Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 1, 2026
07:12
Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss
Published on: April 11, 2025
1.0K
Effects of broken affordance on visual extinction
Melanie Wulff1, Glyn W Humphreys2
1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
|October 7, 2015
Summary
Breaking a tool's handle reduces its ability to capture attention, lessening visual extinction. This effect is strongest when the tool is on the ipsilesional side, impacting attention capture and detection of contralesional stimuli.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Visual extinction, a deficit following right hemisphere damage, can be ameliorated by action affordances.
- The role of object affordances in modulating attentional capture and visual awareness remains an active area of research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether disrupting the affordance of an object by breaking its handle affects the recovery from visual extinction.
- To examine how object-tool interactions and their spatial presentation influence attentional capture in patients with extinction.
Main Methods:
- Eight patients with right hemisphere lesions and left-sided extinction viewed object pairs with intact or broken handles.
- Stimuli included action-related pairs, unrelated tool pairs, and unrelated object pairs, presented for left- or right-hand actions.
- Performance was assessed by measuring the reduction in extinction under different conditions.
Main Results:
- Extinction was reduced by action-related object-tool pairs and unrelated tool pairs compared to unrelated object pairs.
- Breaking a tool's handle significantly reduced its attentional capture, particularly when presented on the ipsilesional side.
- Attentional capture by intact tools on the ipsilesional side impaired detection of contralesional stimuli.
Conclusions:
- The affordance of an intact tool plays a crucial role in attentional capture, influencing visual awareness in extinction.
- Disrupting this affordance by breaking the handle diminishes its ability to draw attention, offering insights into visual processing deficits.
More Related Videos
11:12Driving Simulation in the Clinic: Testing Visual Exploratory Behavior in Daily Life Activities in Patients with Visual Field Defects
Published on: September 18, 2012
18.0K
07:45Assessing Binocular Central Visual Field and Binocular Eye Movements in a Dichoptic Viewing Condition
Published on: July 21, 2020
5.1K
Related Concept Videos
01:12Visual Agnosia
1.7K
Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round...
1.7K
01:22Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
11.1K
At the molecular level, visual signals trigger transformations in photopigment molecules, resulting in changes in the photoreceptor cell's membrane potential. The photon's energy level is denoted by its wavelength, with each specific wavelength of visible light associated with a distinct color. The spectral range of visible light, classified as electromagnetic radiation, spans from 380 to 720 nm. Electromagnetic radiation wavelengths exceeding 720 nm fall under the infrared category,...
11.1K
01:12Perceptual Constancy
1.8K
Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
1.8K
01:04Social Facilitation
36.8K
Not all intergroup interactions lead to negative outcomes. Sometimes, being in a group situation can improve performance. Social facilitation occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. This typically occurs when people are performing a task for which they are skilled.
36.8K
01:16Focusing of Light in the Eye
7.4K
Light rays enter the eye through the cornea, a transparent dome-shaped tissue that is the eye's outermost layer. The cornea bends or refracts, light rays traveling to the pupil. The shape of the cornea determines how much of the light is bent and whether the image will be focused correctly on the retina at the back of the eye. Once the light has passed through both refraction layers, it converges into a single focal point onto a small area. This is where photoreceptors start transforming...
7.4K
01:15Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
2.6K
Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.
2.6K