Abstract
When the spatial configuration of a search display is presented repeatedly, response times to finding the target within that configuration are shorter compared to completely novel configurations, even though observers do not have explicit recognition of the repetition. This phenomenon is known as Contextual Cueing and selective attention is thought to be necessary for the effect. Previous research has suggested that repetition of the context of unattended items does not appear to improve performance; only repetition of attended items does. It has been proposed that this occurs because unattended items are pre-attentively filtered and thus do not contribute to performance. Here we demonstrate that so-called “unattended” items do contribute to performance, just not to contextual cueing. We approach this question from the perspective of the parallel processing of the scene that unfolds at the start of each item and that has been recently modelled by the Target Contrast Signal Theory. We show that the processing time per item during parallel evaluation of the scene is not affected by context repetition, suggesting that the locations of the items rejected in this stage are not integrated into the memory representation underlying contextual cueing. Other alternatives are also discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Visual Cognition |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Jan 1 2019 |
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Keywords
- Contextual cueing
- target contrast signal theory
- visual search
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Cite this
Distractor rejection in parallel search tasks takes time but does not benefit from context repetition* . / Ng, Gavin Jun Peng; Buetti, Simona; Dolcos, Sanda; Dolcos, Florin; Lleras, Alejandro.
In: Visual Cognition, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Distractor rejection in parallel search tasks takes time but does not benefit from context repetition*
AU - Ng, Gavin Jun Peng
AU - Buetti, Simona
AU - Dolcos, Sanda
AU - Dolcos, Florin
AU - Lleras, Alejandro
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - When the spatial configuration of a search display is presented repeatedly, response times to finding the target within that configuration are shorter compared to completely novel configurations, even though observers do not have explicit recognition of the repetition. This phenomenon is known as Contextual Cueing and selective attention is thought to be necessary for the effect. Previous research has suggested that repetition of the context of unattended items does not appear to improve performance; only repetition of attended items does. It has been proposed that this occurs because unattended items are pre-attentively filtered and thus do not contribute to performance. Here we demonstrate that so-called “unattended” items do contribute to performance, just not to contextual cueing. We approach this question from the perspective of the parallel processing of the scene that unfolds at the start of each item and that has been recently modelled by the Target Contrast Signal Theory. We show that the processing time per item during parallel evaluation of the scene is not affected by context repetition, suggesting that the locations of the items rejected in this stage are not integrated into the memory representation underlying contextual cueing. Other alternatives are also discussed.
AB - When the spatial configuration of a search display is presented repeatedly, response times to finding the target within that configuration are shorter compared to completely novel configurations, even though observers do not have explicit recognition of the repetition. This phenomenon is known as Contextual Cueing and selective attention is thought to be necessary for the effect. Previous research has suggested that repetition of the context of unattended items does not appear to improve performance; only repetition of attended items does. It has been proposed that this occurs because unattended items are pre-attentively filtered and thus do not contribute to performance. Here we demonstrate that so-called “unattended” items do contribute to performance, just not to contextual cueing. We approach this question from the perspective of the parallel processing of the scene that unfolds at the start of each item and that has been recently modelled by the Target Contrast Signal Theory. We show that the processing time per item during parallel evaluation of the scene is not affected by context repetition, suggesting that the locations of the items rejected in this stage are not integrated into the memory representation underlying contextual cueing. Other alternatives are also discussed.
KW - Contextual cueing
KW - target contrast signal theory
KW - visual search
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074017896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85074017896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13506285.2019.1676353
DO - 10.1080/13506285.2019.1676353
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074017896
JO - Visual Cognition
JF - Visual Cognition
SN - 1350-6285
ER -