Project E Manfred MacKeben, Ph.D .

"The topographies of the transient and sustained attentional mechanisms and their dependence on age."

This project compares between letter recognition performance elicited by either sustained or transient focal attention. Pilot results indicate that one subject's performance fields can differ significantly, depending on which mechanisms has been activated. Note that this is true while all variables (target size, duration and contrast) other than the timing of the cue are identical. Further data are necessary and are being collected to substantiate this finding.

References:
MacKeben,M. (1999) Sustained focal attention and peripheral letter recognition. Spatial Vision 12/1, 51-71.

Altpeter,E. MacKeben,M. & Trauzettel-Klosinski,S. (2000) The importance of sustained attention for patients with maculopathies. Vision Research 40, 10-12, p.1539-1547.

ARVO abstracts:
MacKeben M. (1996) Sustained and transient focal attention can have different topographies. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 37, No.4 (Suppl.).

MacKeben,M. (1999) Topographic properties of transient focal attention. 3rd Annual Vision Research Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, May 7-8.

Background reference: Nakayama,K. and MacKeben,M. (1989) Sustained and transient components of focal visual attention. Vision Research 29, No.11, 1631-1647.