{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,12]],"date-time":"2026-04-12T06:57:22Z","timestamp":1775977042474,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MIT Press","issue":"6","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010663","name":"H2020 European Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["63289"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["63289"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001061","name":"Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001061","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007297","name":"Office of Naval Research Global","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007297","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006624","name":"The Society for Mental Health Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006624","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008718","name":"Judith Jane Mason and Harold Stannett Williams Memorial Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008718","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000925","name":"National Health and Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000925","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000942","name":"Brain Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000942","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000923","name":"Australian Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DE180100389, DP180102066, DP180102383"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DE180100389, DP180102066, DP180102383"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["direct.mit.edu"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Current models of perceptual decision-making assume that choices are made after evidence in favor of an alternative accumulates to a given threshold. This process has recently been revealed in human EEG recordings, but an unresolved issue is how these neural mechanisms are modulated by competing, yet task-irrelevant, stimuli. In this study, we tested 20 healthy participants on a motion direction discrimination task. Participants monitored two patches of random dot motion simultaneously presented on either side of fixation for periodic changes in an upward or downward motion, which could occur equiprobably in either patch. On a random 50% of trials, these periods of coherent vertical motion were accompanied by simultaneous task-irrelevant, horizontal motion in the contralateral patch. Our data showed that these distractors selectively increased the amplitude of early target selection responses over scalp sites contralateral to the distractor stimulus, without impacting on responses ipsilateral to the distractor. Importantly, this modulation mediated a decrement in the subsequent buildup rate of a neural signature of evidence accumulation and accounted for a slowing of RTs. These data offer new insights into the functional interactions between target selection and evidence accumulation signals, and their susceptibility to task-irrelevant distractors. More broadly, these data neurally inform future models of perceptual decision-making by highlighting the influence of early processing of competing stimuli on the accumulation of perceptual evidence.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn_a_01703","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,18]],"date-time":"2021-03-18T17:28:16Z","timestamp":1616088496000},"page":"1020-1031","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/mitpressjournals.corrections.policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Distractors Selectively Modulate Electrophysiological Markers of Perceptual Decisions"],"prefix":"10.1162","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Shou-Han","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Monash University, Australia"}]},{"given":"Gerard","family":"Loughnane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National College of Ireland"}]},{"given":"Redmond","family":"O'Connell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monash University, Australia"},{"name":"Trinity College Dublin"}]},{"given":"Mark A.","family":"Bellgrove","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monash University, Australia"}]},{"given":"Trevor T.-J.","family":"Chong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monash University, Australia"}]}],"member":"281","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"433","DOI":"10.1163\/156856897X00357","article-title":"The psychophysics toolbox","volume":"10","author":"Brainard","year":"1997","journal-title":"Spatial Vision"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4745","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.12-12-04745.1992","article-title":"The analysis of visual motion: A comparison of neuronal and psychophysical performance","volume":"12","author":"Britten","year":"1992","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"786","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuropsychologia.2008.12.008","article-title":"The role of selective attention in matching observed and executed actions","volume":"47","author":"Chong","year":"2009","journal-title":"Neuropsychologia"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1400","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.1094-12.2013","article-title":"Prestimulus oscillatory activity over motor cortex reflects perceptual expectations","volume":"33","author":"de Lange","year":"2013","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jneumeth.2003.10.009","article-title":"EEGLAB: An open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis","volume":"134","author":"Delorme","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience Methods"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1052","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhr178","article-title":"Neural correlates of perceptual decision making before, during, and after decision commitment in monkey frontal eye field","volume":"22","author":"Ding","year":"2011","journal-title":"Cerebral Cortex"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2091","DOI":"10.1016\/S0042-6989(96)00153-8","article-title":"Effects of dot density, patch size and contrast on the upper spatial limit for direction discrimination in random-dot kinematograms","volume":"37","author":"Eagle","year":"1997","journal-title":"Vision Research"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1016\/0013-4694(96)95711-9","article-title":"The N2pc component as an indicator of attentional selectivity","volume":"99","author":"Eimer","year":"1996","journal-title":"Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib9","first-page":"289","article-title":"The time course of spatial attention: Insights from event related brain potentials","volume-title":"The Oxford handbook of attention","author":"Eimer","year":"2014","edition":"1st ed."},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1064","DOI":"10.3758\/s13423-011-0172-z","article-title":"Entirely irrelevant distractors can capture and captivate attention","volume":"18","author":"Forster","year":"2011","journal-title":"Psychonomic Bulletin & Review"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"272","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2011.04.002","article-title":"Reciprocal relations between cognitive neuroscience and formal cognitive models: Opposites attract?","volume":"15","author":"Forstmann","year":"2011","journal-title":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1038\/nrn2374","article-title":"The neural systems that mediate human perceptual decision making","volume":"9","author":"Heekeren","year":"2008","journal-title":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2009.21039","article-title":"Electrophysiological indices of target and distractor processing in visual search","volume":"21","author":"Hickey","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"604","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2006.18.4.604","article-title":"Electrophysiological evidence of the capture of visual attention","volume":"18","author":"Hickey","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10420","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4684-04.2005","article-title":"Neural activity in macaque parietal cortex reflects temporal integration of visual motion signals during perceptual decision making","volume":"25","author":"Huk","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib16","volume-title":"Theory of probability","author":"Jeffreys","year":"1961","edition":"3rd ed."},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"348","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinph.2005.08.034","article-title":"Principal components analysis of laplacian waveforms as a generic method for identifying erp generator patterns: I. evaluation with auditory oddball tasks","volume":"117","author":"Kayser","year":"2006","journal-title":"Clinical Neurophysiology"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562-020-00967-9","article-title":"Neurocomputational mechanisms of prior-informed perceptual decision-making in humans","volume":"5","author":"Kelly","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature Human Behaviour"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19434","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.3355-13.2013","article-title":"Internal and external influences on the rate of sensory evidence accumulation in the human brain","volume":"33","author":"Kelly","year":"2013","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"339","DOI":"10.1037\/0096-3445.133.3.339","article-title":"Load theory of selective attention and cognitive control","volume":"133","author":"Lavie","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Experimental Psychology: General"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"496","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2015.12.049","article-title":"Target selection signals influence perceptual decisions by modulating the onset and rate of evidence accumulation","volume":"26","author":"Loughnane","year":"2016","journal-title":"Current Biology"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2163","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.2340-17.2018","article-title":"Antagonistic interactions between microsaccades and evidence accumulation processes during decision formation","volume":"38","author":"Loughnane","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib23","article-title":"The operation of attention\u2014Millisecond by millisecond\u2014Over the first half second","volume-title":"The first half second: The microgenesis and temporal dynamics of unconscious and conscious visual processes","author":"Luck","year":"2005"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib24","article-title":"Electrophysiological correlates of the focusing of attention within complex visual scenes: N2pc and related ERP components","volume-title":"Oxford handbook of ERP components","author":"Luck","year":"2012"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1016\/j.schres.2006.03.040","article-title":"The speed of visual attention in schizophrenia: Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence","volume":"85","author":"Luck","year":"2006","journal-title":"Schizophrenia Research"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-8986.1994.tb02218.x","article-title":"Electrophysiological correlates of feature analysis during visual search","volume":"31","author":"Luck","year":"1994","journal-title":"Psychophysiology"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib27","first-page":"1000","article-title":"Spatial-filtering during visual-search: Evidence from human electrophysiology","volume":"20","author":"Luck","year":"1994","journal-title":"Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"879","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cortex.2008.10.009","article-title":"Attention selection, distractor suppression and N2pc","volume":"45","author":"Mazza","year":"2009","journal-title":"Cortex"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13526","DOI":"10.1038\/ncomms13526","article-title":"Global gain modulation generates time-dependent urgency during perceptual choice in humans","volume":"7","author":"Murphy","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nature Communications"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3378","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.3512-16.2017","article-title":"Visuospatial asymmetries arise from differences in the onset time of perceptual evidence accumulation","volume":"37","author":"Newman","year":"2017","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1038\/341052a0","article-title":"Neuronal correlates of a perceptual decision","volume":"341","author":"Newsome","year":"1989","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1729","DOI":"10.1038\/nn.3248","article-title":"A supramodal accumulation-to-bound signal that determines perceptual decisions in humans","volume":"15","author":"O'Connell","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nature Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"838","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tins.2018.06.005","article-title":"Bridging neural and computational viewpoints on perceptual decision-making","volume":"41","author":"O'Connell","year":"2018","journal-title":"Trends in Neurosciences"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib34","volume-title":"Attention","author":"Pashler","year":"1998"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16877","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.3012-14.2014","article-title":"Human scalp potentials reflect a mixture of decision-related signals during perceptual choices","volume":"34","author":"Philiastides","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.ne.13.030190.000325","article-title":"The attention system of the human brain","volume":"13","author":"Posner","year":"1990","journal-title":"Annual Review of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1113","DOI":"10.1037\/a0020311","article-title":"Neurally constrained modeling of perceptual decision making","volume":"117","author":"Purcell","year":"2010","journal-title":"Psychological Review"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1719","DOI":"10.1016\/0042-6989(83)90188-8","article-title":"Displacement thresholds for coherent apparent motion in random-dot patterns","volume":"23","author":"Ramachandran","year":"1983","journal-title":"Vision Research"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2016.01.007","article-title":"Diffusion decision model: Current issues and history","volume":"20","author":"Ratcliff","year":"2016","journal-title":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2012.00164","article-title":"Attentional capture by irrelevant transients leads to perceptual errors in a competitive change detection task","volume":"3","author":"Schneider","year":"2012","journal-title":"Frontiers in Psychology"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"791","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2013.10.047","article-title":"Decision making as a window on cognition","volume":"80","author":"Shadlen","year":"2013","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3627","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-018-06117-0","article-title":"Decisions are expedited through multiple neural adjustments spanning the sensorimotor hierarchy","volume":"9","author":"Steinemann","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature Communications"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7346","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4162-15.2016","article-title":"Abstract and effector-selective decision signals exhibit qualitatively distinct dynamics before delayed perceptual reports","volume":"36","author":"Twomey","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib44","first-page":"661","article-title":"Structural equation modeling","volume-title":"Handbook of psychology: Research methods in psychology","author":"Ullman","year":"2013","edition":"2nd ed."},{"key":"2021050319313301500_bib45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e42541","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.42541","article-title":"Behavioural and neural signatures of perceptual decision-making are modulated by pupil-linked arousal","volume":"8","author":"van Kempen","year":"2019","journal-title":"eLife"}],"container-title":["Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/direct.mit.edu\/jocn\/article-pdf\/33\/6\/1020\/1913647\/jocn_a_01703.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"http:\/\/direct.mit.edu\/jocn\/article-pdf\/33\/6\/1020\/1913647\/jocn_a_01703.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,3]],"date-time":"2021-05-03T19:39:17Z","timestamp":1620070757000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/direct.mit.edu\/jocn\/article\/33\/6\/1020\/98112\/Distractors-Selectively-Modulate"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,1]]},"references-count":45,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,1]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/jocn_a_01703","relation":{},"ISSN":["0898-929X","1530-8898"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0898-929X","type":"print"},{"value":"1530-8898","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[2021,6]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,1]]}}}