Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Department of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
Neuropsychologia. 2010 Jul;48(9):2693-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.016. Epub 2010 May 15.
Early deafness results in a redistribution of more attentional resources to the visual periphery in near space, specifically under conditions of selective attention, probably to compensate for the loss of auditory alertness to potentially dangerous stimuli from outside the current attentional focus. It remains poorly understood, however, whether spatial distribution of attention in far space is altered by early deafness as well. In the present study, we investigated whether and how early deafness alters the distribution of visuospatial attention in far space, compared to hearing controls. We asked deaf individuals and hearing controls to perform a flanker task with either peripheral or central distractors, either in near or far space. Sizes of compatibility effect were used to assess the amount of attentional resources received by the peripheral and central distractors. In near space, peripheral distractors induced significantly larger compatibility effect in deaf individuals than in hearing controls while central distractors induced significantly larger compatibility effect in hearing controls than in deaf individuals. On the other hand in far space, although peripheral distractors induced equivalent sizes of compatibility effect in the deaf and hearing groups, central distractors caused significant compatibility effect only in deaf individuals, but not in hearing controls. Our results suggest that early deafness results in a redistribution of visuospatial attention not only in near space but also in far space, with enhanced peripheral attention in near space and enhanced central attention in far space.
早期失聪导致更多注意力资源重新分配到近空间的视觉外围，特别是在选择性注意的情况下，可能是为了弥补听觉警觉性对当前注意力焦点以外的潜在危险刺激的丧失。然而，早期失聪是否也会改变远空间注意力的空间分布仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们调查了早期失聪是否以及如何改变远空间的视空间注意力分布，与听力对照组进行了比较。我们要求失聪个体和听力对照组在近空间或远空间执行带有外周或中央分心物的侧翼任务。兼容性效应的大小用于评估外周和中央分心物接收到的注意力资源量。在近空间中，外周分心物在失聪个体中引起的兼容性效应明显大于听力对照组，而中央分心物在听力对照组中引起的兼容性效应明显大于失聪个体。另一方面，在远空间中，尽管外周分心物在失聪和听力组中引起了等效大小的兼容性效应，但中央分心物仅在失聪个体中引起了显著的兼容性效应，而在听力对照组中则没有。我们的研究结果表明，早期失聪不仅导致近空间，而且导致远空间的视空间注意力重新分配，近空间的外周注意力增强，远空间的中央注意力增强。
