Multiple visual objects are sampled sequentially

When acting in a complex visual environment,it is essential to be able to flexibly allocate attention to parts of the visual scene that may contain goal-relevant information. the paper by jia et al. provides novel evidence that our brains sequentially sample different objects in a visual scene. the results were obtained using “temporal response functions,” in which unique electroencephalographic (eeg) signals corresponding to the processing of 2 continuously presented objects were isolated in an object-specific way. these response functions were dominated by 10-hz alpha-band activity. crucially,the different objects were sequentially sampled at a rate of about 2 hz. these findings provide important neurophysiological insights into how our visual system operates in complex environments. © 2017 jensen,vissers.