Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Dissociation between physical reasoning and tool use in individuals with left hemisphere brain damage.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same author

Beyond expectations: nocebo suggestion affects cognitive performance in older adults.

Psychological research·2026
Same author

The contribution and mode of integration of parvocellular and magnocellular information in the course of shape orientation perception.

Cognitive neuropsychology·2026
Same author

The dual impact of irrelevant visual onsets: Habituation of capture unlocks onset facilitation.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2025
Same author

Dissociation between physical reasoning and tool use in individuals with left hemisphere brain damage.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Ignoring distractors takes its (memory) toll.

Cognition·2025
Same journal

The cognitive construction of moral scenes: Associations of visuospatial ability and impulsivity with perspective and vividness in mental simulation.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same journal

Theta band activity during event-file retrieval is influenced by stimulus salience in the preceding action episode.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same journal

Language recovery in Hungarian speakers with aphasia: Roles of phonology and intraindividual variability.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same journal

Neural and behavioral dissociations of self-focused and other-focused incentives in trust.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same journal

A multiverse analysis of the logical memory test and plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
Same journal

Reading and writing impairments in Spanish-speaking individuals with primary progressive aphasia: A single-case series study.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control
09:37

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

Published on: July 5, 2015

Attention selection, distractor suppression and N2pc.

Veronica Mazza1, Massimo Turatto, Alfonso Caramazza

  • 1Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Italy. veronica.mazza@unitn.it

Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior
|December 17, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The N2pc brain signal may not reflect distractor suppression during attention. New research suggests it might instead highlight relevant stimuli, challenging current attention models.

More Related Videos

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
08:45

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

Published on: December 5, 2014

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control
09:37

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

Published on: July 5, 2015

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
08:45

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

Published on: December 5, 2014

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Attention Research
  • Electrophysiology

Background:

  • The N2pc (second visual evoked potential) is widely considered an electrophysiological marker of distractor suppression in visual attention.
  • This interpretation assumes that attention selection involves actively inhibiting irrelevant information.
  • Existing models link larger N2pc amplitudes to more effective distractor suppression.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the N2pc truly reflects distractor suppression mechanisms.
  • To challenge the prevailing interpretation of the N2pc as solely indexing suppression.
  • To propose an alternative functional role for the N2pc in visual attention.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted using electroencephalography (EEG) to record brain activity.
  • Participants performed visual search tasks with varying distractor configurations (number, proximity, heterogeneity).
  • N2pc amplitudes and behavioral responses (reaction times) were analyzed in relation to distractor properties.

Main Results:

  • Experiment 1: Increased N2pc amplitudes were observed with more distractors, even when they aided target identification, contradicting suppression predictions.
  • Experiment 2: Spatial proximity of distractors did not influence N2pc amplitude despite impacting response times.
  • Experiment 3: Heterogeneous distractors, which slowed responses, did not elicit larger N2pc amplitudes than homogeneous distractors.

Conclusions:

  • The N2pc does not consistently mirror distractor suppression processes as commonly assumed.
  • The findings challenge the suppression hypothesis as the sole explanation for N2pc generation.
  • We propose the N2pc reflects mechanisms of stimulus identification and localization via feature enhancement, rather than distractor suppression.