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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Object-based attention typically relies on visual cues like continuity and closure.
  • The role of attention in object representation when cues are absent is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if attention can be object-based even without explicit cues to objecthood.
  • To determine if attention can create object representations.

Main Methods:

  • Observers viewed simple grids and focused attention on specific squares to "see" imagined shapes (e.g., H, I).
  • During "scaffolded attention," probes were presented, and participants reported if they were the same or different.
  • Experiments included high-powered direct replications.

Main Results:

  • A "same-object advantage" was observed, where performance was better for probes on the same imagined object.
  • This advantage persisted compared to equidistant probes on different imagined objects.

Conclusions:

  • Attention operates not only over existing objects but can also actively create object representations.
  • This suggests attention plays a constructive role in forming visual objecthood.