Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34706217›Full record

ArticleCurrent biology : CB2022

Efficient allocation of attentional sensitivity gain in visual cortex reduces foveal sensitivity in visual search.

R Calen Walshe, Wilson S Geisler

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Current biology : CB, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Distinct system-level computations underlie perceptual variation across the visual field.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

R Calen WalsheCenter for Perceptual Systems, The University of Texas at Austin, 108 East Dean Keeton Street, Austin, TX 78712, USA. Electronic address: calen.walshe@gmail.com.
Wilson S GeislerCenter for Perceptual Systems, The University of Texas at Austin, 108 East Dean Keeton Street, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, 108 East Dean Keeton Street, Austin, TX 78712, USA. Electronic address: w.geisler@utexas.edu.

Funding

PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION OF TWO DIMENSIONAL PATTERNSR01EY011747 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN · PI GEISLER, WILSON S · 1997 to 2022
$6.4M
Visual Search and Detection in Natural ScenesR01EY024662 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · PI GEISLER, WILSON S · 2015 to 2022
$2.9M
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY011747NEI NIH HHS R01 EY024662
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The human visual system has a high-resolution fovea and a low-resolution periphery. When actively searching for a target, humans perform a covert search during each fixation, and then shift fixation (the fovea) to probable target locations. Previous studies of covert search under carefully controlled conditions provide strong evidence that for simple and small search displays, humans process all potential target locations with the same efficiency that they process those locations when individually cued on each trial. Here, we extend these studies to the case of large displays, in which the target can appear anywhere within the display. These more natural conditions reveal an attentional effect in which sensitivity in the fovea and parafovea is greatly diminished. We show that this "foveal neglect" is the expected consequence of efficiently allocating a fixed total attentional sensitivity gain across the retinotopic map in the visual cortex. We present a formal theory that explains our findings and the previous findings.

Indexed as

Visual CortexVisual FieldsAttentionFovea CentralisHumansPhotic StimulationVision, Ocularattentionfoveafoveal neglectideal observerperipheryretinaretinotopic mapvisual cortexvisual search

Identifiers

PMID34706217
PMCPMC8766254

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.