A Continuous Measure of Object-Based Attention Sheds New Light on Its Underlying Mechanisms

Luzardo, Felipe; Einhäuser, Wolfgang; Yeshurun, Yaffa

doi:10.31234/osf.io/7skfn

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Additionally, the target letters were green (14 cd/m 2 ) instead of red, and when the target was presented on one of the gray sections, its luminance was increased to 38 cd/m 2 . This value was chosen based on a short pilot experiment, which demonstrated that with this luminance modification target identification on the gray background is comparable to that on the white or black backgrounds and was further validated by the results of a previous study (Luzardo et al, 2022).…”

Section: Experiments 2 Andmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Consequently, the invalid-same location is better represented than the invalid-different location leading to faster RTs to targets appearing in the former than in the latter. Other accounts that have been proposed include 'attentional shifting 'which proposes that RTs to the invalid-different condition are slower because disengaging from the attended object is a time-consuming process (e.g., Brown & Denney, 2007;Lamy & Egeth, 2002;Luzardo, Einhäuser & Yeshurun, 2022;Yeshurun & Rashal, 2017)and 'attentional prioritization'which proposes that areas within the attended object are prioritized when searching for a target (e.g., Drummond & Shomstein, 2010;Shomstein & Yantis, 2002, 2004.…”

Section: Word Count: 4942mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pre-processing of pupil size data was done in R using the gazeR package (Geller et al, 2020). Blink events were linearly interpolated (e.g., Bradley et al, 2008;Luzardo et al, 2022;Tkacz-Domb & Yeshurun, 2018). Then, the median absolute deviation was used to detect rapid pupil size disturbances in the data (Kret & Sjak-Shie, 2018).…”

Section: Pupil Size Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate the time course of the effect of 'cued object' (dark vs. light) separately for the different cue validity conditions, we ran separate LMEs for each cue validity condition and no-target condition with the cued object as a fixed effect. Similar to previous studies, the significance criterion was defined as t>2 for at least 200 consecutive ms (Mathôt et al, 2013;Luzardo et al, 2022;Tkacz-Domb & Yeshurun, 2018).…”

Section: Pupil Size Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attention Does Not Spread Automatically Along Objects: Evidence from the Pupillary Light Response

Luzardo¹,

Einhäuser²,

Michl³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Objects influence attention allocation; when a location within an object is cued, participants react faster to targets appearing in a different location within this object than on a different object. Despite consistent demonstrations of this object-based effect, there is no agreement regarding its underlying mechanisms. To test the most common hypothesis that attention spreads automatically along the cued object, we utilized a continuous, response-free measurement of attentional allocation that relies on the modulation of the pupillary light response. In Experiments 1 and 2, attentional spreading was not encouraged because the target appeared often (60%) at the cued location and considerably less often at other locations (20% within the same object and 20% on another object). In Experiment 3, spreading was encouraged because the target appeared equally often in one of three possible locations within the cued object (cued-end, middle, uncued-end). In all experiments, we added gray-to-black and gray-to-white luminance gradients to the objects. By cueing the gray ends of the objects, we could track attention. If attention indeed spreads automatically along objects, then pupil size should be greater after the gray-to-dark object is cued because attention spreads towards darker areas of the object than when the gray-to-white object is cued, regardless of the target location probability. However, unequivocal evidence of attention spreading along the object was only found when spreading was encouraged. These findings do not support an automatic spreading of attention. Instead, they suggest that attentional spreading along the object is guided by cue-target contingencies.

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Section: Experiments 2 Andmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Word Count: 4942mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pupil Size Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pupil Size Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Attention Does Not Spread Automatically Along Objects: Evidence from the Pupillary Light Response

Luzardo¹,

Einhäuser²,

Michl³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Preprocessing of pupil size data was done in R using the gazeR package (Geller et al, 2020). Blink events were linearly interpolated (e.g., Bradley et al, 2008; Luzardo et al, 2022; Tkacz-Domb & Yeshurun, 2018). Then, the median absolute deviation was used to detect rapid pupil size disturbances in the data (Kret & Sjak-Shie, 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention does not spread automatically along objects: Evidence from the pupillary light response.

Luzardo¹,

Einhäuser²,

Michl³

et al. 2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Self Cite

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Objects influence attention allocation; when a location within an object is cued, participants react faster to targets appearing in a different location within this object than on a different object. Despite consistent demonstrations of this object-based effect, there is no agreement regarding its underlying mechanisms. To test the most common hypothesis that attention spreads automatically along the cued object, we utilized a continuous, response-free measurement of attentional allocation that relies on the modulation of the pupillary light response. In Experiments 1 and 2, attentional spreading was not encouraged because the target appeared often (60%) at the cued location and considerably less often at other locations (20% within the same object and 20% on another object). In Experiment 3, spreading was encouraged because the target appeared equally often in one of the three possible locations within the cued object (cued end, middle, uncued end). In all experiments, we added gray-to-black and gray-to-white luminance gradients to the objects. By cueing the gray ends of the objects, we could track attention. If attention indeed spreads automatically along objects, then pupil size should be greater after the gray-to-dark object is cued because attention spreads toward darker areas of the object than when the gray-to-white object is cued, regardless of the target location probability. However, unequivocal evidence of attentional spreading was only found when spreading was encouraged. These findings do not support an automatic spreading of attention. Instead, they suggest that attentional spreading along the object is guided by cue-target contingencies. Public Significance StatementThis study used the pupillary light response to challenge the common assumption that object-based attention spreads automatically along the object's contours. Instead, our findings suggest that attentional spreading is guided by current goals.

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Object-Based Attention

Cavanagh¹,

Caplovitz²,

Lytchenko³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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There appear to be three independent systems for allocating attention: space-based, feature based, and object-based. Here, we review the literature of object-based attention to determine its underlying mechanisms. First, findings from unconscious priming and cuing suggest that the pre-attentive targets of object-based attention can be fully developed object representations. Next, the control of object-based attention appears to come from ventral visual areas specialized in object analysis that project downward to early visual areas. Whether feedback from object areas can accurately target the object’s specific locations and features is controversial, but recent work in autoencoding has made this plausible. Finally, we suggest that the three classic modes of attention may not be as independent as is commonly considered, and instead could rely on object-based attention for all three modes of selection. Specifically, studies show that attention can spread over the separated members of a group – without affecting the space between them — matching the defining property of feature-based attention. At the same time, object-based attention directed to a single small item has the properties of space-based attention. Nevertheless, the evidence for a parallel, space-based selection controlled through saccade centers is also convincing. We outline the architecture for this combined system and discuss how it works in parallel with other attention pathways.

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A Continuous Measure of Object-Based Attention Sheds New Light on Its Underlying Mechanisms

Cited by 4 publications

References 29 publications

Attention Does Not Spread Automatically Along Objects: Evidence from the Pupillary Light Response

Attention Does Not Spread Automatically Along Objects: Evidence from the Pupillary Light Response

Attention does not spread automatically along objects: Evidence from the pupillary light response.

Object-Based Attention

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