Couyoumdjian Alessandro, Di Nocera Francesco, Ferlazzo Fabio
Department of Psychology, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Q J Exp Psychol A. 2003 Jan;56(1):155-83. doi: 10.1080/02724980244000215.
The aim of this study was to explore whether the attentional system, as far as an endogenous orienting is concerned, allocates resources along the sagittal plane and whether such a process is affected by, and is likely to be based on, different functional representations of 3D space in the brain. Several models make a main action-based distinction between representations of peripersonal space and of those extrapersonal space. Accordingly, if attention has to move from one representation to another, it should be possible to observe a decrease in performance during such a transition. To test this hypothesis three experiments were run in which participants performed a cued detection task. Cue stimuli were informative and were centrally located around the fixation point. Target stimuli were displayed at four different depth planes. In the first experiment, assuming that the border between the peripersonal space and the extrapersonal space was at 1 m from the observer, half the target stimuli were located in the peripersonal space and half in the extrapersonal space. The fixation point was located at 1 m from the observer. In the second experiment, the fixation point was moved at 2 m from the observer in order to rule out the possible effects of ocular motor programming. In the third experiment, in order to rule out effects related to the spatial layout of target stimuli (i.e., centre of mass effect) two target stimuli were located in the peripersonal space and six in the extrapersonal space. In all the experiments, besides a validity effect, we observed greater reaction times when attention shift was across spatial representations than when it was within the same representation. The implications for action-oriented models of attention are discussed.
本研究的目的是探讨就内源性定向而言,注意系统是否沿矢状面分配资源,以及这样一个过程是否受到大脑中三维空间不同功能表征的影响,并且是否可能基于这些表征。有几种模型主要基于动作对个人周边空间和个人外部空间的表征进行了区分。因此,如果注意力必须从一种表征转移到另一种表征,那么在这种转换过程中应该可以观察到表现的下降。为了验证这一假设,进行了三个实验,实验中参与者执行了线索检测任务。线索刺激具有信息性,且集中位于注视点周围。目标刺激显示在四个不同的深度平面上。在第一个实验中,假设个人周边空间和个人外部空间之间的边界距离观察者1米,一半的目标刺激位于个人周边空间,另一半位于个人外部空间。注视点位于距离观察者1米处。在第二个实验中,将注视点移至距离观察者2米处,以排除眼动编程的可能影响。在第三个实验中,为了排除与目标刺激空间布局相关的影响(即质心效应),两个目标刺激位于个人周边空间,六个位于个人外部空间。在所有实验中,除了有效性效应外,我们还观察到,当注意力在不同空间表征之间转移时的反应时间比在相同表征内转移时更长。文中讨论了这些结果对以行动为导向的注意模型的启示。