Abstract
The processing of successive targets requires that attention be engaged and disengaged. Whereas attentional engagement can be studied by means of the N2pc component of the event-related potential (ERP), no ERP component has been linked to attentional disengagement. Here, we report the finding of such a component using an RSVP paradigm with multiple, successive targets and with a spatial-cuing paradigm. In both experiments, disengagement of attention was necessary to attend to subsequent targets. A distinct waveform following the N2pc, which we call the P4pc (Positivity 400 ms post-target posterior contralateral), was found. The P4pc was found when a lateralized cue indicated that attention would be needed for the processing of a target at either the same or a different location as the cue, but not when only the cue was to be responded to, indicating that the need to disengage attention is a prerequisite for the P4pc to occur. We expect the P4pc to provide a valuable addition to the set of electrophysiological measures used to study the dynamics and mechanisms of visual attention and visual search. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 72-81 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | International Journal of Psychophysiology |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug-2011 |
Keywords
- Event-related potentials (ERP)
- N2pc
- P4pc
- Attention engagement
- Attention disengagement
- EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
- VISUAL-SEARCH TASKS
- SPATIAL ATTENTION
- N2PC COMPONENT
- VISUOSPATIAL ATTENTION
- CAPTURE
- SET
- ORIENTATION
- PERFORMANCE
- MECHANISMS