Attention selection, distractor suppression and N2pc

Abstract

N2pc is generally interpreted as the electrocortical correlate of the distractor-suppression mechanisms through which attention selection takes place in humans. Here, we present data that challenge this common N2pc interpretation. In Experiment 1, multiple distractors induced greater N2pc amplitudes even when they facilitated target identification, despite the suppression account of the N2pc predicted the contrary; in Experiment 2, spatial proximity between target and distractors did not affect the N2pc amplitude, despite resulting in more interference in response times; in Experiment 3, heterogeneous distractors delayed response times but did not elicit a greater N2pc relative to homogeneous distractors again in contrast with what would have predicted the suppression hypothesis. These results do not support the notion that the N2pc unequivocally mirrors distractor-suppression processes. We propose that the N2pc indexes mechanisms involved in identifying and localizing relevant stimuli in the scene through enhancement of their features and not suppression of distractors.