Attentional capture of objects referred to by spoken language

Participants saw a small number of objects in a visual display and performed a visual detection or visual-discrimination task in the context of task-irrelevant spoken distractors. In each experiment, a visual cue was presented 400 ms after the onset of a spoken word. In experiments 1 and 2, the cue was an isoluminant color change and participants generated an eye movement to the target object. In experiment 1, responses were slower when the spoken word referred to the distractor object than when it referred to the target object. In experiment 2, responses were slower when the spoken word referred to a distractor object than when it referred to an object not in the display. In experiment 3, the cue was a small shift in location of the target object and participants indicated the direction of the shift. Responses were slowest when the word referred to the distractor object, faster when the word did not have a referent, and fastest when the word referred to the target object. Taken together, the results demonstrate that referents of spoken words capture attention.     

Appearance matters: Attentional orienting by new objects in the precueing paradigm

Five experiments examined whether the appearance of a new object is able to orient attention in the absence of an accompanying sensory transient. A variant of the precueing paradigm (Posner & Cohen, 1984 Posner, M. I. and Cohen, Y. 1984. “Components of attention”. In Attention and performance X, Edited by: Bouma, H. and Bouwhuis, D. G. 55–66. Hove, , UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd.  [Google Scholar]) was employed in which the cue was the onset of a new object. Crucially, the new object's appearance was not associated with any unique sensory transient. This was achieved by using the variant “annulus” procedure recently developed by Franconeri, Hollingworth, and Simons (2005). Results showed that unless observers had an attentional set explicitly biased against onset, a validity effect was observed such that response times were shorter for targets occurring at the location of the new object relative to when targets occurred at the location of the “old” object. We conclude that new onsets do not need to be associated with a unique sensory transient in order to orient attention.     

Attentional capture within and between objects

The present study addressed the question whether attentional capture by abrupt onsets is affected by object-like properties of the stimulus field. Observers searched for a target circle at one of four ends of two solid rectangles. In the focused attention condition the location of the upcoming target was cued by means of a central arrowhead, whereas in the divided attention condition, the target location was not cued. Irrelevant abrupt onsets could appear either within the attended or within the non-attended object. The results showed that in the focused attention condition, onsets ceased to capture attention irrespective of whether the onset appeared within an attended object or within a non-attended object.     

Attentional capture by globally defined objects

The abrupt appearance of a new perceptual object in the visual field typically captures visual attention. However, if attention is focused in advance on a different location, onsets can fail to capture attention (Yantis & Jonides, 1990). In the present experiments, we investigated the extent to which the deployment of attention to the local level of a hierarchical scene may be affected by the abrupt appearance of a new object at the global level. Participants searched for a semi-disk target in an array of randomly oriented segmented disks (“pacmen”). On half the trials, a subset of the segmented disks induced a subjective square. On these critical trials, participants were significantly slower to respond to the presence of a local target even though the local features of the display were qualitatively identical across all conditions. This slowing was absent when outline pacmen were used (which do not induce subjective figures) and when the subjective square was perceptually old. When the participants’ task was defined at the global level of the display, a new local element failed to capture attention, suggesting an asymmetry in the ability of objects at different levels of a hierarchical scene to capture attention. In a control experiment, a new local element captured attention, however, when the participants’ task was defined at the local level, indicating that the local item was in principle capable of capturing attention. It is argued that global objects capture attention because they convey important information about the environment that is not available at the local level.     

Attentional capture by globally defined objects.

The abrupt appearance of a new perceptual object in the visual field typically captures visual attention. However, if attention is focused in advance on a different location, onsets can fail to capture attention (Yantis & Jonides, 1990). In the present experiments, we investigated the extent to which the deployment of attention to the local level of a hierarchical scene may be affected by the abrupt appearance of a new object at the global level. Participants searched for a semi-disk target in an array of randomly oriented segmented disks ("pacmen"). On half the trials, a subset of the segmented disks induced a subjective square. On these critical trials, participants were significantly slower to respond to the presence of a local target even though the local features of the display were qualitatively identical across all conditions. This slowing was absent when outline pacmen were used (which do not induce subjective figures) and when the subjective square was perceptually old. When the participants' task was defined at the global level of the display, a new local element failed to capture attention, suggesting an asymmetry in the ability of objects at different levels of a hierarchical scene to capture attention. In a control experiment, a new local element captured attention, however, when the participants' task was defined at the local level, indicating that the local item was in principle capable of capturing attention. It is argued that global objects capture attention because they convey important information about the environment that is not available at the local level.     

Attentional templates regulate competitive interactions among attended visual objects

In two experiments, we examined the mechanisms responsible for creating a zone of interference surrounding an attended visual object (see, e.g., Mounts & Gavett, 2004). In Experiment 1, the similarity between attended stimuli and noise items was manipulated in order to contrast an account based on competitive interactions between attended items with an account based on inefficient filtering of unattended stimuli. Consistent with the competitive interaction account, the data revealed that similarity between attended items increased the strength of localized interference, whereas similarity of noise items to the attended stimuli did not. Experiment 2 showed that the interference observed between attended items was determined by their match to attentional templates.     

Attentional and perceptual factors affecting the attentional blink for faces and objects

When 2 different visual targets presented among different distracters in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) are separated by 400 ms or less, detection and identification of the 2nd targets are reduced relative to longer time intervals. This phenomenon, termed the attentional blink (AB), is attributed to the temporary engagement of a limited-capacity attentional system by the 1st target, which reduces resources available for processing the 2nd target. Although AB has been reliably obtained with many stimulus types, it has not been found for faces (E. Awh et al., 2004). In the present study, the authors investigate the underpinnings of this immunity. Unveiling circumstances in which AB occurs within and across faces and other categories, the authors demonstrate that a multichannel model cannot account for the absence of AB effects on faces. The authors suggest instead that perceptual salience of the face within the distracters' series as well as the available resources determine whether or not faces are blinked in RSVP.     

Attentional selection of objects or features: evidence from a modified search task

Three experiments examined the domain of visual selective attention (i.e., feature-based selection vs. object-based selection). Experiment 1 extended the requirements of the visual search task by requiring a feature discrimination response to target elements presented for short durations (30-105 msec). Targets were embedded in 47 distractor elements and were defined by either a distinct color or a distinct orientation. Observers made a discrimination response to either the target's color or its orientation. When the target-defining feature and the feature to be discriminated were the same (matched conditions), accuracy was enhanced relative to when these features belonged to separate dimensions (mismatched conditions). In Experiment 2, similar results were found in a task in which the target-defining dimension varied from trial to trial and observers performed both color and orientation discriminations on every trial. The results from these two experiments are consistent with feature-based attentional selection, but not with object-based selection. Experiment 3 extended these findings by showing that the effect is rooted in the overlap between target and distractor values in the stimulus set. The results are discussed in the context of recent models of visual selective attention.     

Attentional prioritizations based on spatial probabilities can be maintained on multiple moving objects

Previous studies have shown that attention prioritizes locations that frequently contain a target. The present study examines whether these spatial prioritizations can be maintained on multiple independently moving objects. Observers viewed two line objects undergoing translational and rotational motion and detected probes appearing on the objects. The probabilities of probes appearing on the centers and ends of objects were manipulated. Experiment 1 showed that attention within moving objects is affected by location probabilities and is also heavily biased toward objects’ centers. Experiment 2 showed that if the observer is not informed about location probabilities, the probabilities can be learned. Experiment 3 showed that with multiple-region objects, the center bias is reduced, but the effect of probabilities is unchanged. Experiment 4 showed that two distinct patterns of spatial prioritizations can be maintained on two objects simultaneously. These results suggest that attentional prioritizations based on spatial probabilities can occur in an object-based reference frame.     

Attentional bias to pain-relevant body locations: New methods,new challenges

In a recent issue of Consciousness and Cognition, Filbrich, Torta, Vanderclausen, Azanon, and Legrain (2016) commented on a paper in which we used a tactile Temporal Order Judgment (TOJ) task to show that expecting pain on a specific body location biased attention to that location (Vanden Bulcke, Crombez, Durnez, & Van Damme, 2015). Their main criticism is that the effects are likely to reflect response bias rather than genuine attentional bias. We agree that the TOJ task used may be susceptible to response bias, and welcome the authors’ methodological suggestions to control for such bias. However, we feel that certain aspects of our work are misrepresented in their paper. Most importantly, we contest their argument that our instructions made the threat location task-relevant, thereby increasing risk of response bias. Further, we reply to other methodological and theoretical issues raised by these authors.     

Attentional selection of complex objects: Joint effects of surface uniformity and part structure

What object properties warrant selection by object-based attention? Previous research has suggested that surface uniformity is required for object-based attentional selection (Watson &; Kramer, 1999), yet nonuniform objects are encountered frequently. In the present experiments, we investigated the interplay between surface uniformity and part boundaries and their effect on object-based attention. Specifically, we asked if attention can select nonuniform objects whose surface changes occur at part boundaries. Although uniformly colored objects did exhibit object-based effects, we only observed an object-based effect for multicolored objects when surface changes occurred at part boundaries. These findings suggest that attention can only select nonuniform objects when the surface change occurs at a part boundary.     

Free choice and contextually permitted actions

We present a solution to the paradox of free choice permission by introducing strong and weak permission in a deontic logic of action. It is shown how counterintuitive consequences of strong permission can be avoided by limiting the contexts in which an action can be performed. This is done by introducing the only operator, which allows us to say that only is performed (and nothing else), and by introducing contextual interpretation of action terms.This author gratefully acknowledges the hospitality of Linköping University during revision of this paper.This research of J.-J.Ch.Meyer and R.J.Wieringa is partially supported by ESPRIT BRWG project No.8319 ModelAge.     

Aphasics' comprehension of contextually conveyed meaning

Eighteen aphasics and seven normal controls were examined as to their ability to comprehend utterances when correct interpretation required integration of extralinguistic cues in a natural setting. Videotaped situations were presented in which the correct interpretation of an utterance was not the literal interpretation but was the meaning conveyed by the request in a particular context. The aphasics' performance with indirect requests was superior to their performance on a standard battery of auditory comprehension tasks. Standard tests of auditory language comprehension, therefore, offer a measure of aphasic breakdown in linguistic processing but do not adequately reflect aphasics' receptive abilities in natural communicative settings. When the aphasic subjects did demonstrate difficulties with natural settings, their difficulty was, in part, a function of their level of performance on the standard battery. In addition, when the linguistic element of the communicative setting conveyed negative intent, aphasics were further reduced in their ability to interpret a message correctly. Otherwise, the aphasic subjects performance resembled that of the normal controls in that they demonstrated the capacity to utilize extralinguistic cues to discern correctly the conveyed intent in many requests.     

Predispositions to approach and avoid are contextually sensitive and goal dependent

The authors show that predispositions to approach and avoid do not consist simply of specific motor patterns but are more abstract functions that produce a desired environmental effect. It has been claimed that evaluating a visual stimulus as positive or negative evokes a specific motor response, extending the arm to negative stimuli, and contracting to positive stimuli. The authors showed that a large congruency effect (participants were faster to approach pleasant and avoid unpleasant stimuli, than to approach unpleasant and avoid pleasant stimuli) could be produced on a novel touchscreen paradigm (Experiment 1), and that the congruency effect could be reversed by spatial (Experiment 2) and nonspatial (Experiment 3) response effects. Thus, involuntary approach and avoid response activations are not fixed, but sensitive to context, and are specifically based on the desired goal.     

Attentional shifts to rare singletons

Five experiments examined whether extremely rare featural singletons (e.g., presented in 4% of all trials) capture attention, and whether this effect could be explained by top-down contingent capture or stimulus-driven singleton capture. To this end, performance (accuracy in Experiments 1–4, reaction time in Experiment 5) in a demanding letter search task was measured in singleton trials that were presented within rare-singleton blocks consisting mainly of no-singleton trials, and in singleton trials that occurred in all-singleton blocks. In separate blocks, either target singletons (i.e., a singleton at target position), or distractor singletons (i.e., a singleton at a distractor position) were presented in each trial. Results are consistent with the contingent-capture view. When the letters were presented briefly and accuracy was the dependent variable, a large performance benefit was obtained, revealing that attention was shifted very fast to the singleton. An examination of search efficiency with a variation of set size and reaction time as the dependent variable revealed a strong gain in search efficiency with a rare target singleton. The large benefit was not accompanied by proportionally large costs for distractor singletons relative to the no-distractor trials. Moreover, a comparison of singleton trials from the all-singleton and from the rare-singleton blocks revealed nonspatial costs for the rare singletons that were of about the same size for target and distractor singletons. In summary, results show that an attentional control setting can remain “dormant” for many trials where it is not applicable, but is then applied nearly as efficiently as when the control setting has been used just recently.     

Attentional modulation of desensitization to odor

Subjective and behavioral responsiveness to odor diminishes during prolonged exposure. The precise mechanisms underlying olfactory desensitization are not fully understood, but previous studies indicate that the phenomenon may be modulated by central-cognitive processes. The present study investigated the effect of attention on perceived intensity during exposure to a pleasant odor. A within-subjects design was utilized with 19 participants attending 2 sessions. During each session, participants continuously rated their perceived intensity of a 10-minute exposure to a pleasant fragrance administered using an olfactometer. An auditory oddball task was implemented to manipulate the focus of attention in each session. Participants were instructed to either direct their attention toward the sounds, but still to rate odor, or to focus entirely on rating the odor. Analysis revealed three 50-second time windows with significantly lower mean intensity ratings during the distraction condition. Curve fitting of the data disclosed a linear function of desensitization in the focused attention condition compared with an exponential decay function during distraction condition, indicating an increased rate of initial desensitization when attention is distracted away from the odor. In the focused-attention condition, perceived intensity demonstrated a regular pattern of odor sensitivity occurring at approximately 1?2 minutes intervals following initial desensitization. Spectral analysis of low-frequency oscillations confirmed the presence of augmented spectral power in this frequency range during focused relative to distracted conditions. The findings demonstrate for the first time modulation of odor desensitization specifically by attentional factors, exemplifying the relevance of top-down control for ongoing perception of odor.     

The distribution of attention within objects in multiple-object scenes: prioritization by spatial probabilities and a center bias

This study investigates how the attentional distribution within objects is affected by spatial probabilities, bias toward objects' centers (Alvarez & Scholl, 2005), and object motion. In a multiple-object tracking task, observers tracked line objects while simultaneously detecting probes appearing on the objects. Experiments 1 and 2 manipulated the probabilities of probes appearing at the centers and ends of objects. Overall, probe detection was better at centers than at ends, but it was also affected by probe location probabilities; when probe locations were 100% certain, the center advantage was eliminated. Experiment 3 manipulated rotational, translational, and size-change components of object motion. The center advantage still occurred with stationary objects, and its magnitude was not affected by different motion types. These results indicate that attention is biased toward the centers of objects in multiple-object scenes, both for stationary and moving objects. They also imply that attentional prioritizations based on spatial probabilities can accompany moving objects.     

The contextually controlled, feature-mediated classification of symbols

The classification of names of people or objects based on the features acquired by the names and the sorting instructions provided is a commonplace occurrence. For example, given the names Renoir, Pollock, James and Voltaire the average adult would be able to classify them differentially based on the instruction to classify them based on vocation or nationality. In general, such a repertoire reflects the reclassification of symbols (i.e, the names of individuals) in terms of contextual cues (instructions to sort by vocation or nationality) and the features acquired by the symbols (the specific nationalities and vocations). The present experiment studied this phenomenon with the use of arbitrary stimuli that did not have clear preexperimental associations. Two of 4 participants classified the symbols into different equivalence classes based on the prevailing contextual cues and the features that had been acquired by the symbols. Using an ABA reversal design we then demonstrated that 1 participant classified the symbols in accordance with the contextual cues and acquired features when present, but not in the absence of the contextual cues. A 3rd participant showed symbol classification that differed from that predicted by the procedures, and the 4th classified the symbols based on one set of features but not on context. These data describe one set of conditions that could account for the establishment of complex classification repertoires that occur in natural settings.