{"title":"Modulation of alerting and orienting attention on spatial suppression","authors":"Yu-Wan Zhao , Jing-Wen Xiang , Yong-Chun Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.visres.2025.108676","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spatial suppression is a phenomenon in which, for high-contrast stimuli, larger stimuli typically elicit weaker neural responses and produce worse perceptual performance compared to smaller stimuli. This phenomenon is thought to arise from inhibitory connections between neurons. Although recent studies have suggested that feedback connections from high areas can influence these inhibitory processes, implying that attention may modulate spatial suppression, direct evidence for such modulation remains scarce. In particular, the impact of an important component of attention, alerting, has been overlooked. The present study aimed to explore the effects of two distinct components of attention—alerting and orienting—on spatial suppression. Our results indicate that alerting enhances spatial suppression. Furthermore, upon isolating the influence of orienting after controlling for alerting levels, we discovered that the influence of orienting on spatial suppression is feature-dependent. Specifically, while orienting attention to orientation enhances spatial suppression, orienting to contrast does not elicit the same effect. Our results indicate that spatial suppression is a flexible processing mechanism subject to widespread high-level cognitive modulations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23670,"journal":{"name":"Vision Research","volume":"236 ","pages":"Article 108676"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Vision Research","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698925001373","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Spatial suppression is a phenomenon in which, for high-contrast stimuli, larger stimuli typically elicit weaker neural responses and produce worse perceptual performance compared to smaller stimuli. This phenomenon is thought to arise from inhibitory connections between neurons. Although recent studies have suggested that feedback connections from high areas can influence these inhibitory processes, implying that attention may modulate spatial suppression, direct evidence for such modulation remains scarce. In particular, the impact of an important component of attention, alerting, has been overlooked. The present study aimed to explore the effects of two distinct components of attention—alerting and orienting—on spatial suppression. Our results indicate that alerting enhances spatial suppression. Furthermore, upon isolating the influence of orienting after controlling for alerting levels, we discovered that the influence of orienting on spatial suppression is feature-dependent. Specifically, while orienting attention to orientation enhances spatial suppression, orienting to contrast does not elicit the same effect. Our results indicate that spatial suppression is a flexible processing mechanism subject to widespread high-level cognitive modulations.
期刊介绍:
Vision Research is a journal devoted to the functional aspects of human, vertebrate and invertebrate vision and publishes experimental and observational studies, reviews, and theoretical and computational analyses. Vision Research also publishes clinical studies relevant to normal visual function and basic research relevant to visual dysfunction or its clinical investigation. Functional aspects of vision is interpreted broadly, ranging from molecular and cellular function to perception and behavior. Detailed descriptions are encouraged but enough introductory background should be included for non-specialists. Theoretical and computational papers should give a sense of order to the facts or point to new verifiable observations. Papers dealing with questions in the history of vision science should stress the development of ideas in the field.