Attribute-invariant orientation discrimination at an early stage of processing in the human visual system

This study investigated event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during selective attention to the orientation of a bar comprised of two squares, which were defined by only color or motion (intra-attribute conditions) or both (interattribute condition). An early positive potential in association with orientation selection was elicited for all conditions in similar latency ranges but with different scalp distributions. These results suggest that attribute-invariant orientations can be discriminated at an early stage of processing in the human brain, which fills a gap between monkey electrophysiology and human psychophysics, while attribute-specific orientations are also available in a given context.