title: Signal enhancement and suppression during visual-spatial selective attention.
abstract: Selective attention involves the relative enhancement of relevant versus irrelevant stimuli. However, whether this relative enhancement involves primarily enhancement of attended stimuli, or suppression of irrelevant stimuli, remains controversial. Moreover, if both enhancement and suppression are involved, whether they result from a single mechanism or separate mechanisms during attentional control or selection is not known. In two experiments using a spatial cuing paradigm with task-relevant targets and irrelevant distractors, target, and distractor processing was examined as a function of distractor expectancy. Additionally, in the second study the interaction of perceptual load and distractor expectancy was explored. In both experiments, distractors were either validly cued (70%) or invalidly cued (30%) in order to examine the effects of distractor expectancy on attentional control as well as target and distractor processing. The effects of distractor expectancy were assessed using event-related potentials recorded during the cue-to-target period (preparatory attention) and in response to the task-relevant target stimuli (selective stimulus processing). Analyses of distractor-present displays (anticipated versus unanticipated), showed modulations in brain activity during both the preparatory period and during target processing. The pattern of brain responses suggest both facilitation of attended targets and suppression of unattended distractors. These findings provide evidence for a two-process model of visual-spatial selective attention, where one mechanism (facilitation) influences relevant stimuli and another (suppression) acts to filter distracting stimuli.
authors.affiliation: School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA. jcouperus@hampshire.edu
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Couperus
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Mangun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology
references.citation: Psychon Bull Rev. 2004 Aug;11(4):697-702
references.pmid: 15581120
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2006 Mar;43(2):161-71
references.pmid: 16712586
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2005 Dec;25(3):799-809
references.pmid: 16246532
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2000 Mar;37(2):127-52
references.pmid: 10731765
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2006 Sep 13;26(37):9494-502
references.pmid: 16971533
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Feb 3;95(3):781-7
references.pmid: 9448241
references.citation: Percept Psychophys. 2005 Jan;67(1):81-101
references.pmid: 15912874
references.citation: Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol Suppl. 1987;40:61-7
references.pmid: 3480183
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2007 May 15;45(9):2038-50
references.pmid: 17382975
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2003 Jul;19(3):496-512
references.pmid: 12880783
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1995 Jun;21(3):451-68
references.pmid: 7790827
references.citation: Vision Res. 1998 Mar;38(5):669-89
references.pmid: 9604099
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2004 Dec;92(6):3538-45
references.pmid: 15254075
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2000;38(7):964-74
references.pmid: 10775707
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2002 Dec;15(1):17-29
references.pmid: 12433380
references.citation: Vision Res. 2005 Jan;45(2):205-31
references.pmid: 15581921
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 1995 Jan;32(1):4-18
references.pmid: 7878167
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2006 Mar 29;26(13):3532-40
references.pmid: 16571761
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2007 Mar 6;17(5):R170-2
references.pmid: 17339016
references.citation: Acta Psychol (Amst). 1988 Nov;69(2):129-55
references.pmid: 3245479
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2008 Jun;188(1):45-62
references.pmid: 18347786
references.citation: Biol Psychol. 1998 Jun;48(2):153-82
references.pmid: 9700016
references.citation: Q J Exp Psychol A. 1989 Nov;41(4):747-73
references.pmid: 2587797
references.citation: Percept Psychophys. 2000 Jan;62(1):175-86
references.pmid: 10703265
references.citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1998 Aug 29;353(1373):1257-70
references.pmid: 9770220
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2003 Feb;29(1):52-63
references.pmid: 12669747
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2005 Sep;25(1):117-29
references.pmid: 15925498
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2006 Apr;18(4):522-38
references.pmid: 16768358
references.citation: Annu Rev Neurosci. 1995;18:193-222
references.pmid: 7605061
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2007 Nov;44(6):987-90
references.pmid: 17850244
references.citation: Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol Suppl. 1991;42:183-94
references.pmid: 1915015
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2008;46(7):2071-8
references.pmid: 18355882
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2000 Mar;3(3):284-91
references.pmid: 10700262
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 1996 Sep;8(5):387-402
references.pmid: 23961943
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004 Aug;22(4):1515-22
references.pmid: 15275908
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2001 Mar;38(2):343-58
references.pmid: 11347879
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2008 Feb 1;39(3):1345-55
references.pmid: 18006335
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2006 Nov;96(5):2601-12
references.pmid: 16855105
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2007 Jan;19(1):32-41
references.pmid: 17214561
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2000 Mar 15;20(6):RC63
references.pmid: 10704517
references.citation: Brain Res. 2006 Aug 11;1105(1):32-45
references.pmid: 16595127
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2007 Feb 15;34(4):1600-11
references.pmid: 17207640
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Jan 24;103(4):1053-8
references.pmid: 16410356
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2004 Aug;20(3):376-83
references.pmid: 15268915
references.citation: Neuroreport. 2006 Oct 23;17(15):1595-9
references.pmid: 17001275
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2001 May;12(3):213-8
references.pmid: 11437303
references.citation: Brain Res. 2007 Oct 31;1178:92-105
references.pmid: 17931607
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2003 May;13(5):486-99
references.pmid: 12679295
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2001 Sep;86(3):1398-411
references.pmid: 11535686
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2003 Aug;19(4):1602-11
references.pmid: 12948715
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2005 Sep;25(1):48-56
references.pmid: 15907377
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2005 Dec;17(12):1936-49
references.pmid: 16356330
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2004 Sep;133(3):339-54
references.pmid: 15355143
references.citation: Atten Percept Psychophys. 2009 Feb;71(2):342-51
references.pmid: 19304623
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2007 Nov;44(6):968-86
references.pmid: 17617171
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2000 Sep;111(9):1544-52
references.pmid: 10964063
references.citation: Vision Res. 2009 Jun;49(10):1154-65
references.pmid: 18694779
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2006 Aug;32(4):885-907
references.pmid: 16846286
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2006 Apr 1;30(2):506-11
references.pmid: 16256374
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2000 Jul;111(7):1241-57
references.pmid: 10880800
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2001;39(12):1277-91
references.pmid: 11566311
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2008 Oct;19(10):1045-50
references.pmid: 19000216
references.citation: PLoS One. 2009;4(2):e4651
references.pmid: 19247494
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1991 Nov;17(4):1057-74
references.pmid: 1837297
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2002 Feb 15;14(2):254-71
references.pmid: 11970790
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2006 Jun;95(6):3844-51
references.pmid: 16571739
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1997 Oct;23(5):1522-32
references.pmid: 9336963
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2009 Jun;120(6):1087-95
references.pmid: 19410504
references.citation: Brain. 1994 Jun;117 ( Pt 3):553-62
references.pmid: 8032865
references.citation: Neuron. 1999 Apr;22(4):751-61
references.pmid: 10230795
references.citation: J Neurosci Methods. 2004 Mar 15;134(1):9-21
references.pmid: 15102499