The Neuropyhsiology of Attentional Deployment

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

A critical skill for everyday life is the ability to selectively attend to "relevant" elements of our environment while ignoring irrelevant or distracting information. Two basic neural mechanisms for this selectivity have been proposed. It may be that the excitability in those neurons responsible for processing stimuli of interest is selectively enhanced. Alternatively, excitability in neurons receiving inputs irrelevant to the task at hand may be suppressed. Although it is often assumed that both mechanisms play a part in spatial attention, few studies have made directed attempts to separate them. Fewer still have employed high-density electrical mapping (EEG) for this purpose, mainly due to a lack of reliable dependent measures. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. John Foxe of City College, City University of New York, will begin to sort these explanations out. Recently it has been shown that brain rhythms in the 8-14 Hz alpha frequency band are involved in selective suppression of potentially distracting visual. Using a set of novel electrophysiological tools, Foxe and colleagues will assess: 1) the relationship of anticipatory attentional suppression processes to the degree of attentional-load, as indexed by alpha-band oscillations, 2) whether inducing these oscillatory rhythms in the alpha band from the outside can reproduce the effects on selective spatial attention, and 3) the spatial flexibility of the anticipatory alpha-based suppression effect. The development of new procedures for the analysis of visual function will be of broad utility in the field of cognitive neurophysiology. Better understanding of the fundamentals of anticipatory attention will allow us to develop better predictive measures, ultimately leading to improvements in assistive technology for individuals with sensory/motor deprivation. The City College of New York (CCNY), where this project will be carried out, draws its students from a highly diverse population. In a recent census of the undergraduate population at CCNY, more than 90% of declared psychology majors were from traditionally under-represented minority groups. CCNY is the nation's fourth largest source of undergraduates who go on to earn the PhD degree, a large proportion of whom are minorities. Through a summer rotation program and a dedicated program in the CCNY honors college, undergraduate students will be a regular fixture in this group's laboratory and will have extensive opportunities for training in high-level neuroscience techniques.