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The what-where trade-off in multiple-identity tracking
Michael A Cohen1, Yair Pinto, Piers D L Howe
1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., 760 William James Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. michaelthecohen@gmail.com [corrected].
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
|March 8, 2011
Summary
Tracking object identity does not prevent location tracking. Our experiments show that attempting to track both identity and location of objects draws on a common cognitive resource, demonstrating these processes are linked.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Previous research suggested object tracking mechanisms do not encode identity.
- This implied identity information is not processed during object tracking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether object tracking mechanisms encode identity.
- To determine the relationship between object location and identity tracking.
Main Methods:
- A series of experiments were conducted.
- Participants attempted to track object locations and identities simultaneously.
Main Results:
- Tracking object identities impaired the ability to track object locations.
- This suggests a shared cognitive resource for both location and identity tracking.
- Participants could voluntarily allocate this resource between location and identity tracking.
Conclusions:
- Object tracking mechanisms do encode identity.
- Location and identity tracking mechanisms are not fully dissociable and share a common resource.
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