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Do new objects capture attention?

Steven L Franconeri1, Andrew Hollingworth, Daniel J Simons

  • 1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirland St., 7th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. steve@psych.ubc.ca

Psychological Science
|April 15, 2005
PubMed
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Sudden environmental changes capture visual attention. However, new objects only attract attention if they create a strong luminance transient, not simply by appearing.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • The visual system uses heuristics to guide attention.
  • Sudden environmental changes typically capture attention.
  • Previously, attention capture was thought to require new objects, but recent studies show luminance transients also play a role.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if new objects are sufficient to capture attention.
  • To investigate whether attention capture by new objects is due to their novelty or the luminance transients they create.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments utilizing a visual search task were conducted.
  • Participants searched for targets under varying conditions of object appearance and luminance transients.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • New objects did not capture attention on their own.
  • Attention was captured only when new objects generated a significant local luminance transient.

Conclusions:

  • The visual system's sensitivity to luminance transients, rather than the mere appearance of new objects, drives attention capture.
  • Luminance transients are a critical factor in how the visual system directs attention to environmental changes.