The CODE theory of visual attention: an integration of space-based and object-based attention
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Updated: Nov 3, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019
1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign 61820, USA. glogan@s.psych.uiuc.edu
Abstract:
This article presents a theory that integrates space-based and object-based approaches to visual attention. The theory puts together M.P. van Oeffelen and P.G. Vos's (1982, 1983) COntour DEtector (CODE) theory of perceptual grouping by proximity with C. Bundesen's (1990) theory of visual attention (TVA). CODE provides input to TVA, accounting for spatially based between-object selection, and TVA converts the input to output, accounting for feature- and category-based within-object selection. CODE clusters nearby items into perceptual groups that are both perceptual objects and regions of space, thereby integrating object-based and space-based approaches to attention. The combined theory provides a quantitative account of the effects of grouping by proximity and distance between items on reaction time and accuracy data in 7 empirical situations that shaped the current literature on visual spatial attention.
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