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Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Journal of Vision, 12(15), p. 985

DOI: 10.1167/15.12.985

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Response mapping interacts with perceptual thresholds and stimulus processing speed

Journal article published in 2015 by Nir Shalev, Glyn Humphreys, Nele Demeyere ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Traditionally, response selection is considered to reflect a separate stage of processing to visual perception. An alternative view proposes action and perception to be closely linked; however the processing stage where any cross-modal interaction would then occur remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the influence of response-mapping on a simple classification task. We presented an array of eight frames arranged in a square around a fixation point, followed by a brief presentation of an arrow in one of them (varying SOAs of 10,30,50,80 and 100ms masked). The arrow could appear in a congruent, incongruent or a neutral location with respect to its direction. Participants indicated the direction of the arrow using a response-box organized in a corresponding configuration: eight response-buttons, arranged in a square; an arrow appeared on each button. In Exp 1, the directions of the buttons matched their locations (e.g., arrow pointing right appearing on the right side); In Exp 2, the arrows and the locations were mismatched (arrow appearing on the left side, pointing right). Subsequently we manipulated the response-mapping between the locations and directions of the arrows. We changed the task to respond to locations instead of direction, in a single (Exp 3) and a dual task (Exp 5); and replicated our original experiment with different exposure times (Exp 4). In our first experiment, we observed a robust congruency effect on accuracy for arrows appearing in their matching locations. Crucially, in our following experiments, we managed to invert and manipulate this effect by changing the motor-response mapping. Using mathematical modelling according to the Theory of Visual Attention, we demonstrate that motor-mapping modulates two low-level processes independently: perceptual threshold and stimulus processing speed. We discuss the implications of multi-modal integration within a general framework of attention as a proactive cognitive function, which predicts and formulates visual percepts. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.