The temporal flexibility of attentional selection in the visual cortex.
Visual attention operates by biasing competitive interactions between neural representations, favoring relevant over irrelevant visual inputs. Attention can enhance the processing of relevant information using location-based, feature-based or object-based selection mechanisms. Studies using event-related potential and event-related magnetic field recordings, together with functional magnetic resonance imaging, show that the temporal sequencing of these different selection mechanisms is flexible. Depending on the specific processing demands of the experimental task, location-based, feature-based or object-based selection might be given temporal priority on a time scale of tens of milliseconds.
Hopf
Jens-Max
JM
Department of Neurology II, Otto-von-Guericke University and Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Leipziger Strasse 44, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany. jens-max.hopf@medizin.uni-magdeburg.de
Schoenfeld
Mircea Ariel
MA
Heinze
Hans-Jochen
HJ
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*