TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Neuronal correlates of the subjective experience of attention
JO  - European journal of neuroscience
A1  - Whitmarsh, Stephen
A1  - Gitton, Christophe
A1  - Jousmäki, Veikko
A1  - Sackur, Jérôme
A1  - Tallon-Baudry, Catherine
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - The effect of top-down attention on stimulus-evoked responses and alpha oscillations, and the association between arousal and pupil diameter are well-established. However, the relationship between these indices, and their contribution to the subjective experience of attention, remains largely unknown. Participants performed a sustained (10 s - 30 s) attention task in which rare (10%) targets were detected within continuous tactile stimulation (16 Hz). Trials were followed by attention ratings on an 8-point visual scale. Attention ratings correlated negatively with contralateral somatosensory alpha power, and positively with pupil diameter. The effect of pupil diameter on attention ratings extended into the following trial, reflecting a sustained aspect of attention related to vigilance. The effect of alpha power did not carry over to the next trial, and furthermore mediated the association between pupil diameter and attention ratings. Variations in steady-state amplitude reflected stimulus processing under the influence of alpha oscillations, but were only weakly related to subjective ratings of attention. Together, our results show that both alpha power and pupil diameter are reflected in the subjective experience of attention, albeit on different time spans, while continuous stimulus processing might not contribute to the experience of attention.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0953-816X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15395
ID  - ref1
ER  -