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Statistical learning of target selection and distractor suppression shape attentional priority according to different
Valeria Di Caro1, Chiara Della Libera2,3
1Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Scientific Reports
|July 3, 2021
Summary
Past experience impacts visual attention and eye movements. While selection history effects are long-lasting, suppression history effects are transient, suggesting different underlying brain mechanisms for visual learning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
- Oculomotor Control
Background:
- Past experience influences attentional and oculomotor control.
- Selection history facilitates target selection at attended locations.
- Suppression history aids distractor filtering at ignored locations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the permanence of selection and suppression history effects.
- To differentiate the underlying mechanisms of these history effects.
- To understand the adaptive nature of oculomotor control.
Main Methods:
- Eye-movement recording in a unique experimental setting.
- Manipulating statistical regularities to induce selection or suppression history.
- Assessing the duration of history effects in short and long term.
Main Results:
- Suppression history effects were found to be short-lived.
- Selection history effects demonstrated long-lasting persistence.
- Both effects were studied within the same experimental paradigm.
Conclusions:
- Selection and suppression history effects are supported by distinct neural mechanisms.
- Selection history may involve lasting changes in spatial representations.
- Suppression history relies on transient, adaptive plasticity in spatial representations for oculomotor control.
