Journal article
The flexible focus: Whether spatial attention is unitary or divided depends on observer goals
Human Perception and Performance, Vol.40(2), pp.465-470
2014
Abstract
The distribution of visual attention has been the topic of much investigation, and various theories have posited that attention is allocated either as a single unitary focus or as multiple independent foci. In the present experiment, we demonstrate that attention can be flexibly deployed as either a unitary or a divided focus in the same experimental task, depending on the observer’s goals. To assess the distribution of attention, we used a dual-stream Attentional Blink (AB) paradigm and 2 target pairs. One component of the AB, Lag-1 sparing, occurs only if the second target pair appears within the focus of attention. By varying whether the first-target-pair could be expected in a predictable location (always in-stream) or not (unpredictably in-stream or between-streams), observers were encouraged to deploy a divided or a unitary focus, respectively. When the second-target-pair appeared between the streams, Lag-1 sparing occurred for the Unpredictable group (consistent with a unitary focus) but not for the Predictable group (consistent with a divided focus). Thus, diametrically different outcomes occurred for physically identical displays, depending on the expectations of the observer about where spatial attention would be required.
Details
- Title
- The flexible focus: Whether spatial attention is unitary or divided depends on observer goals
- Authors/Creators
- L.N. Jefferies (Author/Creator)J.T. Enns (Author/Creator)V. Di Lollo (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Human Perception and Performance, Vol.40(2), pp.465-470
- Publisher
- American Psychological Association
- Number of pages
- 6
- Identifiers
- 991005543889707891
- Copyright
- American Psychological Association
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Psychology and Exercise Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher URL
- http://www.apa.org/
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InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 1 Clinical & Life Sciences
- 1.7 Neuroscanning
- 1.7.249 Visual Attention
- Web Of Science research areas
- Psychology
- Psychology, Experimental
- ESI research areas
- Psychiatry/Psychology