Attention Modifies Spatial Resolution According to Task Demands.

ABSTRACT: How does visual attention affect spatial resolution? In texture-segmentation tasks, exogenous (involuntary) attention automatically increases resolution at the attended location, which improves performance where resolution is too low (at the periphery) but impairs performance where resolution is already too high (at central locations). Conversely, endogenous (voluntary) attention improves performance at all eccentricities, which suggests a more flexible mechanism. Here, using selective adaptation to spatial frequency, we investigated the mechanism by which endogenous attention benefits performance in resolution tasks. Participants detected a texture target that could appear at several eccentricities. Adapting to high or low spatial frequencies selectively affected performance in a manner c

SUBMITTER: Barbot A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5555406 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature