research
The research group 'Multi-Target Attention' is dedicated to studying selective attention, with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms and anatomy of selective attention in multi-target environments.
Classical theories of selective attention have assumed a single focus of attention and as a consequence the mechanisms and anatomy underlying selective attention in single-target environments are relatively well-known. In everyday life, however, we are more typically confronted with dynamic multi-target scenes (for example traffic scenes) that require us to attend simultaneously to multiple non-contiguous spatial locations. Currently, the precise cognitive processes and neural anatomy that underlie this crucial ability remain poorly understood.
Our research predominantly focusses on the following two questions:
How do neurologically healthy subjects attend and respond in everyday dynamic multi-target environments and which factors modulate this ability? In the UK alone, around 1800 people die each year in traffic-related accidents (WHO, 2013). To reduce accidents in these dynamic multi-target environments, understanding how healthy subjects navigate these environments is essential.
Why are some neuropsychological patients not able to attend and respond in everyday dynamic multi-target environments and which factors are capable of ameliorating their deficit? An understanding of the critical mechanisms and neural substrates underlying this inability to navigate multi-target environments might enable better rehabilitation strategies, ultimately improving mobility and everyday quality of life in these patients.
Much of our research is inspired by the neuropsychological deficit known as extinction. Extinction is a common consequence of unilateral brain damage where patients are able to detect both ipsi- and contralesional information presented in isolation, but are unable to attend and respond to contralesional information in situations where ipsilesional information is concurrently present. That is, these patients show a selective inability to attend and respond in multi-target environments, whereas their ability to attend and respond in single-target environments is intact. Therefore, studying these patients could provide unique insights concerning the cognitive processes and neural anatomy critical for the ability to attend and respond in multi-target environments.
Using a combination of fMRI, TMS, EEG, lesion-symptom mapping and psychophysical methods in neurologically healthy subjects and neuropsychological patients, we aim to investigate the mechanisms and anatomy that underlie both our ability to attend and respond in multi-target environments and the disruption of this ability in neuropsychological populations.