Dataset Information

Attention modulates perception of visual space.

ABSTRACT: Attention readily facilitates the detection and discrimination of objects, but it is not known whether it helps to form the vast volume of visual space that contains the objects and where actions are implemented. Conventional wisdom suggests not, given the effortless ease with which we perceive three-dimensional (3D) scenes on opening our eyes. Here, we show evidence to the contrary. In Experiment 1, the observer judged the location of a briefly presented target, placed either on the textured ground or ceiling surface. Judged location was more accurate for a target on the ground, provided that the ground was visible and that the observer directed attention to the lower visual field, not the upper field. This reveals that attention facilitates space perception with reference to the ground. Experiment 2 showed that judged location of a target in mid-air, with both ground and ceiling surfaces present, was more accurate when the observer directed their attention to the lower visual field; this indicates that the attention effect extends to visual space above the ground. These findings underscore the role of attention in anchoring visual orientation in space, which is arguably a primal event that enhances one's ability to interact with objects and surface layouts within the visual space. The fact that the effect of attention was contingent on the ground being visible suggests that our terrestrial visual system is best served by its ecological niche.

SUBMITTER: Zhou L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5699473 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Attention modulates perception of visual space.

Zhou Liu L Deng Chenglong C Ooi Teng Leng TL He Zijiang J ZJ

Nature human behaviour 20161219

Attention readily facilitates the detection and discrimination of objects, but it is not known whether it helps to form the vast volume of visual space that contains the objects and where actions are implemented. Conventional wisdom suggests not, given the effortless ease with which we perceive three-dimensional (3D) scenes on opening our eyes. Here, we show evidence to the contrary. In Experiment 1, the observer judged the location of a briefly presented target, placed either on the textured gr ...[more]

PMID: 29177198

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Project description:Coordinating spatial perception between body space and its external surrounding space is essential to adapt behaviors to objects, especially when they are noxious. Such coherent multisensory representation of the body extended into external space is conceptualized by the notion of peripersonal reference frame, mapping the portion of space in which somatic and extra-somatic inputs interact closely. Studies on crossmodal interactions between nociception and vision have been scarce. Here we investigated how the perception of visual stimuli, especially those surrounding the body, can be impacted by a nociceptive and potentially harmful stimulus inflicted on a particular body part. In two temporal order judgment tasks, participants judged which of two lateralized visual stimuli, presented either near or far from the body, had been presented first. Visual stimuli were preceded by nociceptive stimuli, either applied unilaterally (on one single hand) or bilaterally (on both hands simultaneously). In Experiment 1 participants' hands were always placed next to the visual stimuli presented near the trunk, while in Experiment 2 they could also be placed next to the visual stimuli presented far from the trunk. In Experiment 1, the presence of unilateral nociceptive stimuli prioritized the perception of visual stimuli presented in the same side of space as the stimulated hand, with a significantly larger effect when visual stimuli were presented near the body than when presented farther away. Experiment 2 showed that these visuospatial biases were related to the spatial congruency between the hand on which nociceptive stimuli were applied and the visual stimuli, independently of the relative distance of both the stimulated hand and the visual stimuli from the trunk. Indeed, nociceptive stimuli mostly impacted the perception of the closest visual stimuli. It is hypothesized that these crossmodal interactions may rely on representations of the space directly surrounding specific body parts.

Dataset Information

Attention modulates perception of visual space.

Publications

Attention modulates perception of visual space.

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