Influence of semantic consistency and perceptual features on visual attention during scene viewing in toddlers

Conceptual representations of everyday scenes are built in interaction with visual environment and these representations guide our visual attention. Perceptual features and object-scene semantic consistency have been found to attract our attention during scene exploration. The present study examined how visual attention in 24-month-old toddlers is attracted by semantic violations and how perceptual features (i. e. saliency, centre distance, clutter and object size) and linguistic properties (i. e. object label frequency and label length) affect gaze distribution. We compared eye movements of 24-month-old toddlers and adults while exploring everyday scenes which either contained an inconsistent (e.g., soap on a breakfast table) or consistent (e.g., soap in a bathroom) object. Perceptual features such as saliency, centre distance and clutter of the scene affected looking times in the toddler group during the whole viewing time whereas looking times in adults were affected only by centre distance during the early viewing time. Adults looked longer to inconsistent than consistent objects either if the objects had a high or a low saliency. In contrast, toddlers presented semantic consistency effect only when objects were highly salient. Additionally, toddlers with lower vocabulary skills looked longer to inconsistent objects while toddlers with higher vocabulary skills look equally long to both consistent and inconsistent objects. Our results indicate that 24-month-old children use scene context to guide visual attention when exploring the visual environment. However, perceptual features have a stronger influence in eye movement guidance in toddlers than in adults. Our results also indicate that language skills influence cognitive but not perceptual guidance of eye movements during scene perception in toddlers.     

Attending to the parts of a single object: part-based selection limitations

Studies of object-based attention have demonstrated poorer performance in dividing attention between two objects in a scene than in focusing attention on a single object. However, objects often are composed of several parts, and parts are central to theories of object recognition. Are parts also important for visual attention? That is, can attention be limited in the number of parts processed simultaneously? We addressed this question in four experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants reported two attributes that appeared on the same part or on different parts of a single multipart object. Participants were more accurate in reporting the attributes on the same part than attributes on different parts. This part-based effect was not influenced by the spatial distance between the parts, ruling out a simple spatial attention interpretation of our results. A control study demonstrated that our spatial manipulation was sufficient to observe shifts of spatial attention. This study revealed an effect of spatial distance, indicating that our spatial manipulation was adequate for observing spatial attention. The absence of a distance effect in Experiments 1 and 2 suggests that part-based attention may not rely entirely on simple shifts of spatial attention. Finally, in Experiment 4 we found evidence for part-based attention, using stimuli controlled for the distance between the parts of an object. The results of these experiments indicate that visual attention can selectively process the parts of an object. We discuss the relationship between parts and objects and the locus of part-based attentional selection.     

Object- and location-based inhibition of return in younger and older adults

When a cued object moves to new spatial coordinates, inhibition of return (IOR) with younger adults is found at the original cued location (location-based IOR) and at the current location of the object (object-based IOR). Older adults, however, show only location-based IOR. To determine whether this pattern of results represents a general age-related deficit in object-based IOR, the authors used static displays in which the placeholders (i.e., objects) were either present (location-based IOR+object-based IOR) or absent (location-based IOR only). Both age groups showed location-based IOR, but the older adults failed to show object-based IOR, consistent with age-related differences in visual pathways.     

工作记忆对动态范式中基于客体的返回抑制的影响

采用双任务干扰范式探讨了工作记忆对动态范式中基于客体的返回抑制的影响。三个实验分别考察了在言语、空间和视觉工作记忆负载条件下基于客体的返回抑制效应,结果发现只有在空间工作记忆负载条件下,动态范式中的返回抑制才受到损害。这表明空间工作记忆不但在静态范式中的IOR信息的维持和更新中起着重要的作用,在动态范式中的IOR信息的维持和更新中同样起着重要的作用。同时也为动态范式中基于客体的返回抑制的空间抑制动态更新说提供了新的证据     

The effect of spatial and nonspatial contextual information on visual object memory

Recent research has found visual object memory can be stored as part of a larger scene representation rather than independently of scene context. The present study examined how spatial and nonspatial contextual information modulate visual object memory. Two experiments tested participants’ visual memory by using a change detection task in which a target object's orientation was either the same as it appeared during initial viewing or changed. In addition, we examined the effect of spatial and nonspatial contextual manipulations on change detection performance. The results revealed that visual object representations can be maintained reliably after viewing arrays of objects. Moreover, change detection performance was significantly higher when either spatial or nonspatial contextual information remained the same in the test image. We concluded that while processing complex visual stimuli such as object arrays, visual object memory can be stored as part of a comprehensive scene representation, and both spatial and nonspatial contextual changes modulate visual memory retrieval and comparison.     

Object identification in context: the visual processing of natural scenes.

When we view a natural visual scene, we seem able to determine effortlessly the scene's semantic category, constituent objects, and spatial relations. How do we accomplish this visual-cognitive feat? The commonly held explanation is known as the schema hypothesis, according to which a visual scene is rapidly identified as a member of a semantic category, and predictions generated from the scene category are then used to aid subsequent object identification. In this paper I will first outline and offer a critique of the evidence that has been taken to support the schema hypothesis. I will then offer an alternative framework for understanding scene processing, which I will call the local-processing hypothesis. This hypothesis assumes a modular, informationally-encapsulated architecture, and explicitly includes the role of covert visual attention in scene processing.     

Selection can be performed effectively without temporal binding,but could be even more effective with it

Experiments using spatial cues and spatial probes provide strong evidence for an attention mechanism that chooses a location and selects all information at that location. This selection process can work very quickly; so quickly that selection probably begins before segmentation and grouping. It can be implemented in a neural network simply and efficiently without temporal binding. In conjunction with this spatial attention, however, temporal binding can potentially enhance visual selection in complex scenes. First, it would allow a target object to be selected without also selecting a superimposed distractor. Second, it could maintain representations of objects after attention has moved to another object. Third, it could allow multiple parts of an object or scene to be selected, segmented, and analysed simultaneously. Thus, temporal synchrony should be more likely to appear during tasks with overlapping targets and distractors, and tasks that require that multiple objects or multipart objects be analysed and remembered simultaneously.     

Object-position binding in visual memory for natural scenes and object arrays

Nine experiments examined the means by which visual memory for individual objects is structured into a larger representation of a scene. Participants viewed images of natural scenes or object arrays in a change detection task requiring memory for the visual form of a single target object. In the test image, 2 properties of the stimulus were independently manipulated: the position of the target object and the spatial properties of the larger scene or array context. Memory performance was higher when the target object position remained the same from study to test. This same-position advantage was reduced or eliminated following contextual changes that disrupted the relative spatial relationships among contextual objects (context deletion, scrambling, and binding change) but was preserved following contextual change that did not disrupt relative spatial relationships (translation). Thus, episodic scene representations are formed through the binding of objects to scene locations, and object position is defined relative to a larger spatial representation coding the relative locations of contextual objects.     

Irrelevant onsets cause inhibition of return regardless of attentional set

It is disputed whether onsets capture spatial attention either in a purely stimulus-driven fashion or only when they are contingent on one's attentional set. According to the latter assumption, interference from irrelevant onsets may result from nonspatial filtering costs. In the present study, we used inhibition of return (IOR) as a marker for spatial attention. IOR occurs mainly for locations that attention has visited before. Participants searched for a red object among white objects. An attentional set for redness was demonstrated by a spatial validity effect of red cues on response times. However, a stronger validity effect was found for irrelevant white onsets, which slowed responses when the onset contained a distractor, but speeded them when the onset contained a target. Most importantly, this onset benefit for targets turned into a deficit at longer SOAs, indicating IOR. We conclude that onset distractors capture spatial attention regardless of the observer's attentional set.     

Gorillas in our midst: sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events

With each eye fixation, we experience a richly detailed visual world. Yet recent work on visual integration and change direction reveals that we are surprisingly unaware of the details of our environment from one view to the next: we often do not detect large changes to objects and scenes ('change blindness'). Furthermore, without attention, we may not even perceive objects ('inattentional blindness'). Taken together, these findings suggest that we perceive and remember only those objects and details that receive focused attention. In this paper, we briefly review and discuss evidence for these cognitive forms of 'blindness'. We then present a new study that builds on classic studies of divided visual attention to examine inattentional blindness for complex objects and events in dynamic scenes. Our results suggest that the likelihood of noticing an unexpected object depends on the similarity of that object to other objects in the display and on how difficult the priming monitoring task is. Interestingly, spatial proximity of the critical unattended object to attended locations does not appear to affect detection, suggesting that observers attend to objects and events, not spatial positions. We discuss the implications of these results for visual representations and awareness of our visual environment.     

工作记忆内容对空间返回抑制的影响

工作记忆内容能够以相对自动化的方式引导视觉选择性注意。研究的目的在于考察工作记忆内容对空间返回抑制的影响。实验一要求被试在客体工作记忆保持阶段完成返回抑制任务,结果发现无论返回抑制任务目标是否与工作记忆内容匹配都出现了返回抑制效应。实验二要求被试在空间工作记忆保持阶段完成返回抑制任务,结果发现当目标落在记忆空间上时返回抑制效应消失。因此,空间返回抑制仅会受到基于空间工作记忆的视觉注意引导的影响。     

Magnocellular and parvocellular pathway influences on location-based inhibition-of-return

The roles of the parvocellular (P) and magnocellular (M) retino-geniculo-cortical pathways during shifts of visual attention were investigated by creating M/dorsal-biased (eg low spatial frequency target, no objects present) and P/ventral-biased (ie high spatial frequency target, the perception of 3-D objects) stimulus conditions and measuring location-based inhibition-of-return (IOR). P/ventral-biased conditions produced the greatest IOR. M/dorsal-biased conditions produced the least IOR, in one instance eliminating it altogether. The results indicate a close relationship between IOR magnitude and relative P/ventral and M/dorsal activity with location-based IOR related more to P/ventral than to M/dorsal activity.     

客体相似性对不同认知方式个体视觉工作记忆表征的影响

采用整体检测的变化察觉范式,探讨客体的相似性对客体—空间型认知方式个体视觉工作记忆表征的影响。行为结果显示,在不相似客体的视觉工作记忆表征任务中,客体型者在长延时条件的成绩优于空间型者,而在相似客体的视觉工作记忆表征任务中,两者无差异;ERP结果显示,在不相似客体视觉工作记忆表征任务中,与客体型者相比,空间型者在大脑皮层诱发出更大的负SP。以上结果表明,客体型者比空间型者对不相似客体视觉工作记忆加工具有优势,其潜在机制可能在于,客体型者对不相似客体视觉工作记忆表征时的神经活动效能更高。     

Visual field asymmetries and allocation of attention in visual scenes

Single items such as objects, letters or words are often presented in the right or left visual field to examine hemispheric differences in cognitive processing. However, in everyday life, such items appear within a visual context or scene that affects how they are represented and selected for attention. Here we examine processing asymmetries for a visual target within a frame of other elements (scene). We are especially interested in whether the allocation of visual attention affects the asymmetries, and in whether attention-related asymmetries occur in scenes oriented out of alignment with the viewer. In Experiment 1, visual field asymmetries were affected by the validity of a spatial precue in an upright frame. In Experiment 2, the same pattern of asymmetries occurred within frames rotated 90 degrees on the screen. In Experiment 3, additional sources of the spatial asymmetries were explored. We conclude that several left/right processing asymmetries, including some associated with the deployment of spatial attention, can be organized within scenes, in the absence of differential direct access to the two hemispheres.     

客体相似性对不同认知方式个体视觉工作记忆表征的影响

采用整体检测的变化察觉范式,探讨客体的相似性对客体—空间型认知方式个体视觉工作记忆表征的影响。行为结果显示,在不相似客体的视觉工作记忆表征任务中,客体型者在长延时条件的成绩优于空间型者,而在相似客体的视觉工作记忆表征任务中,两者无差异;ERP结果显示,在不相似客体视觉工作记忆表征任务中,与客体型者相比,空间型者在大脑皮层诱发出更大的负SP。以上结果表明,客体型者比空间型者对不相似客体视觉工作记忆加工具有优势,其潜在机制可能在于,客体型者对不相似客体视觉工作记忆表征时的神经活动效能更高。     

Object detection in natural scenes: Independent effects of spatial and category-based attention

Humans are remarkably efficient in detecting highly familiar object categories in natural scenes, with evidence suggesting that such object detection can be performed in the (near) absence of attention. Here we systematically explored the influences of both spatial attention and category-based attention on the accuracy of object detection in natural scenes. Manipulating both types of attention additionally allowed for addressing how these factors interact: whether the requirement for spatial attention depends on the extent to which observers are prepared to detect a specific object category—that is, on category-based attention. The results showed that the detection of targets from one category (animals or vehicles) was better than the detection of targets from two categories (animals and vehicles), demonstrating the beneficial effect of category-based attention. This effect did not depend on the semantic congruency of the target object and the background scene, indicating that observers attended to visual features diagnostic of the foreground target objects from the cued category. Importantly, in three experiments the detection of objects in scenes presented in the periphery was significantly impaired when observers simultaneously performed an attentionally demanding task at fixation, showing that spatial attention affects natural scene perception. In all experiments, the effects of category-based attention and spatial attention on object detection performance were additive rather than interactive. Finally, neither spatial nor category-based attention influenced metacognitive ability for object detection performance. These findings demonstrate that efficient object detection in natural scenes is independently facilitated by spatial and category-based attention.     

返回抑制的空间、视网膜和客体参照系

返回抑制是指当刺激出现在先前注意过的位置(或客体)时,人们的加工效率降低的一种抑制性注意机制。该注意机制对个体有适应性价值,它能够降低注意返回先前注意过的位置(或客体)的概率(PosnerCohen,1984),从而提高视觉采样(或搜索)的效率(Klein,1988)。返回抑制的参照系是返回抑制领域的重要理论问题。先前研究发现返回抑制的参照系可以是视网膜、空间和客体。本文介绍了返回抑制参照系研究的实验范式以及相关的行为、脑损伤及神经影像发现。此外,本文还就未来研究的方向和应该注意的问题进行了探讨。     

Age-related differences in object- and location-based inhibition of return of attention

Four experiments examined age-related differences in inhibition of return (IOR) of visual attention. Using static stimuli, both young and older adults were slower to detect targets in previously cued objects, showing equivalent IOR. With objects that moved after they had been cued, young adults were slower to detect targets in the cued object (compared with uncued ones), revealing object-based IOR, but older adults were faster to detect targets in such objects, failing to demonstrate object-based IOR. Both age groups were slower to detect targets at the initially cued location (location-based IOR). The results show that age has a differential effect on IOR depending on the frame of reference of the inhibition: Inhibition for objects breaks down with age, but that for location does not. This pattern of results is consistent with the view that there are specific inhibitory deficits in old age.