Interference from multi-dimensional objects during feature and conjunction discriminations

Feature discrimination performance within an attended object and interference from irrelevant, multi-dimensional objects (distractors) were examined in a two-choice, response compatibility paradigm. Results showed that the amount of interference by multi-dimensional distractors was dependent on three factors: (1) the discriminability of the incompatible, task-relevant distractor features; (2) the number of incompatible, task-relevant distractor features; and (3) whether the task-relevant, incompatible features matched the task goals. The most interesting finding was that additive priming effects were found for multiple, task-relevant features that matched the task goals, whether these features were present in the attended object or in the ignored object. Models that assume that each task-relevant feature primes its corresponding decision/response asynchronously and that this priming is combined to meet a decision/response criterion (at least when attended) can account for distractor interference during conjunction discriminations. Implications of these findings for feature integration models, template models, and a response selection model are discussed.