Target–object integration, attention distribution, and object orientation interactively modulate object-based selection

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Shahd Al-Janabi ; Adam S. Greenberg
• 关键词：Object ; based attention ; Space ; based attention ; Meridian effect
• 刊名：Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：October 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：78
• 期：7
• 页码：1968-1984
• 全文大小：1,398 KB
• 刊物主题：Cognitive Psychology;
• 出版者：Springer US
• ISSN：1943-393X
• 卷排序：78

文摘

The representational basis of attentional selection can be object-based. Various studies have suggested, however, that object-based selection is less robust than spatial selection across experimental paradigms. We sought to examine the manner by which the following factors might explain this variation: Target–Object Integration (targets ‘on’ vs. part ‘of’ an object), Attention Distribution (narrow vs. wide), and Object Orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). In Experiment 1, participants discriminated between two targets presented ‘on’ an object in one session, or presented as a change ‘of’ an object in another session. There was no spatial cue—thus, attention was initially focused widely—and the objects were horizontal or vertical. We found evidence of object-based selection only when targets constituted a change ‘of’ an object. Additionally, object orientation modulated the sign of object-based selection: We observed a same-object advantage for horizontal objects, but a same-object cost for vertical objects. In Experiment 2, an informative cue preceded a single target presented ‘on’ an object or as a change ‘of’ an object (thus, attention was initially focused narrowly). Unlike in Experiment 1, we found evidence of object-based selection independent of target–object integration. We again found that the sign of selection was modulated by the objects’ orientation. This result may reflect a meridian effect, which emerged due to anisotropies in the cortical representations when attention is oriented endogenously. Experiment 3 revealed that object orientation did not modulate object-based selection when attention was oriented exogenously. Our findings suggest that target–object integration, attention distribution, and object orientation modulate object-based selection, but only in combination.