Title: Rhythmic attention negotiates competition along the visual hierarchy

Speaker: Ayelet Landau (Department of Psychology, UCL)

Location: In Person & Online via Zoom

Abstract: Navigating the environment involves engaging with multiple objects, each activating specific neuronal populations. When objects appear together, the respective neuronal populations compete. Classical attention theories suggest that selection involves biasing one population over another. Recent research shows that perception fluctuates over time. When a single object is processed over time a ~8 Hz fluctuation seems to govern its perception. When attention is distributed over two different objects a 4 Hz fluctuation is measured, possibly due to the division of the 8 Hz rhythm between competing objects. In my talk I will explore these rhythmic phenomena, coined attentional sampling, across the visual hierarchy. I will argue that sampling is a selection mechanism that negotiates neuronal competition. It manifests as early as eye channels and extends to complex features higher in the visual hierarchy and potentially beyond the visual modality. Finally, I will discuss the cognitive significance of this mechanism and its potential neuronal implementation.