Color segregation and selective attention in a nonsearch task

Harms, Lisbeth; Bundesen, Claus

doi:10.3758/bf03205861

Cited by 116 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…They demonstrated that the interference created by a distracting item on the processing of a target was increased if both the distractor and the target were grouped together to form a single object. Similar results have been reported by Baylis and Driver (1992), Driver and Baylis (1989), and Harms and Bundesen (1983; but see also Berry & Klein, 1993;Kramer, Tham, & Yeh, 1991). The purpose of Experiment 4A was to investigate how attention might be distributed within the boundaries of a single object.…”

Section: Experiments 4asupporting

confidence: 64%

Object and spatial representations in the corner enhancement effect

Cole

Skarratt

Gellatly

2007

Perception & Psychophysics

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Cole, Gellatly, and Blurton (2001) have shown that targets presented adjacent to geometric corners are detected more efficiently than targets presented adjacent to straight edges. In six experiments, we examined how this corner enhancement effect is modulated by corner-of-object representations (i.e., corners that define an object's shape) and local base-level corners that occur as a result of, for instance, overlapping the straight edges of two objects. The results show that the corner phenomenon is greater for corners of object representations than for corners that do not define an object's shape. We also examined whether the corner effect persists within the contour boundaries of an object, as well as on the outside. The results showed that a spatial gradient of attention accompanies the corner effect outside the contour boundaries of an object but that processing within an object is uniform, with no corner effect occurring. We discuss these findings in relation to space-based and object-based theories of attention.

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Section: Experiments 4asupporting

confidence: 64%

Object and spatial representations in the corner enhancement effect

Cole

Skarratt

Gellatly

2007

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…The response compatibility effect is also influenced by Gestalt grouping principles that determine whether the target and distractors are seen as part of the same or different perceptual groups (or objects). Facilitation and interference are stronger when the target and distractors are part of the same group than when they are part of different groups (Baylis & Driver, 1992;Driver & Baylis, 1989;Harms & Bundesen, 1983;Kramer & Jacobson, 1991; also see Kahneman & Henik, 1981). This is interpreted as strong evidence for object-based attention: Object-based theorists argue that attention selects all of the properties of the selected object, relevant and irrelevant.…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An important direction for future research is to extend CODE and CTVA to deal with other grouping principles. Grouping by similarity is a good candidate for the first step in that direction because it is well studied perceptually (e.g., Beck, Prazdny, & Rosenfeld, 1983;Bergen, 1991 ) and it has powerful effects on attention (e.g., Baylis & Driver, 1992;Duncan & Humphreys, 1989;Harms & Bundesen, 1983;Humphreys & Miiller, 1993;Ivry & Prinzmetal, 1991;Wolfe, 1994). The mechanisms for dealing with similarity effects may already be present in CTVA.…”

Section: Proximity and Grouping Effects In Partial Report Several In-mentioning

confidence: 99%

The CODE theory of visual attention: An integration of space-based and object-based attention.

Logan

1996

Psychological Review

278

344

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This article presents a theory that inte~ates space-based and object-based approaches to visual attention. The theory puts together M. P. van Oeffelen and P. G. Vos's ( 1982Vos's ( , 1983) COntour DEtector (CODE) theory of perceptual grouping by proximity with C. Bundesen's (1990) theory of visual attention (TVA). CODE provides input to TVA, accounting for spatially based between-object selection, and TVA converts the input to output, accounting for feature-and category-based withinobject selection. CODE clusters nearby items into perceptual groups that are both perceptual objects and regions of space, thereby integrating object-based and space-based approaches to attention. The combined theory provides a quantitative account of the effects of grouping by proximity and dis~nce between items on reaction time and accuracy data in 7 empirical situations that shaped the current literature on visual spatial attention.For the last decade the attention literature has been embroiled in a debate over the nature of visual spatial attention that focuses on the "thing" that attention selects (e.g., Baylis & Driver, 1993;Driver & Baylis, 1989;Duncan, 1984;Egly, Driver, & Rafal, 1994;Kramer & Jacobson, 1991;Vecera & Farah, 1994). Advocates of space-based attention argue that attention selects regions of space independent of the objects they contain. Attention is like a spotlight illuminating a region of space. Objects that fall within the beam are processed; objects that fall outside it are not (Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974;Eriksen & St. James, 1986;Posner, 1980;Posner & Cohen, 1984;Treisman & Gelade, 1980;Treisman & Gormican, 1988). Advocates of object-based attention argue that attention selects objects rather than regions of space. Selection is spatial because objects necessarily occupy regions of space, but objects rather than the regions themselves are the things that are selected (Kahneman & Henik, 1981;Kahneman & Treisman, 1984;Kahneman, Treisman, & Gibbs, 1992;Pylyshyn & Storm, 1988). Objectbased theories assume that attention only selects regions of space that are occupied by objects, whereas space-based theories assume that attention can select empty regions of space (cf. Yantis, 1992).The purpose of this article is to propose a theory of visual spatial attention that integrates space-based and object-based views. The theory takes a computational approach to the problem, characterizing attention in terms of representations and the processes that operate on them. It differs from most ap- proaches to attention by being concerned with the representation of space and the representation of objects, incorporating a theory of perceptual organization and a theory of selection. The resolution of the controversy derives from the theory's assumptions about representation.The article begins by describing five important questions that face any theory of visual spatial attention. The answers proposed by the new theory are presented by way of describing the theory. The theory is applied to seven important paradigms that shaped the cur...

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“…Eriksen and Eriksen (1974) showed that, for two response sets of letters (H and K vs. S and C), irrelevant flankers from the wrong set interfered with making the response. This seems to be an attentional-selection problem, because presenting the flankers in a different color reduced the interference (Harms & Bundesen, 1983). Hatta, Hatae, and Kirsner (1984) contrasted English monolinguals to English-Japanese bilinguals in identifying English letters, and found that flanker characters from either language interfered for the bilinguals, but not for the monolinguals.…”

Section: Other Analogs Of the Stroop Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review.

MacLeod

1991

Psychological Bulletin

4,738

165

3,607

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The literature on interference in the Stroop Color-Word Task, covering over 50 years and some 400 studies, is organized and reviewed. In so doing, a set ofl 8 reliable empirical findings is isolated that must be captured by any successful theory of the Stroop effect. Existing theoretical positions are summarized and evaluated in view of this critical evidence and the 2 major candidate theories--relative speed of processing and automaticity of reading--are found to be wanting. It is concluded that recent theories placing the explanatory weight on parallel processing of the irrelevant and the relevant dimensions are likely to be more successful than are earlier theories attempting to locate a single bottleneck in attention.In 1935, J. R. Stroop published his landmark article on attention and interference, an article more influential now than it was then. Why has the Stroop task continued to fascinate us? Perhaps the task is seen as tapping into the primitive operations of cognition, offering clues to the fundamental process of attention. Perhaps the robustness of the phenomenon provides a special challenge to decipher. Together these are powerful attractions in a field of complex phenomena where the most subtie variation may exert a dramatic effect.In writing this article, I have two primary intentions. The first is to create a taxonomy of the empirical work on the Stroop task and its analogs. At least 70% of the more than 700 Strooprelated articles in the literature have been published since the reviews by Dyer (1973c) and Jensen and Rohwer (1966). Furthermore, Dyer's theoretical framework now seems in need of reconsideration, so that his review no longer provides the optimal organization. The second aim, then, is to survey existing theories, showing the critical weaknesses in the standard explanations and dispelling some myths that have arisen. I argue for a new theoretical framework for the Stroop effect, informed by contemporary cognitive psychology. This framework is more comprehensive than many earlier experiment-specific hypotheses, and suggests directions in which future research might profitably proceed.

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Color segregation and selective attention in a nonsearch task

Cited by 116 publications

References 45 publications

Object and spatial representations in the corner enhancement effect

Object and spatial representations in the corner enhancement effect

The CODE theory of visual attention: An integration of space-based and object-based attention.

Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review.

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