Researchers have long debated how humans select relevant objects amid physically salient distractions. An increasingly popular view holds that the key to avoiding distractions lies in suppressing the attentional priority of a salient distractor. However, the precise mechanisms of distractor suppression remain elusive. Because the computation of attentional priority is a time-dependent process, distractor suppression must be understood within these temporal dynamics. In four experiments, we tracked the temporal dynamics of visual attention using a novel forced-response method, by which participants were required to express their latent attentional priority at varying processing times via saccades. We show that attention could be biased either toward or away from a salient distractor depending on the timing of observation, with these temporal dynamics varying substantially across experiments. These dynamics were explained by a computational model assuming the distractor and target priority signals arrive asynchronously in time and with different influences on saccadic behavior. The model suggests that distractor signal suppression can be achieved via a "slow" mechanism in which the distractor priority signal dictates saccadic behavior until a late-arriving priority signal overrides it, or a "fast" mechanism which directly suppresses the distractor priority signal's behavioral expression. The two mechanisms are temporally dissociable and can work collaboratively, resulting in time-dependent patterns of attentional allocation. The current work underscores the importance of considering the temporal dynamics of visual attention and provides a computational architecture for understanding the mechanisms of distractor suppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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视觉注意力的时间动态。


长期以来，研究人员一直在争论人类如何在物理上显著的干扰中选择相关对象。一种越来越流行的观点认为，避免分心的关键在于抑制显著干扰的注意力优先权。然而，干扰物抑制的确切机制仍然难以捉摸。因为注意力优先级的计算是一个依赖于时间的过程，所以必须在这些时间动态中理解干扰物抑制。在四个实验中，我们使用一种新颖的强制反应方法跟踪视觉注意力的时间动态，通过该方法，参与者需要通过扫视在不同的处理时间表达他们的潜在注意力优先级。我们表明，根据观察的时间，注意力可能会偏向或远离一个突出的干扰物，这些时间动态在实验中差异很大。这些动态由一个计算模型来解释，假设干扰物和目标优先信号在时间上异步到达，并且对扫视行为有不同的影响。该模型表明，干扰信号抑制可以通过一种 “慢 ”机制来实现，其中干扰物优先信号决定扫视行为，直到迟到的优先信号覆盖它，或者 “快速 ”机制直接抑制干扰物优先信号的行为表达。这两种机制在时间上是可分离的，并且可以协同工作，从而产生与时间相关的注意力分配模式。目前的工作强调了考虑视觉注意力的时间动态的重要性，并为理解干扰物抑制的机制提供了一种计算架构。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。