Brain dynamic mechanisms on the visual attention scale with Chinese characters cues

The temporal dynamics in brain evoked by the scale of visual attention with the cues of Chinese characters were studied by recording event-related potentials (ERPs). With the fixed orientation of visual attention, 14 healthy young participants performed a search task in which the search array was preceded by Chinese characters cues, “大, 中, 小” (large, medium, small). 128 channels scalp ERPs were recorded to study the role of visual attention scale played in the visual spatial attention. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the ERP components evoked by the three Chinese characters cues except the inferoposterior N2 latency. The targets evoked P2, N2 amplitudes and latency have significant differences with the different cues of large, middle and small, while P1 and N1 components had no significant difference. The results suggested that the processing of scale of visual attention was mainly concerned with P2, N2 components, while the P1, N1 components were mainly related with the processing of visual orientation information.     

Early scale effect and hemisphere superiority on the visual spatial attention: From the electrophysiological evidence of ERP

The visual attention mechanism in the brain was studied among 16 young subjects through the precue-target visual search paradigm using the event-related potentials (ERPs) technique, with the attentive ranges cued with different scales of Chinese words. The results showed that the response time was shortened as the cue scale was reduced, while the amplitudes of the P1 and N1 components of the ERPs increased. These results not only provided the electrophysiological evidence supporting the spotlight theory, but also indicated that the spotlight effect occurred during the early period of the selected attention. Two kinds of separation in the P2 effect were observed. One separation was between the P1 effect and P2 effect, which meant that additional computation was needed when the spatial scale of attention was enlarged; the other was between the left and right hemisphere of the P2 effect, which indicates that the attentive processing of the cue range mainly occurred in the left hemisphere.     

An event-related potential study of working memory in children

Working memory refers to temporary storage and manipulation of “on-line” information in the brain,which is central to a large range of cognitive capabili- ties[1]. Visual working memory involves processes such as maintaining, updating and manipulating b…     

一种纯内源性成分的事件相关脑电位

闪现刺激物诱发的视觉事件相关脑电位（ＥＲＰｓ）中，只有那些分布在较晚时域中的波，例如Ｐ３００、Ｎ４００等，内源性成分占优势，并与大脑的认知活动建立了较确切联系。本文报告一种模拟人类自然阅读时的事件相关脑电位（ＩＮＲ－ＥＲＰｓ），这种ＩＮＲ－ＥＲＰｓ的开矿学特征，不受注意的自动俘获效应的影响，不论是较晚还是较早时域中的波，都几乎是纯内源性的，并显示出了明显的心理学含义，我们还发现：对于同样的认知作业     

Asymmetry between the upper and lower visual fields： An event-related potential study

ASYMMETRIES OF HUMAN VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESS- ING ACROSS VISUAL FIELDS HAVE BEEN AN INTERESTING ISSUE IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE. IN ADDITION TO INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ASYMMETRIES BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT VISUAL FIELDS THAT ARE BELIEVED …     

An ERP study for the degrees of the difficulty in visual search

The present study mainly probed the relationships between ERP components and the degrees of difficulty in visual search. Three experimental and one controlled conditions were randomly selected. Results showed that the P1, N1, and P2 amplitudes and latencies had no significant differences among the three experimental and one controlled conditions, and the ERP waveforms of low perceptual load of visual search were different from that of high perceptual load. These results might indicate that the latencies and amplitudes of initial P1, N1 and P2 in high and low perceptual load conditions were almost the same. The ERP waveforms of parallel search were very different from that of serial search, and the ERP waveforms of serial search were very similar. The P3 amplitudes increased as the degrees of the difficulty in visual search decreased.     

An ERP study for the degrees of the difficulty in visual search

The present study mainly probed the relationships between ERP components and the degrees of difficulty in visual search. Three experimental and one controlled conditions were randomly selected. Results showed that the P1, N1, and P2 amplitudes and latencies had no significant differences among the three experimental and one controlled conditions, and the ERP waveforms of low perceptual load of visual search were different from that of high perceptual load. These results might indicate that the latencies and amplitudes of initial P1, N1 and P2 in high and low perceptual load conditions were almost the same. The ERP waveforms of parallel search were very different from that of serial search, and the ERP waveforms of serial search were very similar. The P3 amplitudes increased as the degrees of the difficulty in visual search decreased.     

Interactions between working memory and selective attention

Event-related potential (ERP) was used to examine the interactions between working memory and se- lective attention. We combined two unrelated tasks, one requiring working memory and the other se- lective attention, which were performed by some undergraduates. The ERP results revealed that both congruent and incongruent stimuli in the selective attention task evoked an N400 component, reaching the peak point at around 500 ms. The N400 evoked by incongruent stimuli was more negative than that of congruent, which indicated the difference of semantic N400. Furthermore, working memory load had a significant influence on the N400 evoked by selective attention task in parietal region. And working memory load showed difference in the ERPs of working memory retrieval in central and parietal regions. The ERPs of probe under high working memory load were more positive from 350 to 550 ms post-stimulus; however, stimulus type of selective attention had no influence on working memory re- trieval. The present study shows that working memory does not play a major role in the selective at- tention, especially in ignoring distracter, but it influences the performance of the selective attention as the background. The congruency of target and distracter in the selective attention task does not influ- ence the working memory retrieval.     

内隐还是外显记忆: 对女性面孔吸引力记忆偏好的ERP研究

运用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术, 采用学习-再认的实验范式, 考察38名大学生(21名男生和17名女生)对女性面孔吸引力再认记忆的认知神经机制。结果发现大学生对女性面孔吸引力的记忆偏好存在性别差异, 再认任务中有吸引力的女性面孔诱发了男性更负的早期ERP成分(N90, N220和N300), 而对女性的效应并不显著。这可能与两性在遗传基因、性激素、大脑结构与功能上的不同有关。进一步对男性的记忆特点进行分析发现, 内隐记忆效应在N80和LPC(300~600 ms)上表现显著, 其最强效应出现在中央区和顶区; 外显记忆效应在P170和LPC(400~600 ms)上表现显著, 其最强效应出现在前额区和额区。表明男性对有吸引力女性面孔的记忆偏好效应更大, 且内隐和外显记忆的脑机制在单一的再认任务中产生了分离。     

与飞行任务相关的认知负荷对听觉事件相关电位的影响

为研究与飞行任务相关的认知负荷对听觉事件相关电位的影响, 采用14名被试者开展飞行模拟实验, 完成基于不同认知负荷水平的仪表监视任务。同时, 由耳机双侧呈现oddball模式下的听觉刺激, 引导被试者关注飞行模拟任务, 忽略听觉刺激。记录听觉事件相关电位失匹配负波(mismatch negativity, MMN)、N1和P2作为认知负荷的评价指标。实验结果表明认知负荷对额叶MMN的影响显著, MMN平均波幅在高认知负荷下显著增强, 表明被试者对任务不相关信息的自动加工能力提高, 且MMN平均波幅与模拟飞行期间被试者对异常信息的正确探测率正相关。提示额中央区的MMN对于与飞行任务相关的认知负荷具有较好的敏感性, 并可能用于复杂飞行任务的认知负荷水平评价。但是, 实验结果也表明认知负荷对早期听觉成分N1, P2以及颞叶MMN的影响不明显, 在一定程度上说明了听觉事件相关电位在评价与飞行任务相关的认知负荷时所表现出的复杂效应。     

Neural mechanisms of perceptual grouping in human visual cortex

The current work examined neural substrates of perceptual grouping in human visual cortex using event-related potential (ERP) recording. Stimulus arrays consisted of local elements that were either evenly spaced (uniform stimuli) or grouped into columns or rows by proximity or color similarity (grouping stimuli). High-density ERPs were recorded while subjects identified orientations of perceptual groups in stimulus arrays that were presented randomly in one of the four quadrants of the visual field.Both uniform and grouping stimulus arrays elicited an early ERP component (C1), which peaked at about 70ms after stimulus onset and changed its polarity as a function of stimulated elevations. Dipole modeling based on realistichead boundary-element models revealed generators of the C1 component in the calcarine cortex. The C1 was modulated by perceptual grouping of local elements based on proximity, and this grouping effect was stronger in the upper than in the lower visual field. The findings provide ERP evidence for the engagement of human primary visual cortex in the early stage of perceptual grouping.     

冥想加工性别差异的神经机制 ——来自ERP的证据

采用事件相关电位(ERP)技术,记录52名大学生被试在听(正性和负性)冥想指导语的脑电波,探索冥想加工过程的神经机制与性别差异.以固定频率的声音作为线索诱发N2和P3成分,这2个成分作为探究刺激差异和注意力资源调配的标记分别在160 ms和240 ms的时间上观察到.结果表明:在正性冥想条件下,在前额叶皮层(PFC)中...     

Independent hemispheric attentional systems mediate visual search in split-brain patients

The primate visual system is adept at identifying objects embedded within complex displays that contain a variety of potentially distracting elements. Theories of visual perception postulate that this ability depends on spatial selective attention, a mechanism analogous to a spotlight or zoom lens, which concentrates high-level processing resources on restricted portions of the visual field. Previous studies in which attention was pre-cued to specific locations in the visual field have shown that the spotlight has a single, unified focus, even in the disconnected hemispheres of patients who have undergone surgical transection of the corpus callosum. Here we demonstrate that an independent focus of attention is deployed by each of the surgically separated hemispheres in a visual search task, such that bilateral stimulus arrays can be scanned at a faster rate by 'split-brain' subjects than by normal control subjects. The attentional system used for visual search therefore seems to be functionally and anatomically distinct from the system that mediates voluntary orienting of attention.     

Electrophysiological measurement of rapid shifts of attention during visual search.

The perception of natural visual scenes that contain many objects poses computational problems that are absent when objects are perceived in isolation. Vision researchers have captured this attribute of real-world perception in the laboratory by using visual search tasks, in which subjects search for a target object in arrays containing varying numbers of non-target distractor objects. Under many conditions, the amount of time required to detect a visual search target increases as the number of objects in the stimulus array increases, and some investigators have proposed that this reflects the serial application of attention to the individual objects in the array. However, other investigators have argued that this pattern of results may instead be due to limitations in the processing capacity of a parallel processing system that identifies multiple objects concurrently. Here we attempt to address this longstanding controversy by using an electrophysiological marker of the moment-by-moment direction of attention-the N2pc component of the event-related potential waveform--to show that attention shifts rapidly among objects during visual search.     

Neural mechanisms of unconscious visual motion priming

The neural correlates of the motion priming were examined in normal young subjects using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Visual motion perception can be uncon-sciously biased in favor of a particular direction by a pre-ceding motion in that direction. Motion priming first in-volved an enhancement of ERP amplitude about 100 ms fol-lowing the onset of motion. The amplitudes of ERP compo-nents after 350 ms were also increased. The fMRI results suggest that the early-latency effect reflects modulation of neural responses in extrastriate cortex. Higher-level visual processing areas, including cortical regions MT/MST and the intraparietal cortices were also activated. The findings provide direct evidence that unconscious priming of motion perception is the result of interaction of direction-selective neural responses to motion stimuli. The results cannot be accounted for by refractoriness of neural responses, but in-stead support a theory of motion priming based on motion opponency, as proposed in computational models.     

Long-lasting sensitization to a given colour after visual search

Visual attention enables an observer to select specific visual information for processing. In an ambiguous motion task in which a coloured grating can be perceived as moving in either of two opposite directions depending on the relative salience of two colours in the display, attending to one of the colours influences the direction in which the grating appears to move. Here, we use this secondary effect of attention in a motion task to measure the effect of attending to a specific colour in a search task. Observers performed a search task in which they searched for a target letter in a 4 x 4 coloured matrix. Each of the 16 squares within a matrix was assigned one of four colours, and observers knew that the target letter would appear on only one of these colours throughout the experiment. Observers performed the ambiguous motion task before and after the search task. Attending to a particular colour for a brief period in the search task profoundly influenced the perceived direction of motion. This effect lasted for up to one month and in some cases had to be reversed by practising searches for the complementary colour, indicating a much longer-persisting effect of attention than has been observed previously.     

短时认知过程中40Hz脑电事件相关电位分析

研究了正常人在安静和思维状态下阵发性40Hz脑电事件相关信号（40Hz ERP)的特征变化,探讨阵发性40Hz ERP与年龄、性别、文化程度和智力测验得分之间的关系,同时对40Hz ERP不同参数进行比较。结果表明：正常人在安静状态下阵发性40Hz ERP低于视空间测试。思维活动时阵发性40Hz ERP增加幅度与简易精神状态量表（MMSE）和韦氏成人智力量表（WAIS）得分呈正相关。     

Visual search for a conjunction of movement and form is parallel

Treisman has proposed when a human subject performs a visual search, the search is parallel for targets defined by a single feature, and serial for targets defined by a conjunction of features. Here we report that this is not true for targets defined by a conjunction of the features movement and form. Detection of a moving X among randomly distributed moving Os and static Xs is parallel. Search is uninfluenced by the stationary stimuli despite their spatial intermingling with the moving items. Thus, attention can be restricted to a spatially dispersed perceptual group, defined by common movement. This contradicts previous conclusions from visual search experiments that attention can only be assigned to contiguous regions of visual space. The search process first segregates the array into moving and stationary items, and then examines the moving group for the target form. Cells in the middle temporal region (cortical area MT) have the properties required to perform these operations.     

The role of different cues in the brain mechanism on visual spatial attention

The visual spatial attention mechanism in the brain was studied in 16 young subjects through the visual search paradigm of precue-target by the event-related potential (ERP) technique, with the attentive ranges cued by different scales of Chinese character and region cues. The results showed that the response time for Chinese character cues was much longer than that for region cues especially for small region cues. With the exterior interferences, the target stimuli recognition under region cues was much quicker than that under Chinese character cues. Compared with that under region cues, targets under Chinese character cues could lead to increase of the posterior P1, decrease of the N1 and increase of the P2. It should also be noted that the differences between region cues and Chinese character cues were affected by the interference types. Under exterior interferences, no significant difference was found between region cues and Chinese character cues; however, it was not the case under the interior interferences. Considering the difference between the exterior interferences and the interior interferences, we could conclude that with the increase of difficulty in target recognition there was obvious difference in the consumption of anterior frontal resources by target stimuli under the two kinds of cues.     

不同年龄段人群驾驶分心时的视觉特性分析

针对驾驶过程中浏览车载信息系统次任务时引发的驾驶分心问题,研究聚焦不同年龄段驾驶员的视觉注意资源分配策略,分析在动态视觉信息源的刺激下发生驾驶分心时的视觉行为表征。通过视觉搜索的实验方法,模拟驾驶过程中驾驶员浏览车载信息系统次任务的视觉行为过程,并分别测量了横向和纵向两种车载中控屏摆放方式下的参试者视觉特性数据与搜索绩效数据。通过分析驾驶员浏览车载信息系统次任务时视觉注意资源的分散程度,以衡量其在行程中的驾驶分心程度,在此基础上提出有益于缓解驾驶分心行为的车载中控屏视觉区域。实验结果表明:横向中控屏测试中,参试者在上部区域的平均视觉搜索反应时长为641.92 ms,眼动数据显示,注视点集中分布于上部区域。纵向中控屏测试中,参试者在下部区域的平均视觉搜索反应时长为751.75 ms,眼动数据显示,注视点集中分布于右侧区域。年龄在59～68岁这个范围的老年参试者在执行模拟浏览车载信息系统次任务时的视觉搜索反应时长更长,平均为11 639.57 ms,注视点分布更分散。可知,在横向中控屏的上部区域与纵向中控屏的下部区域的反应时间更长,在横向中控屏的上部区域与纵向中控屏的右侧区域交叉的占用的注...