Neural evidence for the eccentricity effect of inhibition of return in the visual field

Y Bao1,2,3, B Zhou2,4, E Pöppel2,3

1Department of Psychology & Key Laboratory of Machine Perception, Peking University, Beijing, China
2Human Science Center & Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
3Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Munich, Germany
4Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Contact: ernst.poeppel@med.uni-muenchen.de

Spatial attention can be oriented towards both novel and previously attended locations in the visual field. However, a disadvantage of the latter is observed as indexed by the slower response time to targets. This phenomenon is termed “inhibition of return (IOR)” and has been extensively studied since mid 1980’s. Recently it has been demonstrated that the magnitude of IOR is much stronger at the periphery relative to the perifoveal regions, suggesting an eccentricity effect of IOR [Bao and Pöppel, 2007, Cognitive Processing, 8: 37-44; Bao et al., 2013, Experimental Psychology, DOI:10.1027/1618-3169/a000215; Bao et al., 2013, Neuroscience Letters, 534: 7-11]. To further understand the neural correlates of the eccentricity effect, imaging studies were conducted using fMRI, ERP and MEG technologies. Compared to the perifoveal IOR which activated the typical fronto-parietal network, the peripheral IOR resulted in a surprisingly stronger involvement of prefrontal cortex [Lei et al., 2012, Cognitive Processing, 13(S1): 223-227]. The analyses of ERP components and global field power (GFP) using MEG also revealed a functional dissociation of IOR in the perifoveal vs. peripheral visual field. The results are consistent with previous observations as indicated by temporal processing, eye movement control or distinct neuroanatomical pathways.

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