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Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
06:46

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Face Processing is Gated by Visual Spatial Attention.

Roy E Crist1, Chien-Te Wu, Chris Karp

  • 1Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA.

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
|October 30, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human face perception is not automatic. Spatial attention significantly influences the early face-specific N170 brain response, demonstrating top-down control over visual processing.

Keywords:
ERPsFFAN170STSevent-related potentialsvisual attention

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Human face perception is thought to involve automatic, modular processing.
  • The N170 event-related potential (ERP) is an early neural marker for face recognition.
  • Previous research suggested the N170 is largely unaffected by attention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether spatial attention influences the early face-specific N170 response.
  • To determine if face processing at the N170 latency is automatic or modulated by endogenous factors.

Main Methods:

  • A dual-visual-stream ERP study was conducted.
  • The influence of spatial attention on the N170 was directly examined using electroencephalography (EEG).

Main Results:

  • Early visual sensory responses were enhanced at attended locations compared to unattended ones.
  • A significant face-specific N170 effect was observed for faces in attended locations, but not in unattended locations.

Conclusions:

  • Early face-specific processing, including the N170, is not automatic.
  • Face perception strongly depends on endogenous factors like spatial attention allocation.
  • Top-down attention exerts considerable influence over visual stimulus processing, even for salient stimuli like faces.