2,038 research outputs found
Habituation to abrupt onset distractors with different spatial occurrence probability
No full textDataset and experimental scripts related to the publication "Habituation to abrupt onset distractors with different spatial occurrence probability", by Matteo Valsecchi and Massimo Turatto, published in Attention, Perception & Psychophysics.
The readme file inside the folder describes the contents
Habituation to abrupt-onset distractors with different spatial occurrence probability
No full textPrevious studies have shown that abrupt onsets randomly appearing at different locations can be ignored with practice, a result that was interpreted as an instance of habituation. Here we addressed whether habituation of capture can be spatially selective and determined by the rate of onset occurrence at different locations, and whether habituation is achieved via spatial suppression applied at the distractor location. In agreement with the habituation hypothesis, we found that capture attenuation was larger where the onset distractor occurred more frequently, similarly to what has been documented for feature-singleton distractors (the "distractor-location effect"), and that onset interference decreased across trials at both the high- and low-probability distractor locations. By contrast, evidence was inconclusive as to whether distractor filtering was also accompanied by a larger impairment in target processing when it appeared at the more likely distractor location (the "target-location effect"), as instead previously reported for feature-singleton distractors. Finally, here we discuss how and to what extent distractor rejection based on statistical learning and habituation of capture are different, and conclude that the two notions are intimately related, as the Sokolov model of habituation operates by comparing the upcoming sensory input with expectation based on the statistics of previous stimulation
Context-Specific Habituation of the Freezing Response in Newborn Chicks
No full textPrevious studies have found that in mature animals habituation is context-specific in some species but not in others. Given the mixed evidence present in the literature, we decided to explore whether habituation is context-specific in newborn chicks. The results showed that 3 days after hatching, chicks were capable of using global contextual information to rapidly habituate their freezing response to a series of sudden acoustic stimuli. Our study is the 1st to show context-specific habituation in this avian species, a result in agreement with those of previous findings in adult male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Furthermore, although our study does not intend to provide a systematic investigation of the ontogeny of habituation in this species, our findings show that a few days after hatching, juvenile chicks are capable of a sophisticated associative learning process that takes into account complex environmental information
Habituation to onsets is controlled by spatially selective distractor expectation
No full textHabituation to onset distractors has been shown to be stronger the higher the distractor probability. However, since in previous studies distractor probability covaried with distractor numerosity, it was unclear whether habituation was controlled by a mechanism that relies on distractor expectation (Sokolov, 1963), or by a mechanism that is merely driven by the number of stimulations delivered to the nervous system (Groves & Thompson, 1970). To address this issue, we manipulated the probability of distractor occurrence at a fixed location, without varying the number of distractors being presented. The results of Experiment 1 clearly favored the Sokolov model of habituation, showing that habituation of capture is controlled by the level of distractor expectation for the same distractors number. Experiment 2 excluded that the pattern of habituation was determined by the difference in the temporal frequency of the distractor between higher and lower distractor rates. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 3 suggested that the amount of habituation of capture is mainly controlled by the local rather than by the global rate of the onset distractor occurrence, thus indicating that habituation of capture is largely spatially specific
Attenzione e percezione: La psicologia tra processi cognitivi e neuroscienze
No full textNon e' raro che mutamenti profondi nella struttura di una teoria scientifica siano preceduti da una fase in cui gli scienziati tendono ad assumere un atteggiamento di bonaria sufficienza davanti a fenomeni che si rivelano presto essere i pilastri che sorreggono teorie scientifiche nuove e piu' potenti. I modelli psicologici che cercano di spiegare come gli esseri umani percepiscano il mondo fisico che li circonda non rappresentano un’eccezione a questa sorta di regola. Con l’esplicito intento di prescindere dallo specifico retroterra culturale del lettore, il libro si sofferma sulla descrizione di alcuni fenomeni psicologici - a meta' tra la scoperta e la curiosita' - che forse preludono a un vicino quanto radicale mutamento di prospettiva nel cercare di capire come e cosa percepiamo del mondo che ci circonda quando, per qualche motivo, la nostra attenzione e' momentaneamente impegnata altrove
Short-term and long-term plasticity in the visual-attention system: evidence from habituation of attentional capture
No full textAttention is known to be crucial for learning and to regulate activity-dependent brain plasticity. Here we report the opposite scenario, with plasticity affecting the onset-driven automatic deployment of spatial attention. Specifically, we showed that attentional capture is subject to habituation, a fundamental form of plasticity consisting in a response decrement to repeated stimulations. Participants performed a visual discrimination task with focused attention, while being occasionally exposed to a distractor consisting of a high-luminance peripheral onset. With practice, short-term and long-term habituation of attentional capture emerged, making the visual-attention system fully immune to distraction. Furthermore, spontaneous recovery of attentional capture was found when the distractor was temporarily removed. Capture, however, once habituated was surprisingly resistant to spontaneous recovery, taking from several minutes to days to recover. The results suggest that the mechanisms subserving exogenous attentional orienting are subject to profound and enduring plastic changes based on previous experience, and that habituation can impact high-order cognitive functions
MICROSACCADIC RESPONSE DURING INHIBITION OF RETURN IN A TARGET-TARGET PARADIGM
No full textThis study examined the relationship between inhibition of return (IOR) in covert orienting and microsaccade statistics. Unlike a
previous study [Galfano, G., Betta, E., & Turatto, M. (2004)], IOR was assessed by means of a target–target paradigm, and microsaccade
dynamics were monitored as a function of both the Wrst and the second visual event. In line with what has been reported with a
cue-target paradigm, a signiWcant directional modulation was observed opposite to the Wrst visual event. Because participants
were to respond to any stimulus, this rules out the possibility that the modulation resulted from a generic motor inhibition,
showing instead that it is peculiarly coupled to the oculomotor system. Importantly, after the second visual event, a diVerent
response was observed in microsaccade orientation, whose direction critically depended of whether the second visual event
appeared at the same location as the Wrst visual event. The results are consistent with the notion that IOR is composed of both attentional
and oculomotor components, and challenge the view that covert orienting paradigms engage the attentional component in
isolation
Enhanced distractor filtering in habituation contexts: Learning to ignore is easier in familiar environments
No full textHabituation mechanisms play a pivotal role in enabling organisms to filter out irrelevant stimuli and concentrate on essential ones. Through repeated exposure, the brain learns to disregard stimuli that are irrelevant, effectively ceasing to respond to potentially distracting input. Previous studies have demonstrated that the orienting response to visual distractors disrupting visual detection tasks habituates as tasks progress and distractors are encountered repeatedly, as their initial interference diminishes. Theoretical models posit that this reduction is contingent upon the establishment of an internal representation of external stimuli. Moreover, further studies have indicated that habituation can be context- specific, suggesting that the mechanisms involved incorporate information about features of irrelevant stimuli that extend beyond their discrete characteristics. In this contribution, we further delved into the question of whether the context in which habituation occurs retains a general habituative capacity when a new, to-be-ignored stimulus is introduced. We discuss evidence indicating that the context in which habituation has already taken place facilitates the habituation process for a new stimulus. This suggests that it becomes easier to ignore new stimuli in contexts where we have already learned to disregard other stimuli, underscoring the intricate interplay between habituation, context, and attentional processes
COLOR, FORM AND LUMINANCE CAPTURE ATTENTION IN VISUAL SEARCH
No full textAbstractExtant models of visual attention predict that a salient element should produce a bottom-up activation leading to a stimulus-driven attentional capture (e.g. Cave, 1999). However, apart from onset, previous works manipulating set-size in visual search failed to provide empirical evidence for this kind of capture. By varying target-singelton distance method, based on a single set-size, we explored whether, in a serial search task, an attentional capture is triggered by static discontinuities such as those generated through the manipulation of color, form, and luminance. The results suggest that those physical properties are indeed able to capture attention automatically
Rapid plasticity attenuation soon after birth revealed by habituation in newborn chicks
No full textHabituation reflects a form of experience‐dependent plasticity whereby the organism progressively learns to ignore the irrelevant information repeatedly encountered. Here, we measured the freezing response to a repeated loud noise in three groups of newborn chicks (Gallus gallus) of different ages (1–2 Day old, 2–3 Day old, and 3–4 Day old) to investigate the ontogeny of habituation in this avian species. Habituation was already present 1 Day after hatching, revealing that the neural mechanisms underlying this form of plasticity are immediately active. Unexpectedly, however, we also found that in the second Day of stimulation the amount of learning was significantly attenuated in chicks of 3–4 days of age as compared to the younger animals, thus showing that 24–48 hr of maturation were sufficient to reduce plasticity. While previous findings in other animal species have proved the existence of a precocious critical period of plasticity in early cortical areas by means of sensory deprivation, our results demonstrate that during the initial development of an intact avian brain also the degree of plasticity underlying a learning process like habituation is maximal soon after birth, and then is subject to a rapid attenuation
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