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An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty

Einat Rashal (UGent) , Mehdi Senoussi (UGent) , Elisa Santandrea, Suliann Ben-Hamed, Emiliano Macaluso, Leonardo Chelazzi and Nico Böhler (UGent)
(2022) PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY. 59(6).
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Abstract
We examined the effect of combined top-down and bottom-up attentional control sources, using known attention-related EEG components that are thought to reflect target selection (N2pc) and distractor suppression (P-D). We used endogenous cues (valid vs. neutral) for top-down attentional control, and salience in the form of color singletons (either the target or a distractor) for bottom-up attentional control in visual search. Crucially, in two experiments, the task was of increasing difficulty, reporting the orientation of a tilted target (Experiment 1), or the position of a small gap within the target among tilted non-targets (Experiment 2). Our results showed strong cueing effects on RT and accuracy in both experiments, demonstrating a general facilitation of responses to validly cued targets. Whereas the processing of salient targets was not improved compared with non-salient targets, the presence of a salient distractor consistently worsened performance. The N2pc and P-D were only observed in trials where targets were preceded by neutral cues in Experiment 1, and for validly cued targets and salient neutrally cued targets in Experiment 2. A cueing effect was found on the P-D in Experiment 1, showing an amplitude reduction in trials where the target was validly cued. These results support the idea that bottom-up attentional allocation occurs only when top-down allocation of attention is absent or inefficient. Therefore, these results indicate that attentional selection and suppression during visual search are both influenced by top-down cueing and give support to theories that focus on the interaction between the two types of attention.
Keywords
BUT-IRRELEVANT STIMULI, VISUAL-SEARCH, ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE, CONFIDENCE-INTERVALS, ACTIVE SUPPRESSION, SPATIAL ATTENTION, N2PC, COMPONENT, CAPTURE, TARGET, DISTRACTORS, attention control, distractor suppression, endogenous cue, N2pc, Pd, salience

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Citation

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MLA
Rashal, Einat, et al. “An EEG Study of the Combined Effects of Top-down and Bottom-up Attentional Selection under Varying Task Difficulty.” PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, vol. 59, no. 6, 2022, doi:10.1111/psyp.14002.
APA
Rashal, E., Senoussi, M., Santandrea, E., Ben-Hamed, S., Macaluso, E., Chelazzi, L., & Böhler, N. (2022). An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, 59(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14002
Chicago author-date
Rashal, Einat, Mehdi Senoussi, Elisa Santandrea, Suliann Ben-Hamed, Emiliano Macaluso, Leonardo Chelazzi, and Nico Böhler. 2022. “An EEG Study of the Combined Effects of Top-down and Bottom-up Attentional Selection under Varying Task Difficulty.” PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY 59 (6). https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14002.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Rashal, Einat, Mehdi Senoussi, Elisa Santandrea, Suliann Ben-Hamed, Emiliano Macaluso, Leonardo Chelazzi, and Nico Böhler. 2022. “An EEG Study of the Combined Effects of Top-down and Bottom-up Attentional Selection under Varying Task Difficulty.” PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY 59 (6). doi:10.1111/psyp.14002.
Vancouver
1.
Rashal E, Senoussi M, Santandrea E, Ben-Hamed S, Macaluso E, Chelazzi L, et al. An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY. 2022;59(6).
IEEE
[1]
E. Rashal et al., “An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty,” PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, vol. 59, no. 6, 2022.
@article{01GR3E6SQ54SGVT8GG5HFDD15W,
  abstract     = {{We examined the effect of combined top-down and bottom-up attentional control sources, using known attention-related EEG components that are thought to reflect target selection (N2pc) and distractor suppression (P-D). We used endogenous cues (valid vs. neutral) for top-down attentional control, and salience in the form of color singletons (either the target or a distractor) for bottom-up attentional control in visual search. Crucially, in two experiments, the task was of increasing difficulty, reporting the orientation of a tilted target (Experiment 1), or the position of a small gap within the target among tilted non-targets (Experiment 2). Our results showed strong cueing effects on RT and accuracy in both experiments, demonstrating a general facilitation of responses to validly cued targets. Whereas the processing of salient targets was not improved compared with non-salient targets, the presence of a salient distractor consistently worsened performance. The N2pc and P-D were only observed in trials where targets were preceded by neutral cues in Experiment 1, and for validly cued targets and salient neutrally cued targets in Experiment 2. A cueing effect was found on the P-D in Experiment 1, showing an amplitude reduction in trials where the target was validly cued. These results support the idea that bottom-up attentional allocation occurs only when top-down allocation of attention is absent or inefficient. Therefore, these results indicate that attentional selection and suppression during visual search are both influenced by top-down cueing and give support to theories that focus on the interaction between the two types of attention.}},
  articleno    = {{e14002}},
  author       = {{Rashal, Einat and Senoussi, Mehdi and  Santandrea, Elisa and  Ben-Hamed, Suliann and  Macaluso, Emiliano and  Chelazzi, Leonardo and Böhler, Nico}},
  issn         = {{0048-5772}},
  journal      = {{PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY}},
  keywords     = {{BUT-IRRELEVANT STIMULI,VISUAL-SEARCH,ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE,CONFIDENCE-INTERVALS,ACTIVE SUPPRESSION,SPATIAL ATTENTION,N2PC,COMPONENT,CAPTURE,TARGET,DISTRACTORS,attention control,distractor suppression,endogenous cue,N2pc,Pd,salience}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{21}},
  title        = {{An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14002}},
  volume       = {{59}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}
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