Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Attentive tracking of objects versus substances.

Kristy VanMarle1, Brian J Scholl

  • 1Yale University, CT 06520-8205, USA.

Psychological Science
|August 22, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Infants Use Others' Inconsistent Choices to Make Preference Attributions.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same author

ManyNumbers 3: A Multi-Lab Study of Demographic Correlates of Early Number Knowledge.

Developmental science·2026
Same author

The spontaneous prioritization of "unfinishedness" in perception: A visual Zeigarnik effect.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2026
Same author

Dynamic categorical memory distortion from "visual verbs".

Cognition·2025
Same author

The El Greco Fallacy, this Time with Feeling: How (not) to Measure Group Differences in Emotional Intensity.

Affective science·2025
Same author

Pouring, scooping, bouncing, rolling, twisting, and rotating: Does spontaneous categorical perception of dynamic event types reflect verbal encoding or visual processing?

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2025
Same journal

No Evidence for Self-Esteem Effects on Aggression: Findings From a Multi-Year, Multi-Informant Longitudinal Study of Mexican-Origin Families.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Boosting Media Literacy Using Lateral Reading and Online Search Interventions.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

A Field Experiment Testing Whether Accountability Reduces Racial Gaps in Performance Evaluations.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Does Testosterone Affect Cognitive Reflection? Evidence From a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Study of 1,000 Participants.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Does Overconfidence Really Confer Adaptive Benefits to Children's Learning?

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

How Does the Mind Grow? Cross-Cultural Intuitive Theories of Mental Development.

Psychological science·2026
See all related articles

Adults struggle to track dynamic "substances" that change shape, unlike discrete objects. This highlights how visual attention distinguishes between solid objects and pouring substances based on dynamic properties.

Area of Science:

  • Vision science
  • Infant cognition
  • Word learning

Background:

  • Object processing is crucial in vision, infant cognition, and word learning.
  • Distinguishing objects from spatial areas or unbound features is key.
  • A contrast exists between rigid objects and nonsolid substances in cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if attention tracking is sensitive to dynamic information differentiating objects and substances.
  • To determine what defines a persisting dynamic object of attention.

Main Methods:

  • Employed a multiple-object tracking task.
  • Compared tracking of discrete, unpredictably moving entities with entities that
  • poured
  • like nonsolid substances.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Included conditions with noncohesive collections and nonrigid deforming objects.

    • Main Results:

    • Subjects successfully tracked multiple discrete objects.
    • Tracking failed for entities exhibiting substance-like "pouring" motion.
    • Inability to track substances was linked to dynamic extension/contraction, causing location ambiguity, not rigidity or cohesiveness issues.

    Conclusions:

    • Attentive tracking processes are sensitive to dynamic information distinguishing objects from substances.
    • The dynamic extension and contraction of substances create attentional ambiguity.
    • Findings reveal convergence between adult vision and infant cognition regarding object persistence.