Selective attention modulates the effect of target location probability on redundant signal processing

Abstract

We investigated the decision process underlying the detection of targets at multiple locations. In three experiments using the same observers, target location probability and attentional instructions were manipulated. A redundanttarget detection task was conducted in which participants were required to detect a dot presented at one of two locations. When the dot appeared at the two locations with equal frequency (Experiment 1), those participants who were found to have limited to unlimited capacity were shown to adopt a parallel, self-terminating strategy. By contrast, those participants who had supercapacity were shown to process redundant targets in a coactive manner. When targets were presented with unequal probability, two participants adopted a parallel, self-terminating strategy regardless of whether they were informed the target location probability (Experiment 3) or not (Experiment 2). For the remaining two participants, the strategy changed from parallel, self-terminating to serial, selfterminating as a result of the probability instructions. In Experiments 2 and 3, all the participants were of unlimited to limited capacity. Taken together, these results suggest that target location probability differently affects the selection of a decision strategy and highlight the role of controlled attention in selecting a decision strategy.

Unconscious or underpowered? Probabilistic cuing of visual attention.

“…Experiment 3 included an awareness test that differs substantially from the rest of the experiments included in the meta-analysis (Criterion 2). Chang, Little, and Yang (2016) Experiments 2 and 3 did not include an awareness test (Criterion 2) and there was an obvious explicit component (Criterion 3).…”

Characterizing the time course of decision-making in change detection.

“…Hull's "law of less work"; Hull, 1943;Kool, McGuire, Rosen, & Botvinick, 2010). Indeed, across many perceptual decision-making experiments, we have not observed exhaustive processing when the experiment allowed for self-termination (Blunden et al, 2020(Blunden et al, , 2015Chang, Little, & Yang, 2016;Cheng, McCarthy, Wang, Palmeri, & Little, 2018;Little et al, 2011Little et al, , 2013Moneer et al, 2016; C.-T. Yang, Altieri, & Little, 2018;C.-T. Yang, Little, & Hsu, 2014;H. Yang, Little, Eidels, & Townsend, 2019).…”

“…This follows from the idea that observers act to conserve mental effort (e.g., Hull’s “law of less work”; Hull, 1943; Kool et al, 2010). Indeed, across many perceptual decision-making experiments, we have not observed exhaustive processing when the experiment allowed for self-termination (Blunden et al, 2015, 2020; Chang et al, 2016; Cheng et al, 2018; Fific et al, 2010; Little et al, 2011, 2013; Moneer et al, 2016; Yang et al, 2014, 2018, 2021). Further, there is also evidence that participants will attempt to apply self-terminating processing even in exhaustive tasks which do not permit self-termination without error (Bushmakin et al, 2015; Howard et al, 2021).…”

“…However, when a change in either was equally likely, parallel processing was more likely to be adopted. This shift from serial to parallel occurred despite participants reporting that they were unaware of using information regarding the relative probability of a change to complete the task (see also Chang et al, 2016). Additionally, when there was a lack of cognitive resources, participants reverted to parallel processing even when relative change probability was not equated.…”

Systems Factorial Technology provides new insights on the other-race effect

“…The notable take-home message is that we did not find any evidence for coactivity in the processing of own-race faces, contrary to the strong-holistic-encoding hypothesis. Serial processing, often as a result of controlled attention (Chang, Little, & Yang, 2016;Shiffrin & Schneider, 1977), may operate more slowly than more automatic, parallel processing. Hence, parallel processing of own-race face features is sufficient to explain the own-race processing benefit that has been seen in several studies.…”