Single-trial classification of parallel pre-attentive and serial attentive processes using functional magnetic resonance imaging

Theories of perception have proposed a basic distinction between parallel pre-attentive and serial attentive modes of processing. However, chronometric measures are often ambiguous in separating parallel and serial processes. We have used the activity of attention-related regions of the human brain, measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging, to separate parallel from serial processes at the single-trial level in a visual quantification task. In this task, some have suggested the deployment of two qualitatively different processes, a fast parallel 'subitizing' for sets of one, two or three objects and a slow serial counting for larger sets. Our results indicate that attention-related regions of the posterior parietal and frontal cortices show a sudden increase in activity only from numerosity four onwards, confirming the parallel-serial dichotomy of subitizing and counting. Moreover, using the presence or absence of attentional shifts, as inferred from the activation of posterior parietal regions, we successfully predict whether, on a given trial, subjects deployed a serial exploration of the display or a parallel apprehension. Beyond the subitizing/counting debate, this approach may prove useful to probe the attentional demands of other cognitive tasks.