Journal article
Evidence for negative feature guidance in visual search is explained by spatial recoding
Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, Vol.41(5), pp.1190-1196
10/2015
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000109
PMCID: PMC4586389
PMID: 26191616
Abstract
Theories of attention and visual search explain how attention is guided toward objects with known target features. But can attention be directed away from objects with a feature known to be associated only with distractors? Most studies have found that the demand to maintain the to-be-avoided feature in visual working memory biases attention toward matching objects rather than away from them. In contrast, Arita, Carlisle, and Woodman (2012) claimed that attention can be configured to selectively avoid objects that match a cued distractor color, and they reported evidence that this type of negative cue generates search benefits. However, the colors of the search array items in Arita et al. (2012) were segregated by hemifield (e.g., blue items on the left, red on the right), which allowed for a strategy of translating the feature-cue information into a simple spatial template (e.g., avoid right, or attend left). In the present study, we replicated the negative cue benefit using the Arita et al. (2012), method (albeit within a subset of participants who reliably used the color cues to guide attention). Then, we eliminated the benefit by using search arrays that could not be grouped by hemifield. Our results suggest that feature-guided avoidance is implemented only indirectly, in this case by translating feature-cue information into a spatial template.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Evidence for negative feature guidance in visual search is explained by spatial recoding
- Creators
- Valerie M Beck - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of IowaAndrew Hollingworth - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, Vol.41(5), pp.1190-1196
- Publisher
- United States
- DOI
- 10.1037/xhp0000109
- PMID
- 26191616
- PMCID
- PMC4586389
- ISSN
- 0096-1523
- eISSN
- 1939-1277
- Grant note
- R01 EY017356 / NEI NIH HHS R01EY017356 / NEI NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/2015
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984002461602771
Metrics
41 Record Views