Tracking the changing features of multiple objects: Progressively poorer perceptual precision and progressively greater perceptual lag

To measure the limits on attentive tracking of continuously changing features, in our task objects constantly changed smoothly and unpredictably in orientation, spatial period or position. Observers reported the last state of one of the objects. We observed a gradual decline in performance as the number of tracked objects increased, implicating a graded processing resource. Additionally, responses were more similar to previous states of the tracked object than its final state, especially in the case of spatial frequency. Indeed for spatial frequency, this perceptual lag reached 250ms when tracking four objects. The pattern of the perceptual lags, the graded effect of set size, and the double-report performance suggest the presence of both serial and parallel processing elements.

[1]  Allan C. Dobbins,et al.  Quantitative depth perception of surfaces with multiple matches , 2004 .

[2]  George A Alvarez,et al.  How many objects can you track? Evidence for a resource-limited attentive tracking mechanism. , 2007, Journal of vision.

[3]  C. Koch,et al.  Brain Areas Specific for Attentional Load in a Motion-Tracking Task , 2001, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[4]  Kimron Shapiro,et al.  Direct measurement of attentional dwell time in human vision , 1994, Nature.

[5]  J. O'Regan,et al.  Solving the "real" mysteries of visual perception: the world as an outside memory. , 1992, Canadian journal of psychology.

[6]  M. Perenin,et al.  Optic ataxia: a specific disruption in visuomotor mechanisms. I. Different aspects of the deficit in reaching for objects. , 1988, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[7]  P. Cavanagh,et al.  Cortical fMRI activation produced by attentive tracking of moving targets. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[8]  M. Greenlee,et al.  Competition and sharing of processing resources in visual discrimination. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[9]  Jun Saiki,et al.  Spatiotemporal characteristics of dynamic feature binding in visual working memory , 2003, Vision Research.

[10]  P. Werkhoven,et al.  Visual processing of optic acceleration , 1992, Vision Research.

[11]  E. Averbach,et al.  Short-term memory in vision , 1961 .

[12]  J. Wolfe,et al.  Attention is fast but volition is slow , 2000, Nature.

[13]  Helga C. Arsenio,et al.  Do multielement visual tracking and visual search draw continuously on the same visual attention resources? , 2005, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[14]  J. Duncan,et al.  Visual search and stimulus similarity. , 1989, Psychological review.

[15]  Z. Pylyshyn.  The role of location indexes in spatial perception: A sketch of the FINST spatial-index model , 1989, Cognition.

[16]  B. Dosher,et al.  Fast decay of iconic memory in observers with mild cognitive impairments. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[17]  W. Keller,et al.  Last but Not Least Regulated Poly(A) Tail Formation , 1999, Cell.

[18]  George Sperling,et al.  The information available in brief visual presentations. , 1960 .

[20]  P. Cavanagh,et al.  The Capacity of Visual Short-Term Memory is Set Both by Visual Information Load and by Number of Objects , 2004, Psychological science.

[21]  N. Cowan.  The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity , 2001, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[22]  D. Kerzel.  Eye movements and visible persistence explain the mislocalization of the final position of a moving target , 2000, Vision Research.

[23]  H. Levene.  Robust tests for equality of variances , 1961 .

[24]  Erik Blaser,et al.  Tracking an object through feature space , 2000, Nature.

[25]  Jeremy M Wolfe,et al.  Attentional pursuit is faster than attentional saccade. , 2004, Journal of vision.

[26]  J. Duncan,et al.  The Slow Time-Course of Visual Attention , 1996, Cognitive Psychology.

[27]  Edward K. Vogel,et al.  The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions , 1997, Nature.

[28]  Yaoda Xu,et al.  Limitations of object-based feature encoding in visual short-term memory. , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[29]  S. Yantis.  Multielement visual tracking: Attention and perceptual organization , 1992, Cognitive Psychology.

[30]  W. Hoeffding,et al.  Contributions to Probability and Statistics: Essays in Honor of Harold Hotelling. , 1962 .

[31]  G. Sperling,et al.  Dynamics of automatic and controlled visual attention. , 1987, Science.

[32]  P. Cavanagh,et al.  Independent Resources for Attentional Tracking in the Left and Right Visual Hemifields , 2005, Psychological science.

[33]  W. Ma,et al.  A detection theory account of change detection. , 2004, Journal of vision.

[34]  G. Sperling,et al.  Attention gating in short-term visual memory. , 1986, Psychological review.

[35]  J Saarinen,et al.  The effect of exposure duration on the analysis of spatial structure in eccentric vision. , 1988, Spatial vision.

[36]  R. Mansfield,et al.  Analysis of visual behavior , 1982 .

[37]  G. Brelstaff,et al.  Is the Richness of Our Visual World an Illusion? Transsaccadic Memory for Complex Scenes , 1995, Perception.

[38]  B. Scholl,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article ATTENTIVE TRACKING OF OBJECTS VERSUS SUBSTANCES , 2022 .

[39]  Z. Pylyshyn,et al.  Tracking Multiple Items Through Occlusion: Clues to Visual Objecthood , 1999, Cognitive Psychology.

[40]  Last, but not least , 2002, Nature Structural Biology.

[41]  Z. Pylyshyn,et al.  What is a visual object? Evidence from target merging in multiple object tracking , 2001, Cognition.

[42]  Srimant P. Tripathy.  Severe loss of positional information when tracking multiple dots , 2010 .

[43]  Z W Pylyshyn,et al.  Tracking multiple independent targets: evidence for a parallel tracking mechanism. , 1988, Spatial vision.

[44]  Leslie G. Ungerleider.  Two cortical visual systems , 1982 .

[45]  A. Treisman,et al.  Binding in short-term visual memory. , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[46]  D. Pelli,et al.  Crowding is unlike ordinary masking: distinguishing feature integration from detection. , 2004, Journal of vision.

[47]  W. Hoeffding,et al.  Contributions to Probability and Statistics: Essays in Honor of Harold Hotelling , 1961 .

[48]  R Nijhawan,et al.  The Role of Attention in Motion Extrapolation: Are Moving Objects ‘Corrected’ or Flashed Objects Attentionally Delayed? , 2000, Perception.

[49]  Z. Pylyshyn,et al.  Is motion extrapolation employed in multiple object tracking? Tracking as a low-level, non-predictive function , 2006, Cognitive Psychology.

[50]  Dirk Kerzel,et al.  Computational Theory and Cognition in Representational Momentum and Related Types of Displacement: A reply to Kerzel , 2006 .

[51]  S. Tripathy,et al.  Severe loss of positional information when detecting deviations in multiple trajectories. , 2004, Journal of vision.

[52]  M. Coltheart,et al.  In Defence of Iconic Memory , 1974 .

[53]  J. Palmer.  Attention in Visual Search: Distinguishing Four Causes of a Set-Size Effect , 1995 .

[54]  S. Tripathy,et al.  On the effective number of tracked trajectories in normal human vision. , 2007, Journal of vision.

[55]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Object vision and spatial vision: two cortical pathways , 1983, Trends in Neurosciences.

[56]  J. Duncan,et al.  Beyond the search surface: visual search and attentional engagement. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[57]  Joan López-Moliner,et al.  Motion signal and the perceived positions of moving objects. , 2007, Journal of vision.

[58]  M. Goodale,et al.  The visual brain in action , 1995 .

[59]  Ian M. Thornton,et al.  Representational momentum: New findings, new directions , 2002 .

[60]  Srimant P. Tripathy,et al.  Loss of positional information when tracking multiple dots: The role of memory , 2004 .