Abstract
Attention is considered a central component of cognitive functioning. While many studies have demonstrated that eye direction can trigger reflexive attention shifting. To explore this issue we present results from an voluntary attention shifting task. The results show significant reflexive attention shifting. The event-related potential (ERP) experiment using the spatial cueing task, in which females show larger cueing effect and larger ERP component amplitude.
Detailed research questions are as follows: The first experiment mainly examined whether visual attention shifting could be trigger by eye gaze, and the neural mechanism and time course of reflexive attention shifting. The result showed that there was voluntary and reflexive attention shifting triggered by eye gaze and the attention shifting showed brain asymmetry. The process of attention shifting triggered by eye gaze includes the processes of eye gaze processing and attention shifting. To further understand attention shifting triggered by eye gaze, we examined the processing of eye gaze in the second experiment. The results showed that men had an advantage of processing eye gaze. In the early period, the left hemisphere has an advantage, and later the right hemisphere began to play a major role.
The findings in this study: 1. Reflexive attention shifting triggered by gaze cannot be controlled or inhibited. 2. In the early period (100ʍ74;200ms) of attention shifting triggered by eye gaze, the left hemisphere has an advantage, and later (210ʍ74;370ms) the right hemisphere begins to play a major role. 3. In the early period (before 190ms) of the processing of eye gaze, the left hemisphere has an advantage, and later the right hemisphere begins to play a major role.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013