Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of the City University of New York, New York, New York, USA.
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen, Maryland, USA.
Eur J Neurosci. 2021 Nov;54(10):7609-7625. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15503. Epub 2021 Nov 2.
It is well established that neural responses to visual stimuli are enhanced at select locations in the visual field. Although spatial selectivity and the effects of spatial attention are well understood for discrete tasks (e.g. visual cueing), little is known for naturalistic experience that involves continuous dynamic visual stimuli (e.g. driving). Here, we assess the strength of neural responses across the visual space during a kart-race game. Given the varying relevance of visual location in this task, we hypothesized that the strength of neural responses to movement will vary across the visual field, and it would differ between active play and passive viewing. To test this, we measure the correlation strength of scalp-evoked potentials with optical flow magnitude at individual locations on the screen. We find that neural responses are strongly correlated at task-relevant locations in visual space, extending beyond the focus of overt attention. Although the driver's gaze is directed upon the heading direction at the centre of the screen, neural responses were robust at the peripheral areas (e.g. roads and surrounding buildings). Importantly, neural responses to visual movement are broadly distributed across the scalp, with visual spatial selectivity differing across electrode locations. Moreover, during active gameplay, neural responses are enhanced at select locations in the visual space. Conventionally, spatial selectivity of neural response has been interpreted as an attentional gain mechanism. In the present study, the data suggest that different brain areas focus attention on different portions of the visual field that are task-relevant, beyond the focus of overt attention.
众所周知，在视觉场的特定位置，神经对视觉刺激的反应会增强。尽管对于离散任务（例如视觉提示），空间选择性和空间注意力的影响已经得到很好的理解，但对于涉及连续动态视觉刺激的自然体验（例如驾驶），知之甚少。在这里，我们评估了在赛车游戏过程中整个视觉空间的神经反应强度。鉴于在这项任务中视觉位置的变化相关性，我们假设对运动的神经反应强度将在整个视野中变化，并且在主动游戏和被动观看之间会有所不同。为了测试这一点，我们测量了头皮诱发电位与屏幕上各个位置的光流幅度之间的相关强度。我们发现，在视觉空间中与任务相关的位置，神经反应具有很强的相关性，这种相关性甚至超出了明显注意的焦点。尽管驾驶员的目光集中在屏幕中心的朝向方向，但在周边区域（例如道路和周围建筑物）也存在强大的神经反应。重要的是，视觉运动的神经反应在整个头皮上广泛分布，并且视觉空间选择性在电极位置之间有所不同。此外，在主动游戏期间，神经反应在视觉空间的特定位置增强。传统上，神经反应的空间选择性被解释为注意力增益机制。在本研究中，数据表明，不同的大脑区域将注意力集中在视觉场中与任务相关的不同部分，而这些部分超出了明显注意的焦点。
