QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, September 24, 2008, 28(39):9890-9894; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3057-08.2008

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Williams, M. A. Articles by Mattingley, J. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Williams, M. A. Articles by Mattingley, J. B.

 Previous Article

Brief Communications
Attenuation of Neural Responses in Primary Visual Cortex during the Attentional Blink

Mark A. Williams,¹ Troy A. W. Visser,² Ross Cunnington,^3,4 and Jason B. Mattingley^3,4

¹Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia, ²Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada V1V 1V7, and ³Queensland Brain Institute and ⁴School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia

Correspondence should be addressed to Mark A. Williams, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia. Email: mark.williams{at}maccs.mq.edu.au

Information-processing bottlenecks are characteristic of many cognitive and neural systems. One such bottleneck is revealed by tasks in which rapidly successive stimulus events must be reported. Here, observers missed the second of two visual targets if it occurred within 700 ms of the first [an "attentional blink" (AB)], even though this second target could be reported accurately when the first item was ignored. Isolating neural responses to such rapid events has proven difficult because current magnetic resonance imaging methods rely on relatively sluggish changes in the brain's physiological response to sensory inputs. Here, we overcame this limitation by presenting successive visual targets at different spatial locations, thereby exploiting the retinotopic organization of early cortical visual areas to distinguish neural activity associated with successive target events. We show that neural activity in primary visual cortex is significantly modulated during the AB, and that this activity mirrors behavioral measures of target identification accuracy. The findings suggest that the neural signature of perceptual suppression during processing of rapidly successive stimuli is evident at the earliest stages of cortical sensory processing.

Key words: attention; attentional blink; temporal selection; fMRI; vision; human

---

Received July 1, 2008; accepted Aug. 20, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Mark A. Williams, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia. Email: mark.williams{at}maccs.mq.edu.au

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S.-L. Lim, S. Padmala, and L. Pessoa Segregating the significant from the mundane on a moment-to-moment basis via direct and indirect amygdala contributions PNAS, September 29, 2009; 106(39): 16841 - 16846. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help