Vertical asymmetries in pre-attentive detection of changes in motion direction.

Full Abstract

Stimulus localization affects visual motion processing. Vertical asymmetries favouring lower visual field have been reported in event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioural studies under different attention conditions. However, there are no studies examining such asymmetries to non-attended motion changes. The present study investigated whether the asymmetry in processing information from the upper and lower visual fields also affects the automatic detection of motion-direction changes as indexed by visual Mismatch Negativity (vMMN). We recorded vMMN to changes in sinusoidal gratings differing in motion direction presented in the periphery of visual field in three different locations:
upper and lower (ULVF), upper (UVF) and lower (LVF) along the vertical meridian. The N2 component elicited to peripheral motion presented lower amplitudes when the UVF was stimulated. The vMMN elicited to infrequent motion-direction changes was present in all stimulation conditions. However, it was reduced to UVF stimulation. These results suggest that the visual system automatically detects motion-direction changes presented at both upper-lower visual fields; however they also indicate that the process is favoured when stimuli are presented in the LVF alone.

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Author information

Author/s: Amenedo, Elena (E); Pazo-Alvarez, Paula (P); Cadaveira, Fernando (F);

Affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. eamenedo(-atsign-)usc.es

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology (Int J Psychophysiol), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-May; vol 64 (issue 2) : pp 184-9

Dates: Created 2007/05/02; Completed 2007/07/11;

PMID: 17343941, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Analysis of Variance
Attention - physiology
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Humans

Humans
Male
Motion Perception - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Reference Values
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Subliminal Stimulation
Visual Fields - physiology

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