The neurocognitive process underlying attention switches between external (perception-based) and internal (memory-based) attention is poorly characterized. Previous research has found that when participants switch attention either between two perception-based tasks (within-domain switches) or between a memory- and a perception-based task (between-domain switches), a substantial and similar processing cost was observed compared to the repetition of the same task (Verschooren, Schindler, De Raedt, & Pourtois, 2019). Here, we recorded 64-channel EEG while participants carried out within- versus between-domain switches of attention. ERP results showed that during early sensory processing, a marked P1 attenuation was associated with both switch types, suggesting that switching was associated with an early bottleneck during information processing. This early gating effect was stronger when switching from an internal to an external task, compared to switching between external tasks, suggesting different top-down requirements for them. These findings are in line with earlier proposals in the literature.

注意在外部（基于感知）和内部（基于记忆）注意之间切换的神经认知过程的特征很差。先前的研究发现，当参与者在两个基于感知的任务（域内切换）或基于记忆和基于感知的任务（域间切换）之间切换注意力时，与重复相同的任务（Verschooren、Schindler、De Raedt 和 Pourtois，2019 年）。在这里，我们记录了 64 通道 EEG，同时参与者进行了域内和域间注意力的转换。ERP 结果表明，在早期感觉处理期间，显着的 P1 衰减与两种转换类型相关，表明转换与信息处理期间的早期瓶颈有关。与在外部任务之间切换相比，从内部任务切换到外部任务时，这种早期的门控效应更强，表明对它们的自上而下要求不同。这些发现与文献中较早的提议一致。