Sustained attention can create an (illusory) experience of seeing dynamic change

Recent studies speculated that two types of change detection exist, one involving the experience of seeing dynamic change (change over brief interval), the other involving detecting a completed change (change over long interval), with only the former requiring sustained attention. To examine this supposition, a flicker change detection task was conducted in which the spatial location of objects was manipulated (shift, no-shift). In shift conditions, changed image display appeared in different locations than they did in the original display. The time interval separating images was manipulated (200 or 1000 ms). Results showed that a shift led to poor change detection only in the short interval condition. The performance decline by the image shift was not attenuated even when participants knew beforehand whether or not a shift would occur. Results indicate that sustained attention, which is sustained for a brief time, is related to the experience of seeing dynamic change.