Ruz María, Nobre Anna C
Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Sep;20(9):1727-36. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20119.
Selective attention has the potential to enhance the initial processing of objects, their spatial locations, or their constituent features. The present study shows that this capacity to modulate initial stages of processing also applies to linguistic attributes. A cueing paradigm focused attention at different levels of word representations on a trial-by-trial basis to study the time course of attentional modulation on visual word processing by means of a high-density electrophysiology recording system. Attention to different linguistic attributes modulated components related to semantic, phonological, and orthographic stages of word processing. Crucially, the N200, associated with initial stages of orthographic decoding, was enhanced by attention to the letter pattern of words. These results suggest that top-down attention has the capacity to enhance initial perceptual stages of visual word processing and support the flexibility of attention in modulating different levels of information processing depending on task goals.
选择性注意有潜力增强对物体、其空间位置或其组成特征的初始加工。本研究表明，这种调节加工初始阶段的能力也适用于语言属性。一种提示范式在逐个试次的基础上，将注意力聚焦于单词表征的不同层面，以借助高密度电生理记录系统研究视觉单词加工中注意调节的时间进程。对不同语言属性的注意调节了与单词加工的语义、语音和正字法阶段相关的成分。至关重要的是，与正字法解码初始阶段相关的N200，通过对单词字母模式的注意而增强。这些结果表明，自上而下的注意有能力增强视觉单词加工的初始知觉阶段，并支持注意根据任务目标调节不同信息加工水平的灵活性。
