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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 1, 2025

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Published on: November 30, 2018

Objects are selected for attention based upon meaning during passive scene viewing.

Candace E Peacock^1,2, Elizabeth H Hall^3,4, John M Henderson^3,4

¹Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA, 95618, USA. cepeacock@ucdavis.edu.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|April 24, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Object meaning, not just salience, guides attention during passive scene viewing. This research shows meaning influences where we look and how long we gaze, even when not actively seeking information.

Keywords:

Attention Eye movements Meaning Objects Physical salience Scene perception

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Last Updated: Aug 1, 2025

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Published on: November 30, 2018

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Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

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Published on: August 1, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Visual Attention

Background:

Object meaning guides attention in active scene viewing.
Object salience guides attention in passive scene viewing.
The role of object meaning in passive viewing remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if object meaning predicts attention during passive scene viewing.
To determine if meaning or salience more strongly influences attention in passive viewing.

Main Methods:

Utilized a mixed modeling approach to analyze object meaning and physical salience.
Controlled for object size and eccentricity in statistical analyses.
Analyzed eye-movement data from aesthetic judgment and memorization tasks.

Main Results:

Fixations were more likely to land on high-meaning objects than low-meaning objects, independent of salience, size, and eccentricity.
Fixation durations positively correlated with object meaning, irrespective of other object properties.

Conclusions:

Object meaning is a significant factor in attentional selection during passive scene viewing.
This study provides the first evidence for meaning-driven attentional selection in passive viewing tasks.