Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026
07:31
Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
Published on: February 8, 2019
Reinstating object-based attention under positional certainty: the importance of subjective parsing
1Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. zhe.chen@canterbury.ac.nz
Perception & Psychophysics
|December 13, 2006
Summary
Object-based attention can occur even with focused spatial attention if prior experience leads to perceiving separate objects. This finding challenges existing visual search theories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Attention Research
Background:
- Flanking distractors' interference is influenced by scene object organization.
- Object-based attention typically requires broader spatial focus.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate object-based attention under conditions of positional certainty.
- To determine if object-based attention can emerge with a narrow attentional focus.
- To challenge existing models of visual search and attention.
Main Methods:
- Experiments tested object-based attention with stimuli allowing narrow spatial focus.
- Participants' prior experience with stimuli was manipulated.
- Control experiments ruled out spatial attention widening as the cause.
Main Results:
- Object-based attention appeared when participants interpreted stimuli as two distinct objects, despite focused attention.
- This effect persisted even under conditions of positional certainty.
- Control experiments confirmed the results were not due to broadened spatial attention.
Conclusions:
- Object-based attention is not solely dependent on broad spatial focus.
- Prior experience and object interpretation play a crucial role in object-based attention.
- Findings challenge the Shomstein and Yantis (2002) visual search priority explanation.
More Related Videos
07:36Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
Published on: November 30, 2018
08:32Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks
Published on: September 5, 2019
Related Concept Videos
01:18Parseval's Theorem
Parseval's theorem is a fundamental concept in signal processing and harmonic analysis. It asserts that for a periodic function, the average power of the signal over one period equals the sum of the squared magnitudes of all its complex Fourier coefficients. This theorem, named after Marc-Antoine Parseval, provides a powerful tool for analyzing the energy distribution in signals.
Interestingly, Parseval's theorem also holds for the trigonometric form of the Fourier series, which expresses a...
Interestingly, Parseval's theorem also holds for the trigonometric form of the Fourier series, which expresses a...
01:21Gestalt Principles of Perception
Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
01:25The Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic
In order to make good decisions, we use our knowledge and our reasoning. Often, this knowledge and reasoning is sound and solid. However, sometimes, we are swayed by biases or by others manipulating a situation. For example, let’s say you and three friends wanted to rent a house and had a combined target budget of $1,600. The realtor shows you only very run-down houses for $1,600 and then shows you a very nice house for $2,000. Might you ask each person to pay more in rent to get the $2,000...
02:32Position-effect Variegation
In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.
01:09First Impression
First impressions play a crucial role in social perception, shaping how individuals assess others in professional, academic, and interpersonal contexts. Psychological research highlights the significance of cognitive biases, such as the primacy and recency effects, which influence how people interpret and recall information.The Primacy Effect and Cognitive AnchoringThe primacy effect describes the tendency for initial information to impact judgment disproportionately. When individuals encounter...
03:26Framing Effects
Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in different ways based on the...