Our newest finding: tiny microsaccades are biased toward the location that is about to be attentionally suppressed. This suggests that attention briefly precedes suppression: before the system can suppress a location, it first appears to select it.

I will retire from the VU this year (but not from doing science). As a full-circle moment: here is paper on the paradigm with which it all started for me some 35 years ago, in the journal where it all started. A paper on the do’s and don’ts using the additional singleton paradigm. rdcu.be/ffUfa

ESCoP 2026 will be held in Hangzhou (31 Aug–4 Sept). Great keynote speakers, strong programme, and a chance to experience China. Easy travel via Shanghai + high-speed train. Abstracts still open! www.escop-copm-2026.com

We're hiring! Looking for a postdoc to work at UNSW Sydney, studying impacts of reward and information on attention, using eye-tracking, EEG, and modelling - with Kelly Garner, Daniel Pearson and me. Application link below, please spread the word! external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

Apologies - the project is also in collaboration with Jan Theeuwes (VU Amsterdam) @jthee.bsky.social! I curse the lack of an edit button in Bluesky.

Using intracranial recordings from 22 people, we show that hippocampal theta activity enables earlier decoding of the upcoming target, supporting automatic performance. This is specific to the hippocampus, with later involvement of ripple bursts. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

If you are interested in the attentional capture debate... You should read this paper. acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:...

By integrating the 'pinging' technique with fMRI-based multivariate pattern analysis, we provide evidence for a dual-format representation of attention during the preparatory period. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

🧠 Excited to share that our new preprint is out!🧠 In this work, we investigate the dynamic competition between bottom-up saliency and top-down goals in the early visual cortex using rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT). 📄 Check it out on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

By using a visual pinging technique, we uncovered a latent sensory-like format of attentional templates that remains hidden during passive preparation. In @elife.bsky.social: Dual-format attentional template during preparation in human visual cortex doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Thanks to the support of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and @knaw-nl.bsky.social , we're thrilled to announce the international symposium "Advances in the Encephalographic study of Attention"! 🧠🔍 📅 Date: June 25th & 26th 📍 Location: Trippenhuis, Amsterdam

This study challenges the idea that the early PD component is a marker of proactive distractor suppression. Instead, this study suggests that this early positivity reflects general salience processing and/or sensory imbalance rather than specific suppression mechanisms direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...

Through experience, humans can learn to suppress locations that frequently contain distracting stimuli. Using SSVEPs and ERPs, this study shows that such learned suppression modulates early neural responses, indicating it occurs during initial visual processing. www.jneurosci.org/content/jneu...

New Preprint! Here, we test the causal role of selective attention in the acquisition of reward-related attentional biases. W/ @mavadillo.bsky.social, @jthee.bsky.social , Dirk van Moorselaar and @jlupiane.bsky.social.

Humans can learn to ignore distracting locations, but the neural basis remains unclear. We used SSVEPs and ERPs to investigate how spatial suppression is learned. www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...

In @elife.bsky.social: Proactive distractor suppression in early visual cortex doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

In this ERP study, we examined the Pd in response to color singleton distractors and dynamic motion distractors during visual search (the additional singleton paradigm) direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...

We used a brain "pinging" again and found that distractor suppression is reactive rather than proactive, meaning attention is first drawn to the distractor before being suppressed.

Our fMRI study shows suppression in early visual cortex for those locations that are likely to contain distacting information. Proactive distractor suppression in early visual cortex doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Pinging the brain again: Not proactive, suppression is reactive. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

💬🙇🏼‍♀️💬🙇🏼‍♀️💬🙇🏼‍♀️ The advantage of spaced studying is well documented for explicit learning, but is there such an advantage for incidental #StatisticalLearning of novel #Language? Jasper de Waard from @jthee.bsky.social’s lab tested it! Find out what we found here : 🔗 doi.org/10.3758/s134...

Attentional Capture and Control | Annual Reviews - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...