A regression method for estimating performance in a rapid serial visual presentation target detection task

When two masked, to-be-attended targets are presented within approximately half a second of each other, performance on the second target (T2) suffers, relative to when the targets are presented further apart in time or when the first target (T1) can be ignored. This pattern of results is known as the attentional blink (AB). Typically, participants differ with respect to the magnitude of their AB and their overall target accuracy. Despite investigations as to what participant characteristics may influence AB performance (e.g., age, brain damage, or mood state), there has been no focused examination of whether individual differences in cognitive performance measures predict the magnitude of the AB or overall rapid serial visual presentation(RSVP) target accuracy. Our university studentparticipants performed single-target and dual-target RSVP tasks, as well as a selection of cognitive tasks that did not use RSVP presentations, with color, letter, digit, and object stimuli. Overall performance on each of the RSVP targets (T1, T2, and single target) was predicted by speeded manual and vocal identification times to isolated stimuli and by performance with other RSVP targets. However, the magnitude of the AB was predicted only by T1 accuracy, not by any other performance measures. The results suggest that individual differences in AB magnitude do not result from differences in effective RSVP target encoding and are not well explained by varied information-processing abilities.

Detecting a target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream is more attentionally demanding than rejecting a distractor. However, background scenes coinciding with RSVP targets are better remembered than those coinciding with RSVP distractors, a paradoxical finding known as the attentional boost effect. But does the effect originate from the detection of the RSVP target or from the need to respond to it? To dissociate target detection from response, we investigated the attentional boost effect using a visual search task. Participants searched for a target among distractors while memorizing concurrently presented background objects. The search target could be present or absent. In different experiments, participants pressed a button on target-present trials only, target-absent trials only, or made a two-choice present/absent response. Results showed that objects paired with a Go response were better remembered than objects paired with a No-Go response, regardless of whether responses were associated with target-present or target-absent trials. This finding was replicated in experiments that required covert counting rather than an immediate button press response. These findings are the first to extend the attentional boost effect to visual search and demonstrate that the need to respond, not the detection of a search target, drives the effect for concurrently presented stimuli. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

This thesis explores the subjective experience of targets in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), an experimental paradigm where visual stimuli are displayed in rapid succession. In RSVP, items appear on the screen so briefly that not every item in the stream can be encoded reliably. Thus, it allows observation of conscious experience at the fringe of perception. The Attentional Blink (AB) - an effect in which an RSVP target is likely to be missed if it follows a fully processed first target - has been used in order to manipulate the accuracy of item identification by varying the target separation and presentation speed. The main focus of studies using RSVP presentation to make inferences about conscious perception has been the question of whether conscious perception is all-or-none or gradual. We initially present some thoughts on the suitability of the AB paradigm for answering this question. Not much is known about the effect of different variables in the paradigm on subjective experience, and it is possible that AB mechanisms affect experience quite differently from other paradigms, limiting the generalisability of findings derived from work within the AB paradigm. Based on this, we follow two lines of evidence: First, we explore the possibility of finding gradations in subjective visibility of targets measured on ratings scales and in the response of the electroencephalogram using a simple single target RSVP. Second, we investigate the effect of target separation and perceived order on this subjective experience in the AB paradigm. Our results indicate that items in single-target RSVP can be perceived in a graded manner, with possible indications of a non-linear jump in brain activity between not-seen and seen items. Regarding subjective experience when separation of two targets is varied, we find a disconnect between accuracy and visibility of the second target when in close proximity to the first, showing relatively low subjective experience considering the high report accuracy. Target separation also affects the number of order confusions, which we find to reduce target visibility under specific conditions. These results add to our understanding of how targets are perceived in RSVP and have implications for research into conscious perception.

Increasing evidence has shown that summary visual statistics, such as the mean size or centroid of locations, can be perceived without focal attention. Here, we tested the role of attention in visual category learning - rapid learning of visual similarities among paintings of the same artist. Participants encoded paintings from two famous artists into memory while simultaneously monitoring a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream of colored squares, pressing the spacebar for target colors and making no response to distractor colors. Paintings encoded with the RSVP targets were better remembered than those encoded with the RSVP distractors, demonstrating an Attentional Boost Effect. Importantly, pairing one artist's paintings with the RSVP targets led to better visual category learning - participants were more accurate at recognizing novel paintings from this artist, relative to another artist whose paintings were presented with the RSVP distractors. Thus, visual category learning is subjected to the same constraint of attention as exemplar memory, demonstrating common mechanisms for exemplar and category learning.

Recent findings have suggested that transient attention can be triggered at two locations simultaneously. However, it is unclear whether doing so reduces the effect of attention at each attended location. In two experiments, we explored the consequences of dividing attention. In the first experiment, we compared the effects of one or two cues against an uncued baseline to determine the consequences of dividing attention in a paradigm with four rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams. The results indicated that two simultaneous cues increase the accuracy of reporting two targets by almost the same amount as a single cue increases the report of a single target. These results suggest that when attention is divided between multiple locations, the attentional benefit at each location is not reduced in proportion to the total number of cues. A consequent prediction of this finding is that the identification of two RSVP targets should be better when they are presented simultaneously rather than sequentially. In a second experiment, we verified this prediction by finding evidence of lag-0 sparing: Two targets presented simultaneously in different locations were reported more easily than two targets separated by 100 ms. These findings argue against a biased-competition theory of attention. We suggest that visual attention, as triggered by a cue or target, is better described by a convergent gradient-field attention model.

Large-scale brain networks account for sustained and transient activity during target detection

When old/new recognition memory is tested with equal numbers of studied and nonstudied items and no rewards or instructions that favour one response over the other, there is no obvious reason for response bias. In line with this, Canadian undergraduates have shown, on average, a neutral response bias when we tested them on recognition of common English words. By contrast, most subjects we have tested on recognition of richly detailed images have shown a conservative bias: they more often erred by missing a studied image than by judging a nonstudied image as studied. Here, in an effort to better understand these materials-based bias effects (MBBEs), we examined changes in hit and false alarm (FA) rates (and in sensitivity and bias) from the first to fourth quartile of a recognition memory test in eight experiments in which undergraduates studied words and/or images of paintings. Response bias for images tended to increase across quartiles, whereas bias for words showed no consistent pattern across quartiles. This pattern could be described as an increase in the MBBE over the course of the test, but the underlying patterns for hits and FAs are not easily reconciled with this interpretation. Hit rates decreased over the course of the test for both materials types, with that decline tending to be steeper for images than words. For words, FA rates tended to increase across quartiles, whereas for paintings FA rates did not increase across quartiles. We discuss implications of these findings for theoretical accounts of the MBBE.

We developed and tested the Bayesian multiple comparison correction method for Bayesian voxelwise second-level fMRI analysis with R. The performance of the developed method was tested with simulation and real image datasets. First, we compared false alarm and hit rates, which were used as proxies for selectivity and sensitivity, respectively, between Bayesian and classical inference methods. For the comparison, we created simulated images, added noise to the created images, and analyzed the noise-added images while applying Bayesian and classical multiple comparison correction methods. Second, we analyzed five real image datasets to examine how our Bayesian method worked in realistic settings. When the performance assessment was conducted, the Bayesian correction method demonstrated good sensitivity (hit rate ≥ 75%) and acceptable selectivity (false alarm rate < 10%) when N ≥ 8. Furthermore, the Bayesian correction method showed better sensitivity compared with the classical correction method while maintaining the aforementioned acceptable selectivity.

RationaleDopaminergic dysfunction is implicated in disorders of impulsivity and inattention. The rodent continuous performance test (rCPT) has been used to quantify changes in attention and impulsivity.ObjectiveTo examine the roles of dopamine receptors in attention and impulsivity behaviours measured in the rCPT variable stimulus duration (vSD) and the variable intertrial interval schedules (vITI) using DA receptor antagonists.MethodsTwo cohorts of 35 and 36 female C57BL/6JRj mice were examined separately in the rCPT, vSD, and vITI schedules, respectively. Both cohorts received antagonists of the following receptors: D1/5 (SCH23390, SCH: 0.01, 0.02, 0.04 mg/kg) and D2/3 (raclopride, RAC 0.03, 0.10, 0.30 mg/kg) in consecutive balanced Latin square designs with flanking reference measurements. The antagonists were subsequently examined for effects on locomotor activity.ResultsSCH showed similar effects in both schedules, and the effects were reference-dependent in the vITI schedule. SCH reduced responding, but improved response accuracy, impulsivity, discriminability, and locomotor activity. RAC showed mixed effects on responsivity, but improved accuracy and discriminability. The discriminability improvement was driven by an increase in hit rate in the vITI schedule and a reduction in false alarm rate in the vSD schedule. RAC also decreased locomotor activity.ConclusionBoth D1/5 and D2/3 receptor antagonism reduced responding, but the outcome on discriminability differed, stemming from individual effects on hit and false alarm rate, and the weight of omissions within the calculation. The effects of SCH and RAC suggest that endogenous DA increases responding and impulsivity, but reduces accuracy and shows mixed effects on discriminability.

: Fifteen subjects performed in a visual target detection task that took place in a simulated broad-band, sonar monitoring display. Over a one-hour test session, subjects attempted to detect two types of targets presented at an average rate of 3/minute on a continuously updated waterfall display. Event- related brain potentials were recorded in response to the two classes of targets (growing lines of lighted pixels that simulated an acoustic source in the surroundings and briefly flashed vertical lines) as well as to two types of irrelevant 'probe' stimuli (occasional tone pips and diffuse flashes of the video screen). ERP amplitudes were significantly related to target detection performance in several ways. A late positive component (P300) was enlarged in response to correctly detected targets, particularly in subjects who were performing with a high level of accuracy. Specific ERP components elicited by both targets and irrelevant probes during the first 6 minutes of the session were found to be predictive of subsequent performance accuracy during the hour- long session in subjects studied under alert and drowsy conditions. These findings suggest the application of ERP measures to evaluate fitness for duty of operators in task situations requiring a high level of vigilance, such as radar and sonar operators, air traffic controllers, etc

The mirror effect, the finding that a manipulation which increases the hit rate in recognition tests also decreases the false alarm rate, is held to be a regularity of memory. Neath et al. (in press) took advantage of the recent increase in the number of linguistic databases to create sets of stimuli that differed on one dimension but were more fully equated on other dimensions known to affect memory. Using these highly controlled stimulus sets, no mirror effects were observed; in contrast, using stimulus sets that had confounds resulted in mirror effects. In this article, we use their stimulus sets to examine associative recognition. Using confounded stimuli, Experiment 2 found a lower false alarm rate for high- compared to low-frequency words, replicating previous results, and Experiment 4 found a mirror effect when manipulating concreteness, also replicating previous results. Using highly controlled stimuli, Experiment 1 found no evidence that frequency affected associative recognition, and Experiment 3 found concreteness affected only the hit rate, not the false alarm rate. When highly controlled stimuli are used, frequency affects only the false alarm rate in item recognition and has no effect in associative recognition, whereas concreteness affects hit rates in both item and associative recognition. Implications for theoretical accounts are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

We studied the effects of the acoustic context on active and passive discrimination of moving sound signals. Different contexts were created by reversing the role of standard and deviant stimuli in the oddball blocks, while their acoustical features were kept the same. Three types of sounds were used as standard or deviant stimuli in different blocks: stationary midline noises and two (smooth and abrupt) moving sounds moving to the left or right of the midline. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during passive listening (the sound stimulation ignored), and mismatch negativity potentials (MMNs) were obtained. Active discrimination of sound movements was measured by the hit rate (percent correct responses) and false alarm rate, as well as the reaction time. The influence of the stimulus context on active and passive discrimination of the moving sound stimuli was reflected in the phenomenon known as the effect of deviance direction. The hit rate and MMN amplitude were higher when the deviant moved faster than the standard. The MMN amplitude was more responsive to the velocity of sound stimuli than the hit rate and false alarm rate. The psychophysical measurements in the reversed contexts suggest that smooth and abrupt sound movements may belong to the same perceptual category (moving sounds), while the stationary stimuli form another perceptual category.

The development of tools for automated analysis of data collected for mine countermeasures (MCM) search, classify and map (SCM) has predominantly focused on automated target recognition for individual mines. As MCM target detection becomes more automated, detecting spatial patterns in the positioning of mines should follow. Natural restrictions on mine deployment such as depth and bottom contour as well as mine deployment methodology and protocol effectively create mine line patterns that are typical to coastal areas. We have developed a mine line detection algorithm that uses nonparametric spatial analysis to identify mine-like contacts (MLCs) that fit into mine line patterns dictated by standard mine laying protocol in coastal regions. In general, a set of MLCs reported from a mine detection sensor will consist of both actual mines and false alarms; the algorithm classifies every MLC in this set into one of three classes: fixed — the MLCψfits into a mine line pattern with fixed mine spacing; random -the MLCψfits into a mine line pattern with random mine spacing; or false alarm-ψ-the MLCψdoes not fit into a mine line pattern and is subsequently not considered a mine. The latest version of the algorithm utilizes nonparametric techniques and requires no knowledge of either the detection sensor's probability of detection (P d ) or probability of false alarm (P fa ). A nonparametric anomaly detector first identifies regions with unusually high MLC density for more detailed analysis. Suspected regions are subsequently analyzed for unusually regular patterns of MLCs. The probabilities that the observed target densities and target patterns could occur simply by chance are estimated by comparison with results from nearby areas using basic information about mine deployment. To ensure that a mine line's full extent is captured, the algorithm attempts to grow a line after it is detected. And a more detailed probability analysis distinguishes random mine lines from fixed-spaced mine lines. Extensive Matlab simulations characterize the algorithm's performance across a wide range of operating environments and simulated minefield configurations. In total, ten replications each of 1,367 different configurations have been evaluated. These configurations include three different water depths (10 ft., 6 ft. and 200 ft.), six false notional alarm rates (1, 2,5,10,15 and 20 false alarms per sq. NM), three false alarm distributions (uniform, sloped, and striped), three sensor probabilities of detections (0.4, 0.6 and 0.9), three target confidence scores (0.6,0.8 and 1.0) and four false alarm confidence scores (0.5, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0). The range of simulation parameters was selected in part as an attempt to push the algorithm past its acceptable performance limits. However, the algorithm performed remarkably well even under the worst conditions. For MLC sets with false alarm rates as high as 20 per square nautical mile, the algorithm correctly classifies over 98% of the MLCs as mines and detects 97% of the mine lines. Furthermore, it reduces the false alarm rate from 20 to 0.2 per square nautical mile with a false mine line rate of 0.14 false lines per square nautical mile. The algorithm achieves even lower false alarm rates when the initial false alarm rate is less than 20. The automated mine line detection discovers many obscure lines that are virtually undetectable to the naked eye.

This study investigated the effect of variable interstimulus intervals (ISIs) on behavioral reaction time (RT) and on the latency and amplitude of the auditory P300 using an auditory continuous performance task (ACPT) paradigm. Twenty subjects were instructed to respond to common stimuli and ignore a rare stimulus. Common stimuli were 1000-, 1500-, and 2000-Hz pure tones. The rare stimulus was a 250-Hz pure tone. ISIs of 1, 2, and 4 seconds were used for this investigation. A significant correlation between ISI, reaction time, P300 latency, correct rejections, and false alarm rates was found. A significant correlation between P300 latency, P300 amplitude, correct rejections, and false alarm rates was also observed. Likewise, a statistically significant increase in reaction time (RT) was observed as ISI increased. The ACPT paradigm in conjunction with the auditory P300 response can measure both behavioral and electrophysiologic changes that occur during active auditory attention and auditory cognitive processing tasks.

Electroencephalography (EEG)-based Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) has steadily gained attention since 2015 as a paradigm to enhance image target detection in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) used with healthy individuals. We reviewed the literature using Scopus and Web of Science as primary databases, covering publications from 2015 to 2024. After literature screening and filtering, a total of 86 papers on RSVP-BCI studies were analyzed over this decade-long period. The research categorizes RSVP into three dimensions: public datasets, paradigm encoding, and decoding methods, while exploring eight mode combinations involving target types, subject groups, and different modalities. Our literature search revealed a scarcity of studies addressing diverse target types across different subject groups or modality combinations, indicating a promising direction for future RSVP-BCI development. Future efforts should prioritize inclusivity across all age groups, the design of user-friendly stimulus interfaces, and the development of advanced algorithms, with the goal of creating a more widely accessible RSVP-BCI system. We have provided a comprehensive review of advances over the past decade in RSVP-based target detection, including datasets, encoding design, decoding methods and potential applications. The present work aims to articulate prospective trajectories for the continued advancement of the RSVP community.