955a919475b985a63d478cd45a02024-02-13T07:37:29ZengUbiquity PressJournal of Cognition2514-48202024-01-0171111110.5334/joc.341340The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search TasksGordon Dodwell0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6772-9849Rebecca Nako1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1073-414XMartin Eimer2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4338-1056School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, LondonSchool of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, LondonSchool of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, LondonRepresentations of task-relevant object attributes (attentional templates) control the adaptive selectivity of visual processing. Previous studies have demonstrated that templates involved in the guidance of attention during visual search are activated in a preparatory fashion prior to the arrival of visual search displays. The current study investigated whether such proactive mechanisms are also triggered in non-search tasks, where attentional templates do not mediate the guidance of attention towards targets amongst distractors but are still necessary for subsequent target recognition processes. Participants either searched for colour-defined targets among multiple distractors or performed two other non-search tasks where imperative stimuli appeared without competing distractors (a colour-based Go/NoGo task, and a shape discrimination task where target colour was constant and could thus be ignored). Preparatory activation of colour-selective templates was tracked by measuring N2pc components (markers of attention allocation) to task-irrelevant colour singleton probes flashed every 200 ms during the interval between target displays. As expected, N2pcs were triggered by target-coloured probes in the search task, indicating that a corresponding guidance template was triggered proactively. Critically, clear probe N2pcs were also observed in the Go/NoGo task, and even in the shape discrimination task in an attenuated fashion. These findings demonstrate that the preparatory activation of feature-selective attentional task settings is not uniquely associated with the guidance of visual search but is also present in other types of visual selection tasks where guidance is not required.https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/341attentional templatesattentional controln2pc componentvisual search |
| spellingShingle | Gordon Dodwell Rebecca Nako Martin Eimer The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks Journal of Cognition attentional templates attentional control n2pc component visual search |
| title | The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks |
| title_full | The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks |
| title_fullStr | The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks |
| title_short | The Preparatory Activation of Guidance Templates for Visual Search and of Target Templates in Non-Search Tasks |
| title_sort | preparatory activation of guidance templates for visual search and of target templates in non search tasks |
| topic | attentional templates attentional control n2pc component visual search |
| url | https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/341 |
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