The use of red and automatic attention capture in visual search

AbstractAn important aspect of managing a limited cognitive resource like attention is to use the reward value of stimuli to prioritize the allocation of attention to higher-value over lower-value stimuli. Recent evidence suggests this depends on dopaminergic signaling of reward. In Parkinson’s disease, both reward sensitivity and attention are impaired, but whether these deficits are directly related to one another is unknown. We tested whether Parkinson’s patients use reward information when automatically allocating their attention and whether this is modulated by dopamine replacement. We compared patients, tested both ON and OFF dopamine replacement medication, to older controls using a standard attention capture task. First, participants learned the different reward values of stimuli. Then, these reward-associated stimuli were used as distractors in a visual search task. We found that patients were generally distracted by the presence of the distractors but that the degree of distraction caused by the high-value and low-value distractors was similar. Furthermore, we found no evidence to support the possibility that dopamine replacement modulates the effect of reward on automatic attention allocation. Our results suggest a possible inability in Parkinson’s patients to use the reward value of stimuli when automatically allocating their attention, and raise the possibility that reward-driven allocation of resources may affect the adaptive modulation of other cognitive processes.

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Attention capture during visual search: The consequences of distractor appeal, familiarity, and frequency

Visual Cognition ◽

10.1080/13506285.2018.1508102 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (3-4) ◽

pp. 260-278

Author(s):

Kristina Krasich ◽

Adam T. Biggs ◽

James R. Brockmole

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Attention Capture

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Do New Objects Capture Attention?

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01528.x ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 275-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 113

Author(s):

Steven L. Franconeri ◽

Andrew Hollingworth ◽

Daniel J. Simons

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Visual System ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Attention Capture ◽

Substantial Body ◽

Perceptual Object ◽

Brightness Change

The visual system relies on several heuristics to direct attention to important locations and objects. One of these mechanisms directs attention to sudden changes in the environment. Although a substantial body of research suggests that this capture of attention occurs only for the abrupt appearance of a new perceptual object, more recent evidence shows that some luminance-based transients (e.g., motion and looming) and some types of brightness change also capture attention. These findings show that new objects are not necessary for attention capture. The present study tested whether they are even sufficient. That is, does a new object attract attention because the visual system is sensitive to new objects or because it is sensitive to the transients that new objects create? In two experiments using a visual search task, new objects did not capture attention unless they created a strong local luminance transient.

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Contextual Effects on General Learning, Feature Learning, and Attention Strengthening in Visual Search

Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ◽

10.1518/001872095779049507 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 158-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Wendy A. Rogers ◽

Mark D. Lee ◽

Arthur D. Fisk

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Time Course ◽

Process Development ◽

Feature Learning ◽

Automatic Process ◽

Learning Context ◽

Contextual Cues ◽

Context Manipulation ◽

Scanning Strategies ◽

Automatic Attention

Context has an important influence on performance in a variety of tasks. In the present experiment, the context of interest was the number of consecutive trials under identical search conditions. We were interested in how individuals learn to benefit from one form of contextual cues, the time course of such benefit, and the effects of contextual manipulations on general learning, feature learning, and automatic process development. We investigated these issues using a visual search task in which we could manipulate both consistency and learning context. The results suggest that the manipulation of context influenced feature learning; that is, at least 10 consecutive trials were required before optimal scanning strategies could be developed and/or instituted. However, the training context manipulation did not affect the acquisition of an automatic attention response in a consistent task or the acquisition of a general skill for a varied task. Implications for task and system design and the development of training programs are discussed.

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Automatic Attention Capture by Threatening, But Not by Semantically Incongruent Natural Scene Images

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa040 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (7) ◽

pp. 4158-4168 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marcin Furtak ◽

Łucja Doradzińska ◽

Alina Ptashynska ◽

Liad Mudrik ◽

Anna Nowicka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Attention Capture ◽

Visual Objects ◽

Probe Task ◽

Irrelevant Distractors ◽

Low Probability ◽

Automatic Attention ◽

Task Irrelevant ◽

Automatic Capture ◽

Primary Measure

Abstract Visual objects are typically perceived as parts of an entire visual scene, and the scene’s context provides information crucial in the object recognition process. Fundamental insights into the mechanisms of context-object integration have come from research on semantically incongruent objects, which are defined as objects with a very low probability of occurring in a given context. However, the role of attention in processing of the context-object mismatch remains unclear, with some studies providing evidence in favor, but other against an automatic capture of attention by incongruent objects. Therefore, in the present study, 25 subjects completed a dot-probe task, in which pairs of scenes—congruent and incongruent or neutral and threatening—were presented as task-irrelevant distractors. Importantly, threatening scenes are known to robustly capture attention and thus were included in the present study to provide a context for interpretation of results regarding incongruent scenes. Using N2 posterior-contralateral ERP component as a primary measure, we revealed that threatening images indeed capture attention automatically and rapidly, but semantically incongruent scenes do not benefit from an automatic attentional selection. Thus, our results suggest that identification of the context-object mismatch is not preattentive.

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Unconscious Detection of One’s Own Image

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797618822971 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 471-480 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Michał J. Wójcik ◽

Maria M. Nowicka ◽

Michał Bola ◽

Anna Nowicka

Keyword(s):

Attention Capture ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Sensitivity Measure ◽

Related Information ◽

Electrophysiological Recordings ◽

Neural Marker ◽

Automatic Attention ◽

Automatic Capture ◽

Attention Shifts

A key mechanism behind preferential processing of self-related information might be an early and automatic capture of attention. Therefore, the present study tested a hypothesis that one’s own face will attract bottom-up attention even without conscious identification. To test this, we used a dot-probe paradigm with electrophysiological recordings, in which participants ( N = 18) viewed masked and unmasked pairs of faces (other, self) presented laterally. Analysis of the sensitivity measure d ′ indicated that faces were not consciously identified in the masked condition. A clear N2 posterior-contralateral (N2pc) component (a neural marker of attention shifts) was found in both the masked and unmasked conditions, revealing that one’s own face automatically captures attention when processed unconsciously. Therefore, our study (a) demonstrates that self-related information is boosted at an early (preconscious) stage of processing, (b) identifies further features (beyond simple physical ones) that cause automatic attention capture, and (c) provides further evidence for the dissociative nature of attention and consciousness.

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The persistence of value-driven attention capture is task dependent

10.31234/osf.io/967k8 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anne Milner ◽

Mary MacLean ◽

Barry Giesbrecht

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Attention Capture ◽

The Other ◽

Visual Features ◽

Capture Effect ◽

Bias Attention ◽

Task Irrelevant

Visual features previously associated with reward can automatically capture attention even when task-irrelevant, a phenomenon known as value-driven attention capture (VDAC, Anderson et al., 2011b). VDAC persists without reinforcement, unlike other forms of learning where removing reinforcement typically leads to extinction (Pavlov, 1927). This study examined the conditions under which VDAC could be extinguished. In four experiments, factors known to affect attention were manipulated to examine their impact on VDAC and its extinction. All experiments included learning and test phases. During learning, participants completed a visual search task during which one of two target colors was associated with a reward, and the other with no reward. During test, one week later, participants completed another visual search task during which the reward association was not reinforced. The task during test had twice as many exposures to the rewarded feature than during learning to ensure a sufficient number of exposures to observe extinction. When a rewarded feature remained task-relevant (Exp. 1), the capture effect was reduced, but extinction was not complete. When a rewarded feature was made task-irrelevant (Exp. 2) there was no evidence of extinction. When the frequency of exposure to the task-irrelevant rewarded feature was reduced (Exp. 4), VDAC also persisted. A physically salient target (Exp. 3) resulted in the fastest rate of VDAC extinction. These findings demonstrate that the extinction of VDAC depends on various factors that affect priority for attention, especially those that bias attention away from reward-associated features.

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