Development of spatial suppression surrounding the focus ofvisual attention

Journal of Vision

article

Audrey M. B. Wong-Kee-You¹  John K. Tsotsos²  Scott A. Adler⁴ 

[1] Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute;Centre for Vision Research, York University;Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University;Department of Psychology, York University

关键词: vision;    attention;    surround suppression;    development;    selective tuning;   

DOI  :  10.1167/19.7.9

来源: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

【 摘 要 】

In adulthood, research has demonstrated that surroundingthe spatial location of attentional focus is a suppressivefield, resulting from top-down attention promoting theprocessing of relevant stimuli and inhibiting surroundingdistractors (e.g., Hopf et al., 2006). It is not fully known,however, how this phenomenon manifests duringdevelopment. This is an important question since attentionprocesses are likely even more critical in developmentbecause of their potential impact on learning and day-today activities. The current study examined whether spatialsuppression surrounding the focus of visual attention, apredicted by-product of top-down attentional modulation,is observed in development. A wide age range separatedin six incremental age levels was included, allowing for adetailed examination of potential differences in the effectof attention on visual processing across development.Participants between 12 and 27 years of age exhibitedspatial suppression surrounding their focus of visualattention. Their accuracy increased as a function of theseparation distance between a spatially cued (andattended) target and a second target, suggesting that aring of suppression surrounded the attended target.Attentional surround suppression was not observed in 8-to 11-years-olds, even with a longer spatial cuepresentation time, demonstrating that the lack of theeffect at these ages is not due to slowed attentionalfeedback processes. Our findings demonstrate that topdown attentional processes exhibit functional maturitybeginning around 12 years of age with continuingmaturation of their expression until 17, which likelyimpacts education and the diagnosis of visual andcognitive clinical pathologies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC BY-NC-ND