Attention Perception & Psychophysics最新文献

In a single glance at a collection of objects, we can appreciate their numerosity. But what are the “objects” over which this number sense operates? Most work in this domain has implicitly assumed that we estimate the number of discrete, bounded individuals actually present in the visual field. However, in many instances we can construe such individuals as potential parts of composite objects that they can create—as when we assemble furniture or complete a jigsaw puzzle. Here, we demonstrate that visual numerosity estimation is sensitive to such part–whole relations, such that the number of items in a display is underestimated when it contains spatially separated but easily combinable objects. Participants saw brief displays containing noncontiguous “puzzle-piece” stimuli, and reported which display had more pieces. Crucially, most of the pieces appeared in pairs that either could or could not efficiently combine into new objects. In four experiments, displays with combinable pieces were judged as less numerous than displays with noncombinable pieces—as if the mind treated two geometrically compatible pieces as being the single whole object they could create. These effects went beyond various low-level factors, and they persisted even when participants were explicitly trained to treat individual pieces as the units that should be counted. Thus, despite the many ways that sets of objects may be construed for the purposes of counting, visual perception automatically takes into account the ways that object parts may combine into wholes when extracting numerosity from visual displays.

Recurring questions in visual perception concern the role of experience and the relationship between parts and wholes. We investigated these questions in an experiment in which observers reported where they perceived a figure relative to a central border in bipartite displays in which the region on one side depicted either: (1) an identifiable configuration of a familiar basic-level object in its typical upright orientation (a “whole” familiar configuration); (2) an inverted version of (1); (3) a part rearranged (PR) version of (1) comprising the same parts as the upright familiar configuration; (4) an inverted version of (3). Previous research showed that regions are perceived as figures more often when they depict upright familiar configurations rather than inverted or PR configurations, supporting claims that familiar configurations are figural priors, but familiar parts are not. Here, displays depicting the four configuration types were counterbalanced over four trial blocks to elucidate the role of parts versus wholes in figure assignment and to examine whether previous experience with one configuration altered performance with another. Results showed that inverted familiar configurations were weaker figural priors than upright, but were stronger than PR configurations, revealing the importance of inter-part connectivity. Moreover, a reliable effect of block was observed for all configurations, revealing a role for familiar parts in figure assignment. Finally, no influence of the type of configuration viewed in block 1 was observed for any configuration in block 2. We attribute the pattern of results to neural populations representing parts and wholes of well-known objects.

Recent research on validity sequence effects (VSE) has drawn on conflict task theories to explain the psychological mechanisms underlying the VSE. This study analyzed a confound-minimized arrow cueing task and a prime-probe task using the aimed-movement method, which separates reaction times into initiation time (IT) and movement time (MT). Neutral stimuli were included to isolate the benefit/facilitation (or cost/interference) effects of the cues (or the primes). Distributional analyses showed that significant cueing effect and VSE only appeared in the IT data. In addition, the size of the cueing effect increased with the extension of the response latencies, mainly attributed to the increase in the cost effect by invalid cues. The size of the VSE did not vary at different response latencies and was mainly reflected by the enlarged cueing effect after previous valid cues. In comparison, the size of the congruency effect in the prime-probe task increased with the extension of the response latencies only in the MT data. Like VSE, the observed congruency sequence effect (CSE) appeared at IT data and the size of it did not vary at different response latencies, but the CSE was mainly reflected by the reduced congruency effect after previous incongruent trials. These findings are discussed and compared with literature findings from conflict tasks. The results indicate that the cueing effect of cueing tasks has qualitative difference with the congruency effect of conflict tasks, but the adaptive cognitive mechanisms (i.e., sequence effects) under these tasks are less different with each other.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of audiovisual N-back task training on working memory and audiovisual integration ability in older adults. Twenty healthy older adults underwent 40 sessions of audiovisual N-back training, while 18 healthy older adults served as controls. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and performance data were collected at baseline and end of the training period. The results indicated that working memory in older adults gradually improved with training. In the audiovisual 3-back task, the training enhanced the discriminability index (d') and reduced the latency of the N2 component evoked by target stimuli in older adults, compared with the control group. Furthermore, the training significantly enhanced the audiovisual integration abilities of older adults at the earlier stage of processing in 180–200 ms. This study demonstrates that audiovisual N-back training effectively improves working memory and early-stage audiovisual integration abilities in older adults. The findings highlight the potential of audiovisual N-back task training as an efficient method for enhancing cognitive and perceptual abilities in older adults and counteracting age-related brain decline.

This study aimed to investigate the perception and processing of speech in noise among musicians and nonmusicians. The study included 60 participants, ages 25–35, divided equally between musicians with formal training and nonmusicians without structured musical experience. Participants’ hearing levels were assessed through pure tone audiometry to confirm normal hearing function. During the study, all participants were required to listen to audio recordings with articulation tables overlaid with white noise. The results showed that the Articulation Index (AI) for recognizing stop consonants was 8.0 out of 10 for musicians and 6.5 for nonmusicians. A 0–10 scale was used to determine the AI score values, which were 7.5 for musicians and 6.0 for nonmusicians. Higher scores on this scale indicate better speech perception in noisy environments. It measures overall intelligibility. The final %ALcons for listening to stop consonants was 21% for musicians and 25% for nonmusicians. During listening to fricative consonants, this indicator was 33% for musicians and 37% for nonmusicians. These findings indicate that musicians demonstrate better speech perception in noise. While these results suggest potential applications of musical training for auditory rehabilitation (e.g., in cases like Wernicke’s aphasia), further longitudinal research is required to establish causation.

Attractive faces attract attention. Here, we examined how facial attractiveness influenced covert and overt social attention. Participants discriminated targets occurring after one of 32 different face–object cue pairs, which varied in the degree of attractiveness. Experiment 1 measured covert social attention in manual responses while maintaining central fixation. No evidence of attentional preference for faces was found. Experiment 2 measured overt social attention in eye movements while maintaining natural viewing conditions. A reliable oculomotor preference for attractive faces was found. Thus, facial attractiveness affects covert and overt social attention differently, reflecting the diverging ways in which faces affect attention with respect to social functioning in daily life. The datasets for all experiments can be found on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/u54tp/).

We used a dual-task paradigm to study the relationship between lateralized face perception and attention by measuring the costs of dividing attention between faces viewed in opposite visual fields. Observers performed judgments of either the sex, orientation, or color of one (single-task, cued) or both (dual-task, uncued) faces in a tachistoscopically viewed pair. We observed dual-task costs (i.e., decreased accuracy for dual- relative to single-task performance) for categorical judgments of face sex (female/male) and orientation (upright/inverted), both of which necessitated visual processing of face-specific information. We did not observe costs for judgments of face color (red-tinted/greyscale), which could be performed without processing face-specific visual information per se. We also observed an unexpected “feature contrast” effect of category-incongruency for judgments of face sex, such that observers showed no dual-task cost when faces in a pair belonged to opposite categories (e.g., female/male) as compared with the same category (e.g., female/female). Finally, dual-task costs for judgments of face sex and orientation (but not color) showed a left visual field (LVF) advantage: dual-task costs were greater in the right visual field (RVF) than in the LVF. We interpret this LVF cost advantage for judgments of face sex and orientation as indicative of the type of visual processing needed to perform face-based judgments. Our results show, for the first time, that the LVF advantage in face perception is directly related to capacity limits induced by divided attention to faces.

Talker identification categorizes variable speech signals into stable talker representations, a process facilitated by language and accent familiarity. The dual learning systems (DLS) model posits that speech category learning involves a “reflective” system based on explicit rules and a “reflexive” system based on stimulus-reward associations, with reflexive learning dominating in later stages. In this study, we leverage the DLS framework to investigate talker learning by training Mandarin-speaking listeners to identify talkers in native (Mandarin) and nonnative languages with native (English) or nonnative, but familiar accents (Mandarin-accented English) contexts. Listeners received either using full (e.g., Incorrect. It’s Talker 1) or minimally informative (e.g., Incorrect) feedback, encouraging reflective or reflexive learning, respectively. We assessed identification performance through accuracy and response times and analyzed the underlying decision processes using drift diffusion models. Results showed that language and accent familiarity improved accuracy and response times. At later training stages, minimal feedback, which promotes reflexive learning according to the DLS model, facilitated faster identification and more efficient decision-making, particularly in the nonnative language context (English). The findings highlight the benefit of reflexive learning in talker identification through improved response efficiency and the need to consider decision dynamics in this process. The data, materials, and analysis code are available online (https://osf.io/g7r9q/).

A fundamental question in visual working memory research is whether memories are comprised of collections of features, or are feature-bound object-based representations. The role of location has been particularly important, as many theories posit that location is a necessary feature to which others are bound. We employ novel variants of change-detection tasks to test the possibility that the features of an object can be stored in visual working memory even without a corresponding memory for their studied locations. In Experiment 1 memory capacity for the colors of studied items was higher than for the conjunction of colors and their locations, implying that some colors were stored without accurate location information. In Experiment 2, this result replicated under conditions of articulatory suppression, suggesting that the presence of colors without accurate locations was not due to verbal encoding. The results of Experiment 3 suggest that for some remembered items, location memory is merely imprecise, but that it can also be completely absent despite accurate memory for the color of that item. These results suggest that location is not a necessary feature of working memory storage, but rather that features such as color can be successfully stored without a memory for their location.

Irrelevant peripheral visual onsets have consistently been shown to interfere with target processing, a phenomenon attributed to their ability to divert attention from the target. Here we show that in addition to their detrimental effect on performance, irrelevant visual onsets may also facilitate target discrimination. However, this beneficial effect only emerges once habituation mechanisms have fully abolished onset capture. At a 20% onset rate, onsets produced only interference, with capture habituating across blocks of trials. At 50% and 80% rates, a stronger habituation was observed, and once capture was eliminated, onsets began to facilitate performance, as evidenced by faster response times when onsets were present compared to when they were absent. A further experiment demonstrated that visual onsets facilitate performance by allowing temporal expectation about the target moment of appearance, rather than by a generic alerting effect. These findings demonstrate that irrelevant visual onsets trigger two independent processes in the nervous system, resulting in two opposite effects on performance: interference due to attentional capture and facilitation due to temporal expectation. Our results highlight the flexibility of the attentional system in utilizing the same stimulus representation for different purposes, exogenous orienting with subsequent habituation, and temporal orienting, both of which capitalize on stimulus regularities to optimize processing efficiency.