Object-based visual selective attention and perceptual organization (original) (raw)
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Object-based attention generalizes to multisurface objects
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2020
When a part of an object is cued, targets presented in other locations on the same object are detected more rapidly and accurately than are targets on other objects. Often in object-based attention experiments, cues and targets appear not only on the same object but also on the same surface. In four psychophysical experiments, we examined whether the "object" of attentional selection was the entire object or one of its surfaces. In Experiment 1, facilitation effects were found for targets on uncued, adjacent surfaces on the same object, even when the cued and uncued surfaces were oriented differently in depth. This suggests that the "object-based" benefits of attention are not restricted to individual surfaces. Experiments 2a and 2b examined the interaction of perceptual grouping and object-based attention. In both experiments, cuing benefits extended across objects when the surfaces of those objects could be grouped, but the effects were not as strong as in Experiment 1, where the surfaces belonged to the same object. The cuing effect was strengthened in Experiment 3 by connecting the cued and target surfaces with an intermediate surface, making them appear to all belong to the same object. Together, the experiments suggest that the objects of attention do not necessarily map onto discrete physical objects defined by bounded surfaces. Instead, attentional selection can be allocated to perceptual groups of surfaces and objects in the same way as it can to a location or to groups of features that define a single object.
On the spatial extent of attention in object-based visual selection
1996
Abstract A new test was devised to avoid previous confounds in measures of object-based limits on divided visual attention. The distinction between objects was manipulated across a wide spatial extent. Target elements appeared on the same object only when far apart, and appeared close only when on different objects, so that object effects could not be reduced to spatial effects, nor vice versa. Subjects judged whether two odd elements within a display of two dashed lines were the same or different.
Object-based selection under focused attention: A failure to replicate
Perception & Psychophysics, 2000
In a recent study, Lavie and Driver (1996) reported that object-based effects found with distributed attention disappear when attention is focused on a narrow area of the display. This finding stands in contrast with previous reports of object-based effects under conditions of focused attention (e.g., Atchley & Kramer, 1998; Egly, Driver, & Rafal, 1994).The present study was an attempt to replicate Lavie and Driver's finding, using similar task and stimuli. WhileLavie and Driver's object-based effect in the distributed attention condition was replicated, its absence in the focused attention condition was not. In the two experiments reported in this paper, object-based effects were found under conditions of both distributed and focused attention, with no difference in the magnitude of the object-based effects in the two conditions. It is concluded that, in contrast with Lavie and Driver's claim, the initial spatial setting of attention does not influence object-based constraints on the distribution of attention. A central issue in the study ofvisual selective attention concerns the representational format in which selection takes place. In the last 15 years, numerous studies have investigated whether attentional selection operates within space-based or within object-based representations (see Egeth & Yantis, 1997, for a review). Evidence coming from a wide range ofparadigms shows that the distribution ofattentional resources is constrained by grouping factors other than proximity, thus providing strong support for the object-based view. Using the Eriksen response competition paradigm or flanker task (Eriksen & Hoffman, 1973), several experiments showed that distractors slow response to a target more when they are grouped with it (e.g., by common color or contour) than when they are not (e.g.,
Integrating Perceptual Organization and Attention: A New Model For Object-Based Attention
Recent research shows that, under certain conditions, visual attention is object-based. That is, attention preferentially selects objects in the visual field. These objects are processed, culminating in object recognition. On this formulation, the objects selected by attention are perceptual groups determined by the principles of perceptual organization of Gestalt psychology. These groups are formed independently of attentional processes and conceptual knowledge. This view is not consistent with available data about the visual system, which shows that perceptual organization is sensitive to conceptual information, depends on attentional processes, and infers representations that best explain the visual stimulus. Here, I propose a new account of visual attention that aims to correct these limitations of the Gestalt-based formulation. The nature of the object representations underlying perceptual and attentional mechanisms is discussed. It is proposed that attention and perception int...
Strategic effects on object-based attentional selection
Acta Psychologica, 1999
The same-object bene®t, that is faster and/or more accurate performance when two target properties to be identi®ed appear on one object than when each of the properties appear on dierent objects, has been a robust and theoretically important ®nding in the study of attentional selection. Indeed, the same-object bene®t has been interpreted to suggest that attention can be used to select objects and perceptual groups rather than unparsed regions of visual space. In the present studies we report and explore a dierent-object bene®t, that is faster identi®cation performance when two target properties appear on dierent objects than when they appear on a single object. The results from the three experiments suggest that the dierent-object bene®t was the result of mental rotation and translation strategies that subjects performed on objects in an eort to determine whether two target properties matched or mismatched. These image manipulation strategies appear to be performed with similar but not with dissimilar target properties. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the study of object-based attentional selection. Ó * Corresponding author. 0001-6918/99/$ -see front matter Ó 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 0 1 -6 9 1 8 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 2 1 -9 2 N.
Modern views of vision believe that perceptual grouping consists of a large number of processes, these might happen at the different levels of vision process and they have different attentional demands. I performed this experiment to assess the reaction time (RT) differences among the different patterns (orientation, proximity, similarity) of perceptual grouping in vision. The grouping cues contained two controlled conditions (filled, grouped) and three experimental conditions (orientation, proximity, similarity). Each condition was shown in the four set sizes (5 conditions × 4 set sizes), using E-prime software program. The results show that the controlled conditions perceived faster than three experimental patterns. Contrary to expectations, the RT of similarity in shape dominates the proximity condition. Similarly, the RT of similarity in shape is less than orientation condition. The results propose that the controlled grouped cues require a lower attention level compared to grouping cues displaying multi-element shapes. Also, the similarity in shape has a lower attentional demand that proximity and orientation.