eLifeJClub
Expectation-driven gain modulation of preparatory spatial attention.
eLife · · Journal Article · Open access
van Moorselaar, van der Stigchel
Abstract ↗AI summary
The abstract is read at the publisher; the summary is JClub's.
Expecting difficult visual searches improves accuracy at cued locations, while EEG shows expectancy boosts spatially selective response amplitude without changing tuning width.
- Why it matters: It remains unclear whether people can proactively adjust the spatial extent of attention from expectations about upcoming search difficulty, or whether control works differently.
- What they did: Participants performed cued visual search blocks with sparse (1 target, 3 distractors) versus dense (1 target, 7 distractors) displays, and broadband EEG was analyzed with inverted encoding models to reconstruct spatial channel tuning.
- The result: Expectancy enhanced amplitude of spatially selective neural responses at the attended location but did not alter tuning width, indicating gain-based signal enhancement within a stable spatial focus.
The findingWhy it mattersWhat they didThe result
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