Martin Eimer

During visual search for targets defined by a specific feature, a representation of this feature (an attentional template) is already activated during search preparation. This has been shown in many experiments that used the contingent attentional capture paradigm. Here, we employed this paradigm to investigate the nature of such preparatory target templates during search for conjunctively defined targets. A globally recruited sample of participants searched for targets defined by a single feature (a particular colour, orientation, shape, or size), or by a conjunction of two features from different dimensions. Search displays were preceded by cues with target-matching features, and spatial cueing effects triggered by these cues were measured to test whether a corresponding preparatory search template was active. Contingent attentional capture effects were found for all four dimensions during single-feature search. When targets were defined by a conjunction of colour and either orientation, size, or shape, capture effects were present only for the non-colour dimension, but were consistently absent for colour, suggesting that no preparatory colour templates were activated. In contrast, both shape and size cues triggered reliable and additive contingent capture effects during shape/size conjunction search. These results show that preparatory templates for target features from different dimensions can be activated independently and in parallel during conjunction search, but that colour templates may only be triggered reactively.

Attentional selectivity focuses on what is currently relevant. Relevance changes frequently in everyday life, triggering rapid reassignments of attentional priorities. Such reassignments are often not associated with behavioural changes and are thus difficult to assess objectively. Here, we measured rapid, covert switches between preparatory task settings (attentional templates) in visual search, as they occurred in real time. Participants searched for colour-defined targets in search displays that appeared unpredictably either early (after 700 ms) or late (after 1500 ms) on each trial. In Experiment 1, early and late targets were defined by different colours. Participants first had to activate a template for the early target colour, then switch to a template for the late target colour if no early search display appeared. In Experiment 2, cues signalled whether the initial target template had to be maintained or changed. Template activation states were tracked with N2pc components to rapid sequences of irrelevant probes matching either the early or late target colour. A template for the early target colour was active from about 300 ms before the expected arrival of early search displays, followed by a template switch. Switches based on endogenous temporal expectations emerged more gradually in time than switches in response to external cues. Presenting cues in Experiment 2 triggered a temporary search template deactivation even when the target colour remained unchanged, indicating that template maintenance is subject to an attentional blink. Results demonstrate that rapid switches between attentional templates in visual search can be tracked with high temporal precision.

Recent evidence suggests that attentional capture by salient-but-irrelevant distractions can be avoided via suppression, thereby improving performance in visual search. Initial evidence suggested it is only possible to suppress salient distractors with constant and predictable features (first-order suppression). We show that previous failures to find evidence for second-order suppression of unpredictable feature singletons may have been due to low feature variability: If it is probable that the salient distractor colour is the target colour on another trial, suppressing this item might hinder performance. We first validated a new multiframe letter-probe paradigm, where observers counted the search displays with a target shape and always reported as many letter probes as possible from the final display. When target and singleton colours were constant (Experiment 1), a singleton suppression effect was observed, with probe letters at the singleton distractor location reported less frequently than those at non-singleton distractor locations. When two randomly swapped target/singleton colours were employed (Experiment 2), no suppression effect was observed, replicating previous findings. Critically, when target-colour items and the singleton could have one of eight different random colours (Experiment 3), a robust suppression effect reappeared. These observations demonstrate that first-order suppression is not universal, and that second-order suppression can be applied to singleton distractors under some circumstances. Suppression effects were observed for displays with and without targets, suggesting that they are not a product of direct target-singleton competition.

Our study aimed to investigate the impact of differences in language proficiency on the neural correlates of cognitive processing in deaf adults. In congenitally and early deaf individuals, individual differences in language proficiency reflect the degree of language access during critical developmental periods and significantly influence cognitive function. By studying the neural substrates of cognition in a population with diverse language backgrounds and skills, we can explore the influence of early language experience on the formation of cognitive networks in the brain. We used functional MRI in a group of deaf adults with varying language experience backgrounds and a control group of hearing participants. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that differences in language skills modulate neural response and functional connectivity during the execution of demanding cognitive tasks tapping into working memory and planning. Our study revealed that differences in language proficiency, independently of language modality (signed or spoken), are positively correlated with neural activity and functional connectivity within regions of the task-positive network during working memory in deaf adults. Furthermore, compared to hearing participants, the deaf group showed distinctive patterns of neural activity and connectivity during working memory task performance in task-dependent regions of the brain. Taken together, our findings emphasise the profound impact of early environmental experiences on brain responses during cognitive processing. Specifically, they highlight the role of language proficiency in shaping and supporting high-order cognition in the brain. Significance statement Higher-order cognitive abilities, such as working memory and planning, are essential for human activity. They enable the coordination of mental processes and goal-directed behaviour. When successfully executing cognitive tasks, the human brain exhibits systematic patterns of neural activity and connectivity in the frontal and parietal regions. In this study, we investigated whether the control of nonverbal cognition is influenced by differences in language proficiency at the level of the functional organisation of the brain. Our study showed that differences in language proficiency in deaf individuals are positively associated with neural activity and functional connectivity within the task-positive brain regions during working memory. These findings offer compelling evidence for the critical role of access to a natural language in scaffolding the neural mechanisms that support higher-order cognition. Our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between language proficiency and cognitive processing, highlighting the importance of early language access in modulating and shaping brain function. Revealing the contribution of a developed language system to the formation of cognitive networks has implications not only for understanding the processes underlying cognitive development and functioning but also for informing policy and practice in relation to education and language access.

The N2pc and P3 event-related potentials (ERPs), used to index selective attention and access to working memory and conscious awareness, respectively, have been important tools in cognitive sciences. Although it is likely that these two components and the underlying cognitive processes are temporally and functionally linked, such links have not yet been convincingly demonstrated. Adopting a novel methodological approach based on dynamic time warping (DTW), we provide evidence that the N2pc and P3 ERP components are temporally linked. We analyzed data from an experiment where 23 participants (16 women) monitored bilateral rapid serial streams of letters and digits in order to report a target digit indicated by a shape cue, separately for trials with correct responses and trials where a temporally proximal distractor was reported instead (distractor intrusion). DTW analyses revealed that N2pc and P3 latencies were correlated in time, both when the target or a distractor was reported. Notably, this link was weaker on distractor intrusion trials. This N2pc–P3 association is discussed with respect to the relationship between attention and access consciousness. Our results demonstrate that our novel method provides a valuable approach for assessing temporal links between two cognitive processes and their underlying modulating factors. This method allows to establish links and their modulator for any two time-series across all domains of the field (general-purpose MATLAB functions and a Python module are provided alongside this paper).

Efficiently selecting task‐relevant objects during visual search depends on foreknowledge of their defining characteristics, which are represented within attentional templates. These templates bias attentional processing toward template‐matching sensory signals and are assumed to become anticipatorily activated prior to search display onset. However, a direct neural signal for such preparatory template activation processes has so far remained elusive. Here, we introduce a new high‐definition rapid serial probe presentation paradigm (RSPP–HD), which facilitates high temporal resolution tracking of target template activation processes in real time via monitoring of the N2pc component. In the RSPP–HD procedure, task‐irrelevant probe displays are presented in rapid succession throughout the period between task‐relevant search displays. The probe and search displays are homologously formed by lateralized “clouds” of colored dots, yielding probes that occur at task‐relevant locations without confounding template‐guided and salience‐driven attentional shifts. Target color probes appearing at times when a corresponding target template is active should attract attention, thereby eliciting an N2pc. In a condition where new probe displays appeared every 50 ms, probe N2pcs were reliably elicited during the final 800 ms prior to search display onset, increasing in amplitude toward the end of this preparation period. Analogous temporal profiles were also observed with longer intervals between probes. These findings show that search template activation processes are transient and that their temporal profile can be reliably monitored at high‐sampling frequencies with the RSPP–HD paradigm. This procedure offers a new route to approach various questions regarding the content and temporal dynamics of attentional control processes.

Representations of task-relevant object attributes (attentional templates) control the adaptive selectivity of visual processing. Previous studies have demonstrated that templates involved in the guidance of attention during visual search are activated in a preparatory fashion prior to the arrival of visual search displays. The current study investigated whether such proactive mechanisms are also triggered in non-search tasks, where attentional templates do not mediate the guidance of attention towards targets amongst distractors but are still necessary for subsequent target recognition processes. Participants either searched for colour-defined targets among multiple distractors or performed two other non-search tasks where imperative stimuli appeared without competing distractors (a colour-based Go/NoGo task, and a shape discrimination task where target colour was constant and could thus be ignored). Preparatory activation of colour-selective templates was tracked by measuring N2pc components (markers of attention allocation) to task-irrelevant colour singleton probes flashed every 200 ms during the interval between target displays. As expected, N2pcs were triggered by target-coloured probes in the search task, indicating that a corresponding guidance template was triggered proactively. Critically, clear probe N2pcs were also observed in the Go/NoGo task, and even in the shape discrimination task in an attenuated fashion. These findings demonstrate that the preparatory activation of feature-selective attentional task settings is not uniquely associated with the guidance of visual search but is also present in other types of visual selection tasks where guidance is not required.

Luck et al. ( 2021 Luck, S. J. , Gaspelin, N. , Folk, C. L. , Remington, R. W. , & Theeuwes, J. (2021). Progress toward resolving the attentional capture debate. Visual Cognition, 29(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2020.1848949 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] , Progress toward resolving the attentional capture debate. Visual Cognition, 29(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2020.1848949) propose that proactive suppression can help to resolve the long-standing attentional capture debate. They argue that salient but task-irrelevant stimuli automatically generate a priority signal, which leads to attentional capture if it is not suppressed. While this signal suppression framework provides a refreshing new perspective on attentional capture, it cannot fully resolve this debate. To do this, it would have to be demonstrated that task-contingent capture effects in spatial cueing tasks are linked to proactive feature-based suppression preventing attentional capture by salient but irrelevant objects. I argue that there is little evidence if any evidence for such a link. I consider possible reasons why suppression does not seem to play a major role in spatial cueing tasks, and also highlight important general limitations of proactive inhibitory control in visual search.

Many models of attention assume that attentional selection takes place at a specific moment in time which demarcates the critical transition from pre-attentive to attentive processing of sensory input. We argue that this intuitively appealing “synchronic” account is not only inaccurate, but has led to substantial conceptual confusion. As an alternative, we offer a “diachronic” framework that describes attentional selectivity as a process that unfolds over time. Key to this view is the concept of attentional episodes, brief periods of intense attentional amplification of sensory representations that regulate access to working memory and response-related processes. We describe how attentional episodes are linked to earlier attentional mechanisms and to recurrent processing at the neural level. We review studies that establish the existence of attentional episodes, delineate the factors that determine if and when they are triggered, and discuss the costs associated with processing multiple events within a single episode. Finally, we argue that this framework offers new solutions to old problems in attention research that have never been resolved. It can provide a unified and conceptually coherent account of the network of cognitive and neural processes that produce the goal-directed selectivity in perceptual processing that is commonly referred to as “attention”.