Faculty Collaboration Database

The effects of visual search efficiency on object-based attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 2015 Jul;77(5):1544-57

Date

04/03/2015

Pubmed ID

25832192

Pubmed Central ID

PMC5728374

DOI

10.3758/s13414-015-0892-7

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84931574790 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   10 Citations

Abstract

The attentional prioritization hypothesis of object-based attention (Shomstein & Yantis in Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 41-51, 2002) suggests a two-stage selection process comprising an automatic spatial gradient and flexible strategic (prioritization) selection. The combined attentional priorities of these two stages of object-based selection determine the order in which participants will search the display for the presence of a target. The strategic process has often been likened to a prioritized visual search. By modifying the double-rectangle cueing paradigm (Egly, Driver, & Rafal in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 161-177, 1994) and placing it in the context of a larger-scale visual search, we examined how the prioritization search is affected by search efficiency. By probing both targets located on the cued object and targets external to the cued object, we found that the attentional priority surrounding a selected object is strongly modulated by search mode. However, the ordering of the prioritization search is unaffected by search mode. The data also provide evidence that standard spatial visual search and object-based prioritization search may rely on distinct mechanisms. These results provide insight into the interactions between the mode of visual search and object-based selection, and help define the modulatory consequences of search efficiency for object-based attention.

Author List

Greenberg AS, Rosen M, Cutrone E, Behrmann M

Author

Adam S. Greenberg PhD Associate Dean, Associate Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Anticipation, Psychological
Attention
Cues
Female
Humans
Male
Perceptual Masking
Problem Solving
Psychophysics
Reaction Time
Space Perception
Visual Perception