Pupil Sizes Scale with Attentional Load and Task Experience in a Multiple Object Tracking Task.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wahn B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5157994 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Attentional processes are generally assumed to be involved in multiple object tracking (MOT). The attentional capture paradigm is regularly used to study conditions of attentional control. It has up to now not been used to assess influences of sudden onset distractor stimuli in MOT. We investigated whether attentional capture does occur in MOT: Are onset distractors processed at all in dynamic attentional tasks? We found that sudden onset distractors were effective in lowering probe detection, thus demonstrating attentional capture. Tracking performance as dependent measure was not affected. The attentional capture effect persisted in conditions of higher tracking load (Experiment 2) and was dramatically increased in lower presentation frequency of the onset distractor (Experiment 3). Tracking performance was shown to suffer only when onset distractors were presented serially with very short time gaps in between, thus effectively disturbing re-engaging attention on the tracking set (Experiment 4). We discuss that rapid dis- and re-engagement of the attention process on target objects and an additional more basic process that continuously provides location information allow managing strong disruptions of attention during tracking.
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Project description:Individual alpha peak frequency (IAPF), the discrete frequency with the highest power value in the alpha oscillation range of the electroencephalogram, is a stable neurophysiological marker and is closely associated with various cognitive functions, including aspects of attention and working memory. However, the relationship between IAPF and attentional performance as well as the effects of engaging attention on IAPF are unknow. Here, we examined whether IAPF values were associated with attentional performance by evaluating accuracy during the performance of a multiple object tracking (MOT) task, a well-established paradigm for investigating goal-driven attention in dynamic environments, and whether engagement in the task affected IAPF values. In total, 18 elite players and 20 intermediate players completed the study. Resting electroencephalogram recordings were obtained for 120 s while players kept their eyes open and an additional 120 s while players' eyes were closed, before and again after performing the MOT task. Tracking accuracy in the MOT task and IAPF values before and after the MOT task were analyzed. As expected, tracking accuracies were higher in elite players than in intermediate-level players. Baseline IAPF values were significantly and positively correlated with the accuracy of target tracking in the MOT task. IAPF values were higher in elite than intermediate players in both the eyes open and closed conditions and both before and after MOT task performance. Interindividual IAPF values did not differ before and after the MOT task. These findings indicate that IAPF is a stable marker, without intraindividual changes associated with engagement in the MOT task. Elite players had higher IAPF values and exhibited more accurate MOT performance than intermediate-level players; thus, baseline IAPF values may be useful to predict attentional performance in the MOT task among athletes.
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Project description:Multiple object tracking (MOT) is an attentional task wherein observers attempt to track multiple targets among moving distractors. Contour interpolation is a perceptual process that fills-in nonvisible edges on the basis of how surrounding edges (inducers) are spatiotemporally related. In five experiments, we explored the automaticity of interpolation through its influences on tracking. We found that (1) when the edges of targets and distractors jointly formed dynamic illusory or occluded contours, tracking accuracy worsened; (2) when interpolation bound all four targets together, performance improved; (3) when interpolation strength was weakened (by altering the size or relative orientation of inducing edges), tracking effects disappeared; and (4) real and interpolated contours influenced tracking comparably, except that real contours could more effectively shift attention toward distractors. These results suggest that interpolation's characteristics-and, in particular, its automaticity-can be revealed through its attentional influences or "signatures" within tracking. Our results also imply that relatively detailed object representations are formed in parallel, and that such representations can affect tracking when they become relevant to scene segmentation.
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Project description:3D vision develops during childhood and tends to diminish after 65 years of age. It is still relatively unknown how stereopsis is used in more complex/ecological contexts such as when walking about in crowds where objects are in motion and occlusions occur. One task that shares characteristics with the requirements for processing dynamic crowds is the multiple object-tracking task (MOT). In the present study we evaluated the impact of stereopsis on a MOT task as a function of age. A total of 60 observers consisting of three groups of 20 subjects (7-12 years old, 18-40 years old and 65 years and older) completed the task in both conditions (with and without stereoscopic effects). The adult group obtained the better scores, followed by the children and the older adult group. The performance difference between the stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic conditions was significant and similar for the adults and the children but was non significant for the older observers. These results show that stereopsis helps children and adults accomplish a MOT task, but has no impact on older adults' performances. The present results have implications as to how populations differ in their efficiency of using stereoscopic cues for disambiguating complex dynamic scenes.
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Project description:Pupil diameter and microsaccades are captured by an eye tracker and compared for their suitability as indicators of cognitive load (as beset by task difficulty). Specifically, two metrics are tested in response to task difficulty: (1) the change in pupil diameter with respect to inter- or intra-trial baseline, and (2) the rate and magnitude of microsaccades. Participants performed easy and difficult mental arithmetic tasks while fixating a central target. Inter-trial change in pupil diameter and microsaccade magnitude appear to adequately discriminate task difficulty, and hence cognitive load, if the implied causality can be assumed. This paper's contribution corroborates previous work concerning microsaccade magnitude and extends this work by directly comparing microsaccade metrics to pupillometric measures. To our knowledge this is the first study to compare the reliability and sensitivity of task-evoked pupillary and microsaccadic measures of cognitive load.
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Project description:This study was conducted to examine differences in visual attention according to sports type and sex. In total, 132 participants [open-skill sport athletes (basketball players), closed-skill sport athletes (swimmers), and non-athletes; n = 22 men and 22 women each] aged 19-24 years performed a multiple object tracking (MOT) task, which is a well-established paradigm for the assessment of visual attention. Visual tracking accuracy was affected by the sport type (p < 0.001), being superior among basketball players than among swimmers and non-athletes, with no significant difference between the latter groups. It also varied by sex (p < 0.001), being superior among males than among females. Significant interaction between the sport type and sex was observed (p < 0.001), with male and female basketball players showing similar tracking accuracy. Our results demonstrate that open-skill sport activities strongly related to visual attention, as estimated by MOT task performance, and that sex plays a role in this performance. They also indicate that females might gain a greater visual attention advantage from open than from closed-skill sports participation, as long-term open-skill sports training appeared to minimize the sex difference in visual attention.
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Project description:Sustained multifocal attention for moving targets requires binding object identities with their locations. The brain mechanisms of identity-location binding during attentive tracking have remained unresolved. In 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we measured participants' hemodynamic activity during attentive tracking of multiple objects with equivalent (multiple-object tracking) versus distinct (multiple identity tracking, MIT) identities. Task load was manipulated parametrically. Both tasks activated large frontoparietal circuits. MIT led to significantly increased activity in frontoparietal and temporal systems subserving object recognition and working memory. These effects were replicated when eye movements were prohibited. MIT was associated with significantly increased functional connectivity between lateral temporal and frontal and parietal regions. We propose that coordinated activity of this network subserves identity-location binding during attentive tracking.
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Project description:Contour interpolation automatically binds targets with distractors to impair multiple object tracking (Keane, Mettler, Tsoi, & Kellman, 2011). Is interpolation special in this regard or can other features produce the same effect? To address this question, we examined the influence of eight features on tracking: color, contrast polarity, orientation, size, shape, depth, interpolation, and a combination (shape, color, size). In each case, subjects tracked 4 of 8 objects that began as undifferentiated shapes, changed features as motion began (to enable grouping), and returned to their undifferentiated states before halting. We found that intertarget grouping improved performance for all feature types except orientation and interpolation (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2). Most importantly, target-distractor grouping impaired performance for color, size, shape, combination, and interpolation. The impairments were, at times, large (>15% decrement in accuracy) and occurred relative to a homogeneous condition in which all objects had the same features at each moment of a trial (Experiment 2), and relative to a "diversity" condition in which targets and distractors had different features at each moment (Experiment 3). We conclude that feature-based grouping occurs for a variety of features besides interpolation, even when irrelevant to task instructions and contrary to the task demands, suggesting that interpolation is not unique in promoting automatic grouping in tracking tasks. Our results also imply that various kinds of features are encoded automatically and in parallel during tracking.
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Project description:Multifocal attention is the ability to simultaneously attend to multiple objects, and is critical for typical functioning. Although adults are able to use multifocal attention, little is known about the development of this ability. In two experiments, we investigated multifocal attention in 6-8-year-old children and adults using a child-friendly, computerized multiple object tracking task designed to encourage the use of multifocal attention. We also investigated whether multifocal attention in children is deployed independently across left and right hemifields of vision, as in adults. Our results suggest that children's capacity for multifocal attention increases significantly across middle childhood. We also found evidence that at least one signature of hemifield-independent multifocal attention, the bilateral field advantage, can be observed in children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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