Mechanisms of temporal preparation in stimulus selection

• Applicant: Dr. Verena Seibold
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 391742416

A basic principle of human information processing is selectivity: Only a small part of incoming sensory information is subjected to in-depth processing and thereby affects conscious perception and action. The mechanism that drives this selection is typically referred to as attention and has been studied extensively in Cognitive Psychology. One of the key questions herein is which perceptual domains control the orienting of attention and thereby allow for selective processing. For a long time, this orienting function has been attributed predominantly to the domain space, especially in vision. Contrary to this view, however, recent studies show that attentional orienting is also fundamentally affected by time: For instance, it has been shown that sensory information is processed more rapidly and perceived more accurately if it is presented in a temporally predictable manner and can therefore be prepared. This beneficial effect of temporal preparation on perception has been demonstrated across different modalities and for tasks of varying complexity. Yet, it is still unclear whether temporal preparation affects perception in a selective manner and specifically enhances processing of relevant sensory information. The aim of the present project to answer this question by systematically investigating selective effects of temporal preparation on perception as well as the underlying mechanisms. To this end, two series of experiments will be conducted that cover different aspects of selection: Experimental series A will focus on selection between relevant and irrelevant stimuli in visual search tasks (spatial selection), whereas experimental series B will focus on selection between relevant and irrelevant dimensions of a stimulus in perceptual conflict tasks (dimension-based selection). Both experimental series will cover potential effects of temporal preparation on the amplification of relevant information as well as the suppression of irrelevant information.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants