Do isoluminant color changes capture attention?

Four experiments are reported in which the effects of peripheral cues on visual orienting were investigated. In the luminance condition, the cues consisted of a peripheral change in stimulus luminance. In the isoluminance condition, the cues consisted of an isoluminant color change, using the transient tritanopic technique. In Experiments 1 and 2, it was found that peripheral luminance cues captured attention, whereas peripheral isoluminance cues did not. In Experiments 3 and 4, the participants detected a peripheral target that was also isoluminant with the background. Under these conditions, it was found that both luminance and isoluminance cues captured attention. The results are discussed in terms of the roles of the dorsal and ventral streams in visual orienting, and it is concluded that our findings provide partial support for the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis of C. Folk and colleagues.

[1]  K M Heilman,et al.  Disorders of visual attention. , 1993, Bailliere's clinical neurology.

[2]  E. Adelson,et al.  Vision with Equiluminant Colour Contrast: 2. A Large-Scale Technique and Observations , 1992, Perception.

[3]  D. Hubel,et al.  Segregation of form, color, movement, and depth: anatomy, physiology, and perception. , 1988, Science.

[4]  A. Lambert,et al.  Automaticity and the capture of attention by a peripheral display change , 1987 .

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

[6]  M. Posner,et al.  Components of visual orienting , 1984 .

[7]  A. Lambert,et al.  Visual orienting with central and peripheral precues: Deconfounding the contributions of cue eccentricity, cue discrimination and spatial correspondence , 2002 .

[8]  Robert Hockey,et al.  Effects of repetition on the facilitatory and inhibitory components of orienting in visual space , 1987, Neuropsychologia.

[9]  S. Yantis,et al.  Stimulus-driven attentional capture: evidence from equiluminant visual objects. , 1994, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[10]  James M. Hillis,et al.  The effect of the physical characteristics of cues and targets on facilitation and inhibition , 2001, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[11]  J. Theeuwes.  Abrupt luminance change pops out; abrupt color change does not , 1995, Perception & psychophysics.

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

[13]  J. C. Johnston,et al.  Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[14]  N. Mai,et al.  Selective disturbance of movement vision after bilateral brain damage. , 1983, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[15]  J. Theeuwes.  Exogenous and endogenous control of attention: The effect of visual onsets and offsets , 1991, Perception & psychophysics.

[16]  J. C. Johnston,et al.  Contingent attentional capture: A reply to Yantis (1993). , 1993 .

[17]  J. Jonides.  Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind's eye's movement , 1981 .

[18]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Reflexive and voluntary orienting of visual attention: time course of activation and resistance to interruption , 1989 .

[19]  M. Gazzaniga.  The new cognitive neurosciences, 2nd ed. , 2000 .

[20]  S. Luck,et al.  What variety of attention is automatically captured by peripheral cues? , 1999, Perception & psychophysics.

[21]  M. Cheal,et al.  Central and Peripheral Precuing of Forced-Choice Discrimination , 1991, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[22]  Angus Gellatly,et al.  Do equiluminant object onsets capture visual attention , 1999 .

[23]  John H. R. Maunsell,et al.  How parallel are the primate visual pathways? , 1993, Annual review of neuroscience.

[24]  A. Lambert,et al.  Peripheral visual changes and spatial attention. , 1991, Acta psychologica.

[25]  Neelam Naikar,et al.  A new component of visual orienting: Implicit effects of peripheral information and subthreshold cues on covert attention , 1999 .

[26]  S. Yantis.  Stimulus-driven attentional capture and attentional control settings. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.