Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2009 Nov;5(11):e1000576. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000576. Epub 2009 Nov 26.
What role does attention play in ensuring the temporal precision of visual perception? Behavioural studies have investigated feature selection and binding in time using fleeting sequences of stimuli in the Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) paradigm, and found that temporal accuracy is reduced when attentional control is diminished. To reduce the efficacy of attentional deployment, these studies have employed the Attentional Blink (AB) phenomenon. In this article, we use electroencephalography (EEG) to directly investigate the temporal dynamics of conscious perception. Specifically, employing a combination of experimental analysis and neural network modelling, we test the hypothesis that the availability of attention reduces temporal jitter in the latency between a target's visual onset and its consolidation into working memory. We perform time-frequency analysis on data from an AB study to compare the EEG trials underlying the P3 ERPs (Event-related Potential) evoked by targets seen outside vs. inside the AB time window. We find visual differences in phase-sorted ERPimages and statistical differences in the variance of the P3 phase distributions. These results argue for increased variation in the latency of conscious perception during the AB. This experimental analysis is complemented by a theoretical exploration of temporal attention and target processing. Using activation traces from the Neural-ST(2) model, we generate virtual ERPs and virtual ERPimages. These are compared to their human counterparts to propose an explanation of how target consolidation in the context of the AB influences the temporal variability of selective attention. The AB provides us with a suitable phenomenon with which to investigate the interplay between attention and perception. The combination of experimental and theoretical elucidation in this article contributes to converging evidence for the notion that the AB reflects a reduction in the temporal acuity of selective attention and the timeliness of perception.
注意在确保视觉感知的时间精度方面扮演什么角色？行为研究使用快速序列视觉呈现（RSVP）范式中的短暂刺激序列，研究了时间内的特征选择和绑定，并发现注意力控制减弱时，时间精度会降低。为了降低注意力部署的效果，这些研究采用了注意力眨眼（AB）现象。在本文中，我们使用脑电图（EEG）直接研究有意识感知的时间动态。具体来说，我们采用实验分析和神经网络建模相结合的方法，检验了注意力的可用性降低了目标视觉出现到其在工作记忆中巩固之间潜伏期的时间抖动的假设。我们对 AB 研究中的数据进行时频分析，以比较在 AB 时间窗口内和外看到的目标诱发的 P3 ERP（事件相关电位）的 EEG 试验。我们在相位排序的 ERP 图像中发现了视觉差异，并且在 P3 相位分布的方差中发现了统计差异。这些结果表明在 AB 期间有意识感知的潜伏期变化更大。这种实验分析得到了对时间注意力和目标处理的理论探讨的补充。我们使用 Neural-ST(2)模型的激活轨迹生成虚拟 ERP 和虚拟 ERP 图像。将这些与人类对应物进行比较，提出了一个关于 AB 背景下目标整合如何影响选择性注意的时间可变性的解释。AB 为我们提供了一个合适的现象，可以用来研究注意力和感知之间的相互作用。本文中的实验和理论阐明的结合有助于为 AB 反映选择性注意的时间锐度降低和感知的及时性的概念提供收敛证据。
