Abstract
Hidden formatting deleted. Delete this text! line-height:150%;layout-grid-mode:char">[Purpose] An attention shift has been assumed to comprise three stages of neural processes: disengagement from the initially attended location, shift to a new destination, and reengagement on the new location. We developed a novel experimental paradigm to estimate the timings of attentional "disengagement" and "reengagement". Hidden formatting deleted. Delete this text! line-height:150%;layout-grid-mode:char">[Method] We recorded two EEG components. One was steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) for two flickering stimuli at different frequencies, which were presented on the left and right of the center of the display. The other was event-related potential (ERP) to the target superimposed on a flickering stimulus. After a peripheral cue presented around either flickering stimulus, participants stayed their attention on the cued stimulus, or shifted attention toward the other stimulus. We estimated the time course of attentional disengagement from the difference between the SSVEPs or P300 of ERPs to the stimulus that was kept attended throughout the trial after cue presentation and those to the stimulus that was initially attended and then ignored. We also estimated the time course of attentional reengagement from the difference between the measures to the stimulus that was initially ignored and then attended and those to the stimulus that was never attended throughout the trial. Hidden formatting deleted. Delete this text! line-height:150%;layout-grid-mode:char">[Results] The SSVEP data showed that attention was reengaged to a new object earlier than it was disengaged from the initially attended object. However, the P300 showed that reengagement and disengagement started approximately at the same time. Hidden formatting deleted. Delete this text! line-height:150%;layout-grid-mode:char">[Discussion] The present results suggest that there are different processes to control attentional disengagement and reengagement.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013