The control of attentional target selection in a colour/colour conjunction task

Berggren, Nick; Eimer, Martin

doi:10.3758/s13414-016-1168-6

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Until 250 ms after search display onset, attentional guidance was found to be entirely feature-based, and objectbased control started to affect visual processing only after this point in time. This is in line with observations from previous N2pc studies of conjunction search (Berggren & Eimer, 2016a;Eimer & Grubert, 2014;Jenkins et al, 2017;Nako et al, 2016), which found that target N2pc amplitudes were initially equal in size to the sum of N2pcs to partially matching nontargets, but became larger (i.e., superadditive) around 250 ms after search display onset. The design of these earlier experiments made it impossible to decide whether the emergence of a superadditive N2pc reflected object-based attentional control or local facilitatory interactions between feature-specific attentional biases.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Object-based target templates guide attention during visual search.

Berggren¹,

Eimer²

2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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During visual search, attention is believed to be controlled in a strictly feature-based fashion, without any guidance by object-based target representations. To challenge this received view, we measured electrophysiological markers of attentional selection (N2pc component) and working memory (sustained posterior contralateral negativity; SPCN) in search tasks where two possible targets were defined by feature conjunctions (e.g., blue circles and green squares). Critically, some search displays also contained nontargets with two target features (incorrect conjunction objects, e.g., blue squares). Because feature-based guidance cannot distinguish these objects from targets, any selective bias for targets will reflect object-based attentional control. In Experiment 1, where search displays always contained only one object with target-matching features, targets and incorrect conjunction objects elicited identical N2pc and SPCN components, demonstrating that attentional guidance was entirely feature-based. In Experiment 2, where targets and incorrect conjunction objects could appear in the same display, clear evidence for object-based attentional control was found. The target N2pc became larger than the N2pc to incorrect conjunction objects from 250 ms poststimulus, and only targets elicited SPCN components. This demonstrates that after an initial feature-based guidance phase, object-based templates are activated when they are required to distinguish target and nontarget objects. These templates modulate visual processing and control access to working memory, and their activation may coincide with the start of feature integration processes. Results also suggest that while multiple feature templates can be activated concurrently, only a single object-based target template can guide attention at any given time. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Object-based target templates guide attention during visual search.

Berggren¹,

Eimer²

2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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“…Because targets were defined by a combination of two shapes, these results also provide further evidence that search can be controlled by templates for multiple features from the same dimension. This is in line with the conclusion drawn in previous studies of color/color conjunction search (Berggren & Eimer, 2016a; Grubert & Eimer, 2016; Irons et al, 2012), but inconsistent with the hypothesis of the Guided Search model that only a single feature per dimension can be involved in attentional guidance (Wolfe, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Using behavioral measures, Irons, Folk, and Remington (2012) showed that during search for one of two possible target colors (e.g., red or green objects), task-irrelevant stimuli that matched either of these colors captured attention, whereas nonmatching colors did not (see also Grubert & Eimer, 2016, for corresponding N2pc results). To assess how such multiple-color templates control attentional target selection in search tasks where targets are defined by a combination of two colors (e.g., red and green objects), Berggren and Eimer (2016a) measured N2pc components to target objects with both two target-defining colors and to distractors that matched one of these colors. Reliable N2pc components were elicited not only by targets but also by partially matching distractor objects, even when a target was simultaneously present in the same display.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The guidance of visual search by shape features and shape configurations.

McCants¹,

Berggren²,

Eimer³

2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Representations of target features (attentional templates) guide attentional object selection during visual search. In many search tasks, targets objects are defined not by a single feature but by the spatial configuration of their component shapes. We used electrophysiological markers of attentional selection processes to determine whether the guidance of shape configuration search is entirely part-based or sensitive to the spatial relationship between shape features. Participants searched for targets defined by the spatial arrangement of two shape components (e.g., hourglass above circle). N2pc components were triggered not only by targets but also by partially matching distractors with one target shape (e.g., hourglass above hexagon) and by distractors that contained both target shapes in the reverse arrangement (e.g., circle above hourglass), in line with part-based attentional control. Target N2pc components were delayed when a reverse distractor was present on the opposite side of the same display, suggesting that early shape-specific attentional guidance processes could not distinguish between targets and reverse distractors. The control of attention then became sensitive to spatial configuration, which resulted in a stronger attentional bias for target objects relative to reverse and partially matching distractors. Results demonstrate that search for target objects defined by the spatial arrangement of their component shapes is initially controlled in a feature-based fashion but can later be guided by templates for spatial configurations. (PsycINFO Database Record

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“…There is also electrophysiological evidence for some color-based attention becoming effective within 100 ms of stimulus onset (Zhang & Luck, 2009). Other studies show signs of guidance that appear at about 250 ms (e.g., Berggren & Eimer, 2016). It is possible that the full implementation of guidance requires feedback from high cortical areas, as proposed in models like the Reverse Hierarchy Theory of Ahissar and Hochstein (Ahissar & Hochstein, 2004;Hochstein & Ahissar, 2002) or the reentrant account of Di Lollo et al (2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Measuring the time course of selection during visual search

Palmer

Wert

Horowitz

et al. 2018

Atten Percept Psychophys

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In visual search tasks, observers can guide their attention towards items in the visual field that share features with the target item. In this series of studies, we examined the time course of guidance toward a subset of items that have the same color as the target item. Landolt Cs were placed on 16 colored disks. Fifteen distractor Cs had gaps facing up or down while one target C had a gap facing left or right. Observers searched for the target C and reported which side contained the gap as quickly as possible. In the absence of other information, observers must search at random through the Cs. However, during the trial, the disks changed colors. Twelve disks were now of one color and four disks were of another color. Observers knew that the target C would always be in the smaller color set. The experimental question was how quickly observers could guide their attention to the smaller color set. Results indicate that observers could not make instantaneous use of color information to guide the search, even when they knew which two colors would be appearing on every trial. In each study, it took participants 200-300 ms to fully utilize the color information once presented. Control studies replicated the finding with more saturated colors and with colored C stimuli (rather than Cs on colored disks). We conclude that segregation of a display by color for the purposes of guidance takes 200-300 ms to fully develop.

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The control of attentional target selection in a colour/colour conjunction task

Cited by 6 publications

References 38 publications

Object-based target templates guide attention during visual search.

Object-based target templates guide attention during visual search.

The guidance of visual search by shape features and shape configurations.

Measuring the time course of selection during visual search

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