Spatial attention and vernier acuity

Abstract

This study examined whether or not vernier acuity would be improved if the location of a briefly presented vernier stimulus was pre-cued. The vernier target appeared alone, or together with straight lines or ellipses. Effects of spatial pre-cuing were found only when straight line distractors were present. It is suggested that since the straight lines are confusable with the vernier targets, they introduce statistical noise in decision. Precuing the most probable location that contains a target may help by allowing this noise to be excluded.

Automatic, stimulus-driven attentional capture by objecthood

“…Alternatively, different mechanisms may account for the observed cost and benefit. In addition to facilitatory processes at the attended area, attention can also operate by inhibiting the information in nonattended areas (e.g., a mechanism of noise reduction; Shiu & Pashler, 1995). The finding that a significant benefit was observed at 500-msec SOA, but that there was no cost for targets that did not "belong" to the object, suggests that the object may have exerted influence by means of different mechanisms.…”

Attention and the subjective expansion of time

“…One possibility is that just as attention can enhance the spatial acuity of the visual system (Mackeben & Nakayama, 1993;Nakayama & Mackeben, 1989;Shiu & Pashler, 1995), attention can also enhance the temporal resolution of visual processing. Since heightened spatial or temporal resolution is presumably expensive, the visual system may invoke heightened processing only for stimuli of probable interest or importance.…”

Sensory gain control (amplification) as a mechanism of selective attention: electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence

“…Some authors have proposed that stimuli falling within the`spotlight' of attention are processed more e¤ciently at early sensory levels (Hawkins et al 1990;Reinitz 1990;Luck et al 1996) and that this early facilitation takes the form of an ampli¢cation of perceptual information arising from attended locations (Posner & Dehaene 1994). Alternatively, it has been hypothesized that spatial selection acts at late, postperceptual levels through the selective biasing of decision or response processes in favour of attended-location stimuli (Sperling & Dosher 1986;Shiu & Pashler 1995).…”