Inattention and the perception of visual features.

Subjects selectively attended to one of two interleaved, novel figures while ignoring the other figure. In subsequent tests administered to determine the extent to which the ignored figure was perceived, recognition of shape and the location of contour gaps was at the chance level. Moreover, recognition of the presence of contour gaps was significantly below the chance level. These results indicate that preattentive visual processing of unattended objects is too crude to encode global shape and local features such as contour gaps. It is suggested that preattentive processing creates visual representations of unattended objects that contain very limited information about features.

[1]  A. Treisman,et al.  A feature-integration theory of attention , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.

[2]  E. Goldstein,et al.  Selective attention in vision: recognition memory for superimposed line drawings. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[3]  Lillian Butler,et al.  Processing of Form: Further Evidence for the Necessity of Attention , 1985, Perceptual and motor skills.

[4]  A. Treisman,et al.  Search asymmetry: a diagnostic for preattentive processing of separable features. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[5]  S. Yantis,et al.  Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: evidence from visual search. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[6]  S. Yantis,et al.  Detecting conjunctions of color and form in parallel , 1990, Perception & psychophysics.

[7]  U. Neisser,et al.  Selective looking: Attending to visually specified events , 1975, Cognitive Psychology.

[8]  Irvin Rock,et al.  The effect of inattention on form perception. , 1981 .

[9]  Susan L. Franzel,et al.  Guided search: an alternative to the feature integration model for visual search. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[10]  S. Yantis,et al.  Uniqueness of abrupt visual onset in capturing attention , 1988, Perception & psychophysics.

[11]  S. Yantis,et al.  Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: voluntary versus automatic allocation. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[12]  S. Ullman.  Visual routines , 1984, Cognition.

[13]  Ken Nakayama,et al.  Serial and parallel processing of visual feature conjunctions , 1986, Nature.

[14]  Jeremy M Wolfe,et al.  Modeling the role of parallel processing in visual search , 1990, Cognitive Psychology.