Intrusions into the shadow of attention: A new take on illusory conjunctions

Abstract

We present new evidence about illusory conjunctions (ICs) suggesting that their current explanation requires revision. According to Feature Integration Theory (FIT; Treisman & Gelade Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97-136, 1980), focal attention to a single stimulus is required to bind its features into an integrated percept. FIT predicts that if attention is spread over multiple stimuli, features of these different stimuli can be combined into a single percept and produce ICs. Treisman and Schmidt (Cognitive

Attention does not always help: The role of expectancy, divided, and spatial attention on illusory conjunctions

“…However, in our experiments, the number task did not modulate the proportion of illusory conjunctions in Experiment 1, in which task demands were manipulated between blocks of trials. Our results are in line with previous literature demonstrating that divided attention manipulations affect illusory conjunctions in distal but not proximal set ups (Henderson & McClelland, 2020).…”

“…In contrasts, other studies have demonstrated that secondary tasks impair performance of peripheral tasks (Li et al, 2002; Matthews et al, 2018; Paul & Schyns, 2003; Treisman & Schmidt, 1982; Treisman & Gelade, 1980). However, some of these previous studies compared conditions in which participants responded to the secondary task with conditions of no response (Aru & Bachmann, 2017; Aru et al, 2018; Li et al, 2002; Matthews et al, 2018; see also Henderson & McClelland, 2020). Attentional demands are extremely different when responding vs. not responding, two conditions that differ in attentional demands, task load, response preparation, and execution.…”

“…Using visual search tasks in which feature integration is needed in some conditions (conjunction or serial search) but not in others (feature or parallel search), Briand and Klein (1987) and Briand (1998) demonstrated that exogenous orienting effects (faster and/or more accurate responses when targets are presented at the valid location as compared with an invalid location) were larger for conjunction than for feature tasks, whereas endogenous orienting lead to equivalent orienting effects for feature and conjunction tasks. More recently, Henderson and McClelland (2020) distinguished between proximal and distal illusory conjunctions. Proximal illusory conjunctions occur between closely neighbouring target and distractor stimuli, whereas distal illusory conjunctions occur between two stimuli that are spaced far enough apart that neither is crowding the other.…”

Major issues in the study of visual search: Part 2 of “40 Years of Feature Integration: Special Issue in Memory of Anne Treisman”

“…Part of the interest in putting together a special issue is that papers can 'talk' to each other in ways that might not have occurred without their accidental proximity in the issue. So Henderson and McClelland (2020) are proposing that those attended digits in an illusory conjunction experiment are casting attentional shadows in the direction from digit to fixation (see their Figure 7). In the next article, Ceja, Jardine, & Franconeri, (2019)* present a new version of the illusory conjunction phenomenon.…”

No Impaired Integration in Psychopathy: Evidence from an Illusory Conjunction Paradigm

“…It is only under focused attention, that these components are sequentially integrated into a coherent percept. The Feature Integration Theory has been used to explain a welldescribed perceptual phenomenon, illusory conjunctions (Ashby et al, 1996;Henderson & McClelland, 2020), referring to incorrect feature groupings of two presented stimuli (Treisman & Schmidt, 1982). For instance, the perception of a red circle, following the brief presentation of a green circle alongside a red square.…”