Novelty and significance in orientation and habituation: A feature-matching approach.

Gati, Itamar; Ben‐Shakhar, Gershon

doi:10.1037/0096-3445.119.3.251

Cited by 112 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(82 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

121

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We now elaborate on these conclusions. The finding that attended novel distractors affect both RT and OR is in accord with previous studies (e.g., Gati & Ben-Shakhar, 1990;Sokolov, 1963). It suggests that novel distractors are sufficiently salient to interfere with cognitive processes related to task performance, yet they do not exert any effect on behavior and do not elicit an OR when they appear in an unattended location.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The effect of novel distractors on performance in focused attention tasks: A cognitive-psychophysiological approach

Gronau

Sequerra

Cohen

et al. 2006

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Visual tasks often involve presentation of both target and distractor stimuli, requiring selection of the targets and filtering out of the distractors. Ample evidence suggests that visual attention mediates this selection by focusing either on a region (Posner, 1980) or on an object (Duncan, 1984) in the visual scene. However, selection by visual attention is not perfect, and numerous studies have demonstrated that distractors may affect performance even in tasks in which participants focus their attention on the target's location ahead of time (e.g., Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974;Stroop, 1935). The boundary conditions for interference in focused attention tasks have been extensively investigated because they may shed light on the processes underlying the selective attention mechanism. One prominent example of this approach is the examination of the influence of distractors on performance when these distractors are presented either within or outside the focus of attention. In this study, we examine whether novel stimuli that are irrelevant for the task interfere with focused attention tasks when they are positioned within and outside the main focus of attention. 1 It is interesting to compare the influence of distractors appearing in attended and unattended locations because much evidence suggests that visual attention acts as a gating mechanism (see, e.g., LaBerge, 1983). That is, stimuli positioned inside the focus of attention gain access to higher level processes dealing with the task at hand. Consequently, distractors presented within the focus of attention allow one to observe whether or not they are sufficiently salient to interfere with task-related processes. On the other hand, distractors presented outside the focus of attention will affect performance only to the extent that these stimuli can interfere with attentional processes occurring at the target location. Thus, finding out which types of distractors affect performance when positioned in an unattended location is crucial for understanding the nature of the attentional mechanism.It is well established that distractors carrying task-relevant information (henceforth, task-relevant distractors) affect performance whether they are inside or outside the attentional focus. In the classic Stroop (1935) In the present study, we examined whether or not novel stimuli affect performance in a focused attention task. Participants responded to a central target while an irrelevant distractor in the visual display was occasionally changed. In Experiment 1, both target and distractor were presented centrally within the focus of attention. In Experiment 2, a central target was presented along with an irrelevant distractor at a peripheral location, outside the focus of attention. Novel distractors were associated with longer latencies and enhanced orienting responses (as measured by skin conductance responses) only when presented at an attended location. In contrast, as is demonstrated in Experiment 3, the same peripheral novel distractors interfered with task performan...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…In those studies, novelty was typically manipulated within the focus of attention, showing that attended novel stimuli elicit an enhanced OR (see, e.g., Gati & Ben-Shakhar, 1990;Sokolov, 1963;Zimny & Schwabe, 1965). However, the influence of novelty on task performance (e.g., response latencies) has not been investigated.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of novel distractors on performance in focused attention tasks: A cognitive-psychophysiological approach

Gronau

Sequerra

Cohen

et al. 2006

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, the negative effects of high-priority items on the recall and recognition of background items are unlike effects found with physical and category distinctiveness. These effects of priority may be the result of the combined effects of novelty and significance identified by Gati and Ben-Shakhar (1990).…”

Section: Primary Distinctivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, in terms of Ohman's (1979) analysis, distinctiveness resulted from comparison of the stimulus to information still active in primary memory (James, 1890(James, /1950. Such stimuli should lead to an orienting response (Gati & Ben-Shakhar, 1990). In the second class, secondary distinctiveness, the distinctive item was dissimilar or novel with respect to the larger context of all previous experiences.…”

Section: /"mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Can we have a distinctive theory of memory?

1991

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current status of the concept of distinctiveness as applied to memory research is discussed. In spite of the fact that distinctiveness is difficult to define, an increasing number of memory phenomena have been explained in terms of distinctiveness. These phenomena are grouped into four classes, which vary in how distinctiveness is operationalized. Distinctiveness has different effects on memory performance, depending on how it is defined, suggesting that the concept of distinctiveness has been overapplied. In addition, current theoretical explanations of the effects of distinctiveness on memory fail to specify what the different definitions of distinctiveness have in common, and fail to encompass adequately the broad range of phenomena to be explained. A limited theory of distinctiveness is proposed, in order to explain why conceptually incongruent material is remembered well.The unusual, bizarre, or distinctive event seems inherently more memorable than common, everyday occurrences. Psychologists often refer to this phenomenon as the von Restorff (1933) effect. The effects of distinctiveness on memory are exploited in textbooks in which major concepts are printed in bold print, and in virtually every form of advertising in which loud music, bright colors, or other distinctive stimuli scream for our attention. Recently, memory researchers have invoked the concept of distinctiveness to explain an increasing range of phenomena, from detailed memory of the space shuttle explosion (McCloskey, Wible, & Cohen 1988) to enhanced memory of concrete words (Marschark, Richman, Yuille, & Hunt, 1987). Unfortunately, the features shared by the many faces of distinctiveness have not been specified, and the mechanisms responsible for the effects of distinctiveness on memory have not been delineated.The current status of research concerning the effects of distinctiveness on memory is reviewed below. For the sake of brevity, this review will be restricted to a discussion of long-term memory performance. Many of the issues that will be raised, however, could easily be applied to research concerning short-term memory performance as well. A brief historical review of distinctiveness in memory research will be followed by an analysis of the definition of distinctiveness. Several criteria will be selected that should enable us to classify previous operational definitions of distinctiveness. The different classes of distinctiveness do not lead to a common set or pattern of results, and thus they do not converge on a common hypothetical construct. Prominent theoretical frameworks will be considered, but none of the theories encompasses the many faces of distinctiveness. A more limited definition of distinctiveness will be proposed, and a theoretical framework for the effects of distinctiveness, based on this limited definition, will be presented. HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTSThe distinctiveness hypothesis is a direct descendent of the von Restorff effect, which was investigated extensively in the 1950s and 60s. In the most recent review of...

show abstract

Beyond unusual? Examining the role of attention in the weapon focus effect

Hope

Wright

2006

Applied Cognitive Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current study examined whether the weapon focus effect could be accounted for in terms of stimulus novelty. Participants viewed a slideshow of a simulated event while attending to a secondary task. In the critical slide, the target was shown holding a threatening object (weapon condition), a novel object (unusual condition) or a neutral object (control condition). Reaction times on the secondary task were impaired in the weapon and unusual conditions. Participants in the weapon condition had poorest recognition scores for the target's appearance when confidence was also taken into account. Results suggest that while both unusual and threatening objects command attention, the significance of a weapon can lead to impaired performance on less immediately informative aspects of a scene such as target appearance.

show abstract

Novelty and significance in orientation and habituation: A feature-matching approach.

Cited by 112 publications

References 40 publications

The effect of novel distractors on performance in focused attention tasks: A cognitive-psychophysiological approach

The effect of novel distractors on performance in focused attention tasks: A cognitive-psychophysiological approach

Can we have a distinctive theory of memory?

Beyond unusual? Examining the role of attention in the weapon focus effect

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About