Research on selective attention has largely focused on the enhancement of behaviorally important information, with less focus on the suppression of distracting information. Enhancement and suppression can operate through a push–pull relationship attributable to competitive interactions among neural populations. There has been considerable debate, however, regarding (1) whether suppression can be voluntarily deployed, independent of enhancement, and (2) whether voluntary deployment of suppression is associated with neural processes occurring prior to the distractor onset. Here, we investigated the interplay between pre- and post-distractor neural processes, while male and female human subjects performed a visual search task with a cue that indicated the location of an upcoming distractor. We utilized two established EEG markers of suppression: the distractor positivity (P_D) and alpha power (~8–15 Hz). The P_D—a component of event-related potentials—has been linked with successful distractor suppression, and increased alpha power has been linked with attenuated sensory processing. Cueing the location of an upcoming distractor speeded responses and led to an earlier P_D, consistent with earlier suppression due to strategic use of a spatial cue. In comparison, higher predistractor alpha power contralateral to distractors led to a later P_D, consistent with later suppression. Lower alpha power contralateral to distractors instead led to distractor-related attentional capture. Lateralization of alpha power was not linked to the spatial cue. This observation, combined with differences in the timing of suppression—as indexed by earlier and later P_D components—demonstrates that cue-related, voluntary suppression can occur separate from alpha-related gating of sensory processing.

关于选择性注意的研究主要集中在增强行为上重要的信息上，较少关注抑制分散注意力的信息。增强和抑制可以通过神经群体之间竞争性相互作用的推拉关系来进行。然而，关于（1）是否可以独立于增强而自愿部署抑制，以及（2）自愿部署抑制是否与干扰物发作之前发生的神经过程相关，存在相当多的争论。在这里，我们研究了干扰物前后神经过程之间的相互作用，同时男性和女性受试者执行视觉搜索任务，并提供指示即将到来的干扰物位置的提示。我们利用了两个已建立的脑电图抑制标记：干扰物阳性 (P _D ) 和 alpha 功率 (~8–15 Hz)。 P _D ——事件相关电位的一个组成部分——与成功的干扰抑制有关，而阿尔法功率的增加与感觉处理的减弱有关。提示即将到来的干扰物的位置可以加速反应并导致更早的 P _D ，这与由于战略性使用空间提示而导致的早期抑制一致。相比之下，干扰器对侧较高的预干扰器 α 功率导致较晚的 P _D ，与后来的抑制一致。相反，与干扰物对侧较低的阿尔法功率反而会导致与干扰物相关的注意力捕获。阿尔法功率的偏侧化与空间线索无关。 这一观察结果与抑制时间的差异相结合（由早期和晚期的 P _D 成分表示）表明，与线索相关的自愿抑制可以与与阿尔法相关的感觉处理门控分开发生。