Analyzing the spatiotemporal dynamics of SSVEP- related power modulations to track attention over time.

Hillmer, D A (2022) Analyzing the spatiotemporal dynamics of SSVEP- related power modulations to track attention over time. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) are rhythmic neural responses that correspond to the frequency of a flickering visual stimulus and are often used to track spatial attention. To our best knowledge, only one study by Mora-Cortes and colleagues (2017) has investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of the SSVEP response to study the feasibility of tracking temporal attention. Temporal attention can be described as the allocation of attentional resources to a moment in time. Their results suggest that it might be possible for some frequencies to track attention by utilizing the SSVEP response over time. However, the researchers call for optimizations of stimulus design and parameters. Accordingly, we modified their setup by including multiple stimuli instead of a single flickering stimulus to prompt participants to actively shift their attention between targets. Furthermore, we studied whether the ability to time is reflected in the SSVEP response and, therefore, measured the contingent negative variation (CNV), an ERP component related to temporal preparation. Surprisingly, our results do not indicate any modulations of the SSVEP response that could be linked to temporal attention. Furthermore, we did not find a relation between SSVEP and timing ability or CNV amplitude. We discussed the role of the CNV in timing, alternative neural markers to study temporal attention, and the possibility that attentional shifts might have transient effects on the SSVEP. Keywords: SSVEP, temporal attention, CNV, timing ability

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Kruijne, W.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Cognitive Psychology and Psychophysiology (CPP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2022 08:12
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2022 08:12
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1482

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