This research proposal will address the fundamental issue of how visual attention contributes to the construction of enduring representations of objects allowing humans and other primates to make use of information that is no longer available. To investigate this general issue, the recently introduced object-substitution masking paradigm will be studied. Two general questions will be asked: (1) Does the activity of single neurons suggest that behaviorally relevant items are selected by attention even though they are not processed to the point of accurately guiding behavior? (2) Can the substitution of a target by a subsequent mask be observed in the moment-to-moment modulation of neural activity? Object-substitution masking has been shown to be directly related to how attention is deployed in the visual environment because it is only observed when there is strong competition between items in the visual field, such as in visual search task, and can be reduced or eliminated by precuing attention to the target location. Thus, the experiments in this project will require monkeys to search for a target shape among similar distractor shapes. On a proportion of trials the target and several distractors will be presented surrounded by four dots that should effectively mask the items when they remain visible after the objects themselves disappear. An increased understanding of interactions between attention and this new form of masking may ultimately help us understand disorders of normal cognitive processing such as in attention deficit disorder.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32EY015043-03
Application #
6943848
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-F02B (20))
Program Officer
Oberdorfer, Michael
Project Start
2003-08-01
Project End
2006-03-31
Budget Start
2005-08-01
Budget End
2006-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$34,364
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
Heitz, Richard P; Cohen, Jeremiah Y; Woodman, Geoffrey F et al. (2010) Neural correlates of correct and errant attentional selection revealed through N2pc and frontal eye field activity. J Neurophysiol 104:2433-41
Woodman, Geoffrey F; Luck, Steven J (2010) Why is Information Displaced from Visual Working Memory during Visual Search? Vis cogn 18:
Woodman, Geoffrey F; Arita, Jason T; Luck, Steven J (2009) A cuing study of the N2pc component: an index of attentional deployment to objects rather than spatial locations. Brain Res 1297:101-11
Woodman, Geoffrey F; Vogel, Edward K (2008) Selective storage and maintenance of an object's features in visual working memory. Psychon Bull Rev 15:223-9
Woodman, Geoffrey F; Kang, Min-Suk; Thompson, Kirk et al. (2008) The effect of visual search efficiency on response preparation: neurophysiological evidence for discrete flow. Psychol Sci 19:128-36
Woodman, Geoffrey F; Kang, Min-Suk; Rossi, Andrew F et al. (2007) Nonhuman primate event-related potentials indexing covert shifts of attention. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104:15111-6
Yi, Do-Joon; Woodman, Geoffrey F; Widders, David et al. (2004) Neural fate of ignored stimuli: dissociable effects of perceptual and working memory load. Nat Neurosci 7:992-6