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

Object-based eye movements: The eyes prefer to stay within the same object

“…More important, the difference between the invalidly cued same-object and invalidly cued different-object conditions was reliable [489 vs. 501 msec; t(11) 2.4, p .05], signifying the classic object-based attention effect. Note that this object-based attention effect of 12 msec is very comparable to the classic object-based effect reported in Egly et al (1994), as well as the object-based attention effects reported in other studies using similar displays (e.g., Hecht & Vecera, 2007;Mortier et al, 2003;Richard, Lee, & Vecera, 2008).…”

Object-based attention: A tutorial review

“…Object effects have been obtained in objects without closed boundaries (e.g., Avrahami, 1999, Crundall et al, 2007Kramer & Jacobson, 1991) or uniform surfaces (e.g., Hecht & Vecera, 2007). Moreover, it has been found in objects created through illusory contours (e.g., Moore et al, 1998) and amodal completion (e.g., Behrmann et al, 1998;Matsukura & Vecera, 2006;Moore et al, 1998;Pratt & Sekuler, 2001; but see also Saiki, 2000, for an alternative interpretation of Behrmann et al, 1998).…”

“…All else being equal, a "good" object is one that has surface uniformity and closed boundaries. Thus, object effects are more reliable when objects show uniform connectedness-for example, when objects have the same color and luminance, as compared with various colors or luminance (e.g., Hecht & Vecera, 2007;Kramer & Watson, 1996;Matsukura & Vecera, 2006;Watson & Kramer, 1999), when they have closed rather than open boundaries (e.g., Marino & Scholl, 2005), and when targets appear on the same straight line within an object, rather than on different segments of an object separated by angles (e.g., Crundall, Cole, & Galpin, 2007).…”

Successes and failures in producing attentional object-based cueing effects

“…Using a two-rectangle paradigm, Egly et al (1994) were the first to show that facilitatory effects in selective attention induced by a cue appearing on an object can extend to uncued locations of the same object relative to an uncued object. Since then, several other studies have shown that the presence of objects in a visual display can influence the distribution of facilitatory cueing effects (e.g., Abrams & Law, 2000;Ariga, Yokosawa, & Ogawa, 2007;Avrahami, 1999;Brown & Denney, 2007;Chen, 1998;Chen & Cave, 2008;Goldsmith & Yeari, 2003;Haimson & Behrmann, 2001;Hecht & Vecera, 2007;Kravitz & Behrmann, 2008;Lamy & Egeth, 2002;Lamy & Tsal, 2000;Law & Abrams, 2002;Macquistan, 1997;Marino & Scholl, 2005;Marrara & Moore, 2003;Moore et al, 1998;Müller & Kleinschmidt, 2003;Pratt & Sekuler, 2001; Table 3 Summary of facilitatory cueing effects (in milliseconds) in studies using variants of the Egly et al two-rectangle task with different object contour salience Robertson & Kim, 1999;Shomstein & Behrmann, 2008;Shomstein & Yantis, 2004;Vecera, 1994). Real or illusory contours must be present to observe object-based facilitatory effects, and participants need to be aware of their presence (e.g., Ariga et al, 2007).…”

“…Contour salience has typically been manipulated by using line contours versus apparent contours (e.g., Moore et al, 1998), by using closed-ended versus open-ended rectangles (e.g., Marino & Scholl, 2005), by maintaining uniformity of the object's surface (e.g., Hecht & Vecera, 2007;Watson & Kramer, 1999), or by colouring two objects differently (e.g., Shomstein & Behrmann, 2008). Table 3 summarises facilitatory effects as a function of contour manipulations in two-object cueing studies.…”