JRG/1: The Architecture of Attentional Processes in Active Vision


Head and eye movements shape our perception of the visual world. With no apparent effort, they bring relevant events and objects into view and select relevant data from a rich visual environment. Swift movements of our eyes and heads (saccades), however, also entail appreciable costs. Objects that have fixed places in the world rapidly slip across the retina several times per second. We will use a combination of motion-tracking, visual psychophysics, and computational modelling to investigate the role of attention in visual perception before natural eye-head gaze shifts, and reveal their significance for transsaccadic continuity. Studies in which head movements were minimized have shown that spatial attention shifts to the targets of saccades, and that the retinocentric distribution of attention is updated just before the saccade, to continuously cover the relevant locations in space. Natural eye-head gaze shifts have not yet been examined and the role of feature-based attention remains unspecified. This research program will complete the picture of the attentional basis of active vision. Our aims are to (1) understand the dynamics of spatial attention before unconstrained eye-head gaze shifts, (2) characterize feature-based attention before gaze shifts, (3) isolate the respective roles of spatial and feature-based attention in perceptual and behavioural continuity across gaze shifts, and (4) present a quantitative theoretical model that accounts for the established attentional processes at the systems level.


Principal investigators
Rolfs, Martin Dr. (Details) (Junior Research Groups)

Participating external organisations

Financer
DFG: Nachwuchsgruppe

Duration of project
Start date: 10/2012
End date: 03/2016

Research Areas
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology, Life Sciences, Neurosciences, Systemic Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, Behaviour

Research Areas
Visuelle Wahrnehmung

Publications
Schweitzer, R. & Rolfs, M. (2019). An adaptive algorithm for fast and reliable online saccade detection. Behavior Research Methods, in press. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01304-3

Schweitzer, R., Watson, T.L., Watson, J., & Rolfs, M. (2019). The joy of retinal painting: A build-it-yourself device for intrasaccadic presentations. Perception, 48, 1020-1025. https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619867868

Cassanello, C. R., Ostendorf, F., & Rolfs, M. (2019). A generative learning model for saccade adaptation. PLoS Computational Biology, 15(8), e1006695. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006695

Kwon, S., Rolfs, M., Mitchel, J. F. (2019). Pre-saccadic motion integration drives a predictive post-saccadic following response. Journal of Vision, 19(11):12, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1167/19.11.12

Rolfs, M., Murray-Smith, N., & Carrasco, M. (2018). Perceptual learning while preparing saccades. Vision Research, 152, 126-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2017.11.009

van Heusden, E., Rolfs, M., Cavanagh, P., & Hoogendorn, H. (2018). Motion extrapolation for eye movements predicts perceived motion-induced position shifts. Journal of Neuroscience, 38, 8243-8250. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0736-18.2018

Balsdon, T., Schweitzer, R., Watson, T. L., & Rolfs, M. (2018). All is not lost: Post-saccadic contributions to the perceptual omission of intra-saccadic streaks. Consciousness and Cognition, 64, 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.05.004

Ohl, S., Kuper, C., & Rolfs, M. (2017). Selective enhancement of orientation tuning before saccades. Journal of Vision, 17(13):2, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1167/17.13.2

Kalogeropoulou, Z. & Rolfs, M. (2017). Saccadic eye movements do not disrupt the deployment of feature-based attention. Journal of Vision, 17(8):4, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1167/17.8.4

Ohl, S. & Rolfs, M. (2017). Saccadic eye movements impose a natural bottleneck on visual short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 43, 736-748. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000338

Thakkar, K. N., Diwadkar, V. A., & Rolfs, M. (2017). Oculomotor prediction: a window into the psychotic mind . Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21, 344-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.02.001

Kalogeropoulou, Z., Jagadeesh, A.V., Ohl, S., & Rolfs, M. (2017). Setting and changing feature priorities in Visual Short-Term Memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24, 453-458. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1094-6

Rolfs, M. & Szinte, M. (2016). Remapping attention pointers: Linking physiology and behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 399-401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.04.003

White, A. & Rolfs, M. (2016). Oculomotor inhibition covaries with conscious detection. Journal of Neurophysiology, 116, 1507-1521. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00268.2016

Cassanello, C.R., Ohl, S., & Rolfs, M. (2016). Saccadic adaptation to a systematically varying disturbance. Journal of Neurophysiology, 116, 336-350. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00206.2016

Szinte, M., Jonikaitis, D., Rolfs, M., Cavanagh, P., & Deubel, H (2016). Presaccadic motion integration between current and future retinal locations of attended objects. Journal of Neurophysiology, 116, 1592-1602. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00171.2016

White, A.L., Rolfs, M., & Carrasco, M. (2015). Stimulus competition mediates the joint effects of spatial and feature-based attention. Journal of Vision, 15(14):7, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1167/15.14.7

Rolfs, M. (2015). Attention in active vision: A perspective on perceptual continuity across saccades. Perception, 44, 900-919. https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006615594965

Rösler, M., Rolfs, M., van der Stigchel, S., Neggers, S. F. W., Cahn, W., Kahn, R. S., & Thakkar, K. N.(2015). Failure to use corollary discharge to remap visual target locations is associated with psychotic symptom severity in schizophrenia. Journal of Neurophysiology, 114:1129-1136. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00155.2015

Szinte, M., Carrasco, M., Cavanagh, P., & Rolfs, M. (2015). Attentional tradeoffs maintain the tracking of moving objects across saccades. Journal of Neurophysiology, 113, 2220-2231. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00966.2014

Rolfs, M., Lawrence, B., & Carrasco, M. (2013). Reach preparation enhances visual performance and appearance. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368, 20130057. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0057

Rolfs, M., Dambacher, M., & Cavanagh, P. (2013). Visual adaptation of the perception of causality. Current Biology, 23, 250-254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.017

Last updated on 2022-08-09 at 19:07