研究期間：10108~10207;Title: Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Mathematical Modeling and Neuroimaging techniques and to investigate probability and predictability effects on visual search and attentional control. 使用跨顱磁刺激¸數學模型與腦造影技術探討事件機率與期望值對於視覺搜尋及注意力控制的影響 Abstract: The probability and predictability of events influence behaviors implicitly and explicitly but dramatically in everyday life. Humans and animals utilize the expectation of forthcoming events to allocate their cognitive resources for coping with every possible challenge. In this series of studies, we propose to integrate several visual search tasks, attentional control paradigms and neuroimaging techniques, which are widely used and well established in our labs in order to investigate this issue. The probability effects will be measured with behavioral, eye movements and modeling data in addition with neuroimaging and neurodisruptive techniques to probe the underlying neuroanatomy and neural mechanisms. Our recent studies (Juan et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2009; Chiau et al., submitted; Chao et al., submitted; Tseng et al., submitted) and previous finding by other research groups (e.g. Geng and Behrmann, 2002; 2005) have indicated that the probability effect can reverse some attentional phenomena such as the antisaccade cost and covert attention by altering the weights of attentional control in the tasks. These new findings have made researchers to modify their hypotheses considerably and lead us to develop new theories accordingly (for a review see Summerfield and Egner, 2009). The immediate aims of this series of experiments are to elucidate these characteristics of the probability effects in the visual search and attentional control and to advance our understandings of the neural network underlying the phenomenon. Our ultimate goal is to establish a theory which accommodates behavioral results, modeling data, correlational neuroimaging and causal neurodisruptive evidence to theorize our findings and related ones.
