DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5960547
title: Information-optimal local features automatically attract covert and overt attention

description: <strong>COVERT ATTENTION FOLDER </strong> The <strong>"COVERT ATTENTION" folder</strong> contains <strong>one hundred .mat files</strong> (eight files for sixteen participants). The file name for each subject (from S01 to S16) describes: Condition: Experimental or Control Cue Validity: 50% or 80% Type of trials: Neutral or Non-Neutral Each matrix of Neutral trials and Non-Neutral Control trials contains 8 columns: trial number side of presentation of the gabor: 1=SX; 2=DX gabor orientation: 1 = -20°; 2 = +20° gabor contrast subject's response: 1 = -20°; 2 = +20° correct response: 1= right; 0=wrong trial type: 1= Valid trial; 2 = Invalid trial Reaction time Each matrix of Non-Neutral Experimental trials contains 10 columns: trial number side of presentation of the gabor: 1=SX; 2=DX gabor orientation: 1 = -20°; 2 = +20° gabor contrast subject's response: 1 = -20°; 2 = +20° correct response: 1= right; 0=wrong trial type: 1= Valid trial; 2 = Invalid trial Identification code of the specific <em>optimal feature</em> presented Identification code of the specific <em>non-optimal</em> feature presented Reaction time <strong>OVERT ATTENTION FOLDER</strong> The file name for each subject (from S01 to S16) describes: Condition: Experimental or Control Cue Validity: 50% or 80% The <strong>"OVERT ATTENTION" folder</strong> contains <strong>sixty-four .EDF files</strong> (four files for sixteen participants). The EyeLink EDF* files contain many types of data, including eye movement events (BLINKS, FIXATIONS, SACCADES), messages (including the “default” ones by Eyelink, and the custom made ones, defining the single trial’s specific properties: this type of messages starts with “Trialinfo”), button presses, and eye-data samples. Here we have used the (calibrated) x and y position data of the right eye. Custom-made matlab scripts (available upon request to the authors) have been used to parse the data into trials, filter eye position and estimate eye velocity, select exploitable trials, detect and analyze saccades, etc. The EDF file format is a highly compressed binary format, intended for use with SR Research EyeLink viewers and applications. EDF files are not readable, they need to be transformed into a readable format (typically ASCII). A tool to transform edf files into ascii is freely available on the SR Research Support online forum site: https://download.sr-support.com/dispdoc/page25.html. The folder also contains <strong>sixty-four .mat files</strong> (four files for sixteen participants), containing the relevant information of each trial. Each matrix of the Control condition contains 5 columns: trial number side of presentation of the place holder: 1=SX; 2=DX Type of trial: 0 = Neutral, 1 = Valid, 2 = Invalid Saccade to target: 1 correct saccade 0 no saccade Saccade latency Each matrix of Experimental condition contains 8 columns: trial number side of presentation of the place holder: 1=SX; 2=DX Identification code of the specific <em>optimal feature</em> presented Identification code of the specific <em>non-optimal</em> feature presented Type of trial: 3 = neutral, 4 = valid, 5 = invalid Saccade to target: 1 correct saccade 0 no saccade Saccade latency