Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening
Visual stimuli compete with each other for cortical processing and attention biases this competition in favor of the attended stimulus. How does the relationship between the stimuli affect the strength of this attentional bias? Here, we used functional MRI to explore the effect of target-distractor...
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| Aineistotyyppi: | Artikkeli |
| Kieli: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2024-12-01
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| Sarja: | eLife |
| Aiheet: | |
| Linkit: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/89836 |
| _version_ | 1826931045695488000 |
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| author | Narges Doostani Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh Radoslaw M Cichy Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam |
| author_facet | Narges Doostani Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh Radoslaw M Cichy Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam |
| author_sort | Narges Doostani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Visual stimuli compete with each other for cortical processing and attention biases this competition in favor of the attended stimulus. How does the relationship between the stimuli affect the strength of this attentional bias? Here, we used functional MRI to explore the effect of target-distractor similarity in neural representation on attentional modulation in the human visual cortex using univariate and multivariate pattern analyses. Using stimuli from four object categories (human bodies, cats, cars, and houses), we investigated attentional effects in the primary visual area V1, the object-selective regions LO and pFs, the body-selective region EBA, and the scene-selective region PPA. We demonstrated that the strength of the attentional bias toward the target is not fixed but decreases with increasing target-distractor similarity. Simulations provided evidence that this result pattern is explained by tuning sharpening rather than an increase in gain. Our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the behavioral effects of target-distractor similarity on attentional biases and suggest tuning sharpening as the underlying mechanism in object-based attention. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-17T16:38:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c2b45e8943d74d7fbbd0de56b4d71cd1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-17T16:38:41Z |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-c2b45e8943d74d7fbbd0de56b4d71cd12024-12-16T16:40:11ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2024-12-011210.7554/eLife.89836Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpeningNarges Doostani0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5775-6595Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh1Radoslaw M Cichy2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4190-6071Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1830-2501School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran; Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanySchool of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran; School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, IranDepartment of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, United States; Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, United StatesVisual stimuli compete with each other for cortical processing and attention biases this competition in favor of the attended stimulus. How does the relationship between the stimuli affect the strength of this attentional bias? Here, we used functional MRI to explore the effect of target-distractor similarity in neural representation on attentional modulation in the human visual cortex using univariate and multivariate pattern analyses. Using stimuli from four object categories (human bodies, cats, cars, and houses), we investigated attentional effects in the primary visual area V1, the object-selective regions LO and pFs, the body-selective region EBA, and the scene-selective region PPA. We demonstrated that the strength of the attentional bias toward the target is not fixed but decreases with increasing target-distractor similarity. Simulations provided evidence that this result pattern is explained by tuning sharpening rather than an increase in gain. Our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the behavioral effects of target-distractor similarity on attentional biases and suggest tuning sharpening as the underlying mechanism in object-based attention.https://elifesciences.org/articles/89836object-based attentiontuning sharpeningtarget-distractor similarityfMRIMVPA |
| spellingShingle | Narges Doostani Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh Radoslaw M Cichy Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening eLife object-based attention tuning sharpening target-distractor similarity fMRI MVPA |
| title | Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening |
| title_full | Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening |
| title_fullStr | Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening |
| title_short | Attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening |
| title_sort | attention modulates human visual responses to objects by tuning sharpening |
| topic | object-based attention tuning sharpening target-distractor similarity fMRI MVPA |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/89836 |
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