Competitive interaction degrades target selection: an ERP study

Localized attentional interference (LAI) occurs when attending to a visual object degrades processing of nearby objects. Competitive interaction accounts of LAI explain the phenomenon as the result of competition among objects for representation in extrastriate cortex. Here, we examined the N2pc component of the event-related potential (ERP) as a likely neural correlate of LAI. In Experiment 1, participants responded to the orientation of a target while ignoring a nearby decoy. At small target-decoy separations, N2pc amplitude was attenuated whereas the amplitude of a later, positive component (Ptc) was potentiated. Experiment 2 ruled out sensory explanations of these effects. The N2pc results are consistent with the idea that spatially mediated competition for representation in extrastriate cortex degrades target selection. Moreover, the Ptc may reflect a bias signal needed to resolve the competition at smaller target-decoy separations.