Salient object changes influence overt attentional prioritization and object-based targeting in natural scenes

Area of Science:

• Visual perception
• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Visual attention is drawn to changes in natural scenes during fixation.
• Saccadic suppression typically masks changes occurring during eye movements (saccades).
• Bottom-up attention mechanisms are influenced by visual saliency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how object salience changes affect attention prioritization and targeting in natural scenes.
• To determine if the type (increase/decrease) and timing (fixation/saccade) of salience changes influence gaze capture.
• To understand the role of transient signals in object prioritization and targeting.

Main Methods:

• Observers viewed natural scenes and were instructed to explore them.
• Objects in the scenes had their salience increased or decreased during fixation or saccade, or remained unchanged.
• Gaze behavior was monitored to assess object prioritization and targeting.

Main Results:

• Changes during fixation captured attention regardless of whether salience increased or decreased.
• Changes during saccades only captured attention when salience increased.
• Transient signals associated with changes led to more central object targeting.

Conclusions:

• Object change prioritization is influenced by the baseline salience of the object.
• Salient signals, especially those with transient properties, are crucial for guiding attention and gaze.
• The findings highlight the interplay between salience, timing, and attentional responses in natural scene perception.