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Shifting attention between objects
C Iani1, R Nicoletti, S Rubichi
1Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Brain Research. Cognitive Brain Research
|March 10, 2001
Summary
Shifting attention between objects incurs an extra cost compared to shifting attention within a single object. This spatial attention research highlights object-based attentional effects.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Attention
Background:
- Spatial cueing paradigms are crucial for understanding attentional mechanisms.
- Previous research explored attentional shifts within and between locations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the cognitive cost of shifting attention within an object versus between objects.
- To differentiate object-based from location-based attentional effects.
Main Methods:
- A modified spatial cueing paradigm (Egly et al., 1994) was employed.
- Participants detected targets presented in cued, inside-invalid, and outside-invalid locations across two distinct rectangles.
- Experiment 2 involved joining the rectangles to form a unitary object.
Main Results:
- Valid trials were faster than invalid trials.
- Inside-invalid trials were faster than outside-invalid trials when rectangles were separate.
- No difference was observed between inside-invalid and outside-invalid trials when rectangles formed a unitary object.
Conclusions:
- An additional processing cost is associated with shifting attention between distinct objects.
- Attention is influenced by object boundaries, supporting object-based attention theories.