title: Toward the influence of temporal attention on the selection of targets in a visual search task: An ERP study.
abstract: We used ERPs to investigate whether temporal attention interacts with spatial attention and feature-based attention to enhance visual processing. We presented a visual search display containing one singleton stimulus among a set of homogenous distractors. Participants were asked to respond only to target singletons of a particular color and shape that were presented in an attended spatial position. We manipulated temporal attention by presenting a warning signal before each search display and varying the foreperiod (FP) between the warning signal and the search display in a blocked manner. We observed distinctive ERP effects of both spatial and temporal attention. The amplitudes for the N2pc, SPCN, and P3 were enhanced by spatial attention indicating a processing benefit of relevant stimulus features at the attended side. Temporal attention accelerated stimulus processing; this was indexed by an earlier onset of the N2pc component and a reduction in reaction times to targets. Most importantly, temporal attention did not interact with spatial attention or stimulus features to influence visual processing. Taken together, the results suggest that temporal attention fosters visual perceptual processing in a visual search task independently from spatial attention and feature-based attention; this provides support for the nonspecific enhancement hypothesis of temporal attention.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. bettina.rolke@uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rolke
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Freya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Festl
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Verena C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Seibold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERP; Perception; Spatial attention; Temporal attention; Visual search