Object-based attention shifts are driven by target location, not object placement

Barnas, Adam; Greenberg, Adam S.

doi:10.1080/13506285.2019.1680587

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…That is, for horizontal rectangles, attention on the invalid-same object trials was allocated along the horizontal meridian of the visual field, whereas on invaliddifferent object trials attention was allocated along the vertical meridian. The hypothesis that information processing is facilitated along the horizontal meridian is consistent with the results of studies of visual search (Carrasco & Chang, 1995;Mackeben, 1999) and object-based attention (Al-Janabi & Greenberg;Barnas & Greenberg, 2016;2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Object-based attention involves subcortical neural mechanisms

Strommer¹,

Al-Janabi²,

Greenberg³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Mechanisms of object-based attention (OBA) are commonly associated with the cerebral cortex. However, less is known about the involvement of lower visual pathways in these processes. In the current study, the classic double-rectangle cueing task (Egly et al., 1994) was implemented in a stereoscope, in order to differentiate between the involvement of lower (monocular) and higher (binocular) visual pathways in OBA processes. We found that there was a functional role for subcortical structures in two main aspects of OBA: in the process of exogenous orienting towards an object (Experiment 1; N =34); and in the process of attentional deployment within objects (Experiment 2; N =32). Thus, it seems that subcortical visual regions are not simply passing information to higher cortical areas but have a functional computational role in OBA. These findings emphasize the importance of subcortical regions in attentional processes and, more specifically, in OBA.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Object-based attention involves subcortical neural mechanisms

Strommer¹,

Al-Janabi²,

Greenberg³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…First, the objectspecific effect varies with the distance between the rectangles, indicating that it is not spatially invariant (Vecera, 1994). Second, the pattern of effects varies with the orientation of the rectangles (horizontal vs. vertical) and whether an object crosses over one of the meridians (horizontal or vertical) of the visual field (Al-Janabi & Greenberg, 2016; Barnas & Greenberg, 2019;Hein, Blaschke, & Rolke, 2017;Pilz, Roggeveen, Creighton, Bennett, & Sekuler, 2012). A recent extensive examination of these spatial dependencies by Chen and Cave (2019) suggests that object-specific effects in the two-rectangles paradigm are caused by object structure modifying existing biases of how spatial selection mechanisms are prioritized, rather than object-based attention that is distinct from space-based attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Task-specific engagement of object-based and space-based attention with spatiotemporally defined objects

Zheng

Moore

2021

Atten Percept Psychophys

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We used a form of ambiguous apparent motion known as Ternus motion to isolate the effects of object-based and space-based attention, and to explore functional differences between them. Two frames of horizontally aligned disks that were shifted by one position between frames were temporally separated by either a short or a long inter-stimulus interval (ISI). Short ISI displays were perceived as element motion where one disk appeared to jump across the other two. Long ISI displays were perceived as group motion where all three disks appeared to move together. Because element and group motion imply mutually exclusive object structures, adding stimuli (e.g., a small gap) to one disk in each frame created conditions of orthogonal object and location status (same or different), depending on ISI. We used two tasks with different functional demands, an identification task (Experiments 1 and 3a) in which observers responded to a single attribute of the final stimulus, and a comparison task (Experiments 2 and 3b) in which observers compared two attributes across two stimuli. Reliable object-specific effects occurred only with the comparison task, whereas location-specific effects occurred with both tasks. These results confirm that attention can be directed to objects separately from spatial locations and vice versa, and, moreover, that object-based and space-based attention are engaged differently depending on the processing demands of the task.

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“…It has been suggested that OBA effects depend, at least partially, on whether the attentional spreading crossed interhemispheric or intrahemispheric boundaries (e.g., Barnas & Greenberg, 2019). This might raise questions regarding the decision to use only vertical rectangles in the current study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

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

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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 shifts are driven by target location, not object placement

Cited by 5 publications

References 75 publications

Object-based attention involves subcortical neural mechanisms

Object-based attention involves subcortical neural mechanisms

Task-specific engagement of object-based and space-based attention with spatiotemporally defined objects

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

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