Pinging the brain to reveal the hidden attentional priority map using encephalography

Past experience with environmental regularities can influence attentional priority. Here the authors show that when observers have learned to expect information in certain locations during a visual search task, such otherwise hidden attentional biases can be visualized through neural responses evoked by the presentation of sudden task-irrelevant visual input ('pings'). Attention has been usefully thought of as organized in priority maps - putative maps of space where attentional priority is weighted across spatial regions in a winner-take-all competition for attentional deployment. Recent work has highlighted the influence of past experiences on the weighting of spatial priority - called selection history. Aside from being distinct from more well-studied, top-down forms of attentional enhancement, little is known about the neural substrates of history-mediated attentional priority. Using a task known to induce statistical learning of target distributions, in an EEG study we demonstrate that this otherwise invisible, latent attentional priority map can be visualized during the intertrial period using a 'pinging' technique in conjunction with multivariate pattern analyses. Our findings not only offer a method of visualizing the history-mediated attentional priority map, but also shed light on the underlying mechanisms allowing our past experiences to influence future behavior.

Automated summary

Past experiences can influence attentional priority, and this study shows that these biases can be visualized through neural responses. Recent work has emphasized the role of past experiences on spatial priority, but little is known about the neural substrates of history-mediated attentional priority. Using a task that induces statistical learning, the authors demonstrate that this latent attentional priority map can be visualized using a 'pinging' technique in conjunction with multivariate pattern analyses during the intertrial period.