On the distinction between visual salience and stimulus-driven attentional capture.

Yantis, Steven; Egeth, Howard E.

doi:10.1037/0096-1523.25.3.661

Cited by 388 publications

(483 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(120 reference statements)

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“…When cueing effects are found when the location cue has no predictive value, this result is typically considered to be evidence that cueing is exogenous (bottom-up) and automatic (Jonides, 1981;LaBerge, 1981;Yantis & Jonides, 1990). Indeed, similar arguments were raised by Yantis and Egeth (1999) in the context of attentional capture. Yantis and Egeth argued that in order to determine whether particular effects are bottom-up, "It is necessary to observe the attentional effects of the attribute in question under conditions in which that attribute is explicitly task irrelevant, so that there is no incentive for the observer to attend to it deliberately" (p. 662-663).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 77%

The role of spatial and nonspatial information in visual selection

Theeuwes¹,

Burg²

2006

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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Even though it is undisputed that prior information regarding the location of a target affects visual selection, the issue of whether information regarding nonspatial features, such as color and shape, has similar effects has been a matter of debate since the early 1980s. In the study described in this article, measures derived from signal detection theory were used to show that perceptual sensitivity is affected by a top-down set for spatial information but not by a top-down set for nonspatial information. This indicates that knowing where the target singleton is affects perceptual selectivity but that knowing what it is does not help selectivity. Furthermore, perceptual sensitivity can be enhanced by nonspatial features, but only through a process related to bottom-up priming. These findings have important implications for models of visual selection.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 77%

The role of spatial and nonspatial information in visual selection

Theeuwes¹,

Burg²

2006

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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“…For example, finding a green digit among red ones reduces the time taken to detect the target because the unique color of the target causes it to be more salient and to pop-out from the background of red distracters. This pattern has been found in particular if the object is relevant for the task (Yantis and Egeth 1999), but even persists if attending to the object that pops-out is known to be irrelevant and disadvantageous to the performance of the task (e.g., Pashler 1988;Theeuwes 1991Theeuwes , 1992. Especially, unique colors (e.g., Nagy and Winterbottom 2000;Galfano 2000, 2001;Turatto et al 2004) and luminance contrasts (Enns et al 2001) seem very effective at capturing attention.…”

Section: Theoretical Accounts Of the Effect Of Cueing On Perceptual Amentioning

confidence: 96%

Towards a Framework for Attention Cueing in Instructional Animations: Guidelines for Research and Design

et al. 2009

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This paper examines the transferability of successful cueing approaches from text and static visualization research to animations. Theories of visual attention and learning as well as empirical evidence for the instructional effectiveness of attention cueing are reviewed and, based on Mayer's theory of multimedia learning, a framework was developed for classifying three functions for cueing: (1) selection-cues guide attention to specific locations, (2) organization-cues emphasize structure, and (3) integration-cues explicate relations between and within elements. The framework was used to structure the discussion of studies on cueing in animations. It is concluded that attentional cues may facilitate the selection of information in animations and sometimes improve learning, whereas organizational and relational cueing requires more consideration on how to enhance understanding. Consequently, it is suggested to develop cues that work in animations rather than borrowing effective cues from static representations. Guidelines for future research on attention cueing in animations are presented. Keywords Instructional animations . Cognitive load theory . Instructional designRecent advances in software and computer technology enable designers of computer-based instruction to use dynamic visualizations, such as animation and video, to help learners remember complex dynamic systems and, ultimately, understand the materials (Lowe 2004). At present, the majority of animations present information in close correspondence with the referential situation, without highlighting the information or providing cues to help learners process the material. However, manipulating the visuospatial characteristics of animations may make them more effective, just as manipulating these aspects in static

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“…An argument put forward to favour this proposal is the observation that irrelevant distracters with a unique feature capture attention (Jonides and Yantis, 1988) or gaze (Theeuwes et al, 1999;van Zoest et al, 2004) and elicit electrophysiological responses preceding activity related to processing of the relevant target (Hickey et al, 2006). In contrast, other studies using similar paradigms found that stimulus relevance is a crucial determinant of attentional capture and may affect early cortical processing of visual stimuli (Eimer and Kiss, 2008;Leblanc et al, 2008;Ptak et al, 2011;Yantis and Egeth, 1999). For instance, the capture of attention by goal-relevant features modulates event-related potentials (ERPs) approximately 180 ms after stimulus onset (Leblanc et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Task relevance effects in electrophysiological brain activity: Early, but not first

2014

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A current controversy surrounds the question whether high-level features of a stimulus such as its relevance to the current task may affect early attentional processes. According to one view abruptly appearing stimuli gain priority during an initial feedforward processing stage and therefore capture attention even if they are irrelevant to the task. Alternatively, only stimuli that share a relevant property with the target may capture attention of the observer. Here, we used high-density EEG to test whether task relevance may modulate early feedforward brain activity, or whether it only becomes effective once the physical characteristics of the stimulus have been processed. We manipulated task relevance and visual saliency of distracters presented left or right of an upcoming central target. We found that only the relevance of distracters had an effect on manual reaction times to the target. However, the analysis of electrocortical activity revealed three discrete processing stages during which pure effects of distracter saliency (~80-160 ms), followed by an interaction between saliency and relevance (~130-240 ms) and finally pure effects of relevance (~230-370 ms) were observed. Electrical sources of early saliency effects and later relevance effects were localized in the posterior parietal cortex, predominantly over the right hemisphere. These findings support the view that during the initial feedforward stage only physical (bottom-up) factors determine cortical responses to visual stimuli, while top-down effects interfere at later processing stages.

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On the distinction between visual salience and stimulus-driven attentional capture.

Cited by 388 publications

References 48 publications

The role of spatial and nonspatial information in visual selection

The role of spatial and nonspatial information in visual selection

Towards a Framework for Attention Cueing in Instructional Animations: Guidelines for Research and Design

Task relevance effects in electrophysiological brain activity: Early, but not first

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