A "target template", specifying target features, is thought to benefit visual search performance. Setting up a "negative template", specifying distractor features, should improve distractor inhibition and also benefit target detection. In the current fMRI study, subjects were required to search for a target among distractors enclosed in coloured circles. Before search, one of three colour cues appeared: a positive cue indicating the target will appear in the cued colour, a negative cue indicating only distractors will appear in the cued colour, or a neutral cue indicating that the cued colour will not appear in the search display. Cues appeared in one of five colors, balanced across each cue type and randomized within a run. Onsets and durations of the cue period and the search period were modeled for every trial.


Please cite the following reference if you use these data:
Reeder, R. R., Olivers, C. N. L., & Pollmann, S. (2017). Cortical evidence for negative search templates. Visual Cognition. doi:10.1080/13506285.2017.1339755


Subject 1 was a pilot subject who did not perform the full experiment and is not included in the main dataset. A total of 17 subjects (sub-02 - sub-18) are included in the final dataset.

The data from run 1 of subject 3 was not saved due to a technical error. Subject 3 has data only for runs 2-6.


The event_type column is coded in the following way:
"typeX_colorX_Xp"

-"type" is the cue type for that trial. Cue type is coded as "type1", "type2", or "type3". type1 = search followed a positive cue, type2 = search followed a negative cue, and type3 = search followed a neutral cue.

-"color" is the cue color for that trial. Cue color is coded as "color1", "color2", "color3", "color4", or "color5". color1 = hex code '#FFB6C1', color2 = hex code '#FFA500', color3 = hex code '#7FFF00', color4 = hex code '#00EEEE', and color5 = hex code '#E066FF'.

-"p" refers to the time period that was analyzed. Time period is coded as "cuep" or "searchp". cuep = cue period, and searchp = search period.

The final event_type might look like:
"type1_color1_cuep", meaning an event starting from the onset of the cue and ending at the offset of the cue, where the subject saw a positive cue in the color '#FFB6C1'.