flankr: An R package implementing computational models of attentional selectivity

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Computational Neuroscience
• Psychophysics

Background:

• The Eriksen flanker task is a cornerstone in visual selective attention research.
• Existing computational models, such as the shrinking spotlight (SSP) and dual stage two phase (DSTP) models, offer differing explanations for attentional dynamics.
• These models propose distinct mechanisms for how attentional selectivity changes during stimulus processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce 'flankr', an R package designed to instantiate and compare the SSP and DSTP computational models.
• To provide researchers with a tool for simulating data from both models.
• To enable direct fitting and statistical comparison of the SSP and DSTP models using empirical human data.

Main Methods:

• Development of the 'flankr' R package.
• Implementation of simulation functionalities for both the SSP and DSTP models.
• Inclusion of model-fitting procedures and goodness-of-fit statistics for competitive model comparison.

Main Results:

• The 'flankr' package successfully simulates data consistent with both the SSP and DSTP models.
• The package provides a framework for fitting these models to experimental data.
• It facilitates quantitative comparison between the two models based on goodness-of-fit metrics.

Conclusions:

• The 'flankr' R package democratizes access to advanced computational modeling for visual selective attention.
• It empowers researchers to rigorously test and compare competing theories of attentional dynamics.
• This tool is expected to advance research on the mechanisms underlying attentional selectivity.