Abstract
Through experience, humans can learn to suppress locations that frequently contain distracting stimuli. However, the neural mechanism underlying learned suppression remains largely unknown. In this study, we combined steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) with event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the mechanism behind statistically learned spatial suppression. Twenty-four male and female human participants performed a version of the additional singleton search task in which one location contained a distractor stimulus frequently. The search stimuli constantly flickered on-and-off the screen, resulting in steady-state entrainment. Prior to search onset, no differences in the SSVEP response were found, though a post hoc analysis did reveal proactive alpha lateralization. Following search onset, clear evoked differences in both the SSVEP and ERP signals emerged at the suppressed location relative to all other locations. Crucially, the early timing of these evoked modulations suggests that learned distractor suppression occurs at the initial stages of visual processing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e1973242025 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-13 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Neuroscience |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 21 |
| Early online date | 4 Apr 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 May 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © 2025 Duncan et al.
Funding
Received Oct. 14, 2024; revised Feb. 11, 2025; accepted March 11, 2025. Author contributions: D.H.D., N.F., D.v.M., M.M.M., and J.T. designed research; D.H.D. performed research; D.H.D. and N.F. analyzed data; D.H.D. wrote the paper. This research was supported by HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) 833029 - LEARNATTEND Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 406.21.GO.034 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) MU 972/24-1, FO 1615/1-1. The authors declare no competing financial interests. Correspondence should be addressed to Dock H. Duncan at [email protected]. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1973-24.2025 Copyright © 2025 Duncan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed. This research was supported by HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) 833029 - LEARNATTEND Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 406.21.GO.034 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) MU 972/24-1, FO 1615/1-1.
Keywords
- alpha
- attention
- distraction
- ERP
- Pd
- SSVEP
- statistical learning
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Learning Modulates Early Encephalographic Responses to Distracting Stimuli: A Combined SSVEP and ERP Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Cite this
- APA
- Author
- BIBTEX
- Harvard
- Standard
- RIS
- Vancouver