Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance
-
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · May 2019
The allocation of resources in visual working memory and multiple attentional templates.
In a visual search task, sensory input is matched to a representation of the search target in visual working memory (VWM). This representation is referred to as attentional template. We investigated the conditions that allow for more than a single attentional template. ⋯ Thus, 2 attentional templates may be set up, but only when the 2 colors receive an equal amount of resources in VWM (i.e., in dual target search). In contrast, when 1 item is deprioritized because of task demands, it receives fewer resources in VWM and multiple attentional templates cannot be established. Thus, unequal roles in the search task prevented the simultaneous operation of multiple attentional templates in VWM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
-
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · Dec 2015
Towards a resolution of the attentional-capture debate.
The relative contributions of stimulus-driven and goal-directed control of attention have been extensively studied by investigating which irrelevant stimuli capture attention. Although much of this research has focused on color-singleton distractors, the circumstances under which these capture attention remain controversial. In search for a target with a unique known color (known-singleton search), whether singletons in an irrelevant color can be successfully ignored is a hotly debated issue. ⋯ In 3 experiments, we resolve these controversies, by showing that the net spatial effect observed in the spatial-cueing paradigm reflects the sum of 3 separate effects. (a) A same-location benefit, which is determined by the match between the cue and the target colors and indexes contingent attentional capture. (b) A same-location cost, which is also determined by the match between the cue and the target colors, but occurs after selection and indexes processes related to visual working memory; and (c) task-dependent capture by singletons that occurs only when the target is consistently a singleton. Crucially, we show that the same-location cost is strongly determined by cue exposure duration, which explains previous failures to isolate it. The implications of these findings for the attentional capture debate are discussed.
-
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
-
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · Sep 2016
The guidance of spatial attention during visual search for color combinations and color configurations.
Representations of target-defining features (attentional templates) guide the selection of target objects in visual search. We used behavioral and electrophysiological measures to investigate how such search templates control the allocation of attention in search tasks where targets are defined by the combination of 2 colors or by a specific spatial configuration of these colors. Target displays were preceded by spatially uninformative cue displays that contained items in 1 or both target-defining colors. ⋯ Both attracted attention equally when they appeared in a cue display, and both received parallel focal-attentional processing and were encoded into working memory when they were presented in the same target display. Results demonstrate that attention can be guided simultaneously by multiple features from the same dimension, but that these guidance processes have no access to the spatial-configural properties of target objects. They suggest that attentional templates do not represent target objects in an integrated pictorial fashion, but contain separate representations of target-defining features. (PsycINFO Database Record
-
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform · Jan 2018
Links between temporal acuity and multisensory integration across life span.
The temporal relationship between individual pieces of information from the different sensory modalities is one of the stronger cues to integrate such information into a unified perceptual gestalt, conveying numerous perceptual and behavioral advantages. Temporal acuity, however, varies greatly over the life span. It has previously been hypothesized that changes in temporal acuity in both development and healthy aging may thus play a key role in integrative abilities. ⋯ Together, these results suggest that the impact of temporal acuity on multisensory integration varies throughout the life span. Although the maturation of temporal acuity drives the rise of multisensory integrative abilities during development, it is unable to account for changes in integrative abilities in healthy aging. The differential relationships between age, temporal acuity, and multisensory integration suggest an important role for experience in these processes. (PsycINFO Database Record