Selective attention and the organization of visual information

Conducted 4 experiments with 108 volunteers (aged 18-42 yrs) to test object-, discrimination-, and space-based theories of visual attention. In each experiment, Ss were presented with small (< 1°), brief, foveal displays, each consisting of 2 overlapping objects (a box with a line struck through it). Overall results indicate that 2 judgments that concern the same object were made simultaneously without loss of accuracy, whereas 2 judgments that concern different objects were not. Neither the similarity nor the difficulty of required discriminations, nor the spatial distribution of information, could account for the results. Findings support a view in which parallel, preattentive processes serve to segment the field into separate objects, followed by a process of focal attention that deals with only 1 object at a time. This view is also able to account for results taken to support both discrimination-based and space-based theories.

Английский

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. – 1984. – Vol. 113, № 4. – P. 501–517.