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Peripheral vision and attention: A longstanding dissociation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2025

Marisa Carrasco Open the ORCID record for Marisa Carrasco [Opens in a new window]
Marisa Carrasco*
Affiliation:
Psychology and Neural Science, New York University, New York, USA marisa.carrasco@nyu.edu https://wp.nyu.edu/carrascolab/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

I agree that, in some literature, the term “attention” is ill-defined and the constraints of peripheral vision have been overlooked. However, I disagree with omitting the empirical studies that have emphasized the importance of defining, operationalizing, and manipulating different types of attention and have investigated their effects on perception as a function of eccentricity and polar angle in peripheral vision.

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Open Peer Commentary
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e134
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Rosenholtz discusses visual search studies, highlighting shortcomings in their interpretation, and stresses constraints of peripheral vision. I agree with this perspective; early studies often confounded stimulus factors like eccentricity with attention. However, she overlooked numerous studies dissociating visual field location and attention effects. The key was holding stimulus properties constant, including location, while manipulating attention and monitoring eye movements. This research, spanning decades, established how covert attention affects basic visual dimensions – pillars of our perception – where the best understanding of attention has been achieved.

Stimulus parameters – target eccentricity, spatial frequency, and size – were systematically manipulated to assess their role in visual search set-size effects (more distractors reduce performance). Previously attributed to attention, these effects were clarified when target eccentricity was identified as a confounding factor. Performance in both feature and conjunction search tasks worsens as targets are presented more peripherally (Carrasco et al., Reference Carrasco, Evert, Chang and Katz1995). To investigate this eccentricity effect, we scaled stimulus size according to cortical magnification, ensuring their cortical representations were equated. This revealed stable performance across eccentricity with scaling, linking performance declines to peripheral vision’s lower spatial resolution (Carrasco & Frieder, Reference Carrasco and Frieder1997; Figure 1A). We also magnified spatial frequency and orientation, showing their role in eccentricity effects and visual search asymmetries (Carrasco et al., Reference Carrasco, McLean, Katz and Frieder1998). These findings revealed that visual and physiological factors should be considered before invoking attention to explain visual search. Furthermore, signal detection theory models account for set-size effects in identification, detection, and localization tasks when targets and distractors are at iso-eccentric locations, without invoking attention (Cameron et al., Reference Cameron, Tai, Eckstein and Carrasco2004).

Figure 1.

Effects of attention in visual search tasks. (A) Performance in visual search decreases with eccentricity, as depicted by slower reaction times and higher error rates. Adjusting stimulus size according to the cortical magnification factor at a given eccentricity eliminates the eccentricity effect in visual search, indicating that spatial resolution constraints performance. Adapted from Carrasco & Frieder (Reference Carrasco and Frieder1997). (B) Manipulating exogenous (involuntary) attention has a similar effect to cortical magnification, strongly reducing the eccentricity effect. These results support the idea that attention increases resolution at the attended location, restoring search performance at peripheral locations where low resolution is a limiting factor. Adapted from Carrasco & Yeshurun (Reference Carrasco and Yeshurun1998).

I also agree with Rosenholtz’s critique of the loose use of the term “attention” in some literature. As emphasized in multiple reviews (Anton-Erxleben & Carrasco, Reference Anton-Erxleben and Carrasco2013; Carrasco, Reference Carrasco, Martinez-Conde, Macknik, Martinez, Alonso and Tse2006, Reference Carrasco2011, Reference Carrasco, Kastner and Nobre2014; Carrasco & Barbot, Reference Carrasco and Barbot2015; Carrasco & Yeshurun, Reference Carrasco, Yeshurun and Srinivasan2009; Denison, Reference Denison2024), attention (like any construct) must be explicitly defined, operationalized, and manipulated – with constant stimulus properties, locations, and task – rather than inferred. Indeed, in many laboratories (including mine), the term “attention” is only used if these requirements are fulfilled. However, Rosenholtz overlooks these reviews and rigorous studies on attention’s selective effects on fundamental visual dimensions – spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity.

The interaction of eccentricity and attention has been thoroughly investigated. For instance, like stimulus magnification, exogenous (involuntary) covert spatial attention reduces the set-size and eccentricity effects in search (Carrasco & Yeshurun, Reference Carrasco, McLean, Katz and Frieder1998; Figure 1B). This finding that attention minimizes fovea-periphery performance differences inspired studies investigating covert attention’s effects on spatial resolution in peripheral locations.

When comparing performance under neutral cues with exogenous or endogenous (voluntary) attention, both types enhance acuity (Carrasco, Williams, & Yeshurun, Reference Carrasco, Williams and Yeshurun2002; Golla et al., Reference Golla, Ignashchenkova, Haarmeier and Thier2004; Montagna, Pestilli, & Carrasco, Reference Montagna, Pestilli and Carrasco2009; Yeshurun & Carrasco, Reference Yeshurun and Carrasco1999). However, in texture segmentation tasks, whereas endogenous attention improves performance across eccentricity (Barbot & Carrasco, Reference Barbot and Carrasco2017; Jigo & Carrasco, Reference Jigo and Carrasco2018; Yeshurun, Montagna, & Carrasco, Reference Yeshurun, Montagna and Carrasco2008), exogenous attention impairs central performance when resolution is already too high for the texture scale (e.g., Jigo & Carrasco, Reference Jigo and Carrasco2018; Yeshurun & Carrasco, Reference Yeshurun and Carrasco1998, Reference Yeshurun and Carrasco2000). Furthermore, cueing target location reduces crowding (Grubb et al., Reference Grubb, Behrmann, Egan, Minshew, Heeger and Carrasco2013; Yeshurun & Rashal, Reference Yeshurun and Rashal2010) and lowers orientation thresholds for a target among distractors to levels seen when the target appears alone (Baldassi & Burr, Reference Baldassi and Burr2000; Morgan, Ward, & Castet, Reference Morgan, Ward and Castet1998). Several reviews (Anton-Erxleben & Carrasco, Reference Anton-Erxleben and Carrasco2013; Carrasco, Reference Carrasco2011, Carrasco & Barbot, Reference Carrasco and Barbot2015; Carrasco & Yeshurun, Reference Carrasco, Yeshurun and Srinivasan2009) highlight the role of covert spatial attention in impacting resolution across eccentricity.

Because sensitivity varies with both eccentricity and polar angle (review, Himmelberg, Winawer, & Carrasco, Reference Himmelberg, Winawer and Carrasco2023), psychophysical studies have compared endogenous, exogenous, and neutral attention conditions in contrast sensitivity tasks at various eccentricities (e.g., Cameron, Tai, & Carrasco, Reference Cameron, Tai and Carrasco2002; Carrasco, Penpeci-Talgar, & Eckstein, Reference Carrasco, Penpeci-Talgar and Eckstein2000; Dosher & Lu, Reference Dosher and Lu2000a, Reference Dosher and Lu2000b; Fernández et al., Reference Fernández and Carrasco2020; Herrmann et al., Reference Herrmann, Montaser-Kouhsari, Carrasco and Heeger2010; Jigo & Carrasco, Reference Jigo and Carrasco2020; Ling & Carrasco, Reference Ling and Carrasco2006a,Reference Ling and Carrascob; Pestilli & Carrasco, Reference Pestilli and Carrasco2005) and iso-eccentric locations (Cameron, Tai, & Carrasco Reference Cameron, Tai and Carrasco2002; Carrasco, Penpeci-Talgar, & Cameron, Reference Carrasco, Penpeci-Talgar and Cameron2001; Purokayastha, Roberts, & Carrasco, Reference Purokayastha, Roberts and Carrasco2021; Roberts et al., Reference Roberts, Cymerman, Smith and Carrasco2016, Reference Roberts, Ashinoff, Castellanos and Carrasco2017; Talgar & Carrasco, Reference Talgar and Carrasco2002).

Diverse psychophysical methods – such as external noise (Dosher & Lu, Reference Dosher and Lu2000a,b; Ling, Liu, & Carrasco, Reference Ling, Liu and Carrasco2009; Lu & Dosher, Reference Lu and Dosher2000, Reference Lu and Dosher2004), masking (Baldassi & Verghese, Reference Baldassi and Verghese2005), critical band masking (Talgar, Pelli, & Carrasco, Reference Talgar, Pelli and Carrasco2004), adaptation (Barbot & Carrasco, Reference Barbot and Carrasco2017; Carrasco, Loula, & Ho, Reference Carrasco, Loula and Ho2006; Ling & Carrasco, Reference Ling and Carrasco2006a; Pestilli, Viera, & Carrasco, Reference Pestilli, Viera and Carrasco2007), classification image analysis (Eckstein, Shimozaki, & Abbey, Reference Eckstein, Shimozaki and Abbey2002), and reverse correlation (Fernández, Li, & Carrasco, Reference Fernández, Li and Carrasco2019; Fernández, Okun, & Carrasco Reference Fernández, Okun and Carrasco2022) – have been used to compare attention mechanisms (e.g., signal enhancement vs. external noise reduction) and featural representations (e.g., gain vs. tuning) at matched peripheral locations. Speed-accuracy tradeoff studies further show how exogenous and endogenous attention enhance discriminability and accelerate information accrual (e.g., Carrasco & McElree, Reference Carrasco and McElree2001; Giordano, McElree, & Carrasco, Reference Giordano, McElree and Carrasco2009) across eccentricity (Carrasco, Giordano, & McElree, Reference Carrasco, Giordano and McElree2006) and polar angle (Carrasco, Giordano, & McElree Reference Carrasco, Giordano and McElree2004).

Studies using concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and psychophysics have established differential effects of spatial (Dugué et al., Reference Dugué, Merriam, Heeger and Carrasco2018, Reference Dugué, Merriam, Heeger and Carrasco2020) and feature-based attention (Foster & Ling, Reference Foster and Ling2022; Liu et al., Reference Liu, Larsson and Carrasco2007) on stimulus-evoked responses at peripheral locations across the visual hierarchy. Furthermore, studies using concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and psychophysics have assessed the critical role of different brain areas in exogenous (Fernández & Carrasco, Reference Fernández and Carrasco2020; Lee, Fernández, & Carrasco, Reference Lee, Fernández and Carrasco2024) and endogenous spatial attention (Fernández, Hanning, & Carrasco, Reference Fernández, Hanning and Carrasco2023) and feature-based attention (Jigo, Gong, & Liu, Reference Jigo, Gong and Liu2018) at matched peripheral locations. Numerous studies with nonhuman primates have also manipulated attention while keeping stimulus locations constant.

Temporal attention also improves perception, with stimulus at one foveal or peripheral location (Denison, Heeger, & Carrasco, Reference Denison, Heeger and Carrasco2017, Reference Denison, Carrasco and Heeger2021, Reference Denison, Tian, Heeger and Carrasco2024; Duyar & Carrasco, Reference Duyar and Carrasco2025; Duyar, Denison, & Carrasco, Reference Duyar, Denison and Carrasco2023; Duyar, Ren, & Carrasco, Reference Duyar, Ren and Carrasco2024; Fernández, Denison, & Carrasco, Reference Fernández, Denison and Carrasco2019; Nobre and vanEede, Reference Nobre and van Ede2018; Zhu et al., Reference Zhu, Tian, Carrasco and Denison2024). Other studies have examined interactions between different attention types – endogenous and exogenous spatial (Grubb et al., Reference Grubb, White, Heeger and Carrasco2014), spatial and feature (White, Rolfs, & Carrasco, Reference White, Rolfs and Carrasco2015), spatial and temporal (Palmieri & Carrasco, Reference Palmieri and Carrasco2024), or feature and temporal (Huang, Gao, & Chen, Reference Huang, Gao and Chen2025) – at matched peripheral locations.

We have derived and tested predictions (Herrmann et al., Reference Herrmann, Montaser-Kouhsari, Carrasco and Heeger2010, Reference Herrmann, Heeger and Carrasco2012) from the normalization model of attention (Reynolds & Heeger, Reference Reynolds and Heeger2009). More recently, informed by psychophysical data in neutral and attentional conditions across the same locations, we have expanded this model to differentiate effects of spatial exogenous and endogenous attention (Jigo, Heeger, & Carrasco, Reference Jigo, Heeger and Carrasco2021) and to include effects of temporal attention (Denison, Carrasco, & Heeger, Reference Denison, Carrasco and Heeger2021).

To conclude, vision models must consider how stimulus encoding changes across eccentricity and polar angle and integrate the effects of covert attention to explain visual perception. These factors must be – and for decades have been – dissociated.

Acknowledgements

I thank Antoine Barbot, Rachel Denison, Sam Ling, and Alex White for their helpful feedback on this commentary.

Financial support

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests

None.

References

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Figure 0

Figure 1. Effects of attention in visual search tasks. (A) Performance in visual search decreases with eccentricity, as depicted by slower reaction times and higher error rates. Adjusting stimulus size according to the cortical magnification factor at a given eccentricity eliminates the eccentricity effect in visual search, indicating that spatial resolution constraints performance. Adapted from Carrasco & Frieder (1997). (B) Manipulating exogenous (involuntary) attention has a similar effect to cortical magnification, strongly reducing the eccentricity effect. These results support the idea that attention increases resolution at the attended location, restoring search performance at peripheral locations where low resolution is a limiting factor. Adapted from Carrasco & Yeshurun (1998).