During visual search for targets defined by a specific feature, a representation of this feature (an attentional template) is already activated during search preparation. This has been shown in many experiments that used the contingent attentional capture paradigm. Here, we employed this paradigm to investigate the nature of such preparatory target templates during search for conjunctively defined targets. A globally recruited sample of participants searched for targets defined by a single feature (a particular colour, orientation, shape, or size), or by a conjunction of two features from different dimensions. Search displays were preceded by cues with target-matching features, and spatial cueing effects triggered by these cues were measured to test whether a corresponding preparatory search template was active. Contingent attentional capture effects were found for all four dimensions during single-feature search. When targets were defined by a conjunction of colour and either orientation, size, or shape, capture effects were present only for the non-colour dimension, but were consistently absent for colour, suggesting that no preparatory colour templates were activated. In contrast, both shape and size cues triggered reliable and additive contingent capture effects during shape/size conjunction search. These results show that preparatory templates for target features from different dimensions can be activated independently and in parallel during conjunction search, but that colour templates may only be triggered reactively.

Attentional selectivity focuses on what is currently relevant. Relevance changes frequently in everyday life, triggering rapid reassignments of attentional priorities. Such reassignments are often not associated with behavioral changes and are thus difficult to assess objectively. Here, we measured rapid, covert switches between preparatory task settings (attentional templates) in visual search, as they occurred in real time. Participants searched for color-defined targets in search displays that appeared unpredictably either early (after 700 msec) or late (after 1500 msec) on each trial. In Experiment 1, early and late targets were defined by different colors. Participants first had to activate a template for the early target color and then switch to a template for the late target color if no early search display appeared. In Experiment 2, cues signaled whether the initial target template had to be maintained or changed. Template activation states were tracked with N2pc components to rapid sequences of irrelevant probes matching either the early or late target color. A template for the early target color was active from about 300 msec before the expected arrival of early search displays, followed by a template switch. Switches based on endogenous temporal expectations emerged more gradually in time than switches in response to external cues. Presenting cues in Experiment 2 triggered a temporary search template deactivation even when the target color remained unchanged, indicating that template maintenance is subject to an attentional blink. Results demonstrate that rapid switches between attentional templates in visual search can be tracked with high temporal precision.

Our study investigates how language proficiency impacts cognitive processing in the brain. We focused on congenitally and early deaf adults, where individual differences in language access during development significantly influence language proficiency and cognitive function. This variability in language backgrounds and skills allows us to explore the influence of early language experience on the large-scale brain networks that support cognition. We used functional MRI in a group of deaf adults with diverse language backgrounds and a control group of hearing participants. We hypothesized that differences in language skills would modulate neural responses and functional connectivity in task-related networks during the execution of demanding working memory and planning tasks. Our study revealed that differences in language proficiency, independently of language modality (signed or spoken), are positively correlated with neural activity and functional connectivity within the task-positive network during working memory in deaf adults. Furthermore, compared to hearing participants, the deaf group showed distinct patterns of neural activity and connectivity in task-dependent regions in the working memory experiment. Our findings emphasize the profound impact of early environmental experiences on brain responses during cognitive processing. Specifically, they highlight the role of language proficiency in shaping and supporting higher-order cognition.

In many visual search tasks, the detection of target objects in visual search requires feature-selective attentional guidance and space-based attentional selection. Feature-based attention is often assumed to operate in a spatially global fashion across the entire visual field, but there is also evidence that it can be restricted to task-relevant locations under some conditions. Here, we investigated whether such spatial filtering processes are already evident when representations of target-defining features (attentional templates) are activated during the preparation for an upcoming search episode. We measured N2pc components (an electrophysiological index of attentional allocation) in response to a rapid series of lateral task-irrelevant but template-matching colour probes that appeared while participants prepared for an upcoming search task with colour-defined targets. Critically, search targets would either always appear in the same lateral regions of visual space as the probes, or at different locations (near fixation or in lateral areas that never contained probes), thus rendering the probed locations either task-relevant or irrelevant. N2pc components triggered by target-colour probes during the preparation period emerged later and were attenuated when probes were presented at irrelevant locations. This demonstrates that the effects of preparatory feature-based attentional templates can be modulated by spatial expectations. However, this type of spatial filtering during search preparation only attenuates but not completely eliminates feature-based attentional modulations.

The study of early deafnes provides unique insights into how sensory experience shapes brain function and organisation. Here we investigated whether the auditory cortex of deaf individuals can implement higher-order cognitive functions when its sensory input is absent or significantly reduced. Crossmodal plasticity research has shown that auditory areas of the human brain are recruited for executive processing tasks in deaf individuals ([Cardin et al., 2018][1]; [Ding et al., 2015][2]; [Manini et al., 2022][3]; [Zimmermann et al., 2021][4]). What is the role of the auditory cortex during such executive processes in deaf individuals? One possibility is that it has a role in sensory processing, extracting information about relevant features. Alternatively, they it may represent higher-order information, such as coding task rules or modulating attentional states. To distinguish between these hypotheses, we conducted an fMRI delay-to-match experiment in either the visual or somatosensory modality in deaf (N=13) and hearing (N=18) individuals. Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) showed that the auditory cortex of deaf individuals contains information about higher-level processes such as task and sensory modality. We also found significant representations of somatosensory frequency. Critically, task and modality representations were also found in the auditory cortex of hearing individuals. These findings suggest that crossmodal plasticity relies on the enhancement of representations that are present in hearing individuals, rather than through the implementation of novel ones. In conclusion, we show that sensory experience shapes cognitive processing and the function of sensory regions in the brain, and that the “functional destiny” of cortical regions can be shaped by early sensory experience. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, https://ror.org/00cwqg982, BBSRC; BB/P019994 [1]: #ref-14 [2]: #ref-21 [3]: #ref-40 [4]: #ref-70

Recent evidence suggests that attentional capture by salient-but-irrelevant distractions can be avoided via suppression, thereby improving performance in visual search. Initial evidence suggested it is only possible to suppress salient distractors with constant and predictable features (first-order suppression). We show that previous failures to find evidence for second-order suppression of unpredictable feature singletons may have been due to low feature variability: If it is probable that the salient distractor colour is the target colour on another trial, suppressing this item might hinder performance. We first validated a new multiframe letter-probe paradigm, where observers counted the search displays with a target shape and always reported as many letter probes as possible from the final display. When target and singleton colours were constant (Experiment 1), a singleton suppression effect was observed, with probe letters at the singleton distractor location reported less frequently than those at non-singleton distractor locations. When two randomly swapped target/singleton colours were employed (Experiment 2), no suppression effect was observed, replicating previous findings. Critically, when target-colour items and the singleton could have one of eight different random colours (Experiment 3), a robust suppression effect reappeared. These observations demonstrate that first-order suppression is not universal, and that second-order suppression can be applied to singleton distractors under some circumstances. Suppression effects were observed for displays with and without targets, suggesting that they are not a product of direct target-singleton competition.

It is generally assumed that the guidance of attention in visual search operates in a feature-based fashion, but this conclusion is mainly based on the results of search tasks with feature-defined targets. Here, we investigated whether attentional templates may contain integrated object-based representations in tasks where targets are defined by feature conjunctions. Attentional load was manipulated by instructing participants to search for a single or one of two different possible targets. Search targets were either defined by a particular color or shape (feature search tasks) or by a color/shape combination (conjunction search task), and load effects were compared between these two types of tasks. Load effects on search performance as well as on electrophysiological markers of attentional guidance (N2pc components) and the number of attentional templates activated in working memory (CDA components) were much more pronounced during conjunction search. This suggests that attentional templates are always feature-based, even when object-based templates are in principle available to reduce memory load.

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.

Our study aimed to investigate the impact of differences in language proficiency on the neural correlates of cognitive processing in deaf adults. In congenitally and early deaf individuals, individual differences in language proficiency reflect the degree of language access during critical developmental periods and significantly influence cognitive function. By studying the neural substrates of cognition in a population with diverse language backgrounds and skills, we can explore the influence of early language experience on the formation of cognitive networks in the brain. We used functional MRI in a group of deaf adults with varying language experience backgrounds and a control group of hearing participants. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that differences in language skills modulate neural response and functional connectivity during the execution of demanding cognitive tasks tapping into working memory and planning. Our study revealed that differences in language proficiency, independently of language modality (signed or spoken), are positively correlated with neural activity and functional connectivity within regions of the task-positive network during working memory in deaf adults. Furthermore, compared to hearing participants, the deaf group showed distinctive patterns of neural activity and connectivity during working memory task performance in task-dependent regions of the brain. Taken together, our findings emphasise the profound impact of early environmental experiences on brain responses during cognitive processing. Specifically, they highlight the role of language proficiency in shaping and supporting high-order cognition in the brain. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

It is often claimed that probabilistic expectations affect visual perception directly, without mediation by selective attention. However, these claims have been disputed, as effects of expectation and attention are notoriously hard to dissociate experimentally. In this study, we used a new approach to separate expectations from attention. In four experiments (N = 60), participants searched for a target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream and had to identify a digit or a letter defined by a low-level cue (colour or shape). Expectations about the target's alphanumeric category were probabilistically manipulated. Since category membership is a high-level feature and since the target was embedded among many distractors that shared its category, targets from the expected category should not attract attention more than targets from the unexpected category. In the first experiment, these targets were more likely to be identified relative to targets from the unexpected category. Importantly, in the following experiments, we also included behavioural and electrophysiological indices of attentional guidance and engagement. This allowed us to examine whether expectations also modulated these or earlier attentional processes. Results showed that category-based expectations had no modulatory effects on attention, and only affected processing at later encoding-related stages. Alternative interpretation of expectation effects in terms of repetition priming or response bias were also ruled out. These observations provide new evidence for direct attention-independent expectation effects on perception. We suggest that expectations can adjust the threshold required for encoding expectations-congruent information, thereby affecting the speed with which target objects are encoded in working memory.

Visual search is guided by representations of target-defining features (attentional templates). We tracked the time course of template activation processes during the preparation for search in a task where the identity of color-defined search targets switched across successive trials (ABAB). Task-irrelevant color probes that matched either the upcoming relevant target color or the previous now-irrelevant target color were presented every 200 msec during the interval between search displays. N2pc components (markers of attentional capture) were measured for both types of probes at each time point. A reliable probe N2pc indicates that the corresponding color template is active at the time when the probe appears. N2pcs of equal size emerged from 1000 msec before search display onset for both relevant-color and irrelevant-color probes, demonstrating that both color templates were activated concurrently. Evidence for color-selective attentional control was found only immediately before the arrival of the search display, where N2pcs were larger for relevant-color probes. These results reveal important limitations in the executive control of search preparation in tasks where two targets alternate across trials. Although the identity of the upcoming target is fully predictable, both task-relevant and task-irrelevant target templates are coactivated. Knowledge about target identity selectively biases these template activation processes in a temporally discrete fashion, guided by temporal expectations about when the target template will become relevant.

The N2pc and P3 event-related potentials (ERPs), used to index selective attention and access to working memory and conscious awareness, respectively, have been important tools in cognitive sciences. Although it is likely that these two components and the underlying cognitive processes are temporally and functionally linked, such links have not yet been convincingly demonstrated. Adopting a novel methodological approach based on dynamic time warping (DTW), we provide evidence that the N2pc and P3 ERP components are temporally linked. We analyzed data from an experiment where 23 participants (16 women) monitored bilateral rapid serial streams of letters and digits in order to report a target digit indicated by a shape cue, separately for trials with correct responses and trials where a temporally proximal distractor was reported instead (distractor intrusion). DTW analyses revealed that N2pc and P3 latencies were correlated in time, both when the target or a distractor was reported. Notably, this link was weaker on distractor intrusion trials. This N2pc–P3 association is discussed with respect to the relationship between attention and access consciousness. Our results demonstrate that our novel method provides a valuable approach for assessing temporal links between two cognitive processes and their underlying modulating factors. This method allows to establish links and their modulator for any two time-series across all domains of the field (general-purpose MATLAB functions and a Python module are provided alongside this paper).

Representations of task-relevant object attributes (attentional templates) control the adaptive selectivity of visual processing. Previous studies have demonstrated that templates involved in the guidance of attention during visual search are activated in a preparatory fashion prior to the arrival of visual search displays. The current study investigated whether such proactive mechanisms are also triggered in non-search tasks, where attentional templates do not mediate the guidance of attention towards targets amongst distractors but are still necessary for subsequent target recognition processes. Participants either searched for colour-defined targets among multiple distractors or performed two other non-search tasks where imperative stimuli appeared without competing distractors (a colour-based Go/NoGo task, and a shape discrimination task where target colour was constant and could thus be ignored). Preparatory activation of colour-selective templates was tracked by measuring N2pc components (markers of attention allocation) to task-irrelevant colour singleton probes flashed every 200 ms during the interval between target displays. As expected, N2pcs were triggered by target-coloured probes in the search task, indicating that a corresponding guidance template was triggered proactively. Critically, clear probe N2pcs were also observed in the Go/NoGo task, and even in the shape discrimination task in an attenuated fashion. These findings demonstrate that the preparatory activation of feature-selective attentional task settings is not uniquely associated with the guidance of visual search but is also present in other types of visual selection tasks where guidance is not required.

Visual search is guided by mental representations of target-defining features (attentional templates) that are activated in a preparatory fashion. It remains unknown how many templates can be maintained concurrently, and what kind of costs are associated with multiple-template versus single-template search. Here, we compared the operation of attentional templates during three-color and single-color search tasks. Preparatory template activation processes were tracked by measuring N2pc components to task-irrelevant singleton color probes that appeared in rapid succession during the interval between search displays. These probes attract attention (as indexed by an N2pc) if the corresponding color template is active at the time when the probe appears. In a three-color search task where target identity was fully predictable (Experiment 1), only probes that matched the upcoming target color triggered N2pcs, demonstrating that only a single target template was activated. When three possible color targets appeared randomly and unpredictably (Experiment 2), probes that matched any of these colors triggered N2pcs, demonstrating that all three templates were activated concurrently. However, relative to a single-color search task, clear costs emerged in this three-color task for attentional guidance toward search targets and for search performance. These costs appear to be linked to inhibitory interactions between simultaneously active search templates. These findings show that while at least three target templates can be maintained in parallel, multiple-template search is still subject to capacity limitations which affect both template-guided attentional guidance and the subsequent selective processing of search targets.