Nina M. Hanning^1,2 (), Martin Rolfs^1,3; ¹Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, ²New York University, New York, ³Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin

How does attending to a location outside our field of view influence what we see within it? To explore this question, participants were seated within a 360° panoramic setup (diameter = 3.14m), consisting of a cylindrical screen and six projectors evenly spaced at 60° intervals. To map visual attention in this scenario, we combined a dot tracking task with an orientation discrimination protocol. A dynamic full-field 1/f noise was displayed across observers’ entire (horizontal) visual field, which we determined for each participant. Participants mentally tracked a dot that circled around them horizontally at a constant speed of 45°/s, while keeping their gaze fixed ahead. Fixation was monitored continuously using a head-mounted eye-tracking system. The tracked dot disappeared, accompanied by an auditory cue, either within view, or behind them. Simultaneously, we presented ±45deg orientation-filtered 1/f noise as a local discrimination signal. After a brief masking period, participants then localized the dot’s last location and indicated their orientation judgement (cw/ccw, 2AFC). We analyzed their discrimination performance relative to the estimated dot offset as a measure of visual attention. Localization accuracy deteriorated gradually as soon as the dot moved out of sight, showing a pronounced underestimation of distance travelled. Meanwhile, mentally tracking the dot behind the head did not harm visual sensitivity ahead: Participants’ performance was high and largely unaffected by the tracking task. Surprisingly, sensitivity showed a spatially specific improvement at the location opposite to the estimated dot position. These results suggest a systematic mapping of locations behind the head on the frontal visual field. We speculate that this mapping may reflect a preparatory mechanism, where attention prioritizes locations ahead in anticipation of movement forward, away from a potential threat.

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship (MSCA-IF 898520) by the European Commission to NMH and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. [865715 – VIS-A-VIS] to MR).