Visual Attention doesn’t Travel, it Teleports

Attention forms a key, yet elusive component of visual processing. We shift attention constantly across the visual field to enhance processing of relevant locations or stimuli in service of goal-directed behavior. Here, we investigate a fundamental property of attentional shifts: when covertly shifting from one location to another, does visual attention “travel” (enhance processing at intermediate locations) or “teleport” (not interact with intermediate locations)? While most shifts of information or movement “travel” (e.g., eye and body movements, neuronal signalling), for attentional shifts such intermediate processing enhancement might not be necessary, nor functional. To answer this question while tackling the difficulty of tracking covert attentional dynamics, we conducted an EEG-eyetracking experiment (n=24) paired with Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging (RIFT). This let us track attentional enhancement during covert attentional shifts with high temporal and spatial precision. We successfully registered covert shifts, but found no evidence for any attentional modulation in-between the start and end-point of an attentional shift. Additional insilico modelling of attentional shifts confirmed that our method was sensitive enough to pick up on these modulations had they been present. Our results support a “teleporting” model of attention, suggesting that attention is implemented in a fundamentally different manner compared to overt visual behaviours such as eye movements.