Orienting of willed temporal attention: an EEG study

Temporal attention enables people to select relevant stimuli across time allowing for prioritisation of information. In most studies on temporal orienting external cues have been used to direct participants' attention. However, in everyday life, we also make internal choices, without external cues, of when to orient our attention. Recent studies in visual-spatial attention developed a paradigm aiming to explore how voluntary attention is initiated and controlled when no direct instructions are used. This paradigm includes a new type of trial in which a participant is asked to choose where to orient their attention (willed attention) in contrast to being instructed where to orient their attention (instructed attention). The current study draws on this distinction and it aims to explore whether and how willed temporal attention affects behaviour and whether it is different from instructed temporal attention by looking at both behavioural data as well as EEG. To explore that question the temporal cueing task was used in which a cue instructed a participant to anticipate either short (800 ms) or a long (2000 ms) interval between cue and target presentation times. Alternatively, a cue instructed a participant to decide for themselves to expect the target after one of these two intervals. The experiment demonstrated no significant differences in RTs and EEG recordings. However, a difference between two attention types in the CNV recorded in the time interval directly preceding the target in the short cue-target interval showed a medium effect size. Furthermore, a comparison of the CNV recorded in the willed and instructed attention in the post cue time interval demonstrated medium effect size with posterior scalp distribution. It was only recorded in the short cue-target interval. There, also, was a lateralised activity in the N1 time range in the instructed attention condition. Finally, a small decrease in the power of the theta activity was observed in the willed attention condition in the long cue-target interval at the Fz electrode. These differences could potentially become significant with more power. To the author's knowledge, this is the first study on electrophysiological correlates of willed temporal attention, and it demonstrates the feasibility of the paradigm used.