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Sarah Shomstein - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Target frequency modulates Object-Based Attention
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2020Co-Authors: Sarah ShomsteinAbstract:Decades of research have provided evidence that object representations contribute to Attentional selection. However, most evidence for Object-Based Attentional allocation is drawn from studies employing the two-rectangle paradigm where the target distribution is biased towards the cued object. It is thus unclear whether Object-Based Attentional selection is from object representations or a consequence of spatial Attention based on statistical imbalances. Here, we investigate the extent to which target frequency modulates Object-Based Attention by systematically manipulating the frequency of target appearance in a particular spatial location within objects to equate spatial allocation, bias specific spatial locations, or bias objects. In four experiments, participants were presented with a variant of the two-rectangle paradigm in which one end of a rectangle was cued and performed a target discrimination task. Critically, the target location probabilities were parametrically manipulated. The target could appear equally in all ends within the objects (valid, invalid within-object, invalid between-object, diagonal) (Experiment 1) or with overall equality between objects but biased towards the invalid locations (Experiment 2). The target could also appear in three locations (valid, invalid within-object, invalid between-object) distributed equally between objects but biased towards the invalid between-object location (Experiment 3) or with an overall bias towards the invalid between-object location (Experiment 4). We observed that while objects bias Attention, spatial biases are prioritized over object representations. Combined results suggest that Object-Based contribution to Attentional guidance is the result of both spatial probabilities and object representations.
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Object-Based Attention is resilient to low-level (boundary) or high-level (semantic) disturbances, but not both
2019Co-Authors: Paul S. Scotti, Andrew Collegio, Sarah ShomsteinAbstract:Attentional selection is constrained by object representations (Object-Based Attention) that consist of low-level (e.g., boundaries signaled by closure) and high-level (e.g., semantic category) properties. Whereas low-level information has repeatedly been shown to constrain Object-Based Attention with the use of simple geometric figures, high-level information (such as meaning) has only recently been shown to be an important factor in Object-Based guidance of Attention. Here, we characterize the relative contributions of object boundaries and object semantic identity to Attentional allocation by systematically reducing the contribution from both levels of description. The relative contribution of these object properties was measured by examining Object-Based Attentional guidance after abruptly replacing an attended object with a new object with varying boundary and/or semantic similarity to the original object. Overall, Object-Based Attentional guidance was sustained if either object property was stable. That is, Object-Based Attentional effects were observed when either boundaries or semantic category was largely preserved, but Object-Based effects were absent when both properties were disturbed. These results support recent evidence that both low-level and high-level object properties contribute to Attentional guidance and suggest that Object-Based Attention may efficiently guide behavior even in naturalistic conditions with real-world objects and environmental fluctuations (e.g., dim lighting, fog, blurry vision).
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Spatial Attention is necessary for Object-Based Attention: Evidence from temporal-order judgments
Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 2017Co-Authors: Ian Donovan, Jay Pratt, Sarah ShomsteinAbstract:Attentional selection is a dynamic process that relies on multiple types of representations. That object representations contribute to Attentional selection has been known for decades; however, most evidence for this contribution has been gleaned from studies that have relied on various forms of spatial cueing (some endogenous and some exogenous). It has thus remained unclear whether Object-Based Attentional selection is a direct result of spatial cuing, or whether it still emerges without any spatial marker. Here we used a novel method—the temporal-order judgment (TOJ)—to examine whether Object-Based guidance emerges in the absence of spatial cuing. Participants were presented with two rectangles oriented either horizontally or vertically. Following a 150-ms preview time, two target stimuli were presented on the same or on different objects, and participants were asked to report which of the two stimuli had appeared first. The targets consisted of stimuli that formed a percept of a “hole” or a “hill.” First, we demonstrated that the “hill” target was indeed processed faster, as evidenced by a positive perceived simultaneity (PSS) measure. We then demonstrated that if two targets appeared with equal probabilities on the same and on different objects, the PSS values, although positive, were not modulated by the objects. In a subsequent set of experiments, we showed that objects can modulate Attentional allocation—however, only when they are biased by a spatial (endogenous) cue. In other words, in the absence of a spatial cue or bias, object representations do not guide Attentional selection. In addition to providing new constraints for theories of Object-Based Attentional guidance, these experiments introduce a novel paradigm for measuring Object-Based Attentional effects.
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Object-Based Attention in real-world scenes.
Journal of experimental psychology. General, 2015Co-Authors: George L. Malcolm, Sarah ShomsteinAbstract:We are continually confronted with more visual information than we can process in a given moment. In order to interact effectively with our environment, Attentional mechanisms are used to select subsets of environmental properties for enhanced processing. Previous research demonstrated that spatial regions can be selected based on either their low-level feature or high-level semantic properties. However, the efficiency with which we interact with the world suggests that there must be an additional, midlevel, factor constraining effective Attentional space. The present study investigates whether Object-Based Attentional selection is one such midlevel factor that constrains visual Attention in complex, real-world scenes. Participants viewed scene images while their eye movements were recorded. During viewing, a cue appeared on an object which participants were instructed to fixate. A target then appeared either on the same object as the cue, on a different object, or floating. Participants initiated saccades faster and had shorter response times to targets presented on the same object as the fixated cue. The results strongly suggest that when attending to a location on an object, the entire object benefits perceptually. This Object-Based effect on the distribution of spatial Attention forms a critical link between low-and high-level factors that direct Attention efficiently in complex real-world scenes.
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Object-Based Attention: strategy versus automaticity.
Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science, 2012Co-Authors: Sarah ShomsteinAbstract:This article begins with a description of space- and Object-Based guidance of Attentional selection. It goes on to discuss the most influential, two-rectangle, paradigm for demonstrating the existence of space- and Object-Based Attentional effects. The article then considers two different mechanisms, Attentional spreading and Attentional prioritization, that can potentially explain how object representations come to guide Attentional selection. Finally, it discusses several empirical findings that have emerged in support of the two different mechanisms. It concludes by putting forth a new framework for investigating Object-Based effects. WIREs Cogn Sci 2012, 3:163-169. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1162 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
József Fiser - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Statistically defined visual chunks engage Object-Based Attention.
Nature communications, 2021Co-Authors: Gabor Lengyel, Márton Nagy, József FiserAbstract:Although objects are the fundamental units of our representation interpreting the environment around us, it is still not clear how we handle and organize the incoming sensory information to form object representations. By utilizing previously well-documented advantages of within-object over across-object information processing, here we test whether learning involuntarily consistent visual statistical properties of stimuli that are free of any traditional segmentation cues might be sufficient to create object-like behavioral effects. Using a visual statistical learning paradigm and measuring efficiency of 3-AFC search and Object-Based Attention, we find that statistically defined and implicitly learned visual chunks bias observers' behavior in subsequent search tasks the same way as objects defined by visual boundaries do. These results suggest that learning consistent statistical contingencies based on the sensory input contributes to the emergence of object representations.
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Statistically defined visual chunks engage Object-Based Attention.
Nature communications, 2021Co-Authors: Gabor Lengyel, Márton Nagy, József FiserAbstract:Although objects are the fundamental units of our representation interpreting the environment around us, it is still not clear how we handle and organize the incoming sensory information to form object representations. By utilizing previously well-documented advantages of within-object over across-object information processing, here we test whether learning involuntarily consistent visual statistical properties of stimuli that are free of any traditional segmentation cues might be sufficient to create object-like behavioral effects. Using a visual statistical learning paradigm and measuring efficiency of 3-AFC search and Object-Based Attention, we find that statistically defined and implicitly learned visual chunks bias observers’ behavior in subsequent search tasks the same way as objects defined by visual boundaries do. These results suggest that learning consistent statistical contingencies based on the sensory input contributes to the emergence of object representations. The study reports that implicitly learned, statistically defined chunks of abstract visual shapes elicit similar Object-Based perceptual effects as images of true objects with visual boundaries do. This result links the emergence of object representations to implicit statistical learning mechanisms.
Shaun P Vecera - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Object-Based Attention overrides perceptual load to modulate visual distraction.
Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 2012Co-Authors: Joshua D. Cosman, Shaun P VeceraAbstract:The ability to ignore task-irrelevant information and overcome distraction is central to our ability to efficiently carry out a number of tasks. One factor shown to strongly influence distraction is the perceptual load of the task being performed; as the perceptual load of task-relevant information processing increases, the likelihood that task-irrelevant information will be processed and interfere with task performance decreases. However, it has also been demonstrated that other Attentional factors play an important role in whether or not distracting information affects performance. Specifically, Object-Based Attention can modulate the extent of distractor processing, leaving open the possibility that Object-Based Attention mechanisms may directly modulate the way in which perceptual load affects distractor processing. Here, we show that Object-Based Attention dominates perceptual load to determine the extent of task-irrelevant information processing, with distractors affecting performance only when they are contained within the same object as the task-relevant search display. These results suggest that Object-Based Attention effects play a central role in selective Attention regardless of the perceptual load of the task being performed.
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Interference between Object-Based Attention and Object-Based memory.
Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2009Co-Authors: Michi Matsukura, Shaun P VeceraAbstract:Research has shown that there are at least two kinds of visual selective Attention: location based and object based. In the present study, we sought to determine the locus of spatially invariant Object-Based selection using a dual-task paradigm. In four experiments, observers performed an Attention task (object feature report or visual search) with a concurrent memory task (object memory or spatial memory). Object memory was interfered with more by a concurrent Object-Based Attention task than by a concurrent location-based Attention task. However, this interference pattern was reversed for spatial memory, with greater interference by a location-based Attention task than by an Object-Based Attention task. These findings suggest that Object-Based Attention and locationbased Attention are functionally dissociable and that some forms of Object-Based selection operate within visual short-term memory.
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Attentional spreading in Object-Based Attention.
Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 2008Co-Authors: Ashleigh M. Richard, Hyunkyu Lee, Shaun P VeceraAbstract:The authors investigated 2 effects of Object-Based Attention: the spread of Attention within an attended object and the prioritization of search across possible target locations within an attended object. Participants performed a flanker task in which the location of the task-relevant target was fixed and known to participants. A spreading Attention account predicts that Object-Based Attention will arise from the spread of Attention through an attended object. A prioritization account predicts that there will be a small, if any, Object-Based effect because the location of the target is known in advance and objects are not required to prioritize the deployment of Attentional search. The results suggested that Object-Based Attention operates via the spread of Attention within an object.
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The return of Object-Based Attention: selection of multiple-region objects.
Perception & psychophysics, 2006Co-Authors: Michi Matsukura, Shaun P VeceraAbstract:Objects can control the focus of Attention, allowing features on the same object to be selected more easily than features on different objects. In the present experiments, we investigated the perceptual processes that contribute to such Object-Based Attentional effects. Previous research has demonstrated that Object-Based effects occur for single-region objects but not for multiple-region objects under some conditions (Experiment 1, Watson & Kramer, 1999). Such results are surprising, because most objects in natural scenes are composed of multiple regions. Previous findings could therefore limit the usefulness of an Object-Based selection mechanism. We explored the generality of these single-region selection results by manipulating the extent to which different (i.e., multiple) regions of a single object perceptually grouped together. Object-Based Attentional effects were attenuated when multiple regions did not group into a single perceptual object (Experiment 1). However, when multiple regions grouped together based on (1) edge continuation (Experiments 2 and 3) or (2) part and occlusion cues (Experiment 4), we observed Object-Based effects. Our results suggest that Object-Based Attention is a robust process that can select multiple-region objects, provided the regions of such objects cohere on the basis of perceptual grouping cues. nt ]mis|This research was made possible by a Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research Award to M.M. and a grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS 99-10727) to S.P.V.
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The spatial distribution of Object-Based Attention
Journal of Vision, 2005Co-Authors: Ashleigh M. Richard, Andrew Hollingworth, Shaun P VeceraAbstract:We investigated a core issue in Object-Based selection: the spatial distribution of Attention within and across objects. The method built upon the Egly et al. paradigm. We first replicated the same-object advantage in that paradigm. To examine the spatial distribution of Attention within and across objects, we added a manipulation of within-object distance between cue and target. Evidence of spatial distance effects within objects would suggest that Object-Based selection is inherently spatial, consistent with grouped-array theories (Vecera, 1994) in which object perceptual structure is proposed to constrain the spatial distribution of Attention.
Mowei Shen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Object-Based Attention in retaining binding in working memory: Influence of activation states of working memory.
Memory & cognition, 2020Co-Authors: Xueyi Wan, Zaifeng Gao, Mowei ShenAbstract:It has been suggested that retaining bindings in working memory (WM) requires more Object-Based Attention than retaining constituent features. Recent studies have found that when memorized stimuli are presented sequentially, the most recent stimulus is in a highly accessible privileged state such that it is retained in a relatively automatic and resource-free manner, whereas the other stimuli are in a non-privileged state. The current study investigated whether the activation states of WM modulate the role of Object-Based Attention in retaining bindings in WM. To address this question, we presented three colored shapes sequentially and added a transparent-motion task (Experiment 1) or a mental rotation task (Experiment 2) into the WM maintenance phase to consume Object-Based Attention. We consistently found that consuming Object-Based Attention led to a larger impairment to bindings relative to constituent features, which is independent of the WM activation states, suggesting that Object-Based Attention is critical in retaining bindings in WM across activation states of WM.
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Object-Based Attention on Social Units: Visual Selection of Hands Performing a Social Interaction:
Psychological science, 2018Co-Authors: Jun Yin, Jipeng Duan, Mowei ShenAbstract:Traditionally, objects of Attention are characterized either as full-fledged entities or either as elements grouped by Gestalt principles. Because humans appear to use social groups as units to explain social activities, we proposed that a socially defined group, according to social interaction information, would also be a possible object of Attentional selection. This hypothesis was examined using displays with and without handshaking interactions. Results demonstrated that Object-Based Attention, which was measured by an object-specific Attentional advantage (i.e., shorter response times to targets on a single object), was extended to two hands performing a handshake but not to hands that did not perform meaningful social interactions, even when they did perform handshake-like actions. This finding cannot be attributed to the familiarity of the frequent co-occurrence of two handshaking hands. Hence, Object-Based Attention can select a grouped object whose parts are connected within a meaningful social interaction. This finding implies that Object-Based Attention is constrained by top-down information.
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Bindings in working memory: The role of Object-Based Attention.
Attention perception & psychophysics, 2016Co-Authors: Zaifeng Gao, Fangfang Qiu, Yue Yang, Mowei ShenAbstract:Over the past decade, it has been debated whether retaining bindings in working memory (WM) requires more Attention than retaining constituent features, focusing on domain-general Attention and space-based Attention. Recently, we proposed that retaining bindings in WM needs more Object-Based Attention than retaining constituent features (Shen, Huang, & Gao, 2015, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, doi: 10.1037/xhp0000018 ). However, only unitized visual bindings were examined; to establish the role of Object-Based Attention in retaining bindings in WM, more emperical evidence is required. We tested 4 new bindings that had been suggested requiring no more Attention than the constituent features in the WM maintenance phase: The two constituent features of binding were stored in different WM modules (cross-module binding, Experiment 1), from auditory and visual modalities (cross-modal binding, Experiment 2), or temporally (cross-time binding, Experiments 3) or spatially (cross-space binding, Experiments 4-6) separated. In the critical condition, we added a secondary object feature-report task during the delay interval of the change-detection task, such that the secondary task competed for Object-Based Attention with the to-be-memorized stimuli. If more Object-Based Attention is required for retaining bindings than for retaining constituent features, the secondary task should impair the binding performance to a larger degree relative to the performance of constituent features. Indeed, Experiments 1-6 consistently revealed a significantly larger impairment for bindings than for the constituent features, suggesting that Object-Based Attention plays a pivotal role in retaining bindings in WM.
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Object formation in visual working memory: Evidence from Object-Based Attention.
Cognition, 2016Co-Authors: Jifan Zhou, Haihang Zhang, Xiaowei Ding, Rende Shui, Mowei ShenAbstract:We report on how visual working memory (VWM) forms intact perceptual representations of visual objects using sub-object elements. Specifically, when objects were divided into fragments and sequentially encoded into VWM, the fragments were involuntarily integrated into objects in VWM, as evidenced by the occurrence of both positive and negative Object-Based Attention effects: In Experiment 1, when subjects' Attention was cued to a location occupied by the VWM object, the target presented at the location of that object was perceived as occurring earlier than that presented at the location of a different object. In Experiment 2, responses to a target were significantly slower when a distractor was presented at the same location as the cued object (Experiment 2). These results suggest that object fragments can be integrated into objects within VWM in a manner similar to that of visual perception.
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Object-Based Attention underlies the rehearsal of feature binding in visual working memory.
Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 2015Co-Authors: Mowei Shen, Xiang Huang, Zaifeng GaoAbstract:Feature binding is a core concept in many research fields, including the study of working memory (WM). Over the past decade, it has been debated whether keeping the feature binding in visual WM consumes more visual Attention than the constituent single features. Previous studies have only explored the contribution of domain-general Attention or space-based Attention in the binding process; no study so far has explored the role of Object-Based Attention in retaining binding in visual WM. We hypothesized that Object-Based Attention underlay the mechanism of rehearsing feature binding in visual WM. Therefore, during the maintenance phase of a visual WM task, we inserted a secondary mental rotation (Experiments 1-3), transparent motion (Experiment 4), or an Object-Based feature report task (Experiment 5) to consume the Object-Based Attention available for binding. In line with the prediction of the Object-Based Attention hypothesis, Experiments 1-5 revealed a more significant impairment for binding than for constituent single features. However, this selective binding impairment was not observed when inserting a space-based visual search task (Experiment 6). We conclude that Object-Based Attention underlies the rehearsal of binding representation in visual WM.
Gabor Lengyel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Statistically defined visual chunks engage Object-Based Attention.
Nature communications, 2021Co-Authors: Gabor Lengyel, Márton Nagy, József FiserAbstract:Although objects are the fundamental units of our representation interpreting the environment around us, it is still not clear how we handle and organize the incoming sensory information to form object representations. By utilizing previously well-documented advantages of within-object over across-object information processing, here we test whether learning involuntarily consistent visual statistical properties of stimuli that are free of any traditional segmentation cues might be sufficient to create object-like behavioral effects. Using a visual statistical learning paradigm and measuring efficiency of 3-AFC search and Object-Based Attention, we find that statistically defined and implicitly learned visual chunks bias observers' behavior in subsequent search tasks the same way as objects defined by visual boundaries do. These results suggest that learning consistent statistical contingencies based on the sensory input contributes to the emergence of object representations.
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Statistically defined visual chunks engage Object-Based Attention.
Nature communications, 2021Co-Authors: Gabor Lengyel, Márton Nagy, József FiserAbstract:Although objects are the fundamental units of our representation interpreting the environment around us, it is still not clear how we handle and organize the incoming sensory information to form object representations. By utilizing previously well-documented advantages of within-object over across-object information processing, here we test whether learning involuntarily consistent visual statistical properties of stimuli that are free of any traditional segmentation cues might be sufficient to create object-like behavioral effects. Using a visual statistical learning paradigm and measuring efficiency of 3-AFC search and Object-Based Attention, we find that statistically defined and implicitly learned visual chunks bias observers’ behavior in subsequent search tasks the same way as objects defined by visual boundaries do. These results suggest that learning consistent statistical contingencies based on the sensory input contributes to the emergence of object representations. The study reports that implicitly learned, statistically defined chunks of abstract visual shapes elicit similar Object-Based perceptual effects as images of true objects with visual boundaries do. This result links the emergence of object representations to implicit statistical learning mechanisms.
