Article
Neurosciences
Wieske van Zoest, Christoph Huber-Huber, Matthew D. Weaver, Clayton Hickey
Summary: Research suggests that foreknowledge of distractor characteristics can reduce attentional selection and eye movement towards distractors, with this control being implemented through alpha oscillations in the visual cortex.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Malte Woestmann, Viola S. Stoermer, Jonas Obleser, Douglas A. Addleman, Soren K. Andersen, Nicholas Gaspelin, Joy J. Geng, Steven J. Luck, MaryAnn P. Noonan, Heleen A. Slagter, Jan Theeuwes
Summary: This article discusses the principles for studying distractor suppression, including experimental design, differentiation of different types of distractor suppression, and statistical evaluation. These rules provide a concise and comprehensive synopsis of promising advances in the field, and facilitate communication between sub-disciplines.
PROGRESS IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Oscar Ferrante, Alexander Zhigalov, Clayton Hickey, Ole Jensen
Summary: Visual attention is affected by past experiences, and expectations about distractor locations can be learned and reduced through statistical learning. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), it was found that early visual cortex showed reduced neural excitability at retinotopic locations associated with higher distractor probabilities. This suggests that proactive mechanisms of attention are involved in predictive distractor suppression and are associated with altered neural excitability in early visual cortex.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Tobias Feldmann-Wustefeld, Marina Weinberger, Edward Awh
Summary: Research has shown that active suppression of salient distractors is a crucial aspect of visual selection. The study provides clear evidence for a spatial gradient of suppression surrounding salient singleton distractors, with target selection improving as the distance between target and distractor increases.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Daniel Schneider, Sophie K. Herbst, Laura-Isabelle Klatt, Malte Woestmann
Summary: Recent advances in attention research have been driven by the debate on target enhancement versus distractor suppression. The modulation of alpha oscillatory power has been identified as a predominant neural correlate of attention, but its functional role remains under-specified. This article reviews three essential aspects for a mechanistic understanding of how alpha oscillations contribute to the implementation of facilitatory versus suppressive components of attention, enriching study design, data analysis, and interpretation of results.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Kishore Kumar Jagini, Meera Mary Sunny
Summary: Our sensory systems can extract and utilize statistical regularities in sensory inputs for efficient perceptual processing. Past research has shown the independent utilization of statistical regularities within a modality to enhance target processing or suppress distractor processing. In this study, we investigated whether task-irrelevant auditory stimuli's spatial and non-spatial statistical regularities could suppress visual distractors. The results indicate that the regularities of task-irrelevant auditory stimuli did not reliably influence distractor suppression.
Article
Psychology
Eli Bulger, Barbara G. Shinn-Cunningham, Abigail L. Noyce
Summary: This study found that people are sensitive to the probability of distractors, with a approximately logarithmic relationship between the probability of a specific distractor configuration and the accuracy of responses. People are also sensitive to the length of repeated target sequences, but minimally sensitive to the length of repeated distractor sequences.
ATTENTION PERCEPTION & PSYCHOPHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Mathematical
Douglas A. Addleman, Viola S. Stormer
Summary: Visual search benefits from advance knowledge of nontarget features, but it is unclear whether these features are suppressed proactively or reactively. The results demonstrate that nontarget features are ignored via reactive mechanisms rather than being proactively suppressed.
PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN & REVIEW
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Heather R. Daly, Mark A. Pitt
Summary: The experiment found that suppression mechanism in auditory selective attention utilizes statistical regularities in the environment to aid attention focus. Task performance was better when the more frequent distractor was present.
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Arjen Alink, Helen Blank
Summary: The study challenges the traditional notion that expectation suppression is due to reduced prediction errors, proposing instead that it may be explained by reduced attention effects. The reduced responses to predictable stimuli could also be attributed to a decreased saliency-driven allocation of attention. Resolving this controversy requires assessing the qualitative differences in how attention and surprise enhance brain responses.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Xiaojin Ma, Richard A. Abrams
Summary: Research shows that in efficient search of the environment, identification of a target is enhanced when it is grouped with a suppressed distractor compared to when they are in different perceptual groups.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Mathematical
William Narhi-Martinez, Blaire Dube, Jiageng Chen, Andrew B. B. Leber, Julie D. D. Golomb
Summary: This study demonstrates that learned spatial suppression can protect the processing of target features by reducing the cost of distraction. It shows that suppression plays a larger role in preventing distracting information from being encoded, in addition to helping us avoid salient distractors.
PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN & REVIEW
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Daniel Feuerriegel, Rufin Vogels, Gyula Kovacs
Summary: Recent research has identified confounding factors that may impact the true effects of expectation suppression, casting doubt on its findings across different experimental contexts. However, evidence for genuine expectation suppression was found in specific statistical learning designs.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Grace M. Clements, Mate Gyurkovics, Kathy A. Low, Arthur F. Kramer, Diane M. Beck, Monica Fabiani, Gabriele Gratton
Summary: EEG alpha power can reflect the demand of visual attention and also process stimuli in other sensory modalities, including hearing. The study found that alpha dynamics during an auditory task varied with competition from the visual modality, suggesting its involvement in multimodal processing. When preparing to attend to the auditory modality, greater alpha suppression was induced during switching compared to repeating, indicating a switch effect. No switch effect was observed when preparing to attend to visual information. This study suggests that alpha band activity can index a general attention control mechanism used across modalities.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Dirk van Moorselaar, Nasim Daneshtalab, Heleen A. Slagter
Summary: Research suggests that inhibition of distracting information relies heavily on expectations derived from past experience, and both distractor feature and location regularities contribute to distractor suppression. While observers are sensitive to regularities across longer time scales, the observed effects largely reflect intertrial repetition.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Nika Adamian, Soren K. Andersen, Steven A. Hillyard
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexandra C. Pike, Jade R. Serfaty, Oliver J. Robinson
Summary: The study developed a novel self-report measure of general catastrophizing and conducted five online studies to show its good reliability and validity, as well as its ability to predict relevant clinical variables.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Aida Helana Binti Affandi, Alexandra C. Pike, Oliver Joe Robinson
Summary: Anxiety and stress are adaptive responses to threat that can promote both active and passive harm avoidance behaviors. While threat of shock may lead individuals to engage in passive avoidance, it may not necessarily increase active avoidance behavior. One potential explanation is that anxiety favors passive harm avoidance strategies to conserve energy.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Yuri G. Pavlov, Nika Adamian, Stefan Appelhoff, Mahnaz Arvaneh, Christopher S. Y. Benwell, Christian Beste, Amy R. Bland, Daniel E. Bradford, Florian Bublatzky, Niko A. Busch, Peter E. Clayson, Damian Cruse, Artur Czeszumski, Anna Dreber, Guillaume Dumas, Benedikt Ehinger, Giorgio Ganis, Xun He, Jose A. Hinojosa, Christoph Huber-Huber, Michael Inzlicht, Bradley N. Jack, Magnus Johannesson, Rhiannon Jones, Evgenii Kalenkovich, Laura Kaltwasser, Hamid Karimi-Rouzbahani, Andreas Keil, Peter Konig, Layla Kouara, Louisa Kulke, Cecile D. Ladouceur, Nicolas Langer, Heinrich R. Liesefeld, David Luque, Annmarie MacNamara, Liad Mudrik, Muthuraman Muthuraman, Lauren B. Neal, Gustav Nilsonne, Guiomar Niso, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Robert Oostenveld, Cyril R. Pernet, Gilles Pourtois, Manuela Ruzzoli, Sarah M. Sass, Alexandre Schaefer, Magdalena Senderecka, Joel S. Snyder, Christian K. Tamnes, Emmanuelle Tognoli, Marieke K. van Vugt, Edelyn Verona, Robin Vloeberghs, Dominik Welke, Jan R. Wessel, Ilya Zakharov, Faisal Mushtaq
Summary: There is a recognition in the neuroscience community that enhancing the replicability of studies on the relationship between brain activity and cognitive phenomena requires high statistical power and standardized analysis pipelines. In response, the #EEGManyLabs project has been launched to replicate key findings from influential EEG studies through international collaboration. The project aims to update confidence in EEG discoveries, create an open access database for future research, and promote a cultural shift towards inclusive, high-powered multi-laboratory collaborations.
Review
Psychiatry
Alexandra C. Pike, Oliver J. Robinson
Summary: This study found differences in reinforcement-learning parameters between patients with depression or anxiety and control individuals using a simulation meta-analysis approach. Patients showed higher punishment learning rates, which may play a role in negative affective bias symptoms and serve as a potential treatment target for mood and anxiety disorders.
Article
Neurosciences
Alexandra C. Pike, Kathryn E. Atherton, Yannik Bauer, Ben M. Crittenden, Freek van Ede, Sam Hall-McMaster, Alexander H. von Lautz, Paul S. Muhle-Karbe, Alexandra M. Murray, Nicholas E. Myers, Frida Printzlau, Ilenia Salaris, Eelke Spaak, Lev Tankelevitch, Darinka Truebutschek, Dante Wasmuht, MaryAnn P. Noonan
Summary: The transition to becoming a principal investigator or lab leader can be challenging due to the new managerial and leadership responsibilities. One important aspect is creating a supportive lab environment. This article presents ten rules to guide new PIs in developing a positive and thriving lab atmosphere, created collaboratively by Professor Mark Stokes' students and mentees.
JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Nika Adamian, Soren K. Andersen
Summary: The limitations of multiple object tracking (MOT) stem from the limitations of top-down selective attention at the early stages of visual processing. The magnitude of attentional facilitation of tracked targets decreases with increasing set size, and it closely follows inverse proportionality to the number of tracked items at lateral occipital electrodes.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Psychiatry
Alexandra C. Pike, Ann L. Sharpley, Rebecca J. Park, Philip J. Cowen, Michael Browning, Erdem Pulcu
Summary: The study found that individuals who have recovered from anorexia nervosa exhibit unexpectedly higher learning rate adjustment, indicating a complex relationship between eating disorders and cognitive inflexibility.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ashley Slanina-Davies, Oliver J. Robinson, Alexandra C. Pike
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and control-seeking behavior. The results showed no significant correlation between the two, but there was a correlation between measures of obsessions and compulsivity and control-seeking behavior.
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Ramakrishna Chakravarthi, Andy Nordqvist, Marlene Poncet, Nika Adamian
Summary: Humans have the ability to quickly estimate the number of objects at a glance, but the fundamental units over which this estimation occurs are still unclear. Previous studies suggested that estimation mechanisms only operate on distinct topological units or units formed by spatial grouping cues, not on units grouped by similarity. However, this study demonstrates through four experiments that both spatial and similarity grouping lead to underestimation, indicating that estimation processes operate on representations constructed after Gestalt grouping principles.
Meeting Abstract
Ophthalmology
Nika Adamian, Nicholas Jeerakun, Soren K. Andersen
Meeting Abstract
Ophthalmology
Ramakrishna Chakravarthi, Amanda Nordqvist, Marlene Poncet, Nika Adamian
Article
Neurosciences
Alexandra C. Pike, Millie Lowther, Oliver J. Robinson
Summary: Common currency tasks, which investigate the same phenomenon in different species, have the potential to improve drug discovery in psychiatry. Researchers should prioritize construct validity over face validity when designing such tasks, and provide a summary of evidence for construct validity in research papers in this field.
CURRENT BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Alexandra C. Pike, Frida A. B. Printzlau, Alexander H. von Lautz, Catherine J. Harmer, Mark G. Stokes, MaryAnn P. Noonan
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2020)