idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Grafik: idw-Logo

idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft

Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instance:
Share on: 
10/09/2012 12:39

Dual spotlights in the brain

Dr. Susanne Diederich Stabsstelle Kommunikation
Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH - Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung

    How we manage to attend to multiple objects without being distracted by irrelevant information

    The “tiki-taka”-style of the Spanish national football team is amazing to watch: Xavi passes to Andrès Iniesta, he just rebounds the ball once and it’s right at Xabi Alonso’s foot. The Spanish midfielders cross the field as if they run on rails, always maintaining attention on the ball and the teammates, the opponents chasing after them without a chance. An international team of scientists from the German Primate Center and McGill University in Canada, including Stefan Treue, head of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, has now uncovered how the human brain makes such excellence possible by dividing visual attention: The brain is capable of splitting its ‘attentional spotlight’ for an enhanced processing of multiple visual objects. (Neuron, doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.10.013)

    When we pay attention to an object, neurons responsible for this location in our field of view are more active then when they process unattended objects. But quite often we want to pay attention to multiple objects in different spatial positions, with interspersed irrelevant objects. Different theories have been proposed to account for this ability. One is, that the attentive focus is split spatially, excluding objects between the attentional spotlights. Another possibility is, that the attentional focus is zoomed out to cover all relevant objects, but including the interspersed irrelevant ones. A third possibility would be a single focus rapidly switching between the attended objects.

    Studying rhesus macaques
    In order to explain how such a complex ability is achieved, the neuroscientists measured the activity of individual neurons in areas of the brain involved in vision. They studied two rhesus macaques, which were trained in a visual attention task. The monkeys had learned to pay attention to two relevant objects on a screen, with an irrelevant object between them. The experiment showed, that the macaques’ neurons responded strongly to the two attended objects with only a weak response to the irrelevant stimulus in the middle. So the brain is able to spatially split visual attention and ignore the areas in between. “Our results show the enormous adaptiveness of the brain, which enables us to deal effectively with many different situations.

    This multi-tasking allows us to simultaneously attend multiple objects”, Stefan Treue says. Such a powerful ability of our attentive system is one precondition for humans to become perfect football-artists but also to safely navigate in everyday traffic.

    Original Publication
    Robert Niebergall, Paul S. Khayat, Stefan Treue, Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo (2011): Multifocal attention filters out targets from distractors within and beyond primate MT neurons receptive field boundaries. Neuron, Volume 72, Issue 6, 1067-1079, 22 December 2011. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.10.013

    Contact
    Prof. Dr. Stefan Treue
    Phone: +49 551 3851-117
    E-mail: treue@gwdg.de

    
Susanne Diederich (Press and Communications)
    Phone: +49 551 3851-359
    E-mail: sdiederich@dpz.eu

    Printable Images
    Printable images are provided by the DPZ’s communication department or may be downloaded on our webpage at: http://www.dpz.eu/index.php?id=9&L=1. In case of publication, please send a copy or a link as reference.

    Photo Capture
    The striker has to divide his attention: He has to attend to the goalkeeper, but also to player #3 who might block his shot. By splitting his ‘spotlight of attention’ he stays on top of the situation. To ensure that his information processing capacities are not overtaxed he is able to suppress the irrelevant information next to and between his two attentional foci. This provides him with all the necessary information in optimal quality and without distraction. This process is visualized in the picture through various degrees of blurriness. Image: Christian Kiel/ Fuchstrick GbR

    The German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen, Germany, conducts basic research on and with primates in the areas of infectious diseases, neurosciences and organismic biology. In addition, it operates four field stations abroad and is a competence and reference center for primate research. The DPZ is one of the 86 research and infrastructure institutions of the Leibnitz Association in Germany (http://www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de).


    More information:

    http://www.dpz.eu
    http://www.dpz.eu/akn


    Images

    The striker has to divide his attention: He has to attend to the goalkeeper, but also to player #3 who might block his shot. By splitting his ‘spotlight of attention’ he stays on top of the situation. To ensure that his information processing capacities are not overtaxed he is able to suppress the irrelevant information next to and between his two attentional foci. This provides him with all the necessary information in optimal quality and without distraction. This process is visualized in the picture through various degrees of blurriness.
    The striker has to divide his attention: He has to attend to the goalkeeper, but also to player #3 w ...
    Image: Christian Kiel/ Fuchstrick GbR
    None

    Prof. Dr. Stefan Treue, Director of the German Primate Center and Head of the Cognitive Neurosciences Laboratory
    Prof. Dr. Stefan Treue, Director of the German Primate Center and Head of the Cognitive Neuroscience ...
    Photo: Ingo Bulla / Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH
    None


    Criteria of this press release:
    Journalists, Scientists and scholars, Students
    Biology
    transregional, national
    Research results, Scientific Publications
    English


     

    Help

    Search / advanced search of the idw archives
    Combination of search terms

    You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.

    Brackets

    You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).

    Phrases

    Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.

    Selection criteria

    You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).

    If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).