Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance
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J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · Jul 2018
The guidance of visual search by shape features and shape configurations.
Representations of target features (attentional templates) guide attentional object selection during visual search. In many search tasks, targets objects are defined not by a single feature but by the spatial configuration of their component shapes. We used electrophysiological markers of attentional selection processes to determine whether the guidance of shape configuration search is entirely part-based or sensitive to the spatial relationship between shape features. ⋯ Target N2pc components were delayed when a reverse distractor was present on the opposite side of the same display, suggesting that early shape-specific attentional guidance processes could not distinguish between targets and reverse distractors. The control of attention then became sensitive to spatial configuration, which resulted in a stronger attentional bias for target objects relative to reverse and partially matching distractors. Results demonstrate that search for target objects defined by the spatial arrangement of their component shapes is initially controlled in a feature-based fashion but can later be guided by templates for spatial configurations. (PsycINFO Database Record
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J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · Jul 2018
Learned suppression for multiple distractors in visual search.
Visual search for a target object occurs rapidly if there were no distractors to compete for attention, but this rarely happens in real-world environments. Distractors are almost always present and must be suppressed for target selection to succeed. Previous research suggests that one way this occurs is through the creation of a stimulus-specific distractor template. ⋯ We hypothesized that the pattern of distractor interference during testing would reveal the tuning of the suppression template: RTs should be commensurate with the degree to which distractor colors are encoded within the suppression template. Results from four experiments converged on the notion that the distractor template includes information about specific color values, but has broad "tuning," allowing suppression to generalize to new distractors. These results suggest that distractor templates, unlike target templates, encode multiple features and have broad representations, which have the advantage of generalizing suppression more easily to other potential distractors. (PsycINFO Database Record
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J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · Jul 2018
Visual search with varying versus consistent attentional templates: Effects on target template establishment, comparison, and guidance.
Attentional templates can be represented in visual working memory (VWM) when the target varies from trial-to-trial and can be represented in long-term memory (LTM) when the target is consistent during trial runs. Given that attentional templates can be represented in either VWM or LTM, are there any differences in how these representations impact visual search when targets are consistent compared with varying? The current study tested the consistent template hypothesis, which predicts faster performance with a consistent target compared with a varying target. Experiment 1 examined whether consistent targets could lead to consistent templates that would improve template establishment, guidance, and/or comparison of the template to search items. ⋯ Experiment 2 examined the consistent template restoration hypothesis, which predicts faster template establishment and comparison processes for a previously encountered consistent target. Experiment 2 replicated the consistent template hypothesis and supported the consistent template restoration hypothesis. These studies demonstrate that although attentional guidance is similar with varying and consistent attentional templates, consistent templates improve search performance by speeding template establishment and comparison processes. (PsycINFO Database Record
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J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · May 2018
Optimal task-sets override attentional capture by rare cues.
Many studies converge on the conclusion that spatially irrelevant precues do not capture attention when cue and target features do not match. However, a recent study reported that rare onset cues captured attention even though observers searched for a nonmatching color target. Hence, attentional capture by rare onsets cues might be cognitively impenetrable (Folk & Remington, 2015). ⋯ Moreover, we examined the previous suggestion that frequency effects are limited to onset cues by presenting rare color cues with nonmatching color targets (Experiment 3). We observed capture by rare color cues, but again, capture could be prevented when a nontarget in the cue color was added to the target display (Experiment 4). Overall, these findings suggest that capture by rare cues can be prevented when the suppressive bias against nontarget features is optimally directed against the cue properties. (PsycINFO Database Record
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The present study investigated whether statistical regularities can influence visual selection. We used the classic additional singleton task in which participants search for a salient shape singleton while ignoring a color distractor singleton. The color distractor singleton was systematically presented more often in 1 location than in all other locations. ⋯ There was a spatial gradient of suppression, as the attentional capture effect and the efficiency of selecting the target scaled with the distance from the high-probability location. Some participants were aware of the statistical regularities, but this did not affect the results whatsoever. We interpret these findings as evidence that spatially statistical regularities that are unknown to the observer can influence attention such that locations that have a high probability of containing a distractor are suppressed relative to all other locations. (PsycINFO Database Record