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Carrasco CD, Bahle B, Simmons AM, Luck SJ. Using multivariate pattern analysis to increase effect sizes for event-related potential analyses. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14570. [PMID: 38516957 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) approaches can be applied to the topographic distribution of event-related potential (ERP) signals to "decode" subtly different stimulus classes, such as different faces or different orientations. These approaches are extremely sensitive, and it seems possible that they could also be used to increase effect sizes and statistical power in traditional paradigms that ask whether an ERP component differs in amplitude across conditions. To assess this possibility, we leveraged the open-source ERP CORE data set and compared the effect sizes resulting from conventional univariate analyses of mean amplitude with two MVPA approaches (support vector machine decoding and the cross-validated Mahalanobis distance, both of which are easy to compute using open-source software). We assessed these approaches across seven widely studied ERP components (N170, N400, N2pc, P3b, lateral readiness potential, error related negativity, and mismatch negativity). Across all components, we found that multivariate approaches yielded effect sizes that were as large or larger than the effect sizes produced by univariate approaches. These results indicate that researchers could obtain larger effect sizes, and therefore greater statistical power, by using multivariate analysis of topographic voltage patterns instead of traditional univariate analyses in many ERP studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brett Bahle
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | | | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California, USA
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2
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Adams OJ, Gaspelin N. Attentional suppression of dynamic versus static salient distractors. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-024-02903-9. [PMID: 38839713 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02903-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
Attention must be carefully controlled to avoid distraction by salient stimuli. The signal suppression hypothesis proposes that salient stimuli can be proactively suppressed to prevent distraction. Although this hypothesis has garnered much support, most previous studies have used one class of salient distractors: color singletons. It therefore remains unclear whether other kinds of salient distractors can also be suppressed. The current study directly compared suppression of a variety of salient stimuli using an attentional capture task that was adapted for eye tracking. The working hypothesis was that static salient stimuli (e.g., color singletons) would be easier to suppress than dynamic salient stimuli (e.g., motion singletons). The results showed that participants could ignore a wide variety of salient distractors. Importantly, suppression was weaker and slower to develop for dynamic salient stimuli than static salient stimuli. A final experiment revealed that adding a static salient feature to a dynamic motion distractor greatly improved suppression. Altogether, the results suggest that an underlying inhibitory process is applied to all kinds of salient distractors, but that suppression is more readily applied to static features than dynamic features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Owen J Adams
- State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, 13902, USA
| | - Nicholas Gaspelin
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, McAlester Hall, 320 S. 6th Street, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
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Szaszkó B, Habeler M, Forstinger M, Pomper U, Scheftner M, Stolte M, Grüner M, Ansorge U. 10 Hz rhythmic stimulation modulates electrophysiological, but not behavioral markers of suppression. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1376664. [PMID: 38831943 PMCID: PMC11144928 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1376664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
We investigated the role of alpha in the suppression of attention capture by salient but to-be-suppressed (negative and nonpredictive) color cues, expecting a potential boosting effect of alpha-rhythmic entrainment on feature-specific cue suppression. We did so by presenting a rhythmically flickering visual bar of 10 Hz before the cue - either on the cue's side or opposite the cue -while an arrhythmically flickering visual bar was presented on the respective other side. We hypothesized that rhythmic entrainment at cue location could enhance the suppression of the cue. Testing 27 participants ranging from 18 to 39 years of age, we found both behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of suppression: Search times for a target at a negatively cued location were delayed relative to a target away from the cued location (inverse validity effects). In addition, an event-related potential indicative for suppression (the Distractor Positivity, Pd) was observed following rhythmic but not arrhythmic stimulation, indicating that suppression was boosted by the stimulation. This was also echoed in higher spectral power and intertrial phase coherence of EEG at rhythmically versus arrhythmically stimulated electrode sites, albeit only at the second harmonic (20 Hz), but not at the stimulation frequency. In addition, inverse validity effects were not modulated by rhythmic entrainment congruent with the cue side. Hence, we propose that rhythmic visual stimulation in the alpha range could support suppression, though behavioral evidence remains elusive, in contrast to electrophysiological findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bence Szaszkó
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Martin Habeler
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Marlene Forstinger
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ulrich Pomper
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Manuel Scheftner
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Moritz Stolte
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Markus Grüner
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Research Platform Mediatised Lifeworlds, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Pang C, Chen Y, Zhang Y, Nan W, Fu S. Suppression on the basis of template for rejection is reactive: Evidence from human electrophysiology. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:1148-1162. [PMID: 38491317 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02873-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
According to most theories of attention, the selection of task-relevant visual information can be enhanced by holding them in visual working memory (VWM). However, there has been a long-standing debate concerning whether similar optimization can also be achieved for task-irrelevant information, known as a "template for rejection". The present study aimed to explore this issue by examining the consequence of cue distractors before visual search tasks. For this endeavor, we manipulated the display heterogeneity by using two distractor conditions, salient and non-salient, to explore the extent to which holding the distractor color in VWM might affect attentional selection. We measured the reaction times of participants while their EEG activity was recorded. The results showed that WM-matched distractors did not improve reaction times but rather slowed them down in both tasks. Event-related potential (ERP) results showed that the display heterogeneity had no modulatory effect on the degree of distractor suppression. Even in the salient distractor condition, the WM-matched distractor received no greater suppression. Furthermore, the WM-matched distractor but not the neutral distractor elicited an N2pc before the PD in salient distractor conditions. This suggests that the template for rejection operates reactively since suppression occurs after extra attentional processes to the distractor. Moreover, the presence of WM-matched distractors led to a reduction of P3b, indicating a competition between target processing and WM-matched distractor rejection. Our findings provide insights into the mechanisms underlying the optimization of attentional selection, and have implications for future studies aimed at understanding the role of VWM in cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Pang
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Yanzhang Chen
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yue Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Weizhi Nan
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Shimin Fu
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
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Zhang Y, Zhang H, Fu S. Relative saliency affects attentional capture and suppression of color and face singleton distractors: evidence from event-related potential studies. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae176. [PMID: 38679483 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2023] [Revised: 03/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Prior research has yet to fully elucidate the impact of varying relative saliency between target and distractor on attentional capture and suppression, along with their underlying neural mechanisms, especially when social (e.g. face) and perceptual (e.g. color) information interchangeably serve as singleton targets or distractors, competing for attention in a search array. Here, we employed an additional singleton paradigm to investigate the effects of relative saliency on attentional capture (as assessed by N2pc) and suppression (as assessed by PD) of color or face singleton distractors in a visual search task by recording event-related potentials. We found that face singleton distractors with higher relative saliency induced stronger attentional processing. Furthermore, enhancing the physical salience of colors using a bold color ring could enhance attentional processing toward color singleton distractors. Reducing the physical salience of facial stimuli by blurring weakened attentional processing toward face singleton distractors; however, blurring enhanced attentional processing toward color singleton distractors because of the change in relative saliency. In conclusion, the attentional processes of singleton distractors are affected by their relative saliency to singleton targets, with higher relative saliency of singleton distractors resulting in stronger attentional capture and suppression; faces, however, exhibit some specificity in attentional capture and suppression due to high social saliency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hai Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Shimin Fu
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Education, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China
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Carrasco CD, Bahle B, Simmons AM, Luck SJ. Using Multivariate Pattern Analysis to Increase Effect Sizes for Event-Related Potential Analyses. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.11.07.566051. [PMID: 37986854 PMCID: PMC10659264 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.07.566051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Multivariate pattern analysis approaches can be applied to the topographic distribution of event-related potential (ERP) signals to 'decode' subtly different stimulus classes, such as different faces or different orientations. These approaches are extremely sensitive, and it seems possible that they could also be used to increase effect sizes and statistical power in traditional paradigms that ask whether an ERP component differs in amplitude across conditions. To assess this possibility, we leveraged the open-source ERP CORE dataset and compared the effect sizes resulting from conventional univariate analyses of mean amplitude with two multivariate pattern analysis approaches (support vector machine decoding and the cross-validated Mahalanobis distance, both of which are easy to compute using open-source software). We assessed these approaches across seven widely studied ERP components (N170, N400, N2pc, P3b, lateral readiness potential, error related negativity, and mismatch negativity). Across all components, we found that multivariate approaches yielded effect sizes that were as large or larger than the effect sizes produced by univariate approaches. These results indicate that researchers could obtain larger effect sizes, and therefore greater statistical power, by using multivariate analysis of topographic voltage patterns instead of traditional univariate analyses in many ERP studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brett Bahle
- Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis
| | | | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis
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Lien MC, Ruthruff E, Tolomeo D. Evidence that proactive distractor suppression does not require attentional resources. Psychon Bull Rev 2023:10.3758/s13423-023-02422-y. [PMID: 38049572 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02422-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
Does the suppression of irrelevant visual features require attentional resources? McDonald et al. (2023, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30, 224-234) proposed that suppression processes are unavailable while a person is busy performing another task. They reported the absence of the PD (believed to index suppression) when two tasks were presented close together in time. We looked for converging evidence using established behavior measures of suppression. Following McDonald et al., our participants performed a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task followed by a search task. For the RSVP task, participants determined whether the target digit 4 or 6 appeared within a string of other digits. The search display appeared at a lag of 2 or 8 digits after the RSVP target. Participants searched for a yellow target circle amongst nine background circles, which included a uniquely colored distractor for some trials. The main question was whether distractor suppression would occur at Lag 2, while attentional resources were still processing the RSVP target. Suppression was assessed using the capture-probe paradigm. On 30% of trials, probe letters appeared inside the colored circles and participants reported those letters. Probe recall accuracy was lower at locations with distractor colors than those with neutral colors (the baseline), suggesting proactive suppression. Critically, this difference in probe recall accuracy was similar at Lag 2 and Lag 8, suggesting that the ability to proactively suppress distractors remains intact while dual-tasking. We argue that although reactive suppression likely requires attentional resources, proactive suppression-an implicit process-does not.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Ching Lien
- School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-5303, USA.
| | - Eric Ruthruff
- Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-1161, USA
| | - Dominick Tolomeo
- Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-5303, USA
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