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Understanding how visual attention locks on to a location: Toward a computational model of the N 2pc component
Author(s) -
Tan Mingxuan,
Wyble Brad
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12324
Subject(s) - rapid serial visual presentation , psychology , dual (grammatical number) , cognitive psychology , component (thermodynamics) , neural correlates of consciousness , cognitive science , neuroscience , perception , cognition , art , physics , literature , thermodynamics
Competing theories regarding the neural mechanism underlying the N 2pc suggest that it reflects target enhancement or distractor suppression, but we suggest a different theory. In our study, participants viewed a bilateral dual‐stream rapid serial visual presentation ( RSVP ). Each trial had either one or two targets ( T 1, T 2) presented either in the same or different streams. We found that the N 2pc elicited by T 1 was not affected by an immediately following T 2 at the same location. However, if T 2 was on the opposite hemifield, a second N 2pc was elicited. These results suggest that the N 2pc reflects neural processes involved in localizing a target to initiate the deployment of attention, rather than the sustained enhancement of processing at that location or distractor inhibition. We have created a computational model of a convergent gradient‐filter model of attention that reproduces the observed event‐related potential traces and makes five testable predictions to be addressed in future work.