The functional and temporal characteristics of top-down modulation in visual selection

Perceptual load of an attended task influences the processing of irrelevant background stimuli. In a series of behavioral, functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) experiments we examined the influence of working memory (WM) load related to a relevant visual stimulus on the processing of irrelevant backgrounds. We further addressed two open questions about the mechanism of load-dependent modulation: (i) is this modulation dependent on regional activity (i.e. phasic)? (ii) At what processing stage does this modulation take place? Load was manipulated by a WM task and concurrently the processing of irrelevant visual objects was assessed with fMRI and EEG. To examine the dependency of this modulation on intrinsic activity, we varied the activity level of visual areas by presenting objects with different levels of degradation. Activity in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) increased with object visibility and was phasically modulated by WM load. Event related potentials revealed that this phasic modulation occurred similar to 170 ms after stimulus onset, indicative of an early selection under high load. The results indicate a phasic modulatory effect of WM load on visual object processing in the LOC that is comparable to the effects found for perceptual load manipulations.