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Neural strength of visual attention gauged by motion adaptation

Nature Neuroscience volume 2, pages 1015–1018 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Single-cell and neuroimaging studies reveal that attention focused on a visual object markedly amplifies neural activity produced by features of the attended object. In a psychophysical study, we found that visual attention could modulate the strength of weak motion signals to the point that the perceived direction of motion, putatively registered early in visual processing, was powerfully altered. This strong influence of attention on early motion processing, beside complementing neurophysiological evidence for attentional modulation early in the visual pathway, can be measured in terms of equivalent motion energy, and thus provides a useful metric for quantifying attention's effects.

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Figure 1: Bivectorial motion adaptation.
Figure 2: Results from experiment 1.
Figure 3: Experiment 2: motion aftereffect direction as a function of coherence strength of the attentional motions.
Figure 4: Experiment 3: motion aftereffect direction as a function of coherence strength of the attentional motion inserts, shown for active and passive conditions.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by a Long-Term Fellowship from the Human Frontiers Science Programme to D.A., NIH grant EY077060 to R.B. and NIH Core Grant EYO8126.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collège de France/LPPA, 11, place Marcelin Berthelot, Paris, 75005, France

    David Alais

  2. Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Ave. South, Nashville, 37240, Tennessee, USA

    Randolph Blake

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Correspondence to Randolph Blake.

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Alais, D., Blake, R. Neural strength of visual attention gauged by motion adaptation. Nat Neurosci 2, 1015–1018 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/14814

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