Biasing Allocations of Attention via Selective Weighting of Saliency Signals: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence for the Dimension-Weighting Account

Abstract. In a series of event-related functional magnetic resonance studies, we consistently found activation in anterior prefrontal cortex related to visual dimension changes in singleton search tasks. I review these data and discuss possible contributions of anterior prefrontal cortex to attention control in visual search. It is proposed that anterior prefrontal cortex may detect task-relevant stimulus changes when the target is ambiguously defined. This process may occur in the absence of awareness and may support visual dimension weighting by inhibition of the old relevant dimension in favor of the new dimension.

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The effect of search mode on dimension weighting

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01054 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Author(s):

Takatsune Kumada

Keyword(s):

Search Mode ◽

Dimension Weighting

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Age differences in dimension weighting on visual feature search

Visual Cognition ◽

10.1080/13506280344000491 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 721-750 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Takatsune Kumada ◽

Yuko Hibi

Keyword(s):

Age Differences ◽

Visual Feature ◽

Feature Search ◽

Dimension Weighting

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Neural correlates of visual dimension weighting

Visual Cognition ◽

10.1080/13506280500196142 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 14 (4-8) ◽

pp. 877-897 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Stefan Pollmann ◽

Ralph Weidner ◽

Hermann J. Müller ◽

D. Yves von Cramon

Keyword(s):

Neural Correlates ◽

Dimension Weighting ◽

Visual Dimension

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Dimension Weighting in Distance Judgment

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e528942014-745 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katy Varner ◽

Stephen Dopkins ◽

Darin Hoyer

Keyword(s):

Distance Judgment ◽

Dimension Weighting

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The Anterior N1 Component as an Index of Modality Shifting

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21108 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (9) ◽

pp. 1653-1669 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Thomas Töllner ◽

Klaus Gramann ◽

Hermann J. Müller ◽

Martin Eimer

Keyword(s):

Motor Response ◽

Sensory Modality ◽

One Dimension ◽

Visual Modality ◽

Spatial Stimulus ◽

Dimension Weighting ◽

Shift Effect ◽

Attentional Weight ◽

The Cost ◽

Modality Shift

Processing of a given target is facilitated when it is defined within the same (e.g., visual–visual), compared to a different (e.g., tactile–visual), perceptual modality as on the previous trial [Spence, C., Nicholls, M., & Driver, J. The cost of expecting events in the wrong sensory modality. Perception & Psychophysics, 63, 330–336, 2001]. The present study was designed to identify electrocortical (EEG) correlates underlying this “modality shift effect.” Participants had to discriminate (via foot pedal responses) the modality of the target stimulus, visual versus tactile (Experiment 1), or respond based on the target-defining features (Experiment 2). Thus, modality changes were associated with response changes in Experiment 1, but dissociated in Experiment 2. Both experiments confirmed previous behavioral findings with slower discrimination times for modality change, relative to repetition, trials. Independently of the target-defining modality, spatial stimulus characteristics, and the motor response, this effect was mirrored by enhanced amplitudes of the anterior N1 component. These findings are explained in terms of a generalized “modality-weighting” account, which extends the “dimension-weighting” account proposed by Found and Müller [Searching for unknown feature targets on more than one dimension: Investigating a “dimension-weighting” account. Perception & Psychophysics, 58, 88–101, 1996] for the visual modality. On this account, the anterior N1 enhancement is assumed to reflect the detection of a modality change and initiation of the readjustment of attentional weight-setting from the old to the new target-defining modality in order to optimize target detection.

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