Tünnermann Jan, Scharlau Ingrid
Cognitive Psychology, Paderborn University, Germany1.
Adv Cogn Psychol. 2018 Jun 30;14(2):39-50. doi: 10.5709/acp-0237-0. eCollection 2018.
The theory of visual attention (TVTVA) provides a formal framework for the assessment of visual attention and related processes. Its center is a mathematical model of visual encoding processes and discretely defined components of attention. Building on this model, TVTVA offers quantitative and process-related explanations for a variety of phenomena in the domain of visual attention. Because the theory relies on very general assumptions which might hold true for other domains of sensory processing, we tested its possible explanatory value for tactile processing in mice. Reanalyzing published data of temporal-order judgments by mice, we show how a TVTVA-based analysis identifies the processes which drive observable behavior and that it comes to conclusions quite different from those of conventional analyses of temporal-order judgments. According to this analysis, despite the same overall capacity dedicated to the task, some mice assume attentional biases toward one side, possibly to optimize their overall performance. We suggest that TVTVA's concepts provide a powerful point of vantage to find explanations for observable behavior where conventional analysis easily leads to dead ends.
视觉注意理论（TVTVA）为视觉注意及相关过程的评估提供了一个形式化框架。其核心是一个视觉编码过程的数学模型以及离散定义的注意成分。基于此模型，TVTVA对视觉注意领域的各种现象给出了定量的和与过程相关的解释。由于该理论依赖于一些非常普遍的假设，这些假设可能在其他感觉处理领域也成立，我们测试了其对小鼠触觉处理的可能解释价值。通过重新分析已发表的小鼠时间顺序判断数据，我们展示了基于TVTVA的分析如何识别驱动可观察行为的过程，并且它得出的结论与传统的时间顺序判断分析结论截然不同。根据这一分析，尽管用于该任务的总体能力相同，但一些小鼠对一侧存在注意偏向，这可能是为了优化它们的整体表现。我们认为，TVTVA的概念为寻找可观察行为的解释提供了一个有力的有利视角，而传统分析很容易陷入死胡同。
