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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Parallel attentional facilitation of features and objects in early visual cortex.

Nika Adamian¹, Søren K Andersen¹, Steven A Hillyard^2,3

¹School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.

Psychophysiology

|November 7, 2019

Summary

Feature-based attention spreads across object boundaries, enhancing processing even for unattended objects. This suggests early visual cortex mechanisms support feature integration for attentional selection.

Keywords:

EEG attention content/topics feature-based attention methods object-based attention steady-state visual evoked potentials

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Perception
Attention Studies

Background:

Selective attention enhances processing of attended features and spreads within objects.
Previous research indicates attention can operate based on features or entire objects.
The interaction between feature-based and object-based attention requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the extent to which attentional enhancement of a feature spreads across attended and unattended objects.
To differentiate between feature-based and object-based attentional selection mechanisms.
To explore the neural correlates of attentional spreading using steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs).

Main Methods:

Presentation of two overlapping, counter-rotating bicolored random dot surfaces to create distinct perceptual objects.
Participants performed a detection task on radial motion, attending to specific features (luminance polarity) and objects.
Measurement of attentional selection using steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) and behavioral responses.

Main Results:

SSVEP amplitudes at medial occipital sites showed independent multiplicative enhancement for both surface-based and luminance polarity-based selection.
This pattern suggests feature-based attention spreads across object boundaries in early visual processing.
SSVEPs at lateral electrode sites indicated a hierarchical selection process, possibly involving feature binding for object-based attention.

Conclusions:

Feature-based attention demonstrably spreads across object boundaries, influencing unattended features and objects at early visual processing stages.
Evidence supports independent attentional enhancement mechanisms for different feature dimensions in early visual cortex.
Hierarchical processing, including feature binding, may underlie the emergence of object-based attention.