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Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Published on: August 29, 2018

Subliminally presented and stored objects capture spatial attention.

Duncan E Astle¹, Anna C Nobre, Gaia Scerif

¹Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK. duncan.astle@psy.ox.ac.uk

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|March 12, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Objects leave a spatial memory trace that guides attention, even when presented subliminally. This unconscious visual memory representation automatically captures attention to the original object location.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Perception

Background:

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) retains object representations topographically.
Items in VSTM can automatically capture attention.
The role of unconscious or subliminal object traces in attention is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if objects leave a spatial trace guiding attention without conscious awareness.
To determine if subliminally presented objects can create a topographically organized representation that captures attention.

Main Methods:

Objects were presented supraliminally or subliminally.
A probe shape was re-presented 1 second later in a new location.
Covert spatial attention was measured behaviorally and neurally during a perceptual judgment task on the probe.

Main Results:

Spatial attention was automatically drawn to the original location of the presented object.
This attentional capture occurred regardless of whether the initial object presentation was supraliminal or subliminal.
Neural and behavioral evidence confirmed memory-driven attentional capture.

Conclusions:

Unconscious visual object representations exist and guide spatial attention.
These topographically arranged stores influence attention even beyond explicit awareness.
Subliminal object presentations can establish memory traces that capture attention.