Task-adaptive changes to the target template in response to distractor context: Separability versus similarity.

ABSTRACT: Theories of attention hypothesize the existence of an attentional template that contains target features in working or long-term memory. It is frequently assumed that the template contains a veridical copy of the target, but recent studies suggest that this is not true when the distractors are linearly separable from the target. In such cases, target representations shift "off-veridical" in response to the distractor context, presumably because doing so is adaptive and increases the representational distinctiveness of targets from distractors. However, some have argued that the shifts may be entirely explained by perceptual biases created by simultaneous color contrast. Here we address this debate and test the more general hypothesis that the target template is adaptively shaped by element

SUBMITTER: Yu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10843062 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature