Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
December 2022
Attention helps us to be aware of the external world, and this may be especially important when a threat stimulus predicts an aversive outcome. Electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha-band suppression has long been considered as a neural signature of attentional engagement. The present study was designed to test whether attentional engagement, as indexed by alpha-band suppression, is increased in a sustained manner following a conditioned stimulus (CS) that is paired with an aversive (CS+) vs neutral (CS-) outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlpha-band (8-12 Hz) EEG activity has been linked to visual attention since the earliest EEG studies. More recent studies using spatial cuing paradigms have shown that alpha is suppressed over the hemisphere contralateral to a to-be-attended location, suggesting that alpha serves as a mechanism of preparatory attention. Here, we demonstrate that alpha also plays a role in active target processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychophysiology
April 2018
For more than 60 years, the gold standard for assessing aversive conditioning in humans has been the skin conductance response (SCR), which arises from the activation of the peripheral nervous system. Although the SCR has been proven useful, it has some properties that impact the kinds of questions it can be used to answer. In particular, the SCR is slow, reaching a peak 4-5 s after stimulus onset, and it decreases in amplitude after a few trials (habituation).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen the distance between a visual target and nearby flankers falls below a critical distance, target discrimination declines precipitously. This is called "crowding." Many researchers have proposed that selective attention plays a role in crowding.
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