Switching between global and local levels: the level repetition effect and its hemispheric asymmetry

Global precedence changes by environment: A systematic review and meta-analysis on effect of perceptual field variables on global-local visual processing

Perceptual organization and, in particular, visual processing have been debated for many years. The global precedence effect in local-global visual processing, as introduced by David Navon, refers to the condition that global aspects of a scene are processed more rapidly than are local details. This perceptual dynamic is influenced by many factors that can be divided into two major categories: subjective or internal factors (e.g., age, disorder, culture) and the external factors called perceptual field variables (PFVs; e.g., stimulus size, eccentricity, sparsity). The aim of the current study was to identify the latter factors using a meta-analysis followed by a systematic literature review. In accordance of the standard framework suggested by PRISMA, 28 PFVs were observed through a literature search on articles published from 1982 to 2019, among which 10 factors have been qualified to be included in a meta-analysis. Subsequently, the random effects model proposed by Hedges and Olkin was used to estimate pooled effect sizes of PFVs. These effect sizes were used to compare and sort the PFVs on the basis of their intensity. According to Cohen's index, our analyses show that relevance, sparsity, and solidness type are categorized as small effects; visual field, level repetition, spatial frequency, and shape type are categorized as medium effects; and congruency, eccentricity, and size as large effect PFVs on global precedence.

Forest, Trees, Dynamics: Results from a Novel Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Variant Protocol for Studying Global-Local Attention and Complex Cognitive Processes

Background: Recognition of objects and their context relies heavily on the integrated functioning of global and local visual processing. In a realistic setting such as work, this processing becomes a sustained activity, implying a consequent interaction with executive functions.

Motivation: There have been many studies of either global-local attention or executive functions; however it is relatively novel to combine these processes to study a more ecological form of attention. We aim to explore the phenomenon of global-local processing during a task requiring sustained attention and working memory.

Methods: We develop and test a novel protocol for global-local dissociation, with task structure including phases of divided (“rule search”) and selective (“rule found”) attention, based on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST). We test it in a laboratory study with 25 participants, and report on behavior measures (physiological data was also gathered, but not reported here). We develop novel stimuli with more naturalistic levels of information and noise, based primarily on face photographs, with consequently more ecological validity.

Results: We report behavioral results indicating that sustained difficulty when participants test their hypotheses impacts matching-task performance, and diminishes the global precedence effect. Results also show a dissociation between subjectively experienced difficulty and objective dimension of performance, and establish the internal validity of the protocol.

Contribution: We contribute an advance in the state of the art for testing global-local attention processes in concert with complex cognition. With three results we establish a connection between global-local dissociation and aspects of complex cognition. Our protocol also improves ecological validity and opens options for testing additional interactions in future work.

Latent profiles of executive functioning in healthy young adults: evidence of individual differences in hemispheric asymmetry

Two competing theoretical models of individual differences in executive functioning (EF) were examined: the Prefrontal Convexity Model and the Hemispheric Asymmetry Model. Neurologically healthy individuals (N = 315; mean age 20.8) completed a modified switching task (MST) and the Attention Network Test (ANT) in a single testing session. Data analysis was conducted in two phases. In the first phase (model identification), latent profile analysis was applied to MST variables measuring the abilities to form, switch, and maintain mental sets under conditions designed to tax left or right hemisphere resources. In the second phase (model validation), participant clusters obtained from the first phase were compared on the ANT. The Model Identification phase yielded a 3-profile solution consistent with the Hemispheric Asymmetry Model. Profile 1 (N = 203) was characterized by average EF performances. Profile 2 (N = 43) revealed a set maintenance weakness under non-verbal conditions. Profile 3 (N = 38) demonstrated weaknesses in cognitive flexibility combined with poor executive performances under verbal conditions. The Model Validation phase confirmed group differences. Profile 1 demonstrated average EF performances. Profile 2 demonstrated distractibility and decreased alertness, consistent with a right hemisphere weakness. Profile 3 demonstrated cognitive rigidity in the absence of external cues, consistent with a left hemisphere weakness. Individual differences in EF appear to follow a Hemispheric Asymmetry Model of EF among neurologically healthy adults. Investigating the relationship between hemispherically mediated executive functions and other individual difference factors known to confer health risk or resilience could inform numerous disciplines within the field of psychology.