An EEG investigation of temporal orienting of attention for goal-directed eye and hand movements

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research.

NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields.

Under the sponsorship of Dr. Joo-Hyun Song at Brown University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the mechanisms of temporal orienting of attention in goal-directed eye and hand movements. Using temporal regularities in the environment, we can orient attention to specific points in time to select and prioritize an upcoming relevant event.

This ability, called temporal orienting, can then facilitate upcoming perception and action in many everyday situations such as estimating the duration of a yellow traffic light when driving, approximating when to swing at a tennis ball, or deciding when to jump into a conversation. Research on temporal orienting has mostly focused on perception, uncovering the neural mechanisms by which temporal orienting modulates perception and its behavioral and neural consequences.

While temporal orienting may be especially important for action; much is still unknown about its effects on action. How may temporal orienting contribute to the temporally precise planning and execution of actions such as goal-directed saccades and reaches? Do the effects of temporal orienting on eye and hand movements rely on distinct or overlapping neural mechanisms?

This project aims to answer these questions and thereby uncover the principles about the interplay between time perception, attention, and action. The outcomes of the project have potential technological and clinical implications; they can inform brain-computer interface technology developed for motor control, effective information processing methods and interface design used in domains such as aviation and automotive industry, as well as rehabilitation programs used for neurological disorders involving motor control and timing deficits.

This project investigates the neural mechanisms by which temporal orienting of attention influences goal-directed saccades and reaches using eye- and hand-tracking combined with electroencephalography (EEG). Specifically, this project aims to reveal the motor effector-general and/or effector-specific influences of temporal orienting on ocular and manual motor control by testing the hypothesis that temporal orienting contributes to the temporally precise control of eye and hand movements by exerting its effects at a global level of motor control followed by effector-specific level of motor control.

The effects of temporal orienting generated by different temporal structures such goal-driven temporal expectation (using probabilistic variations in target timing) and stimulus-driven temporal priming (using sequential repetitions versus switches in target timing) are considered to gain a more complete picture. By using multiple EEG data analysis methods to extract as much information as possible from the multidimensional EEG signals, and reinforcing exploratory analyses by replication, this project has the potential to provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms of goal-directed eye and hand movements as well as how temporal orienting generated by various temporal structures provides anticipatory signals that modulate motor control.

Overall, the outcomes of the project will contribute to a more unified framework for attention and action.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.