1
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Frielink-Loing A, Koning A, van Lier R. Multiple object tracking in the presence of a goal: Attentional anticipation and suppression. J Vis 2024; 24:10. [PMID: 38787571 PMCID: PMC11129718 DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.5.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
In previous studies, we found that tracking multiple objects involves anticipatory attention, especially in the linear direction, even when a target bounced against a wall. We also showed that active involvement, in which the wall was replaced by a controllable paddle, resulted in increased allocation of attention to the bounce direction. In the current experiments, we wanted to further investigate the potential influence of the valence of the heading of an object. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were instructed to catch targets with a movable goal. In Experiment 3, participants were instructed to manipulate the permeability of a static wall in order to let targets either approach goals (i.e., green goals) or avoid goals (i.e., red goals). The results of Experiment 1 showed that probe detection ahead of a target that moved in the direction of the goal was higher as compared to probe detection in the direction of a no-goal area. Experiment 2 provided further evidence that the attentional highlighting found in the first experiment depends on the movement direction toward the goal. In Experiment 3, we found that not so much the positive (or neutral) valence (here, the green and no-goal areas) led to increased allocation of attention but rather a negative valence (here the red goals) led to a decreased allocation of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Frielink-Loing
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Arno Koning
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rob van Lier
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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2
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Legault I, Faubert J. Gender comparison of perceptual-cognitive learning in young athletes. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8635. [PMID: 38622179 PMCID: PMC11018768 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59486-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Elite athletes demonstrate higher perceptual cognitive abilities compared to non-athletes and those capacities can be trained. A recent study showed that differences were observed between male and female athletes in their cognitive abilities whereby male athletes showed superior perceptual abilities compared to female athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were gender differences in athletes' perceptual cognitive learning using a 3D-MOT tracking task. The study was performed on 72 young people from 16 to 22 years of age; athlete males and females and non-athlete males and females were distributed in four distinct groups. Five sessions comprised of three thresholds were performed with each participant. Results indicated that all participants benefited from training and significantly increased their speed thresholds. Initial scores showed that male athletes achieved higher speed thresholds than any other groups. Furthermore, after 5 weeks, female athletes obtained higher speed thresholds in comparison to their non-athlete counterparts. In conclusion, engaging in sporting activity is associated with improved perceptual-cognitive abilities and learning. The results support the notion that competitive sport-related activity is beneficial for perceptual-cognitive functions and emphasizes the benefits of participating in sport-related activities for improved brain function with an even greater impact for females.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jocelyn Faubert
- Faubert Lab, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
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3
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McLean C, Lavender AP, Pereira E, Peek K, Davey P, Ma’ayah F, Morris S, Georgieva J. The Acute Effects of Ball Pressure on Anticipation Timing Following a Series of Purposeful Headers in Adult Football (Soccer) Players. Sports (Basel) 2024; 12:102. [PMID: 38668570 PMCID: PMC11053744 DOI: 10.3390/sports12040102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the acute effects of ball pressure on anticipation timing following a series of purposeful headers in adult football (soccer) players. There is evidence to suggest acute neurophysiological changes to the brain following purposeful heading; this may lead to altered anticipation timing as a result, potentially having future safety implications for players. A repeated measures crossover design was used. Seventeen participants aged between 20 and 30 years performed (i) 20 rotational headers with a lower-pressure match ball (58.6 kPa; 8.5 psi), (ii) 20 rotational headers with a higher-pressure match ball (103.4 kPa; 15 psi), or (iii) 20 non-headers (kicks) as a control each on separate days. The effect of ball pressure on anticipation timing accuracy, measured as absolute, constant, and variable errors, was assessed before and immediately after each intervention session using an anticipation timing task. Differences between group means were compared using repeated measures ANOVA and linear mixed effects models, with p-values of <0.05 considered statistically significant. No significant differences in anticipation timing accuracy across interventions were detected between control, occluded, and non-occluded trials. This finding differs from the previous literature regarding the measurable, acute effects of purposeful heading. The anticipation timing task may lack sensitivity for detecting the effects of repeated heading on brain function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chad McLean
- Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia (S.M.); (J.G.)
| | - Andrew P. Lavender
- Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, VIC 3350, Australia
| | - Ethan Pereira
- Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia (S.M.); (J.G.)
| | - Kerry Peek
- Discipline of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW 2006, Australia;
| | - Paul Davey
- Curtin School of Nursing, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia;
| | - Fadi Ma’ayah
- School of Education, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia;
| | - Susan Morris
- Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia (S.M.); (J.G.)
| | - Julia Georgieva
- Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia (S.M.); (J.G.)
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4
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Lukavský J, Oksama L, Děchtěrenko F. Multiple object tracking with extended occlusions. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:2094-2106. [PMID: 36398964 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221142463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/23/2023]
Abstract
In everyday life, we often view objects through a limited aperture (e.g., soccer players on TV or cars slipping into our blind spot on a busy road), where objects often move out of view and reappear in a different place later. We modelled this situation in a series of multiple object tracking (MOT) experiments, in which we introduced a cover on the edges of the observed area and manipulated its width. This method introduced systematic occlusions, which were longer than those used in previous MOT studies. Experiment 1 (N = 50) showed that tracking under such conditions is possible, although difficult. An item-level analysis confirmed that people made more errors in targets that were covered longer and more often. In Experiment 2 (N = 50), we manipulated the tracking workload and found that the participants were less affected by the cover when the tracking load was low. In Experiment 3 (N = 50), we asked the participants to keep track of the objects' identities (multiple identity tracking [MIT]). Although MIT is subjectively more demanding, memorising identities improved performance in the most difficult cover conditions. Contrary to previous reports, we also found that even partial occlusions negatively affected tracking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiří Lukavský
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Lauri Oksama
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Filip Děchtěrenko
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
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5
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Agostino CS, Merkel C, Ball F, Vavra P, Hinrichs H, Noesselt T. Seeing and extrapolating motion trajectories share common informative activation patterns in primary visual cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:1389-1406. [PMID: 36288211 PMCID: PMC9921241 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The natural environment is dynamic and moving objects become constantly occluded, engaging the brain in a challenging completion process to estimate where and when the object might reappear. Although motion extrapolation is critical in daily life-imagine crossing the street while an approaching car is occluded by a larger standing vehicle-its neural underpinnings are still not well understood. While the engagement of low-level visual cortex during dynamic occlusion has been postulated, most of the previous group-level fMRI-studies failed to find evidence for an involvement of low-level visual areas during occlusion. In this fMRI-study, we therefore used individually defined retinotopic maps and multivariate pattern analysis to characterize the neural basis of visible and occluded changes in motion direction in humans. To this end, participants learned velocity-direction change pairings (slow motion-upwards; fast motion-downwards or vice versa) during a training phase without occlusion and judged the change in stimulus direction, based on its velocity, during a following test phase with occlusion. We find that occluded motion direction can be predicted from the activity patterns during visible motion within low-level visual areas, supporting the notion of a mental representation of motion trajectory in these regions during occlusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camila Silveira Agostino
- Department of Biological Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.,European Structural and Investment Funds-International Graduate School (ESF-GS) Analysis, Imaging, and Modeling of Neuronal and Inflammatory Processes (ABINEP) International Graduate School, Otto-Von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Christian Merkel
- Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Felix Ball
- Department of Biological Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.,Centre for Behavioural Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Peter Vavra
- Department of Biological Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Hermann Hinrichs
- Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.,Centre for Behavioural Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany.,Department of Behavioural Neurology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Toemme Noesselt
- Department of Biological Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.,Centre for Behavioural Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
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6
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Legault I, Sutterlin-Guindon D, Faubert J. Perceptual cognitive abilities in young athletes: A gender comparison. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0273607. [PMID: 36044462 PMCID: PMC9432702 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
To achieve optimal performance in sports, it is essential to have strong perceptual cognitive abilities. Evidence suggests that athletes have superior perceptual abilities compared to nonathletes. However, gender differences in athletes’ perceptual cognitive abilities have not been previously reported. This project aims to evaluate perceptual cognitive abilities among male and female adolescents. To measure perceptual abilities, a 3-dimensional multiple-object tracking task was used. The findings confirm the superior perceptual cognitive abilities in young athletes relative to nonathletes. However, our results indicate differences in performance patterns between male and female athletes. These results demonstrate that sports engagement and perceptual cognitive abilities are strongly related during adolescence and that this relationship seems more prevalent in male athletes for this age group.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jocelyn Faubert
- Faubert Lab, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Qc, Canada
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7
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Influences of active control on attention allocation in MOT. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:671-681. [PMID: 35018614 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02417-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the influence of active involvement on the way visual attention is distributed during multiple-object tracking (MOT), specifically when objects bounce, using two experiments modeled after the videogame Pong. In both experiments, participants were either assigned to an active group or a passive group. The active groups were instructed to move a virtual paddle in order to bounce target objects as often as possible. Participants in the passive groups viewed recordings of trials from the active groups. In all conditions, participants were asked to track the target objects and to detect dot probes that briefly appeared on the screen. Using probe detection, we explored the distribution of attentional resources over the linear and bounce trajectories of tracked objects. We found that active involvement can enhance probe detection along the future post-bounce trajectory, but it depends on the difficulty of the task.
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8
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Peters B, Kriegeskorte N. Capturing the objects of vision with neural networks. Nat Hum Behav 2021; 5:1127-1144. [PMID: 34545237 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01194-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Human visual perception carves a scene at its physical joints, decomposing the world into objects, which are selectively attended, tracked and predicted as we engage our surroundings. Object representations emancipate perception from the sensory input, enabling us to keep in mind that which is out of sight and to use perceptual content as a basis for action and symbolic cognition. Human behavioural studies have documented how object representations emerge through grouping, amodal completion, proto-objects and object files. By contrast, deep neural network models of visual object recognition remain largely tethered to sensory input, despite achieving human-level performance at labelling objects. Here, we review related work in both fields and examine how these fields can help each other. The cognitive literature provides a starting point for the development of new experimental tasks that reveal mechanisms of human object perception and serve as benchmarks driving the development of deep neural network models that will put the object into object recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Peters
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
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9
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Pichlmeier S, Pfeiffer T. Attentional capture in multiple object tracking. J Vis 2021; 21:16. [PMID: 34379083 PMCID: PMC8363777 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.8.16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Attentional processes are generally assumed to be involved in multiple object tracking (MOT). The attentional capture paradigm is regularly used to study conditions of attentional control. It has up to now not been used to assess influences of sudden onset distractor stimuli in MOT. We investigated whether attentional capture does occur in MOT: Are onset distractors processed at all in dynamic attentional tasks? We found that sudden onset distractors were effective in lowering probe detection, thus demonstrating attentional capture. Tracking performance as dependent measure was not affected. The attentional capture effect persisted in conditions of higher tracking load (Experiment 2) and was dramatically increased in lower presentation frequency of the onset distractor (Experiment 3). Tracking performance was shown to suffer only when onset distractors were presented serially with very short time gaps in between, thus effectively disturbing re-engaging attention on the tracking set (Experiment 4). We discuss that rapid dis- and re-engagement of the attention process on target objects and an additional more basic process that continuously provides location information allow managing strong disruptions of attention during tracking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Pichlmeier
- Institute of Psychology, Karlsruhe University of Education, Karlsruhe, Germany.,
| | - Till Pfeiffer
- Institute of Psychology, Karlsruhe University of Education, Karlsruhe, Germany.,
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10
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Crowe EM, Howard CJ, Gilchrist ID, Kent C. Motion disrupts dynamic visual search for an orientation change. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2021; 6:47. [PMID: 34175977 PMCID: PMC8236006 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-021-00312-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual search in dynamic environments, for example lifeguarding or CCTV monitoring, has several fundamentally different properties to standard visual search tasks. The visual environment is constantly moving, a range of items could become targets and the task is to search for a certain event. We developed a novel task in which participants were required to search static and moving displays for an orientation change thus capturing components of visual search, multiple object tracking and change detection paradigms. In Experiment 1, we found that the addition of moving distractors slowed participants' response time to detect an orientation changes in a moving target, showing that the motion of distractors disrupts the rapid detection of orientation changes in a moving target. In Experiment 2 we found that, in displays of both moving and static objects, response time was slower if a moving object underwent a change than if a static object did, thus demonstrating that motion of the target itself also disrupts the detection of an orientation change. Our results could have implications for training in real-world occupations where the task is to search a dynamic environment for a critical event. Moreover, we add to the literature highlighting the need to develop lab-based tasks with high experimental control from any real-world tasks researchers may wish to investigate rather than extrapolating from static visual search tasks to more dynamic environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily M Crowe
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Department of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Iain D Gilchrist
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Christopher Kent
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
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11
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Battaglini L, Ghiani A. Motion behind occluder: Amodal perception and visual motion extrapolation. VISUAL COGNITION 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2021.1943094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Luca Battaglini
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Department of Physics and Astronomy “Galileo Galilei”, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Andrea Ghiani
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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12
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Pichlmeier S, Pfeiffer T. Adaptive target enhancement determines levels of guidability in Multiple Object Tracking. Vision Res 2021; 183:61-72. [PMID: 33706106 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Flexible resource models suggest that attentional deployment in Multiple Object Tracking either shows in target enhancement or distractor inhibition or both. In order to gauge the influence of these processes we manipulated distinctiveness of targets and distractors along a single dimension by finely grading gray values of objects. We established that a quantitative increase in distinctiveness results in a quantitative increase in tracking performance thus demonstrating a new finding. Further increases of distinctiveness beyond a certain degree produced no further improvements in tracking. This effect, however, was moderated by levels of task difficulty thus providing evidence for the relativity of this effect. With higher task difficulty higher degrees of distinctiveness still resulted in a significant performance gain (Experiment 1). A follow up experiment generalized this finding. By manipulating speed of objects, a situation with a yet higher task difficulty could be established showing that an increase of an already striking distinctiveness can produce an even further performance gain - provided higher task difficulty (Experiment 2). Finally we tested the hypothesis that target enhancement and distractor inhibition are influenced by feature distinctiveness. Although we found possible indications for distractor inhibition, we could not demonstrate an effect of feature distinctiveness on distractor inhibition. Target enhancement, however, was substantially influenced by variation of feature distinctiveness (Experiment 3).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Pichlmeier
- Institute of Psychology, Karlsruhe University of Education, PO BOX 11 10 62, 76060 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | - Till Pfeiffer
- Institute of Psychology, Karlsruhe University of Education, PO BOX 11 10 62, 76060 Karlsruhe, Germany.
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13
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Makovski T, Chajut E. Preparing for the Worst: Attention is Enhanced Prior to Any Upcoming Emotional or Neutral Stimulus. Psychol Sci 2021; 32:256-266. [PMID: 33400635 PMCID: PMC7882998 DOI: 10.1177/0956797620963612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Do people allocate more or fewer attentional resources when preparing for negative emotional visual stimuli to appear? In three experiments (total N = 150), participants performed a change-detection task while expecting a neutral, threatening, disgusting, or joyful stimulus or no stimulus to appear at a fixed moment. Responses to an infrequent dot probe were faster when participants were expecting a distracting stimulus. Importantly, although only negative stimuli impaired change-detection performance, there was no difference between the preparation effect for threatening and neutral stimuli (Experiment 1) or disgusting and joyful stimuli (Experiment 3). The preparation effects were also unaffected by the participant's anxiety level. Experiment 2 confirmed that the threatening images affected performance when the dot probe appeared after the image. These results suggest that the visual system increases alertness in response to any upcoming stimulus and further imply that the effects of emotional stimuli largely occur after, but not before, the stimuli appear.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Makovski
- Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel
| | - Eran Chajut
- Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel
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14
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Kamkar S, Abrishami Moghaddam H, Lashgari R, Oksama L, Li J, Hyönä J. Effectiveness of "rescue saccades" on the accuracy of tracking multiple moving targets: An eye-tracking study on the effects of target occlusions. J Vis 2020; 20:5. [PMID: 33196768 PMCID: PMC7671859 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.12.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Occlusion is one of the main challenges in tracking multiple moving objects. In almost all real-world scenarios, a moving object or a stationary obstacle occludes targets partially or completely for a short or long time during their movement. A previous study (Zelinsky & Todor, 2010) reported that subjects make timely saccades toward the object in danger of being occluded. Observers make these so-called “rescue saccades” to prevent target swapping. In this study, we examined whether these saccades are helpful. To this aim, we used as the stimuli recorded videos from natural movement of zebrafish larvae swimming freely in a circular container. We considered two main types of occlusion: object-object occlusions that naturally exist in the videos, and object-occluder occlusions created by adding a stationary doughnut-shape occluder in some videos. Four different scenarios were studied: (1) no occlusions, (2) only object-object occlusions, (3) only object-occluder occlusion, or (4) both object-object and object-occluder occlusions. For each condition, two set sizes (two and four) were applied. Participants’ eye movements were recorded during tracking, and rescue saccades were extracted afterward. The results showed that rescue saccades are helpful in handling object-object occlusions but had no reliable effect on tracking through object-occluder occlusions. The presence of occlusions generally increased visual sampling of the scenes; nevertheless, tracking accuracy declined due to occlusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiva Kamkar
- Machine Vision and Medical Image Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.,
| | - Hamid Abrishami Moghaddam
- Machine Vision and Medical Image Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.,
| | - Reza Lashgari
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.,
| | - Lauri Oksama
- Finnish Defence Research Agency, Human Performance Division, Järvenpää, Finland.,
| | - Jie Li
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,
| | - Jukka Hyönä
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,
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15
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Kamkar S, Ghezloo F, Moghaddam HA, Borji A, Lashgari R. Multiple-target tracking in human and machine vision. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1007698. [PMID: 32271746 PMCID: PMC7144962 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans are able to track multiple objects at any given time in their daily activities—for example, we can drive a car while monitoring obstacles, pedestrians, and other vehicles. Several past studies have examined how humans track targets simultaneously and what underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms they use. At the same time, computer-vision researchers have proposed different algorithms to track multiple targets automatically. These algorithms are useful for video surveillance, team-sport analysis, video analysis, video summarization, and human–computer interaction. Although there are several efficient biologically inspired algorithms in artificial intelligence, the human multiple-target tracking (MTT) ability is rarely imitated in computer-vision algorithms. In this paper, we review MTT studies in neuroscience and biologically inspired MTT methods in computer vision and discuss the ways in which they can be seen as complementary. Multiple-target tracking (MTT) is a challenging task vital for both a human’s daily life and for many artificial intelligent systems, such as those used for urban traffic control. Neuroscientists are interested in discovering the underlying neural mechanisms that successfully exploit cognitive resources, e.g., spatial attention or memory, during MTT. Computer-vision specialists aim to develop powerful MTT algorithms based on advanced models or data-driven computational methods. In this paper, we review MTT studies from both communities and discuss how findings from cognitive studies can inspire developers to construct higher performing MTT algorithms. Moreover, some directions have been proposed through which MTT algorithms could raise new questions in the cognitive science domain, and answering them can shed light on neural processes underlying MTT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiva Kamkar
- Machine Vision and Medical Image Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
| | - Fatemeh Ghezloo
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamid Abrishami Moghaddam
- Machine Vision and Medical Image Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
- * E-mail: (RL); (HAM)
| | - Ali Borji
- HCL America, Manhattan, New York City, United States of America
| | - Reza Lashgari
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
- * E-mail: (RL); (HAM)
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16
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Howard CJ, Pole R, Montgomery P, Woodward A, Guest D, Standen B, Kent C, Crowe EM. Visual spatial attention and spatial working memory do not draw on shared capacity-limited core processes. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2019; 73:799-818. [PMID: 31842721 DOI: 10.1177/1747021819897882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The extent to which similar capacity limits in visual attention and visual working memory indicate a common shared underlying mechanism is currently still debated. In the spatial domain, the multiple object tracking (MOT) task has been used to assess the relationship between spatial attention and spatial working memory though existing results have been inconclusive. In three dual task experiments, we examined the extent of interference between attention to spatial positions and memory for spatial positions. When the position monitoring task required keeping track of target identities through colour-location binding, we found a moderate detrimental effect of position monitoring on spatial working memory and an ambiguous interaction effect. However, when this task requirement was removed, load increases in neither task were detrimental to the other. The only very moderate interference effect that remained resided in an interaction between load types but was not consistent with shared capacity between tasks-rather it was consistent with content-related crosstalk between spatial representations. Contrary to propositions that spatial attention and spatial working memory may draw on a common shared set of core processes, these findings indicate that for a purely spatial task, perceptual attention and working memory appear to recruit separate core capacity-limited processes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebekah Pole
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | | | - Amanda Woodward
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | - Duncan Guest
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | - Bradley Standen
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | - Christopher Kent
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Emily M Crowe
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.,Department of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Bennett SJ, Hayes SJ, Uji M. Stroboscopic Vision When Interacting With Multiple Moving Objects: Perturbation Is Not the Same as Elimination. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1290. [PMID: 30090080 PMCID: PMC6068388 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivated by recent findings of improved perceptual processing and perceptual-motor skill following stroboscopic vision training, the current study examined the performance and acquisition effects of stroboscopic vision methods that afford a different visual experience. In Experiment 1, we conducted a within-subject design study to examine performance of a multiple object tracking (MOT) task in different stroboscopic vision conditions (Nike Vapor Strobe®, PLATO visual occlusion, and intermittent display presentation) operating at 5.6, 3.2, or 1.8 Hz. We found that participants maintained MOT performance in the Vapor Strobe condition irrespective of strobe rate. However, MOT performance deteriorated as strobe rate was reduced in the other two stroboscopic vision conditions. Moreover, at the lowest strobe rate (1.8 Hz) there was an increase in probe reaction time, thus indicating an increased attentional demand due to the stroboscopic vision. In Experiment 2, we conducted a mixed design study to examine if practice in different stroboscopic vision conditions (Nike Vapor Strobe® and PLATO visual occlusion) influenced acquisition of a novel precision-aiming task [i.e., multiple object avoidance (MOA) task] compared to a normal vision group. Participants in the PLATO visual occlusion group exhibited worse performance during practice than the Vapor Strobe and normal vision groups. At post-test, the Vapor Strobe group demonstrated greater success and reduced end-point error than the normal vision and PLATO groups. We interpret these findings as showing that both an intermittent perturbation (Nike Vapor Strobe®) and elimination (PLATO visual occlusion and intermittent display presentation) of visual motion and form are more attention demanding (Experiment 1), however, the intermittent perturbation, but not elimination, of visual motion and form can facilitate acquisition of perceptual-motor skill (Experiment 2) in situations where it is necessary to maintain and update a spatio-temporal representation of multiple moving objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon J Bennett
- Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Spencer J Hayes
- Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Makoto Uji
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom
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18
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Chotsrisuparat C, Koning A, Jacobs R, van Lier R. Effects of Auditory Patterns on Judged Displacements of an Occluded Moving Object. Multisens Res 2018; 31:623-643. [PMID: 31264610 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-18001294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2017] [Accepted: 12/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Using displays in which a moving disk disappeared behind an occluder, we examined whether an accompanying auditory rhythm influenced the perceived displacement of the disk during occlusion. We manipulated a baseline rhythm, comprising a relatively fast alternation of equal sound and pause durations. We had two different manipulations to create auditory sequences with a slower rhythm: either the pause durations or the sound durations were increased. In the trial, a disk moved at a constant speed, and at a certain point moved behind an occluder during which an auditory rhythm was played. Participants were instructed to track the occluded disk, and judge the expected position of the disk at the moment that the auditory rhythm ended by touching the judged position on a touch screen. We investigated the influence of the auditory rhythm, i.e., ratio of sound to pause duration, and the influence of auditory density, i.e., the number of sound onsets per time unit, on the judged distance. The results showed that the temporal characteristics affected the spatial judgments. Overall, we found that in the current paradigm relatively slow rhythms led to shorter judged distance as compared to relatively fast rhythms for both pause and sound variations. There was no main effect of auditory density on the judged distance of an expected visual event. That is, whereas the speed of the auditory rhythm appears crucial, the number of sound onsets per time unit as such, i.e., the auditory density, appears a much weaker factor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chayada Chotsrisuparat
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Arno Koning
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Richard Jacobs
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rob van Lier
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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19
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Stroboscopic vision and sustained attention during coincidence-anticipation. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17898. [PMID: 29263340 PMCID: PMC5738365 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18092-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2017] [Accepted: 12/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
We compared coincidence-anticipation performance in normal vision and stroboscopic vision as a function of time-on-task. Participants estimated the arrival time of a real object that moved with constant acceleration (−0.7, 0, +0.7 m/s2) in a pseudo-randomised order across 4 blocks of 30 trials in both vision conditions, received in a counter-balanced order. Participants (n = 20) became more errorful (accuracy and variability) in the normal vision condition as a function of time-on-task, whereas performance was maintained in the stroboscopic vision condition. We interpret these data as showing that participants failed to maintain coincidence-anticipation performance in the normal vision condition due to monotony and attentional underload. In contrast, the stroboscopic vision condition placed a greater demand on visual-spatial memory for motion extrapolation, and thus participants did not experience the typical vigilance decrement in performance. While short-term adaptation effects from practicing in stroboscopic vision are promising, future work needs to consider for how long participants can maintain effortful processing, and whether there are negative carry-over effects from cognitive fatigue when transferring to normal vision.
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20
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Hue distinctiveness overrides category in determining performance in multiple object tracking. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 80:374-386. [PMID: 29238912 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1466-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The visual distinctiveness between targets and distractors can significantly facilitate performance in multiple object tracking (MOT), in which color is a feature that has been commonly used. However, the processing of color can be more than "visual." Color is continuous in chromaticity, while it is commonly grouped into discrete categories (e.g., red, green). Evidence from color perception suggested that color categories may have a unique role in visual tasks independent of its chromatic appearance. Previous MOT studies have not examined the effect of chromatic and categorical distinctiveness on tracking separately. The current study aimed to reveal how chromatic (hue) and categorical distinctiveness of color between the targets and distractors affects tracking performance. With four experiments, we showed that tracking performance was largely facilitated by the increasing hue distance between the target set and the distractor set, suggesting that perceptual grouping was formed based on hue distinctiveness to aid tracking. However, we found no color categorical effect, because tracking performance was not significantly different when the targets and distractors were from the same or different categories. It was concluded that the chromatic distinctiveness of color overrides category in determining tracking performance, suggesting a dominant role of perceptual feature in MOT.
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Abstract
Object identities somehow appear stable and continuous over time despite eye movements, disruptions in visibility, and constantly changing visual input. Recent results have demonstrated that the perception of orientation, numerosity, and facial identity is systematically biased (i.e., pulled) toward visual input from the recent past. The spatial region over which current orientations or face identities are pulled by previous orientations or identities, respectively, is known as the continuity field, which is temporally tuned over the past several seconds (Fischer & Whitney, 2014). This perceptual pull could contribute to the visual stability of objects over short time periods, but does it also address how perceptual stability occurs during visual discontinuities? Here, we tested whether the continuity field helps maintain perceived object identity during occlusion. Specifically, we found that the perception of an oriented Gabor that emerged from behind an occluder was significantly pulled toward the random (and unrelated) orientation of the Gabor that was seen entering the occluder. Importantly, this serial dependence was stronger for predictable, continuously moving trajectories, compared to unpredictable ones or static displacements. This result suggests that our visual system takes advantage of expectations about a stable world, helping to maintain perceived object continuity despite interrupted visibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Liberman
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, /alina_liberman.html
| | - Kathy Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, /kathy_zhang.html
| | - David Whitney
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USADepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USAVision Science Group, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, /david_whitney.html
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22
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Grasping occluded targets: investigating the influence of target visibility, allocentric cue presence, and direction of motion on gaze and grasp accuracy. Exp Brain Res 2017; 235:2705-2716. [PMID: 28597294 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-017-5004-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2017] [Accepted: 06/01/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Participants executed right-handed reach-to-grasp movements toward horizontally translating targets. Visual feedback of the target when reaching, as well as the presence of additional cues placed above and below the target's path, was manipulated. Comparison of average fixations at reach onset and at the time of the grasp suggested that participants accurately extrapolated the occluded target's motion prior to reach onset, but not after the reach had been initiated, resulting in inaccurate grasp placements. Final gaze and grasp positions were more accurate when reaching for leftward moving targets, suggesting individuals use different grasp strategies when reaching for targets traveling away from the reaching hand. Additional cue presence appeared to impair participants' ability to extrapolate the disappeared target's motion, and caused grasps for occluded targets to be less accurate. Novel information is provided about the eye-hand strategies used when reaching for moving targets in unpredictable visual conditions.
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23
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Studying visual attention using the multiple object tracking paradigm: A tutorial review. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 79:1255-1274. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1338-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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24
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Chotsrisuparat C, Koning A, Jacobs R, van Lier R. Auditory Rhythms Influence Judged Time to Contact of an Occluded Moving Object. Multisens Res 2017. [DOI: 10.1163/22134808-00002592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
We studied the expected moment of reappearance of a moving object after it disappeared from sight. In particular, we investigated whether auditory rhythms influence time to contact (TTC) judgments. Using displays in which a moving disk disappears behind an occluder, we examined whether an accompanying auditory rhythm influences the expected TTC of an occluded moving object. We manipulated a baseline auditory rhythm — consisting of equal sound and pause durations — in two ways: either the pause durations or the sound durations were increased to create slower rhythms. Participants had to press a button at the moment they expected the disk to reappear. Variations in pause duration (Experiments 1 and 2) affected expected TTC, in contrast to variations in sound duration (Experiment 3). These results show that auditory rhythms affect expected reappearance of an occluded moving object. Second, these results suggest that temporal auditory grouping is an important factor in TTC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chayada Chotsrisuparat
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Arno Koning
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Richard Jacobs
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rob van Lier
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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25
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Abstract
How does the visual system realize dynamic tracking? This topic has become popular within cognitive science in recent years. The classical theory argues that multiple object tracking is accomplished via pre-attention visual indexes as part of a cognitively impenetrable low-level visual system. The present research aimed to investigate whether and how tracking processes are influenced by facial expressions that convey abundant social information about one’s mental state and situated environment. The results showed that participants tracked fearful faces more effectively than neutral faces. However, this advantage was only present under the low-attentional load condition, and distractor face emotion did not impact tracking performance. These findings imply that visual tracking is not driven entirely by low-level vision and encapsulated by high-level representations; rather, that facial expressions, a kind of social information, are able to influence dynamic tracking. Furthermore, the effect of fearful expressions on multiple face tracking is mediated by the availability of attentional resources.
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26
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Valdés-Sosa MJ, Iglesias-Fuster J, Torres R. Attentional selection of levels within hierarchically organized figures is mediated by object-files. Front Integr Neurosci 2014; 8:91. [PMID: 25565994 PMCID: PMC4267176 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2014.00091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2014] [Accepted: 11/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objects frequently have a hierarchical organization (tree-branch-leaf). How do we select the level to be attended? This has been explored with compound letters: a global letter built from local letters. One explanation, backed by much empirical support, is that attentional competition is biased toward certain spatial frequency (SF) bands across all locations and objects (a SF filter). This view assumes that the global and local letters are carried respectively by low and high SF bands, and that the bias can persist over time. Here we advocate a complementary view in which perception of hierarchical level is determined by how we represent letters in object-files. Although many properties bound to an object-file (i.e., position, color, even shape) can mutate without affecting its persistence over time, we posit that same object-file cannot be used to store information from different hierarchical levels. Thus, selection of level would be independent from locations but not from the way objects are represented at each moment. These views were contrasted via an attentional blink paradigm that presented letters within compound figures, but only one level at a time. Attending to two letters in rapid succession was easier if they were at the same-compared to different-levels, as predicted by both accounts. However, only the object-file account was able to explain why it was easier to report two targets on the same moving object compared to the same targets on distinct objects. The interference of different masks on target recognition was also easier to predict by the object-file account than by an SF filter. The methods introduced here allowed us to investigate attention to hierarchical levels and to object-files within the same empirical framework. The data suggests that SF information is used to structure the internal organization of object representations, a process understood best by integrating object-file theory with previous models of hierarchical perception.
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27
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Zhong SH, Ma Z, Wilson C, Liu Y, Flombaum JI. Why do people appear not to extrapolate trajectories during multiple object tracking? A computational investigation. J Vis 2014; 14:14.12.12. [PMID: 25311300 DOI: 10.1167/14.12.12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Intuitively, extrapolating object trajectories should make visual tracking more accurate. This has proven to be true in many contexts that involve tracking a single item. But surprisingly, when tracking multiple identical items in what is known as "multiple object tracking," observers often appear to ignore direction of motion, relying instead on basic spatial memory. We investigated potential reasons for this behavior through probabilistic models that were endowed with perceptual limitations in the range of typical human observers, including noisy spatial perception. When we compared a model that weights its extrapolations relative to other sources of information about object position, and one that does not extrapolate at all, we found no reliable difference in performance, belying the intuition that extrapolation always benefits tracking. In follow-up experiments we found this to be true for a variety of models that weight observations and predictions in different ways; in some cases we even observed worse performance for models that use extrapolations compared to a model that does not at all. Ultimately, the best performing models either did not extrapolate, or extrapolated very conservatively, relying heavily on observations. These results illustrate the difficulty and attendant hazards of using noisy inputs to extrapolate the trajectories of multiple objects simultaneously in situations with targets and featurally confusable nontargets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng-Hua Zhong
- Department of Computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Zheng Ma
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Colin Wilson
- Department of Cognitive Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Yan Liu
- Department of Computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Jonathan I Flombaum
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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28
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Zhao L, Gao Q, Ye Y, Zhou J, Shui R, Shen M. The role of spatial configuration in multiple identity tracking. PLoS One 2014; 9:e93835. [PMID: 24718370 PMCID: PMC3981724 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2013] [Accepted: 03/07/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The simultaneous tracking and identification of multiple moving objects encountered in everyday life requires one to correctly bind identities to objects. In the present study, we investigated the role of spatial configuration made by multiple targets when observers are asked to track multiple moving objects with distinct identities. Methodology/Principal Findings The overall spatial configuration made by the targets was manipulated: In the constant condition, the configuration remained as a virtual convex polygon throughout the tracking, and in the collapsed condition, one of the moving targets (critical target) crossed over an edge of the virtual polygon during tracking, destroying it. Identification performance was higher when the configuration remained intact than when it collapsed (Experiments 1a, 1b, and 2). Moreover, destroying the configuration affected the allocation of dynamic attention: the critical target captured more attention than did the other targets. However, observers were worse at identifying the critical target and were more likely to confuse it with the targets that formed the virtual crossed edge (Experiments 3–5). Experiment 6 further showed that the visual system constructs an overall configuration only by using the targets (and not the distractors); identification performance was not affected by whether the distractor violated the spatial configuration. Conclusions/Significance In sum, these results suggest that the visual system may integrate targets (but not distractors) into a spatial configuration during multiple identity tracking, which affects the distribution of dynamic attention and the updating of identity-location binding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Zhao
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qiyang Gao
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yan Ye
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jifan Zhou
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Rende Shui
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Mowei Shen
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- * E-mail:
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29
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Alberti CF, Horowitz T, Bronstad PM, Bowers AR. Visual attention measures predict pedestrian detection in central field loss: a pilot study. PLoS One 2014; 9:e89381. [PMID: 24558495 PMCID: PMC3928437 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2013] [Accepted: 01/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The ability of visually impaired people to deploy attention effectively to maximize use of their residual vision in dynamic situations is fundamental to safe mobility. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate whether tests of dynamic attention (multiple object tracking; MOT) and static attention (Useful Field of View; UFOV) were predictive of the ability of people with central field loss (CFL) to detect pedestrian hazards in simulated driving. METHODS 11 people with bilateral CFL (visual acuity 20/30-20/200) and 11 age-similar normally-sighted drivers participated. Dynamic and static attention were evaluated with brief, computer-based MOT and UFOV tasks, respectively. Dependent variables were the log speed threshold for 60% correct identification of targets (MOT) and the increase in the presentation duration for 75% correct identification of a central target when a concurrent peripheral task was added (UFOV divided and selective attention subtests). Participants drove in a simulator and pressed the horn whenever they detected pedestrians that walked or ran toward the road. The dependent variable was the proportion of timely reactions (could have stopped in time to avoid a collision). RESULTS UFOV and MOT performance of CFL participants was poorer than that of controls, and the proportion of timely reactions was also lower (worse) (84% and 97%, respectively; p = 0.001). For CFL participants, higher proportions of timely reactions correlated significantly with higher (better) MOT speed thresholds (r = 0.73, p = 0.01), with better performance on the UFOV divided and selective attention subtests (r = -0.66 and -0.62, respectively, p<0.04), with better contrast sensitivity scores (r = 0.54, p = 0.08) and smaller scotomas (r = -0.60, p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that brief laboratory-based tests of visual attention may provide useful measures of functional visual ability of individuals with CFL relevant to more complex mobility tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Concetta F. Alberti
- Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Todd Horowitz
- Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Sciences Branch, Behavioral Research Program Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America
| | - P. Matthew Bronstad
- Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Alex R. Bowers
- Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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30
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Speed has an effect on multiple-object tracking independently of the number of close encounters between targets and distractors. Atten Percept Psychophys 2014; 75:53-67. [PMID: 22972631 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-012-0369-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Multiple-object tracking (MOT) studies have shown that tracking ability declines as object speed increases. However, this might be attributed solely to the increased number of times that target and distractor objects usually pass close to each other ("close encounters") when speed is increased, resulting in more target-distractor confusions. The present study investigates whether speed itself affects MOT ability by using displays in which the number of close encounters is held constant across speeds. Observers viewed several pairs of disks, and each pair rotated about the pair's midpoint and, also, about the center of the display at varying speeds. Results showed that even with the number of close encounters held constant across speeds, increased speed impairs tracking performance, and the effect of speed is greater when the number of targets to be tracked is large. Moreover, neither the effect of number of distractors nor the effect of target-distractor distance was dependent on speed, when speed was isolated from the typical concomitant increase in close encounters. These results imply that increased speed does not impair tracking solely by increasing close encounters. Rather, they support the view that speed affects MOT capacity by requiring more attentional resources to track at higher speeds.
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31
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Merkel C, Stoppel CM, Hillyard SA, Heinze HJ, Hopf JM, Schoenfeld MA. Spatio-temporal Patterns of Brain Activity Distinguish Strategies of Multiple-object Tracking. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:28-40. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Human observers can readily track up to four independently moving items simultaneously, even in the presence of moving distractors. Here we combined EEG and magnetoencephalography recordings to investigate the neural processes underlying this remarkable capability. Participants were instructed to track four of eight independently moving items for 3 sec. When the movement ceased a probe stimulus consisting of four items with a higher luminance was presented. The location of the probe items could correspond fully, partly, or not at all with the tracked items. Participants reported whether the probe items fully matched the tracked items or not. About half of the participants showed slower RTs and higher error rates with increasing correspondence between tracked items and the probe. The other half, however, showed faster RTs and lower error rates when the probe fully matched the tracked items. This latter behavioral pattern was associated with enhanced probe-evoked neural activity that was localized to the lateral occipital cortex in the time range 170–210 msec. This enhanced response in the object-selective lateral occipital cortex suggested that these participants performed the tracking task by visualizing the overall shape configuration defined by the vertices of the tracked items, thereby producing a behavioral advantage on full-match trials. In a later time range (270–310 msec) probe-evoked neural activity increased monotonically as a function of decreasing target–probe correspondence in all participants. This later modulation, localized to superior parietal cortex, was proposed to reflect the degree of mismatch between the probe and the automatically formed visual STM representation of the tracked items.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Steven A. Hillyard
- 2Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg
- 3University California, San Diego
| | - Hans-Jochen Heinze
- 1Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg
- 2Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg
| | - Jens-Max Hopf
- 1Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg
- 2Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg
| | - Mircea Ariel Schoenfeld
- 1Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg
- 2Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg
- 4Kliniken Schmieder, Allensbach
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32
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Erlikhman G, Keane BP, Mettler E, Horowitz TS, Kellman PJ. Automatic feature-based grouping during multiple object tracking. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2013; 39:1625-1637. [PMID: 23458095 PMCID: PMC3901520 DOI: 10.1037/a0031750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Contour interpolation automatically binds targets with distractors to impair multiple object tracking (Keane, Mettler, Tsoi, & Kellman, 2011). Is interpolation special in this regard or can other features produce the same effect? To address this question, we examined the influence of eight features on tracking: color, contrast polarity, orientation, size, shape, depth, interpolation, and a combination (shape, color, size). In each case, subjects tracked 4 of 8 objects that began as undifferentiated shapes, changed features as motion began (to enable grouping), and returned to their undifferentiated states before halting. We found that intertarget grouping improved performance for all feature types except orientation and interpolation (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2). Most importantly, target-distractor grouping impaired performance for color, size, shape, combination, and interpolation. The impairments were, at times, large (>15% decrement in accuracy) and occurred relative to a homogeneous condition in which all objects had the same features at each moment of a trial (Experiment 2), and relative to a "diversity" condition in which targets and distractors had different features at each moment (Experiment 3). We conclude that feature-based grouping occurs for a variety of features besides interpolation, even when irrelevant to task instructions and contrary to the task demands, suggesting that interpolation is not unique in promoting automatic grouping in tracking tasks. Our results also imply that various kinds of features are encoded automatically and in parallel during tracking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gennady Erlikhman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Brian P. Keane
- Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science, Piscataway, NJ, USA
- UMDNJ—Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, USA
| | - Everett Mettler
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Todd S. Horowitz
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Philip J. Kellman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
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Ueda H, Takahashi K, Watanabe K. Contributions of retinal input and phenomenal representation of a fixation object to the saccadic gap effect. Vision Res 2013; 82:52-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2012] [Revised: 02/06/2013] [Accepted: 02/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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34
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A simple proximity heuristic allows tracking of multiple objects through occlusion. Atten Percept Psychophys 2012; 74:691-702. [PMID: 22271165 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-011-0265-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Moving objects in the world present a challenge to the visual system, in that they often move in and out of view as they are occluded by other surfaces. Nevertheless, the ability to track multiple objects through periods of occlusion is surprisingly robust. Here, we identify a simple heuristic that underlies this ability: Pre- and postocclusion views of objects are linked together solely by their spatial proximity. Tracking through occlusion was always improved when the postocclusion instances reappeared closer to the preocclusion views. Strikingly, this was true even when objects' previous trajectories predicted different reappearance locations and when objects reappeared "too close," from invisible "slits" in empty space, rather than from more distant occluder contours. Tracking through occlusion appears to rely only on spatial proximity, and not on encoding heading information, likely reappearance locations, or the visible structure of occluders.
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Matsushima A, Tanaka M. Neuronal correlates of multiple top-down signals during covert tracking of moving objects in macaque prefrontal cortex. J Cogn Neurosci 2012; 24:2043-56. [PMID: 22721381 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Resistance to distraction is a key component of executive functions and is strongly linked to the prefrontal cortex. Recent evidence suggests that neural mechanisms exist for selective suppression of task-irrelevant information. However, neuronal signals related to selective suppression have not yet been identified, whereas nonselective surround suppression, which results from attentional enhancement for relevant stimuli, has been well documented. This study examined single neuron activities in the lateral PFC when monkeys covertly tracked one of randomly moving objects. Although many neurons responded to the target, we also found a group of neurons that exhibited a selective response to the distractor that was visually identical to the target. Because most neurons were insensitive to an additional distractor that explicitly differed in color from the target, the brain seemed to monitor the distractor only when necessary to maintain internal object segregation. Our results suggest that the lateral PFC might provide at least two top-down signals during covert object tracking: one for enhancement of visual processing for the target and the other for selective suppression of visual processing for the distractor. These signals might work together to discriminate objects, thereby regulating both the sensitivity and specificity of target choice during covert object tracking.
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Close encounters of the distracting kind: Identifying the cause of visual tracking errors. Atten Percept Psychophys 2012; 74:703-15. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-011-0260-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Keane BP, Mettler E, Tsoi V, Kellman PJ. Attentional signatures of perception: multiple object tracking reveals the automaticity of contour interpolation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2011; 37:685-98. [PMID: 21038997 DOI: 10.1037/a0020674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Multiple object tracking (MOT) is an attentional task wherein observers attempt to track multiple targets among moving distractors. Contour interpolation is a perceptual process that fills-in nonvisible edges on the basis of how surrounding edges (inducers) are spatiotemporally related. In five experiments, we explored the automaticity of interpolation through its influences on tracking. We found that (1) when the edges of targets and distractors jointly formed dynamic illusory or occluded contours, tracking accuracy worsened; (2) when interpolation bound all four targets together, performance improved; (3) when interpolation strength was weakened (by altering the size or relative orientation of inducing edges), tracking effects disappeared; and (4) real and interpolated contours influenced tracking comparably, except that real contours could more effectively shift attention toward distractors. These results suggest that interpolation's characteristics-and, in particular, its automaticity-can be revealed through its attentional influences or "signatures" within tracking. Our results also imply that relatively detailed object representations are formed in parallel, and that such representations can affect tracking when they become relevant to scene segmentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian P Keane
- Department of Psychology, University of California-Los Angeles, USA.
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38
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Abstract
Selective attention not only influences which objects in a display are perceived, but also directly changes the character of how they are perceived—for example, making attended objects appear larger or sharper. In studies of multiple-object tracking and probe detection, we explored the influence of sustained selective attention on where objects are seen to be in relation to each other in dynamic multi-object displays. Surprisingly, we found that sustained attention can warp the representation of space in a way that is object-specific: In immediate recall of the positions of objects that have just disappeared, space between targets is compressed, whereas space between distractors is expanded. These effects suggest that sustained attention can warp spatial representation in unexpected ways.
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39
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The role of visual attention in multiple object tracking: evidence from ERPs. Atten Percept Psychophys 2011; 72:33-52. [PMID: 20802834 DOI: 10.3758/app.72.1.33] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We examined the role of visual attention in the multiple object tracking (MOT) task by measuring the amplitude of the N1 component of the event-related potential (ERP) to probe flashes presented on targets, distractors, or empty background areas. We found evidence that visual attention enhances targets and suppresses distractors (Experiment 1 & 3). However, we also found that when tracking load was light (two targets and two distractors), accurate tracking could be carried out without any apparent contribution from the visual attention system (Experiment 2). Our results suggest that attentional selection during MOT is flexibly determined by task demands as well as tracking load and that visual attention may not always be necessary for accurate tracking.
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Spatial updating of dynamic scenes: Tracking multiple invisible objects across viewpoint changes. Atten Percept Psychophys 2010; 72:628-36. [PMID: 20348569 DOI: 10.3758/app.72.3.628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Abstract
Multiple-object-tracking tasks require an observer to track a group of
identical objects moving in 2D space. The current study was conducted in an
attempt to examine object tracking in 3D space. We were interested in testing
influence of classical depth cues (texture gradients, relative size and
contrast) on tracking. In Experiment 1 we varied the presence of these depth
cues while subjects were tracking four (out of eight) identical, moving
objects. Texture gradient, a cue related to scene layout, did not influence
object tracking. Experiment 2 was designed to clarify the differences between
contrast and relative size effects. Results revealed that contrast was a more
effective cue for multiple object tracking in 3D scenes. The effect of
occlusion was also examined. Several occluders, presented in the scene, were
occasionally masking the targets. Tracking was more successful when occluders
were arranged in different depth planes, mimicking more natural conditions.
Increasing the number of occlusions led to poorer performance.
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ZHANG XM, LIU B, LU XM. Mechanism of Different Moving Pattern on Nontarget Inhibition in Multiple Object Tracking. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2009. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2009.00922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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43
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Abstract
What is the role of attention in multiple-object tracking? Does attention enhance target representations, suppress distractor representations, or both? It is difficult to ask this question in a purely behavioral paradigm without altering the very attentional allocation one is trying to measure. In the present study, we used event-related potentials to examine the early visual evoked responses to task-irrelevant probes without requiring an additional detection task. Subjects tracked two targets among four moving distractors and four stationary distractors. Brief probes were flashed on targets, moving distractors, stationary distractors, or empty space. We obtained a significant enhancement of the visually evoked P1 and N1 components (approximately 100-150 msec) for probes on targets, relative to distractors. Furthermore, good trackers showed larger differences between target and distractor probes than did poor trackers. These results provide evidence of early attentional enhancement of tracked target items and also provide a novel approach to measuring attentional allocation during tracking.
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Doran MM, Hoffman JE, Scholl BJ. The role of eye fixations in concentration and amplification effects during multiple object tracking. VISUAL COGNITION 2009. [DOI: 10.1080/13506280802117010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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