Object-based perceptual grouping affects negative priming.

We report four experiments that tested whether object-based attentional spreading can be modulated by the perceptual structure of objects occupied by target and flankers in a flanker task. The target and flankers were presented on a single object or three separate objects (of same or different shape), displayed at fixed, known locations. The flanker compatibility effect was larger when the target and flankers were on the same object or on three objects of the same shape than when they were on three objects of different shapes, indicating that perceptual grouping of background objects occupied by target and flankers can affect the target-flanker interference. These results imply that attention likely spreads across different objects occupied by target and flankers when these objects are separated by small gaps or have identical shapes, and attentional spreading is impeded when these objects have different shapes, suggesting that object-based attentional spreading can be modulated by the perceptual structure of objects.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

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confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceptual grouping of objects occupied by target and flankers affects target-flanker interference

Luo

Proctor

2015

“…Interestingly, negative priming can be eliminated and even become positive priming when the target and distractor are perceptually grouped in the prime display (e.g., Fuentes, Humphreys, Agis, Carmona, & Catena, 1998). Taken together, these results are consistent with the notion of objectbased inhibition, suggesting that both facilitation and inhibition can spread across an object's surface and move with an attended object to its new location.…”

Section: Outside Object (B) Inside Object (A)supporting

confidence: 76%

Object-based attention: A tutorial review

Chen

2012

199

162

This tutorial provides a selective review of research on object-based deployment of attention. It focuses primarily on behavioral studies with human observers. The tutorial is divided into five sections. It starts with an introduction to object-based attention and a description of the three commonly used experimental paradigms in objectbased attention research. These are followed by a review of a variety of manifestations of object effects and the factors that influence object segmentation. The final two sections are devoted to two key issues in object-based research: the mechanisms that give rise to the object effects and the role of space in object-based selection.

“…Evidence from experiments conducted in the visual modality also provides support for this argument. In these studies, the Gestalt grouping principles influenced visual negative priming, in that distractors that grouped together with the target elicited larger negativepriming effects than did distractors that were not grouped with the target (Fox, 1998;Yeh & Chao, 2004; but see Fuentes, Humphreys, Agis, Carmona, & Catena, 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity

Frings

Spence

2013

Using a tactile variant of the negative-priming paradigm, we analyzed the influence of Gestalt grouping on the ability of participants to ignore distracting tactile information. The distance between participants' hands, to which the target and distractor stimuli were simultaneously delivered, was varied (near/touching hands vs. hands far apart). In addition, the influence of touching hands was controlled, as participants wore gloves and their hands were blocked from vision by a cover. The magnitude of the tactile negative-priming effect was modulated by the interaction between hand separation and whether or not gloves were worn. When the hands were touching, negative priming emerged only while wearing gloves that prevented direct skin-to-skin contact. In contrast, when the separation between the participants' hands was larger, negative priming emerged only when gloves were not worn. This pattern of results is interpreted in terms of the competing influences of two interacting Gestalt principles-namely, connectedness and proximity-on the processing of tactile distractors.