Context configurations and the allocation of visual attention
Final Report Abstract
This project investigated the role of context configurations in visual selection. In three experimental series we examined which context element features affect the deployment of visual attention, and what role bottom-up processes such as spontaneous grouping play. Besides visual search performance, specific ERP components were used to examine visual selection processes: the posterior N2 (indicating fast and efficient context element grouping) and the N2pc (indicating the deployment of visual attention to an object in the visual field). The second experimental series additionally aimed for differentiating between target enhancement and distractor suppression in the process of attentional selection, and therefore the N2pc subcomponents NT (indicating enhanced target processing) and PD (indicating distractor suppression) were also analyzed. The third experimental series examined how context configurations guide the observer’s attention in a contextual cueing task. The results revealed the important role of visual context both in the deployment of visual attention, and in contextual cueing. Homogeneous contexts were found to facilitate bottom-up grouping processes and to cause fast and efficient attention deployment to the target. When differentiating between target enhancement and distractor suppression in attentional selection, homogeneity in context elements was observed to facilitate both target processing and suppression of salient but irrelevant distractors. Further results showed that context configurations can also determine the attentional focus, as attention spreads context-wise across the visual field. Finally, context homogeneity modulated attention guidance and implicit learning in a contextual cueing task. In sum, the results make an important contribution to our understanding of how bottom-up processes contribute to attention guidance in a visual scene.
Publications
- (2013). Context heterogeneity has a sustained impact on attention deployment: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Psychophysiology, 50, 722-733
Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T., Wykowska, A. & Schubö, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12061) - (2013). Context homogeneity facilitates both distractor inhibition and target enhancement. Journal of Vision, 13 (3), 11, 1-12
Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T. & Schubö, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1167/13.3.11) - (2013). Textures shape the attentional focus: Evidence from exogenous and endogenous cueing. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75(8), 1644-1666
Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T. & Schubö, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-013-0508-z) - (2014). Stimulus homogeneity enhances implicit learning: Evidence from contextual cueing. Vision Research, 97, 108- 116
Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T. & Schubö, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2014.02.008) - Target discrimination delays attentional benefit for grouped contexts: An ERP study. Brain Research, Volume 1629, 10 December 2015, Pages 196-209
Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T. & Schubö, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2015.10.018) - Reduced visual attention in heterogeneous textures is reflected in occipital alpha and theta band activity. PLoS ONE 12(12): e0187763, 2017
Feldmann-Wüstefeld T, Miyakoshi M, Petilli MA, Schubö A, Makeig S
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187763)
