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An unbinding problem? The disintegration of visible, previously attended objects does not attract attention
Jeremy M Wolfe1, Aude Oliva, Serena J Butcher
1Center for Ophthalmic Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. wolfe@search.bwh.harvard.edu
Journal of Vision
|April 8, 2003
Summary
Visual search for a scrambled object is inefficient, even with repeated exposure. This suggests similar attentional processes are used for novel and familiar scenes in visual search tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Visual search tasks are fundamental to understanding attention.
- Change blindness studies reveal limitations in visual awareness.
- Previous research explored repeated search with varying targets.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate visual search efficiency for a scrambled object.
- To compare search performance in repeated versus unrepeated conditions.
- To determine if experience with a stable display improves search for a disrupted object.
Main Methods:
- Seven experiments involved observers searching for a scrambled object among intact objects.
- Stimuli were presented in fixed positions for repeated trials (>100).
- Unrepeated conditions used novel stimuli on each trial.
Main Results:
- Unrepeated visual search was highly inefficient, indicating scrambled objects do not 'pop-out'.
- Repeated search conditions showed similar inefficiency, despite extensive experience.
- Performance did not improve even when the same scrambled target appeared in the same location repeatedly.
Conclusions:
- Attentional processes for searching novel scenes are similar to those for confirming targets in familiar scenes.
- Extensive experience with a stable display does not significantly enhance search for a disrupted object.
- The findings challenge assumptions about learning and adaptation in visual search.