@article{MyachykovCangelosiEllisetal.2015, author = {Myachykov, Andriy and Cangelosi, Angelo and Ellis, Rob and Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {The oculomotor resonance effect in spatial-numerical mapping}, series = {Acta psychologica : international journal of psychonomics}, volume = {161}, journal = {Acta psychologica : international journal of psychonomics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0001-6918}, doi = {10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.09.006}, pages = {162 -- 169}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We investigated automatic Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect in auditory number processing. Two experiments continually measured spatial characteristics of ocular drift at central fixation during and after auditory number presentation. Consistent with the notion of a spatially oriented mental number line, we found spontaneous magnitude-dependent gaze adjustments, both with and without a concurrent saccadic task. This fixation adjustment (1) had a small-number/left-lateralized bias and (2) it was biphasic as it emerged for a short time around the point of lexical access and it received later robust representation around following number onset. This pattern suggests a two-step mechanism of sensorimotor mapping between numbers and space a first-pass bottom-up activation followed by a top-down and more robust horizontal SNARC Our results inform theories of number processing as well as simulation-based approaches to cognition by identifying the characteristics of an oculomotor resonance phenomenon. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{TsengLaubrockBateman2021, author = {Tseng, Chiao-I and Laubrock, Jochen and Bateman, John A.}, title = {The impact of multimodal cohesion on attention and interpretation in film}, series = {Discourse, context \& media}, volume = {44}, journal = {Discourse, context \& media}, publisher = {Amsterdam [u.a.]}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {2211-6958}, doi = {10.1016/j.dcm.2021.100544}, pages = {15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This article presents results of an exploratory investigation combining multimodal cohesion analysis and eye-tracking studies. Multimodal cohesion, as a tool of multimodal discourse analysis, goes beyond lin-guistic cohesive mechanisms to enable the construction of cross-modal discourse structures that system-atically relate technical details of audio, visual and verbal modalities. Patterns of multimodal cohesion from these discourse structures were used to design eye-tracking experiments and questionnaires in order to empirically investigate how auditory and visual cohesive cues affect attention and comprehen-sion. We argue that the cross-modal structures of cohesion revealed by our method offer a strong methodology for addressing empirical questions concerning viewers' comprehension of narrative settings and the comparative salience of visual, verbal and audio cues. Analyses are presented of the beginning of Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) and a sketch from Monty Python filmed in 1971. Our approach balances the narrative-based issue of how narrative elements in film guide meaning interpretation and the recipient -based question of where a film viewer's attention is directed during viewing and how this affects comprehension.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Rolfs2007, author = {Rolfs, Martin}, title = {In-between fixation and movement : on the generation of microsaccades and what they convey about saccade generation}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-14581}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, year = {2007}, abstract = {Microsaccades are an important component of the small eye movements that constitute fixation, the basis of visual perception. The specific function of microsaccades has been a long-standing research problem. Only recently, conclusive evidence emerged, showing that microsaccades aid both visual perception and oculomotor control. The main goal of this thesis was to improve our understanding of the implementation of microsaccade generation within the circuitry of saccade control, an unsolved issue in oculomotor research. We make a case for a model according to which microsaccades and saccades result from mutually dependent motor plans, competing for expression. The model consists of an activation field, coding for fixation at its center and for saccades at peripheral locations; saccade amplitude increases with eccentricity. Activity during fixation spreads to slightly peripheral locations in the field and, thus, may result in the generation of microsaccades. Inhibition of remote and excitation of neighbouring locations govern the dynamics of the field, resulting in a strong competition between fixation and saccade generation. We propose that this common-field model of microsaccade and saccade generation finds a neurophysiological counterpart in the motor map of the superior colliculus (SC), a key brainstem structure involved in the generation of saccades. In a series of five behavioral experiments, we tested implications of the model. Predictions were derived concerning (1) the behavior of microsaccades in a given task (microsaccade rate, amplitude, and direction), (2) the interactions of microsaccades and subsequent saccades, and (3) the relationship between microsaccadic behavior and neurophysiological processes at the level of the SC. The results yielded strong support for the model at all three levels of analysis, suggesting that microsaccade statistics are indicative of the state of the fixation-related part of the SC motor map.}, language = {en} } @article{KadukElsnerReid2013, author = {Kaduk, Katharina and Elsner, Birgit and Reid, Vincent M.}, title = {Discrimination of animate and inanimate motion in 9-month-old infants - An ERP study}, series = {Developmental cognitive neuroscience : a journal for cognitive, affective and social developmental neuroscience}, volume = {6}, journal = {Developmental cognitive neuroscience : a journal for cognitive, affective and social developmental neuroscience}, number = {5}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1878-9293}, doi = {10.1016/j.dcn.2013.05.003}, pages = {14 -- 22}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Simple geometric shapes moving in a self-propelled manner, and violating Newtonian laws of motion by acting against gravitational forces tend to induce a judgement that an object is animate. Objects that change their motion only due to external causes are more likely judged as inanimate. How the developing brain is employed in the perception of animacy in early ontogeny is currently unknown. The aim of this study was to use ERP techniques to determine if the negative central component (Nc), a waveform related to attention allocation, was differentially affected when an infant observed animate or inanimate motion. Short animated movies comprising a marble moving along a marble run either in an animate or an inanimate manner were presented to 15 infants who were 9 months of age. The ERPs were time-locked to a still frame representing animate or inanimate motion that was displayed following each movie. We found that 9-month-olds are able to discriminate between animate and inanimate motion based on motion cues alone and most likely allocate more attentional resources to the inanimate motion. The present data contribute to our understanding of the animate-inanimate distinction and the Nc as a correlate of infant cognitive processing.}, language = {en} } @article{LangeStarzynskiEngbert2012, author = {Lange, Elke B. and Starzynski, Christian and Engbert, Ralf}, title = {Capture of the gaze does not capture the mind}, series = {Attention, perception, \& psychophysics : AP\&P ; a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.}, volume = {74}, journal = {Attention, perception, \& psychophysics : AP\&P ; a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.}, number = {6}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1943-3921}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-012-0318-8}, pages = {1168 -- 1182}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Sudden visual changes attract our gaze, and related eye movement control requires attentional resources. Attention is a limited resource that is also involved in working memory-for instance, memory encoding. As a consequence, theory suggests that gaze capture could impair the buildup of memory respresentations due to an attentional resource bottleneck. Here we developed an experimental design combining a serial memory task (verbal or spatial) and concurrent gaze capture by a distractor (of high or low similarity to the relevant item). The results cannot be explained by a general resource bottleneck. Specifically, we observed that capture by the low-similar distractor resulted in delayed and reduced saccade rates to relevant items in both memory tasks. However, while spatial memory performance decreased, verbal memory remained unaffected. In contrast, the high-similar distractor led to capture and memory loss for both tasks. Our results lend support to the view that gaze capture leads to activation of irrelevant representations in working memory that compete for selection at recall. Activation of irrelevant spatial representations distracts spatial recall, whereas activation of irrelevant verbal features impairs verbal memory performance.}, language = {en} } @article{MichałowskiWiwatowskaWeymar2020, author = {Michałowski, Jarosław M. and Wiwatowska, Ewa and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {Brain potentials reveal reduced attention and error-processing during a monetary Go/No-Go task in procrastination}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {10}, journal = {Scientific reports}, number = {1}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-020-75311-2}, pages = {12}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Procrastination is a self-regulatory problem of voluntarily and destructively delaying intended and necessary or personally important tasks. Previous studies showed that procrastination is associated with executive dysfunctions that seem to be particularly strong in punishing contexts. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study a monetary version of the parametric Go/No-Go task was performed by high and low academic procrastinators to verify the influence of motivational context (reward vs. punishment expectation) and task difficulty (easy vs. hard) on procrastination-related executive dysfunctions. The results revealed increased post-error slowing along with reduced P300 and error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes in high (vs. low) procrastination participants-effects that indicate impaired attention and error-related processing in this group. This pattern of results did not differ as a function of task difficulty and motivation condition. However, when the task got more difficult executive attention deficits became even more apparent at the behavioral level in high procrastinators, as indexed by increased reaction time variability. The findings substantiate prior preliminary evidence that procrastinators show difficulties in certain aspects of executive functioning (in attention and error processing) during execution of task-relevant behavior, which may be more apparent in highly demanding situations.}, language = {en} } @article{D'AscenzoLugliNicolettietal.2020, author = {D'Ascenzo, Stefania and Lugli, Luisa and Nicoletti, Roberto and Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {Assessing orienting of attention to understand the time course of mental calculation}, series = {Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science}, volume = {21}, journal = {Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science}, number = {4}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg ; Berlin}, issn = {1612-4782}, doi = {10.1007/s10339-020-00970-y}, pages = {493 -- 500}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Number processing induces spatial attention shifts to the left or right side for small or large numbers, respectively. This spatial-numerical association (SNA) extends to mental calculation, such that subtractions and additions induce left or right biases, respectively. However, the time course of activating SNAs during mental calculation is unclear. Here, we addressed this issue by measuring visual position discrimination during auditory calculation. Thirty-four healthy adults listened in each trial to five successive elements of arithmetic facts (first operand, operator, second operand, equal and result) and verbally classified their correctness. After each element (except for the result), a fixation dot moved equally often to either the left or right side and participants pressed left or right buttons to discriminate its movement direction (four times per trial). First and second operand magnitude (small/large), operation (addition/subtraction), result correctness (right/wrong) and movement direction (left/right) were balanced across 128 trials. Manual reaction times of dot movement discriminations were considered in relation to previous arithmetic elements. We found no evidence of early attentional shifts after first operand and operator presentation. Discrimination performance was modulated consistent with SNAs after the second operand, suggesting that attentional shifts occur once there is access to all elements necessary to complete an arithmetic operation. Such late-occurring attention shifts may reflect a combination of multiple element-specific biases and confirm their functional role in mental calculation.}, language = {en} }