Conjunction search revisited

Search for conjunctions of highly discriminable features can be rapid or even parallel. This article explores three possible accounts based on (a) perceptual segregation, (b) conjunction detectors, and (c) inhibition controlled separately by two or more distractor features. Search rates for conjunctions of color, size, orientation, and direction of motion correlated closely with an independent measure of perceptual segregation. However, they appeared unrelated to the physiology of single-unit responses. Each dimension contributed additively to conjunction search rates, suggesting that each was checked independently of the others. Unknown targets appear to be found only by serial search for each in turn. Searching through 4 sets of distractors was slower than searching through 2. The results suggest a modification of feature integration theory, in which attention is controlled not only by a unitary "window" but also by a form of feature-based inhibition. Language: en

[1]  D. Broadbent.  Perception and communication , 1958 .

[2]  A. Treisman.  Contextual Cues in Selective Listening , 1960 .

[3]  A. Treisman.  THE EFFECT OF IRRELEVANT MATERIAL ON THE EFFICIENCY OF SELECTIVE LISTENING. , 1964, The American journal of psychology.

[4]  S. Sternberg.  High-Speed Scanning in Human Memory , 1966, Science.

[5]  Robert Fox,et al.  Effects of noise similarity and redundancy on the information processed from brief visual displays , 1970 .

[6]  D. Lawrence.  Two studies of visual search for word targets with controlled rates of presentation* , 1971 .

[7]  B. Julesz.  Foundations of Cyclopean Perception , 1971 .

[8]  James T. Townsend,et al.  A note on the identifiability of parallel and serial processes , 1971 .

[9]  C. Eriksen,et al.  Temporal and spatial characteristics of selective encoding from visual displays , 1972 .

[10]  P. Milner.  A model for visual shape recognition. , 1974, Psychological review.

[11]  M. Sanders.  Handbook of Sensory Physiology , 1975 .

[12]  Lawrence C. Sager,et al.  Perception of wholes and of their component parts: some configural superiority effects. , 1977, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[13]  Elizabeth L Bjork,et al.  On the nature of input channels in visual processing. , 1977, Psychological review.

[14]  A. Treisman.  Focused attention in the perception and retrieval of multidimensional stimuli , 1977 .

[15]  B. Bergum,et al.  Attention and Performance VI , 1978 .

[16]  Janette Atkinson,et al.  Channels in Vision: Basic Aspects , 1978 .

[17]  M. Cynader,et al.  The visual perception of motion in depth. , 1979, Scientific American.

[18]  J E Hoffman,et al.  A two-stage model of visual search , 1979, Perception & psychophysics.

[19]  Howard S. Bashinski,et al.  Enhancement of perceptual sensitivity as the result of selectively attending to spatial locations , 1980, Perception & psychophysics.

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

[21]  E. Farmer,et al.  Visual search through color displays: Effects of target-background similarity and background uniformity , 1980, Perception & psychophysics.

[22]  M. Posner,et al.  Attention and the detection of signals. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology.

[23]  W Prinzmetal,et al.  Principles of feature integration in visual perception , 1981, Perception & psychophysics.

[24]  A. Treisman,et al.  Illusory conjunctions in the perception of objects , 1982, Cognitive Psychology.

[25]  R. L. Valois,et al.  The orientation and direction selectivity of cells in macaque visual cortex , 1982, Vision Research.

[26]  D. G. Albrecht,et al.  Spatial frequency selectivity of cells in macaque visual cortex , 1982, Vision Research.

[27]  A. Treisman.  Perceptual grouping and attention in visual search for features and for objects. , 1982, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[28]  D C Van Essen,et al.  Functional properties of neurons in middle temporal visual area of the macaque monkey. I. Selectivity for stimulus direction, speed, and orientation. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

[29]  D E Broadbent,et al.  Combining Attributes in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Tasks , 1983, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[30]  C Bundesen,et al.  Color segregation and visual search , 1983, Perception & psychophysics.

[31]  James R. Bergen,et al.  Parallel versus serial processing in rapid pattern discrimination , 1983, Nature.

[32]  T. Albright.  Direction and orientation selectivity of neurons in visual area MT of the macaque. , 1984, Journal of neurophysiology.

[33]  F. Crick.  Function of the thalamic reticular complex: the searchlight hypothesis. , 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[34]  Gerald M. Edelman,et al.  Dynamic aspects of neocortical function , 1984 .

[35]  D. G. Albrecht,et al.  Spatial mapping of monkey VI cells with pure color and luminance stimuli , 1984, Vision Research.

[36]  Anne Treisman,et al.  Emergent features, attention, and object perception. , 1984 .

[37]  O E Favreau,et al.  Perceived velocity of moving chromatic gratings. , 1984, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[38]  H. Egeth,et al.  Searching for conjunctively defined targets. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

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

[40]  H. Intraub.  Visual dissociation: an illusory conjunction of pictures and forms. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[41]  Anne Treisman,et al.  Preattentive processing in vision , 1985, Computer Vision Graphics and Image Processing.

[42]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Contour, color and shape analysis beyond the striate cortex , 1985, Vision Research.

[43]  N. Graham.  Detection and identification of near-threshold visual patterns. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

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

[45]  L. Kaufman,et al.  Handbook of perception and human performance , 1986 .

[46]  Anne Treisman,et al.  Properties, Parts, and Objects , 1986 .

[47]  M. R. Houck,et al.  Conjunction of color and form without attention: evidence from an orientation-contingent color aftereffect. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[48]  J. P. Cavanagh,et al.  Reconstructing the third dimension: Interactions between color, texture, motion, binocular disparity, and shape , 1987, Comput. Vis. Graph. Image Process..

[49]  John H. R. Maunsell,et al.  Visual processing in monkey extrastriate cortex. , 1987, Annual review of neuroscience.

[50]  G W Humphreys,et al.  Visual search for targets defined by combinations of color, shape, and size: An examination of the task constraints on feature and conjunction searches , 1987, Perception & psychophysics.

[51]  H. Pashler,et al.  Detecting conjunctions of color and form: Reassessing the serial search hypothesis , 1987, Perception & psychophysics.

[52]  DH Hubel,et al.  Segregation of form, color, and stereopsis in primate area 18 , 1987, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[53]  DH Hubel,et al.  Psychophysical evidence for separate channels for the perception of form, color, movement, and depth , 1987, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[54]  S B Steinman,et al.  Serial and Parallel Search in Pattern Vision? , 1987, Perception.

[55]  S W Keele,et al.  Tests of a temporal theory of attentional binding. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[56]  D. C. Van Essen,et al.  Concurrent processing streams in monkey visual cortex , 1988, Trends in Neurosciences.

[57]  V S Ramachandran,et al.  Perceiving shape from shading. , 1988, Scientific American.

[58]  A. Treisman.  Features and Objects: The Fourteenth Bartlett Memorial Lecture , 1988, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[59]  Jon Driver,et al.  Visual search for a conjunction of movement and form is parallel , 1988, Nature.

[60]  A Treisman,et al.  Feature analysis in early vision: evidence from search asymmetries. , 1988, Psychological review.

[61]  S. Dehaene.  Discriminability and dimensionality effects invisual search for featural conjunctions: A functional pop-out , 1989, Perception & psychophysics.

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

[63]  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.

[64]  Ronald A. Rensink,et al.  Influence of scene-based properties on visual search. , 1990, Science.

[65]  James T. Enns,et al.  Three-dimensional features that pop out in visual search. , 1990 .

[66]  C. Blakemore,et al.  Vision: The iconic bottleneck and the tenuous link between early visual processing and perception , 1990 .

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

[68]  Colin Blakemore,et al.  Vision: Coding and Efficiency , 1991 .