When sustained attention impairs perception.

Sam Ling; Marisa Carrasco

doi:10.1038/nn1761

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When sustained attention impairs perception.

Sam Ling·Marisa Carrasco

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Abstract

Virtually all behavioral and neurophysiological studies have shown that sustained (endogenous, conceptually driven) attention enhances perception. But can this enhancement be held indefinitely? We assessed the time course of attention's effects on contrast sensitivity, reasoning that if attention does indeed boost stimulus strength, the strengthened representation could result in stronger adaptation over time. We found that attention initially enhances contrast sensitivity, but that over time sustained attention can actually impair sensitivity to an attended stimulus.

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Attention Contrast Sensitivity Cues Humans Photic Stimulation Psychophysics Reaction Time Sensory Thresholds Time Factors Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

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Sam Ling, Marisa Carrasco. 2006-09-10. When sustained attention impairs perception.. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1761

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