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Related Concept Videos

Schemas01:42

Schemas

A schema is a mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts (Bartlett, 1932). There are many different types of schemata, and they all have one thing in common: schemata are a method of organizing information that allows the brain to work more efficiently. When a schema is activated, the brain makes immediate assumptions about the person or object being observed.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Spotlighting Customers' Visual Attention at the Stock, Shelf and Store Levels with the 3S Model
06:30

Spotlighting Customers' Visual Attention at the Stock, Shelf and Store Levels with the 3S Model

Published on: May 24, 2019

Space, object, and task selection.

Joel Lachter1, Roger W Remington, Eric Ruthruff

  • 1San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA. joel.b.lachter@nasa.gov

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
|June 16, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study investigated how preparing for and executing tasks affects compatibility effects in selective attention. Task execution, not preparation, significantly influenced compatibility effects for attended stimuli.

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Published on: May 24, 2019

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Published on: May 6, 2021

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Selective attention research traditionally separated object-based and feature-based selection.
  • Compatibility effects, like Stroop effects, arise from interactions between stimulus features and task demands.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To bridge object-based and feature-based selective attention literatures.
  • To examine compatibility effects from attended and unattended stimuli based on task execution and preparation.
  • To propose an integrative model of attentional selection.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed identity or orientation judgments on visual stimuli.
  • Spatial attention was manipulated using involuntary attentional capture cues.
  • Preparation dimension and task execution dimension were independently varied.

Main Results:

  • Preparation had minimal impact on compatibility effects from foil stimuli.
  • The task execution dimension strongly influenced compatibility effects for attended stimuli, irrespective of preparation.
  • Spatial attention facilitated semantic processing across all dimensions.

Conclusions:

  • Attentional selection operates at distinct levels: space, object, and task.
  • Features do not automatically trigger responses without object selection for action.
  • An integrative model explains compatibility effects within a unified framework of attentional selection.