2017/07/24 by Ole Jensen, Marlies E. Vissers · 1 voice
Neuroscience · #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Neural dynamics and brain function #Visual perception and processing mechanisms
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2003230
openalex publication_date 2017/07/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
When acting in a complex visual environment, it is essential to be able to flexibly allocate attention to parts of the visual scene that may contain goal-relevant information. The paper by Jia et al. provides novel evidence that our brains sequentially sample different objects in a visual scene. The results were obtained using "temporal response functions," in which unique electroencephalographic (EEG) signals corresponding to the processing of 2 continuously presented objects were isolated in an object-specific way. These response functions were dominated by 10-Hz alpha-band activity. Crucially, the different objects were sequentially sampled at a rate of about 2 Hz. These findings provide important neurophysiological insights into how our visual system operates in complex environments.