Huang Dan, Liang Huilou, Xue Linyan, Wang Meijian, Hu Qiyi, Chen Yao
School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; School of Quality and Technical Supervision, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China.
Vision Res. 2017 Sep;138:50-58. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2017.06.008. Epub 2017 Jul 26.
Uncertainty regarding the target location is an influential factor for spatial attention. Modulation in spatial uncertainty can lead to adjustments in attention scope and variations in attention effects. Hence, investigating spatial uncertainty modulation is important for understanding the underlying mechanism of spatial attention. However, the temporal dynamics of this modulation remains unclear. To evaluate the time course of spatial uncertainty modulation, we adopted a Posner-like attention orienting paradigm with central or peripheral cues. Different numbers of cues were used to indicate the potential locations of the target and thereby manipulate the spatial uncertainty level. The time interval between the onsets of the cue and the target (stimulus onset asynchrony, SOA) varied from 50 to 2000ms. We found that under central cueing, the effect of spatial uncertainty modulation could be detected from 200 to 2000ms after the presence of the cues. Under peripheral cueing, the effect of spatial uncertainty modulation was observed from 50 to 2000ms after cueing. Our results demonstrate that spatial uncertainty modulation produces robust and sustained effects on target detection speed. The time course of this modulation is influenced by the cueing method, which suggests that discrepant processing procedures are involved under different cueing conditions.
目标位置的不确定性是影响空间注意力的一个因素。空间不确定性的调节可导致注意力范围的调整和注意力效应的变化。因此，研究空间不确定性调节对于理解空间注意力的潜在机制很重要。然而，这种调节的时间动态仍不清楚。为了评估空间不确定性调节的时间进程，我们采用了一种类似波斯纳的注意力定向范式，使用中央或外周线索。使用不同数量的线索来指示目标的潜在位置，从而操纵空间不确定性水平。线索和目标开始之间的时间间隔（刺激开始异步，SOA）从50到2000毫秒不等。我们发现，在中央线索条件下，在线索出现后200到2000毫秒可以检测到空间不确定性调节的效应。在外周线索条件下，在提示后50到2000毫秒观察到空间不确定性调节的效应。我们的结果表明，空间不确定性调节对目标检测速度产生强大而持续的影响。这种调节的时间进程受线索方法的影响，这表明在不同的线索条件下涉及不同的处理程序。
