The gradual emergence of spatially selective target processing in visual search: From feature-specific to object-based attentional control

Eimer, M.; Grubert, A.

Abstract

To dissociate feature-based and object-based stages in the control of spatial attention during visual search, we employed the N2pc component as an electrophysiological marker of attentional object selection. Participants searched for a target object that was defined by a conjunction of color and shape. Some search displays contained the target or a nontarget object that matched either the target color or its shape among 3 nonmatching distractors. In other displays, the target and a partially target-matching nontarget object appeared together. N2pc results demonstrated that the initial stage of attentional object selection is controlled by local feature-specific signals. Attention is allocated in parallel and independently to objects with target-matching features during this early stage, irrespective of whether another target-matching object is simultaneously present elsewhere. From around 250 ms poststimulus, information is integrated across feature dimensions, and spatially selective attentional processing becomes object-based. These findings demonstrate that feature-based and object-based stages of attentional selectivity in visual search can be dissociated in real time.

Citation

Eimer, M., & Grubert, A. (2014). The gradual emergence of spatially selective target processing in visual search: From feature-specific to object-based attentional control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(5), 1819-1831. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037387

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 7, 2014
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 24, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
• Print ISSN: 0096-1523
• Electronic ISSN: 1939-1277
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1819-1831
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037387
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1366886