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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 24, 2026

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

Published on: July 5, 2015

Object-based attention overrides perceptual load to modulate visual distraction.

Joshua D Cosman¹, Shaun P Vecera

¹Department of Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. joshua-cosman@uiowa.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance

|March 7, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Selective attention is key to ignoring distractions. Object-based attention, not perceptual load, determines if distractors interfere with tasks, especially when they share the same object.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Visual Attention

Background:

Ignoring distractions is crucial for task efficiency.
Perceptual load influences distraction, but other attentional factors are also important.
Object-based attention may modulate how perceptual load affects distractor processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether object-based attention modulates the effect of perceptual load on distractor processing.
To determine the relative influence of object-based attention and perceptual load in selective attention.

Main Methods:

Experimental manipulation of perceptual load.
Introduction of task-irrelevant distractors.
Measurement of distractor interference on task performance.
Focus on object-based attention effects.

Main Results:

Object-based attention dominated perceptual load in controlling distractor processing.
Distractors interfered with performance only when within the same object as the target.
This effect occurred regardless of the perceptual load of the task.

Conclusions:

Object-based attention plays a primary role in selective attention.
The influence of distractors is determined by object-based grouping, irrespective of task perceptual load.
These findings highlight the fundamental role of object-based attention in filtering irrelevant information.