A new method for tracking the preparatory activation of target templates for visual search with high temporal precision

Efficiently selecting task-relevant objects during visual search depends on foreknowledge of their defining characteristics, which are represented within attentional templates. These templates bias attentional processing toward template-matching sensory signals and are assumed to become anticipatorily activated prior to search display onset. However, a direct neural signal for such preparatory template activation processes has so far remained elusive. Here, we introduce a new high-definition rapid serial probe presentation paradigm (RSPP-HD), which facilitates high temporal resolution tracking of target template activation processes in real time via monitoring of the N2pc component. In the RSPP-HD procedure, task-irrelevant probe displays are presented in rapid succession throughout the period between task-relevant search displays. The probe and search displays are homologously formed by lateralized "clouds" of colored dots, yielding probes that occur at task-relevant locations without confounding template-guided and salience-driven attentional shifts. Target color probes appearing at times when a corresponding target template is active should attract attention, thereby eliciting an N2pc. In a condition where new probe displays appeared every 50 ms, probe N2pcs were reliably elicited during the final 800 ms prior to search display onset, increasing in amplitude toward the end of this preparation period. Analogous temporal profiles were also observed with longer intervals between probes. These findings show that search template activation processes are transient and that their temporal profile can be reliably monitored at high-sampling frequencies with the RSPP-HD paradigm. This procedure offers a new route to approach various questions regarding the content and temporal dynamics of attentional control processes. Covert attentional control processes are difficult to investigate, as they occur in the absence of observable behavior. Here, we present a new method for tracking the preparatory activation of target templates in visual search with high-temporal resolution by measuring N2pc components to multiple task-irrelevant probes presented in rapid succession between search displays. This new procedure can be employed in different task contexts to determine the temporal properties of top-down attentional control.