The role of attentional breadth in perceptual change detection

Abstract

Previous research has shown that changes to scenes are often surprisingly hard to detect. The research reported here investigated the relationship between individual differences in attention and change detection. We did this by assessing participants' breadth of attention in a functional field of view task (FFOV) and relating this measure to the speed with which individuals detected changes in scenes. We also examined how the salience, meaningfulness, and eccentricity of the scene changes affected perceptual change performance. In order to broaden the range of individual differences in attentional breadth, both young and old adults participated in the study. A strong negative relationship was obtained between attentional breadth and the latency with which perceptual changes were detected; observers with broader attentional windows detected changes faster. Salience and eccentricity had large effects on change detection, but meaning aided the performance of young adults only and only when changes also had low salience.

The elephant in the room: Inconsistency in scene viewing and representation.

“…First, they indicate that previous controversial evidence about an inconsistency advantage for selection prioritisation during viewing (e.g., Bonitz & Gordon, 2008;Brockmole & Henderson, 2008;Cornelissen & Võ, 2017;Hollingworth & Henderson, 2003;Loftus & Mackworth, 1978;Stirk & Underwood, 2007;Underwood et al, 2007Underwood et al, , 2008 may have arisen from a bias in informativeness per se, due to comparisons with poorly informative objects. Second, they corroborate previous research, carried out in the change detection domain, which considered consistent/diagnostic and consistent/low informative objects and showed that informativeness in terms of diagnosticity for scene leads to preferential selection Pringle et al, 2001;Rensink et al, 1997Rensink et al, , 2000Spotorno & Faure, 2011). We reinforce this earlier claim by demonstrating that diagnosticity prioritisation holds true even when removing the imbalance in informativeness between the compared objects.…”

Change Blindness, Attention, and Driving Performance

“…While UFOV appears to show a general relationship to driving, the association between CB and driving largely depends on the particular task images used. Given the wide range of images utilized in this experiment, eccentricity, meaningfulness, and salience are likely to have influenced the varying degree of correlation between CB and driving performance (Pringle et al, 2001). These variables are being assessed in ongoing studies of CB in follow-up research in our lab and others.…”

“…Older adults show reduced speed and accuracy on CB tasks compared to younger adults (Caird, Edwards, Creaser, & Horrey, 2005;Pringle et al, 2001;Rensink, 2002). The degree of task difficulty depends on the eccentricity, meaningfulness, and salience of the changing object (Pringle et al, 2001). While CB studies have included traffic scenes, this study directly tests the hypothetical relationship between CB using traffic scenes and actual driving performance.…”

“…Recent findings suggest that noticing changes requires both attention and visual working memory, the ability to store and compare visual information before and after a change occurs (Pringle et al, 2001;Simons & Ambinder, 2005). Older adults show reduced speed and accuracy on CB tasks compared to younger adults (Caird, Edwards, Creaser, & Horrey, 2005;Pringle et al, 2001;Rensink, 2002). The degree of task difficulty depends on the eccentricity, meaningfulness, and salience of the changing object (Pringle et al, 2001).…”

“…Change blindness (CB) is an inability to detect large changes in a visual scene, often in association with a visual disruption, such as an eye-movement, blink, or film cut (McCarley et al, 2004;O'Regan, Rensink, & Clark, 1999;Pringle, Irwin, Kramer, & Atchley, 2001;Rizzo et al, submitted). Recent findings suggest that noticing changes requires both attention and visual working memory, the ability to store and compare visual information before and after a change occurs (Pringle et al, 2001;Simons & Ambinder, 2005). Older adults show reduced speed and accuracy on CB tasks compared to younger adults (Caird, Edwards, Creaser, & Horrey, 2005;Pringle et al, 2001;Rensink, 2002).…”