The Role of Attention in the Detection of Luminance Changes: Endogenous versus Exogenous Cueing

Brawn, Peter; Snowden, Robert Jefferson

doi:10.1068/v96l0108

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…These served as targets. This overlapping triangles stimulus (Brawn & Snowden, 1996, 1997; Stuart, Maruff, & Currie, 1997) has some notable merits for measuring object-based attention. For instance, while the two objects are overlapping, there is no masking of any potential target circle location, each of which is equidistant from a central fixation point.…”

Section: Experiments 1: Exogenous Control Of Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention to overlapping objects: Detection and discrimination of luminance changes.

Brawn

Snowden²

2000

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Selective attention to 1 of 2 overlapping objects was assessed in a cuing paradigm. Participants detected or identified targets that appeared in 1 of 6 possible target locations (3 on each object). Significant cuing effects for the simple detection of such targets using both reaction time and sensitivity measures of performance were found. Cuing effects were consistently greater when the participants were required to identify some aspect of the target even when the tasks (detection vs. identification) were equated for overall performance level. These differences in cuing effects between tasks were much reduced if the target locations were no longer grouped into 2 objects. It is suggested that identical stimuli can elicit differing attentional mechanisms depending on task type (rather than task difficulty) and that these mechanisms differ in the nature of the representation of the visual world. A flash of lightning by night, the report of a firearm, the sudden prick of a knife, or a violent internal pain, all these for the moment so occupy our notice that everything else becomes feeble or is banished. (Bradley, 1886, p. 306) Bradley's (1886) quote summarizes people's introspection that when they are attending to one thing, they become less aware of other things. Modern experimental psychologists have devoted much work to defining the details of this general statement. However, there are still fundamental issues that have yet to be resolved. In this article we attempt to address some of them: What constitutes the "thing" of people's attention (an area of space or an object)? Are all tasks affected by attention, and, if so, are they affected equally? Are there differences in attending to something by a deliberate act of will versus when this something automatically draws attention to itself?. To what extent does the difficulty of the task act to determine the effects of attention? Such questions have importance not only in producing theoretical accounts of attentional processes but also for their practical implications. For instance, there is an increasing use of head-up displays (HUDs) in both aviation and driving situations (Sojourner & Antin, 1990; Tufano, 1997; Weintraub & Ensing, 1992; Wickens & Long, 1995). HUDs attempt to overlay information relevant to the user onto the image received from the outside world. The hope is that the two images will fall onto the same parts of the retina and thus time might be saved in switching gaze and accommodation between the two images. However, it might be that

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Section: Experiments 1: Exogenous Control Of Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention to overlapping objects: Detection and discrimination of luminance changes.

Brawn

Snowden²

2000

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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show abstract

“…Exactly how and when we encounter the critical threshold can only be determined in context, but the general mechanism implies non-linearity. Likewise, exogenous cues similar to our distractor task have been found to augment and improve pre-attentive function over time in recognition tasks and video-game expertise ( Brawn and Snowden, 1996 ; Green and Bavelier, 2003 ). In this case, robustness may result from a feedback-dependent selective mechanism within and between brain regions ( Edelman, 1987 ; Sporns et al, 2000 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Network Dynamics of Attention During a Naturalistic Behavioral Paradigm

Weber

Alicea

Huskey

et al. 2018

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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This study investigates the dynamics of attention during continuous, naturalistic interactions in a video game. Specifically, the effect of repeated distraction on a continuous primary task is related to a functional model of network connectivity. We introduce the Non-linear Attentional Saturation Hypothesis (NASH), which predicts that effective connectivity within attentional networks increases non-linearly with decreasing distraction over time, and exhibits dampening at critical parameter values. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected using a naturalistic behavioral paradigm coupled with an interactive video game is used to test the hypothesis. As predicted, connectivity in pre-defined regions corresponding to attentional networks increases as distraction decreases. Moreover, the functional relationship between connectivity and distraction is convex, that is, network connectivity somewhat increases as distraction decreases during the continuous primary task, however, connectivity increases considerably as distraction falls below critical levels. This result characterizes the non-linear pattern of connectivity within attentional networks, particularly with respect to their dynamics during behavior. These results are also summarized in the form of a network structure analysis, which underscores the role of various nodes in regulating the global network state. In conclusion, we situate the implications of this research in the context of cognitive complexity and an emerging theory of flow during media exposure.

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Can one pay attention to a particular color?

Brawn

Snowden²

1999

Perception & Psychophysics

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In an array of elements whose colors vary can we selectively choose to process all the items of a particular color preferentially in relation to those of another color? We addressed this question by presenting subjects with arrays containing many elements, and recording reaction times to a luminance change of one of the elements. Half the elements had one color and the other half another color--the spatial distribution being random. In two tasks--a simple detection of this change or a choice reaction time to the polarity of the change--we found that reaction times were independent of the number of items in the array. Cuing the subjects as to the color of the target item had no significant influence on the detection task, but subjects were faster if cued for the discrimination task. A further experiment replicated these findings and examined possible costs and benefits. Our final experiment separated the roles of attentional guidance and postattentional processes by having subjects judge the orientation of the target element and varying the magnitude of the target flash that defined which element was the target. We found that this judgment was also affected by color cuing, and that the size of the effect interacted with the flash strength, suggesting that color cuing has its influence at the stage of attentional guidance. We conclude that subjects can selectively attend to items on the basis of color given the appropriate task and stimulus dynamics.

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The Role of Attention in the Detection of Luminance Changes: Endogenous versus Exogenous Cueing

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Attention to overlapping objects: Detection and discrimination of luminance changes.

Attention to overlapping objects: Detection and discrimination of luminance changes.

Network Dynamics of Attention During a Naturalistic Behavioral Paradigm

Can one pay attention to a particular color?

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