Jane E. Raymond

Bio: Jane E. Raymond is an academic researcher from University of Birmingham. The author has contributed to research in topics: Motion perception & Visual search. The author has an hindex of 39, co-authored 88 publications receiving 7005 citations. Previous affiliations of Jane E. Raymond include University of Wales & Bangor University.

Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: an attentional blink? .

Abstract: Through rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), we asked Ss to identify a partially specified letter (target) and then to detect the presence or absence of a fully specified letter (probe). Whereas targets are accurately identified, probes are poorly detected when they are presented during a 270-ms interval beginning 180 ms after the target. Probes presented immediately after the target or later in the RSVP stream are accurately detected. This temporary reduction in probe detection was not found in conditions in which a brief blank interval followed the target or Ss were not required to identify the target. The data suggest that the presentation of stimuli after the target but before target-identification processes are complete produces interference at a letter-recognition stage. This interference may cause the temporary suppression of visual attention mechanisms observed in the present study. Language: en

Attention to visual pattern information produces the attentional blink in rapid serial visual presentation

Abstract: To investigate the temporal allocation of attention, a series of 7 experiments using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) was designed to examine the relationship of the attentional demands of various target tasks to the production of the subsequent visual attentional deficit, or "attentional blink" (AB), recently reported by J. E. Raymond, K. L. Shapiro, and K. M. Amell (1992). The principal finding is that AB occurs only when a target is an object and does not occur when the target is defined by a temporal interval. Target detection difficulty as estimated by d' analysis reveals no relationship between the attentional demands of the target and the production of the AB. A late-selection account of this phenomenon is offered in place of the early-selection account advanced in Raymond et al.'s previous report. Many studies of visual attention have addressed issues concerning the allocation of attention to spatially distributed visual information that is presented for brief intervals. The experiments reported in this article, however, are concerned with how attention is allocated to visual information that is distributed over time but presented in a restricted area of the visual field. The present article reports a series of experiments in which we investigated the temporary attentional deficits that ensue when humans are required to select a target from among a temporal stream of stimuli presented at a rapid rate. The task used in all experiments is that of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). In the generic task, stimuli are presented briefly in the same location at a rate of between 6-20 items/s. The subject's task is to identify one or more target(s) that is(are) differentiated in some way from the background, or nontarget, stimulus stream. Stimuli that have been investigated with this method include letters, digits, words, and pictures (e.g., D. E. Broadbent & M. H. P. Broadbent, 1987; Intraub, 1985; Kanwisher, 1987; Lawrence, 1971; Reeves & Sperling, 1986; Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987). Thus the RSVP procedure could be construed as the temporal analogy to spatial search in that a subject must detect a target from among a set of nontargets or distractors.

Selective Visual Attention and Motivation The Consequences of Value Learning in an Attentional Blink Task

Abstract: Learning to associate the probability and value of behavioral outcomes with specific stimuli (value learning) is essential for rational decision making. However, in demanding cognitive conditions, access to learned values might be constrained by limited attentional capacity. We measured recognition of briefly presented faces seen previously in a value-learning task involving monetary wins and losses; the recognition task was performed both with and without constraints on available attention. Regardless of available attention, recognition was substantially enhanced for motivationally salient stimuli (i.e., stimuli highly predictive of outcomes), compared with equally familiar stimuli that had weak or no motivational salience, and this effect was found regardless of valence (win or loss). However, when attention was constrained (because stimuli were presented during an attentional blink, AB), valence determined recognition; win-associated faces showed no AB, but all other faces showed large ABs. Motivational salience acts independently of attention to modulate simple perceptual decisions, but when attention is limited, visual processing is biased in favor of reward-associated stimuli.

Temporary Suppression of Visual Processing in an RSVP Task: An

Abstract: Through rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), we asked Ss to identify a partially specified letter (target) and then to detect the presence or absence of a fully specified letter (probe). Whereas targets are accurately identified, probes are poorly detected when they are presented during a 270-ms interval beginning 180 ms after the target. Probes presented immediately after the target or later in the RSVP stream are accurately detected. This temporary reduction in probe detection was not found in conditions in which a brief blank interval followed the target or Ss were not required to identify the target. The data suggest that the presentation of stimuli after the target but before target-identification processes are complete produces interference at a letterrecognition stage. This interference may cause the temporary suppression of visual attention mechanisms observed in the present study. During the course of many visual activities such as reading or scanning a visual scene, the eyes alternately fixate an area of the visual field and make a saccade to a different location. Because visual processing is suppressed during the rapid saccadic eye movement (for a review, see Volkman, 1986), this oculomotor behavior presents a rapid succession of brief, complex images to the perceptual processing system. The limits governing the brain's ability to process such a stream of stimuli can be studied in the laboratory with rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). In this paradigm, stimuli such as letters, digits, words, or pictures are presented briefly in the same location and in rapid succession, usually in the same location (from 6 to about 20 items/s). Typically one item in the stimulus stream, the target, is differentiated in some way (e.g., presented in a different color), and the subject's task is to identify it. It is commonly known that processing a single briefly exposed target is substantially easier than processing the same stimulus embedded in a stream of complex stimuli (Lawrence, 1971). In this sense, RSVP tasks may be viewed as visual search tasks operating in the temporal rather than the spatial domain. Just as visual search studies have been useful in investigating how visual attention may be distributed spatially (e.g., Triesman & Gelade, 1980), the RSVP proce

Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research.

Abstract: Recent studies of eye movements in reading and other information processing tasks, such as music reading, typing, visual search, and scene perception, are reviewed. The major emphasis of the review is on reading as a specific example of cognitive processing. Basic topics discussed with respect to reading are (a) the characteristics of eye movements, (b) the perceptual span, (c) integration of information across saccades, (d) eye movement control, and (e) individual differences (including dyslexia). Similar topics are discussed with respect to the other tasks examined. The basic theme of the review is that eye movement data reflect moment-to-moment cognitive processes in the various tasks examined. Theoretical and practical considerations concerning the use of eye movement data are also discussed.

A theory of lexical access in speech production.

Abstract: Preparing words in speech production is normally a fast and accurate process. We generate them two or three per second in fluent conversation; and overtly naming a clear picture of an object can easily be initiated within 600 msec after picture onset. The underlying process, however, is exceedingly complex. The theory reviewed in this target article analyzes this process as staged and feed-forward. After a first stage of conceptual preparation, word generation proceeds through lexical selection, morphological and phonological encoding, phonetic encoding, and articulation itself. In addition, the speaker exerts some degree of output control, by monitoring of self-produced internal and overt speech. The core of the theory, ranging from lexical selection to the initiation of phonetic encoding, is captured in a computational model, called WEAVER++. Both the theory and the computational model have been developed in interaction with reaction time experiments, particularly in picture naming or related word production paradigms, with the aim of accounting for the real-time processing in normal word production. A comprehensive review of theory, model, and experiments is presented. The model can handle some of the main observations in the domain of speech errors (the major empirical domain for most other theories of lexical access), and the theory opens new ways of approaching the cerebral organization of speech production by way of high-temporal-resolution imaging.

An Integrative Theory of Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine Function: Adaptive Gain and Optimal Performance.

Abstract: Historically, the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system has been implicated in arousal, but recent findings suggest that this system plays a more complex and specific role in the control of behavior than investigators previously thought. We review neurophysiological and modeling studies in monkey that support a new theory of LC-NE function. LC neurons exhibit two modes of activity, phasic and tonic. Phasic LC activation is driven by the outcome of task-related decision processes and is proposed to facilitate ensuing behaviors and to help optimize task performance (exploitation). When utility in the task wanes, LC neurons exhibit a tonic activity mode, associated with disengagement from the current task and a search for alternative behaviors (exploration). Monkey LC receives prominent, direct inputs from the anterior cingulate (ACC) and orbitofrontal cortices (OFC), both of which are thought to monitor task-related utility. We propose that these frontal areas produce the above patterns of LC activity to optimize utility on both short and long timescales.

An Introduction to the Event-Related Potential Technique

Abstract: The event-related potential (ERP) technique in cognitive neuroscience allows scientists to observe human brain activity that reflects specific cognitive processes. In An Introduction to the Event-Related Potential Technique, Steve Luck offers the first comprehensive guide to the practicalities of conducting ERP experiments in cognitive neuroscience and related fields, including affective neuroscience and experimental psychopathology. The book can serve as a guide for the classroom or the laboratory and as a reference for researchers who do not conduct ERP studies themselves but need to understand and evaluate ERP experiments in the literature. It summarizes the accumulated body of ERP theory and practice, providing detailed, practical advice about how to design, conduct, and interpret ERP experiments, and presents the theoretical background needed to understand why an experiment is carried out in a particular way. Luck focuses on the most fundamental techniques, describing them as they are used in many of the world's leading ERP laboratories. These techniques reflect a long history of electrophysiological recordings and provide an excellent foundation for more advanced approaches. The book also provides advice on the key topic of how to design ERP experiments so that they will be useful in answering questions of broad scientific interest. This reflects the increasing proportion of ERP research that focuses on these broader questions rather than the "ERPology" of early studies, which concentrated primarily on ERP components and methods. Topics covered include the neural origins of ERPs, signal averaging, artifact rejection and correction, filtering, measurement and analysis, localization, and the practicalities of setting up the lab.