Five factors that guide attention in visual search

Wolfe, Jeremy M.; Horowitz, Todd S.

doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0058

Cited by 685 publications

(567 citation statements)

References 126 publications

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“…No prioritization, however, was observed when two concurrent feature conjunctions were present. This is consistent with the notion that the effect of color as a feature known to readily guide visual search (Wolfe & Horowitz, ) may be amplified by stimulus value, further facilitating attentive selection.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Attention to a threat‐related feature does not interfere with concurrent attentive feature selection

et al. 2019

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Visual features associated with a task and those that predict noxious events both prompt selectively heightened visuocortical responses. Conflicting views exist regarding how the competition between a task‐related and a threat‐related feature is resolved when they co‐occur in time and space. Utilizing aversive classical Pavlovian conditioning, we investigated the visuocortical representation of two simultaneously presented, fully overlapping visual stimuli. Isoluminant red and green random dot kinematogram (RDK) stimuli were flickered at distinct tagging frequencies (8.57 Hz, 12 Hz) to elicit distinguishable steady‐state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs). Occasional coherent motion events prompted a motor response (task) or predicted a noxious noise (threat). These events occurred either in the green (task cue), the red (threat cue), or in both RDKs simultaneously. In the initial habituation phase, participants responded to coherent motion of the green RDK with a key press, but no loud noise was presented at any time. Here, selective amplification was seen for the task‐relevant (green) RDK, and interference was observed when both RDKs simultaneously showed coherent motion. Upon pairing the threat cue with the noxious noise in the subsequent acquisition phase, the threat cue‐evoked ssVEP (red RDK) was also amplified, but this amplification did not interact with amplification of the task cue or alter the behavioral or visuocortical interference effect observed during simultaneous coherent motion. Although competing feature conjunctions resulted in interference in the visual cortex, the acquisition of a bias toward an individual threat‐related feature did not result in additional cost effects.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Attention to a threat‐related feature does not interfere with concurrent attentive feature selection

et al. 2019

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“…In this later experiment, no visual search advantage was observed in the ASD group considering both precision and Time‐to‐target. Previous studies have suggested that faces are not searched efficiently [VanRullen, ] but see [Hershler & Hochstein, ], and may not be a bottom–up attribute guiding attention [Wolfe & Horowitz, ]. Search task for high level object such as faces is more dependent upon attention [VanRullen, ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faster eye movements in children with autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2018

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Atypical visual exploration of both social and nonsocial scenes is often reported in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with less precise and longer saccades, potentially reflecting difficulties in oculomotor control. To assess a subset of oculomotor functions in ASD, 20 children with ASD and 21 age‐matched typically developing (TD) children (2.6–11.5 years) partook in three tasks of increasing complexity, while no explicit instruction was provided: a prosaccade gap task, a color and a “categorical” visual search tasks (a face among butterflies and vice‐versa). In addition to classical saccade metrics, we measured Distance error, (the distance between the target and the closest gaze position) and Time‐to‐target (the time taken to reach the target). In the prosaccade task, children with ASD were as accurate as TD children, yet faster to reach the stimulus. In the color visual search task, children with ASD were faster but less precise than TD children. In the categorical visual search, while TD children were more precise in orienting their gaze towards the face, children with ASD performed similarly in the two conditions; Time‐to‐target did not differ. Our results provide contradictory evidence regarding enhanced visual search ability in ASD: when considering response times, enhanced visual search performance was found in one task only, while when considering gaze precision no advantage was found. These three experiments demonstrate that the automatic saccadic system may function more rapidly in children with ASD. Nonetheless, a diminished sensitivity to bottom–up saliency and top–down influence might suppress this advantage in more complex visual environments. Autism Res 2019, 12: 212–224 © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay summary Three experiments with no instructions were designed to assess oculomotor functions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In a saccade task, children with ASD were faster than but as accurate as control children. In visual search tasks, accuracy and speed decreased with increasing complexity of visual environment. Children with ASD showed faster automatic visual orientation, but this might hinder exploratory behaviors, leading to difficulties in complex and social situations.

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“…When a target is embedded within a context, it becomes hidden because of shared lines, overlapping colors, and distracting patterns (De‐Wit, Huygelier, Van der Hallen, Chamberlain, & Wagemans, ; Poirel, Pineau, Jobard, & Mellet, ; Van der Hallen, Chamberlain, De‐Wit, & Wagemans, ). This contrasts with visual search paradigms where a target is surrounded by distractor elements but is not embedded within a context (Wolfe & Horowitz, ) and matching tasks where a target shape has to be identified among a number of distinct, nonoverlapping choices (Li, Wu, Zhu, & O'Boyle, ). The process of identifying the target within its context is known as disembedding.…”

Section: Measures Of Fimentioning

confidence: 98%

Field Independence Associates with Mathematics and Science Performance in 5‐ to 10‐Year‐Olds after Accounting for Domain‐General Factors

Morris

Farran

Dumontheil

2019

Mind Brain and Education

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Field independence describes the extent to which individuals are influenced by context when trying to identify embedded targets. It associates with cognitive functioning and is a predictor of academic achievement. However, little is known about the neural and cognitive underpinnings of field independence that lead to these associations. Here, we investigated behavioral associations between two measures of field independence (Children's Embedded Figures Test [CEFT] and Design Organization Test [DOT]) and performance on tests of mathematics (reasoning and written arithmetic) and science (reasoning and scientific inquiry) in 135 children aged 5–10 years. There were strong associations between field independence and mathematics and science, which were largely explained by individual differences in age, intelligence, and verbal working memory. However, regression analyses indicated that after controlling for these variables, the CEFT explained additional variance on the mathematical reasoning and science tests, whereas the DOT predicted unique variance on the written arithmetic test.

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Five factors that guide attention in visual search

Cited by 685 publications

References 126 publications

Attention to a threat‐related feature does not interfere with concurrent attentive feature selection

Attention to a threat‐related feature does not interfere with concurrent attentive feature selection

Faster eye movements in children with autism spectrum disorder

Field Independence Associates with Mathematics and Science Performance in 5‐ to 10‐Year‐Olds after Accounting for Domain‐General Factors

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