Distinct neural variables underlie subjective reports of attention

Abstract

Attention is subjectively experienced as a unified cognitive effort. This unitary experience of attention contrasts with the diversity of neural and peripheral correlates of attention. While the effects of attention on stimulus-evoked responses, alpha oscillations and pupil diameter, are well-known the relationship between these indices and the subjective experience of attention, has not yet been assessed. Participants performed a sustained (10 s to 30 s) attention task in which rare (10%) targets were detected within continuous tactile stimulation (16 Hz). Trials were followed by attention ratings on an 8-point Likert scale. Steady-state evoked fields (SSEFs) in response to tactile stimulation, as measured by magnetoencephalography, provided an objective measure of sensory processing. Beamformer source analysis of somatosensory alpha power was used as a measure of cortical excitability, while pupillometry provided a peripheral index of arousal. Attention ratings correlated negatively with contralateral somatosensory alpha power, and positively with pupil diameter. The effect of pupil diameter on attention ratings extended into the following trial, reflecting a sustained aspect of attention related to vigilance. The effect of alpha power did not carry over to the next trial, and furthermore mediated the effect of pupil diameter on attention ratings. Variation in SSEF power reflected stimulus processing under the influence of alpha oscillations, but were not readily expressed through subjective ratings of attention. Together, our results show that both alpha power and pupil diameter are reflected in the subjective experience of attention, albeit on different time spans, while continuous stimulus processing might not be metacognitively accessible. 1 Significance StatementAttention is subjectively experienced as a unified cognitive effort, in contrast with a diversity of neural and peripheral measures shown to correlate with attention. We present the first comprehensive study on the complex inter-relationship between the most common bio-physiological indices of attention, and their association with the subjective experience of attention. We show that the subjective experience of attention correlates negatively with cortical alpha oscillations, and positively with pupil diameter. The latter reflected a sustained aspect of attention, spanning several tens of seconds, related to vigilance. Alpha power, representing cortical control, fluctuated faster and mediated the effect of pupil diameter on attention. Tactile steady-state power reflected stimulus processing, also under the influence of alpha oscillations, but did not contribute much to subjective ratings of attention.