Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Attention induces conservative subjective biases in visual perception

Nature Neuroscience volume 14, pages 1513–1515 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Although attention usually enhances perceptual sensitivity, we found that it can also lead to relatively conservative detection biases and lower visibility ratings in discrimination tasks. These results are explained by a model in which attention reduces the trial-by-trial variability of the perceptual signal, and we determined how this model led to the observed behavior. These findings may partially reflect our impression of 'seeing' the whole visual scene despite our limited processing capacity outside of the focus of attention.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Task design.
Figure 2: Results from experiments 1–4.

References

  1. Carrasco, M. Vision Res. 51, 1484–1525 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kim, C.Y. & Blake, R. Trends Cogn. Sci. 9, 381–388 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Azzopardi, P. & Cowey, A. Nature 361, 719–721 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Gordon, J. & Abramov, I. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67, 202–207 (1977).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Green, D.M. & Swets, J.A. Signal Detection Theory and Psychophysics (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1966).

  6. Lu, Z.L. & Dosher, B.A. Vision Res. 38, 1183–1198 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Gorea, A. & Sagi, D. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 12380–12384 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lau, H. & Rosenthal, D. Trends Cogn. Sci. 15, 365–373 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. McDonnell, M.D. & Abbott, D. PLOS Comput. Biol. 5, e1000348 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Dosher, B.A. & Lu, Z.L. Psychol. Sci. 11, 139–146 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Cohen, M.R. & Maunsell, J.H. Nat. Neurosci. 12, 1594–1600 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mitchell, J.F., Sundberg, K.A. & Reynolds, J.H. Neuron 63, 879–888 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Maier, A. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 1193–1200 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Desimone, R. & Duncan, J. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 18, 193–222 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Reynolds, J.H. & Heeger, D.J. Neuron 61, 168–185 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

H.L. received funding from the Human Frontiers Science Project (Short-Term Fellowship) and the Templeton Foundation (grant number 21569).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Dobromir Rahnev, Brian Maniscalco, Tashina Graves, Elliott Huang & Hakwan Lau

  2. Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands

    Dobromir Rahnev, Floris P de Lange & Hakwan Lau

  3. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Tashina Graves

Authors
  1. Dobromir Rahnev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brian Maniscalco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tashina Graves
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Elliott Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Floris P de Lange
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hakwan Lau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

D.R. conducted the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. B.M. performed the model fitting and comparison. T.G. and E.H. helped with data collection and conducted some of the control studies. F.P.d.L. conducted the eye-tracking control study. H.L. conceived the experiments, supervised the project, analyzed the data and wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dobromir Rahnev or Hakwan Lau.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–8 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 1621 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rahnev, D., Maniscalco, B., Graves, T. et al. Attention induces conservative subjective biases in visual perception. Nat Neurosci 14, 1513–1515 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2948

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2948

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing