[DYNAMICS OF GAZE FIXATION DURATION AND EVENT RELATED POTENTIALS WHILE PRESENTATION FADING-IN IMAGES AND DISTRACTORS]

A method for studying the dynamics of human visual attention at various stages of image viewing and recognition has been described. The method is based on the presentation of fading-in images and distractors into the foveal part of visual field. Experimental data demonstrate the effect of habituation to the distractor and bimodal distribution of fixation duration in trials with distractor. It is shown that the effect of distractor is dependent on the complexity of the target images. Significant decrease of the latency of component P350 of fixation related potentials while the simultaneous presentation of target images and distractors is detected in the most of EEG recordings except the occipital ones. On the base of the results obtained the development of tests for evaluation of the current state of visual attention of human-operators, whose main current activities must not be disturbed, has been considered.