Attention Perception & Psychophysics最新文献

Salient-but-irrelevant color singletons often elicit a positive component in the event-related potential (the P_D) rather than a negative component associated with attentional selection (the N2pc). The positivity is often assumed to reflect inhibitory control processes that prevent salience-driven distraction, particularly when the positivity emerges before the time range of the N2pc. To be certain that this “early P_D” is associated with inhibition, it is necessary to show that the positivity is absent when participants search for the color singleton. Here, we replicated a seminal letter-search task in which a singleton distractor was found to elicit an early positivity (Experiment 1) and then instructed participants to detect the presence of the same singleton (Experiment 2). We discovered that the early positivity is present both when participants ignored the singleton and when they searched for the singleton. These results suggest that the early positivity is associated with salience processing rather than inhibition that prevents distraction.

Are people who are susceptible to one illusion also susceptible to others? Previous research has shown small correlations, but might small values reflect attenuation from measurement error from trial-to-trial variation? To assess measurement error, we develop a set of novel data visualizations and hierarchical models. Data from 149 participants on two variants of the five illusions were collected using an adjustment paradigm. The results showed low trial-noise and strong between-subject variability (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio (approx 1.14), reliability (approx 0.93)). Correlations across illusions are low, around (0.22 pm 0.07). A Bayesian hierarchical analysis reveals minimal attenuation from measurement error in these values. Though correlations are low, latent variable analysis reveals a common latent factor that loads on all tasks and explains about 23.3% of the variance in illusion susceptibility.

This report targets the claim that gist representations of visual stimuli, called “ensemble averages”, are perceptual representations of statistics pertaining to stimuli. We report predictions of a mathematical model based on classical memory architectures which assumes ensemble averages are statistical approximations to stimuli, and that those approximations are constructed within short-term memory. We report results of three new experiments that test those predictions. The results support the memory model and contradict the view that representations of ensemble averages are computed early in perceptual processing via parallel processing or neural pooling, suggesting instead that they are computed via control processes acting on item representations held in visual short-term memory. We conclude that the flight toward new mechanisms that has occurred within the ensemble representation literature is ill-advised, and suggest that one first carefully consider what well-established memory models can accomplish in the ensemble “perception” domain.

In theories of human action, it is assumed that individual actions are nested within higher-order action plans. This hierarchical structure oftentimes allows for the anticipatory planning of multiple future actions even before the current action is fully executed or situational cues demand this specific action. However, much of the existing research on basic action control processes has focused on isolated actions, that is, sequentially planned and executed actions, leaving it unclear whether these findings generalize to more naturalistic, preplanned action contexts. In particular, although the binding of individual responses into common representations and their retrieval from memory have been proposed as key mechanisms supporting action control of action sequences, it remains poorly understood how these processes operate when multiple responses can be planned in advance as part of an action sequence. In this study, we compared action contexts in which individual responses were planned and executed sequentially to contexts in which response sequences allowed for the preplanning of individual responses. Crucially, response-response binding effects of comparable strength were observed in both action contexts. Thus, binding and retrieval of responses seem not only to influence current performance during sequential action planning and execution but also to influence ongoing behavior within action sequences that could be preplanned.

Do comprehenders predict (i.e., what will come next) when hearing rapid speech? Two mouse cursor tracking experiments investigated association-based predictions, which may be suited to speeded processing. Participants heard predictive sentences (e.g., “What the pilot will fly, which is shown here, is the . . .”) while viewing visual arrays with predictable objects (e.g., helicopter) and unpredictable but verb-associated objects (e.g., kite) or unrelated objects (e.g., book). Experiment 1 compared predictive and nonpredictive (e.g., “What everyone will discuss, which is shown here, is the . . .”) sentences at a normal speech rate, and Experiment 2 compared predictive sentences at a normal and fast speech rate (e.g., averaging ~4 and 9 syllables per second). In addition to making mouse cursor movements to predictable objects before hearing predictable words (e.g., “helicopter”), participants’ mouse cursor movements at both speech rates were attracted to unpredictable but verb-associated objects, providing evidence of association-based prediction. These results suggest that when hearing rapid speech, associations support but do not dominate comprehenders’ predictions.

Adults can effectively divide visual attention across non-contiguous spatial locations. However, it is currently unknown whether the ability to deploy multifocal attention is a hallmark of human endogenous attention, or whether this ability develops with maturation of the neural areas that support deployment of attention across multiple locations. Across two experiments we investigated children’s and adults’ ability to split attention in an adaptation of Awh and Pashler’s (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 26[2], 834–846, 2000) task. Participants were cued to attend to two non-contiguous spatial locations in an array of six locations. In Valid trials, participants were probed to report the identity of the digit that appeared briefly in one or both of the cued locations. In Invalid trials, participants were probed to report the identity of the digit that appeared in an uncued location either between the two cued locations or outside the two cued locations. We reasoned that if participants are able to divide their attention between the two non-contiguous cued locations, they should perform better on Valid compared with Invalid trials, and should perform equally on both types of Invalid trials. We found evidence for multifocal spatial attention in 8-year-olds and adults. However, 6-year-olds appeared to use a strategy consistent with a single focus of attention. Overall, these findings suggest that the ability to divide attention between noncontiguous locations develops during middle childhood.

Previous research examining dynamic visual search showed that pop-out effects can be observed for color targets, though it is unclear whether these effects are attributable to the same pre-attentive mechanisms driving pop-out in static displays (Fu et al., Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 82, 3329–3339, 2020). Other research examining multiple-object tracking (MOT) demonstrated that people can track three to five objects simultaneously, with some uncertainty about the flexibility of attentional allocation during tracking (Meyerhoff et al., Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79, 1255–1274, 2017). In three experiments, the present study combined a dynamic pop-out display with the MOT task. Participants saw moving objects with colors changing continuously and responded when a uniquely shaded target popped out among identical items. Experiment 1 examined the mechanisms driving dynamic visual search efficiency and dual task interference on both tracking and searching performance. Experiment 2 explored the effect of processing orientations (i.e., global/local). Experiment 3 incorporated an abrupt color change to examine performance. Results showed that search for a unique target in dynamic contexts required attention, with an interference effect observed for both searching and tracking in the dual task. Making the color change more abrupt improved performance but remained less efficient than static pop-out. Moreover, there is some evidence suggesting that adopting a global processing orientation may be more advantageous for task performance than a local processing orientation. Taken together, the current findings suggest that search for a unique target in dynamic contexts requires focal attention and that tracking and searching appear to involve similar processing mechanism that likely compete to draw from a shared pool of resources.

Relative eye height, defined as the vertical distance between the observer’s eye level and a target on the horizontal plane, provides a geometric cue to depth through the angle between eye level and the line of sight. In three-dimensional space, objects often move in depth at varying heights relative to the observer’s eye level, requiring integration of multiple cues for accurate velocity judgments. However, the contribution of relative eye height to velocity perception remains unclear. This study examined how relative eye height influences perceived velocity for an approaching target moving along a horizontal plane. Participants performed a two-alternative forced-choice task in which they judged whether the current target appeared faster or slower than targets presented in previous trials, under two eye-height conditions (5 cm and 10 cm from the target level). Greater relative eye height led to faster perceived velocities and improved discrimination performance. Model comparisons further indicated that elevation angular velocity during the early phase of motion (100–400 ms post-onset), a direct cue derived from changes in elevation angle, was the key predictor of velocity judgments, suggesting that the effect of relative eye height is mediated through this cue. These findings highlight the critical role of spatial information, particularly relative eye height, in shaping motion-in-depth perception.

Selection history effects occur when visual search is facilitated after previous target features are repeated during subsequent searches relative to when target features switch with non-target distractor features. Selection history on visual search is likely due to a combination of feature activation (increased salience), bias in attentional decisions over target selection, and facilitated post-selection retrieval, and likely reflects both target activation and distractor suppression. The present study used a probe detection task within a standard priming of popout (PoP) visual search task to examine how target activation and distractor suppression influence attentional decisions to select a previous target’s features. PoP was observed in response times and importantly in recall of probes appearing on both color singleton targets and non-singleton distractors. Relative to baseline conditions, more probes were recalled from color singleton targets on color repeat trials, and fewer probes were recalled from targets on color switch trials; and more probes were recalled form the non-targets on switch trials than baseline trials. The results suggest that target activation and distractor suppression contribute to the attentional decision bias that arises due to selection history.

High-level features of objects, such as meaning, bias attention even when task-irrelevant. We hypothesize that task-irrelevant semantic features bias attention via a grouping mechanism, organizing visual input by semantic relatedness in a manner similar to low-level grouping. Specifically, when presented with a task-irrelevant visual array of items, visual search is more efficient within a group of semantically related items. Participants were shown four stimuli of either color squares (low-level grouping), grayscale real-world objects (high-level grouping), or color real-world objects (low- and high-level grouping). On each trial two or three of the four items belonged to one category (e.g., clothing, blue squares). A target appeared randomly on one of the items, independent of relatedness (task-irrelevant). For all manipulations, search was equally efficient in groups of equal size. For unequal size groups, in color squares and grayscale objects, large groups yielded less efficient search – consistent with low-level perceptual grouping. In color objects, however, search was more efficient in a larger semantically related group – consistent with semantic bias. Results show that single features group displays, but complex stimuli bias attention beyond simple grouping.