Changing features do not guide attention in change detection: evidence from a spatial cuing paradigm.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Previous research suggested large feature changes in visual search guide attention preattentively.
• This was based on findings that search times were less affected by display size when more features changed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that large feature changes provide preattentive guidance of focal attention.
• To investigate the role of feature changes in change detection using a spatial cuing paradigm.

Main Methods:

• Examined change detection performance under a spatial cuing paradigm.
• Manipulated the number of features that changed in the target character.
• Compared performance on validly and invalidly cued trials across different levels of feature change.

Main Results:

• Spatial cuing effects were equivalent regardless of the number of features that changed.
• The number of feature changes significantly impacted detection performance on both validly and invalidly cued trials.
• Contrary to predictions, large feature changes did not reduce the cost of invalid cues.

Conclusions:

• Large feature changes do not appear to provide preattentive guidance.
• Feature changes are more readily detected when attention is already allocated to the target location.
• The findings challenge the interpretation of previous studies on feature changes and attentional guidance.