1
|
Lin Y, Stavans M, Li X, Baillargeon R. Infants can use temporary or scant categorical information to individuate objects. Cogn Psychol 2024; 149:101640. [PMID: 38412626 PMCID: PMC11113335 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2024.101640] [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: 06/02/2023] [Revised: 01/21/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
In a standard individuation task, infants see two different objects emerge in alternation from behind a screen. If they can assign distinct categorical descriptors to the two objects, they expect to see both objects when the screen is lowered; if not, they have no expectation at all about what they will see (i.e., two objects, one object, or no object). Why is contrastive categorical information critical for success at this task? According to the kind account, infants must decide whether they are facing a single object with changing properties or two different objects with stable properties, and access to permanent, intrinsic, kind information for each object resolves this difficulty. According to the two-system account, however, contrastive categorical descriptors simply provide the object-file system with unique tags for individuating the two objects and for communicating about them with the physical-reasoning system. The two-system account thus predicts that any type of contrastive categorical information, however temporary or scant it may be, should induce success at the task. Two experiments examined this prediction. Experiment 1 tested 14-month-olds (N = 96) in a standard task using two objects that differed only in their featural properties. Infants succeeded at the task when the object-file system had access to contrastive temporary categorical descriptors derived from the objects' distinct causal roles in preceding support events (e.g., formerly a support, formerly a supportee). Experiment 2 tested 9-month-olds (N = 96) in a standard task using two objects infants this age typically encode as merely featurally distinct. Infants succeeded when the object-file system had access to scant categorical descriptors derived from the objects' prior inclusion in static arrays of similarly shaped objects (e.g., block-shaped objects, cylinder-shaped objects). These and control results support the two-system account's claim that in a standard task, contrastive categorical descriptors serve to provide the object-file system with unique tags for the two objects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yi Lin
- Psychology Department, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Maayan Stavans
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA
| | - Xia Li
- Early Childhood Education/Arts Education, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA
| | - Renée Baillargeon
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Kim C, Chong SC. Partial blindness: Visual experience is not rich, but not sparse. Psychon Bull Rev 2023:10.3758/s13423-023-02432-w. [PMID: 38151692 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02432-w] [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: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/29/2023]
Abstract
Is our perceptual experience constrained by an information bottleneck (i.e., the limited capacity for cognitive access), and if so, how? To answer these questions, we investigated observers' perceptual resolution for an individual face when they saw either a single face or multiple faces simultaneously. We characterized perceptual resolution by measuring how accurately observers detected the degradation of a face. In two experiments, we found that the resolution of perception decreased when seeing multiple faces compared to when seeing a single face, which mainly resulted from the neglect of degradation. Importantly, this degradation neglect was based on partial blindness rather than complete blindness to a face, indicating that perceptual experience is limited by an information bottleneck as a form of partial blindness to an individual item. Together, our findings suggest that perceptual experience at a glance might be sparser than retinal resolution or perceptual resolution measured under conditions where the target stimulus is the sole focus of attention; however, it might be richer than a small handful of items.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cheongil Kim
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Sang Chul Chong
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Korea.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Nartker M, Firestone C, Egeth H, Phillips I. Six ways of failing to see (and why the differences matter). Iperception 2023; 14:20416695231198762. [PMID: 37781486 PMCID: PMC10536858 DOI: 10.1177/20416695231198762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Sometimes we look but fail to see: our car keys on a cluttered desk, a repeated word in a carefully proofread email, or a motorcycle at an intersection. Wolfe and colleagues present a unifying, mechanistic framework for understanding these "Looked But Failed to See" errors, explaining how such misses arise from natural constraints on human visual processing. Here, we offer a conceptual taxonomy of six distinct ways we might be said to fail to see, and explore: how these relate to processes in Wolfe et al.'s model; how they can be distinguished experimentally; and, why the differences matter.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Makaela Nartker
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Chaz Firestone
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA;
Department of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Howard Egeth
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ian Phillips
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Saltzmann SM, Moen KC, Eich B, Chaisson FM, Fan G, Goldstein RR, Beck MR, Lucas HD. Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for the flexible recruitment of feature- and object-based processing in visual working memory comparison. Biol Psychol 2023; 178:108528. [PMID: 36868296 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108528] [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: 08/16/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
Abstract
Previous research is inconclusive on when visual working memory (VWM) can be object-based or feature-based. Prior event-related potential (ERP) studies using change detection tasks have found that amplitudes of the N200-an ERP index of VWM comparison- are sensitive to changes in both relevant and irrelevant features, suggesting a bias toward object-based processing. To test whether VWM comparison processing can operate in a feature-based manner, we aimed to create circumstances that would support feature-based processing by: 1) using a strong task-relevance manipulation, and 2) repeating features within a display. Participants completed two blocks of a change detection task for four-item displays in which they were told to respond to color changes (task relevant) but not shape changes (task irrelevant). The first block contained only task-relevant changes to create a strong task-relevance manipulation. In the second block, both relevant and irrelevant changes were present. In both blocks, half of the arrays contained within-display feature repetitions (e.g. two items of the same color or shape). We found that during the second block, N200 amplitudes were sensitive to task-relevant but not irrelevant features regardless of repetition status, consistent with feature-based processing. However, analyses of behavioral data and N200 latencies suggested that object-based processing was occurring at some stages of VWM processing on task-irrelevant feature change trials. In particular, task-irrelevant changes may be processed after no task-relevant feature change is revealed. Overall, the results from the current study suggest that the VWM processing is flexible and can be either object- or feature-based.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Katherine C Moen
- Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; University of Nebraska at Kearney, 2504 9th Ave, Kearney, NE 68849, USA
| | - Brandon Eich
- Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Felicia M Chaisson
- Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Gaojie Fan
- Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | | | - Melissa R Beck
- Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
| | - Heather D Lucas
- Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Barnas AJ, Ward EJ. Metacognitive judgements of change detection predict change blindness. Cognition 2022; 227:105208. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Revised: 06/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
6
|
File D, Petro B, Gaál ZA, Csikós N, Czigler I. Automatic change detection: Mismatch negativity and the now-classic Rensink, O’Reagan, and Clark (1997) stimuli. Front Psychol 2022; 13:975714. [PMID: 36092095 PMCID: PMC9458516 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.975714] [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] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Change blindness experiments had demonstrated that detection of significant changes in natural images is extremely difficult when brief blank fields are placed between alternating displays of an original and a modified scene. On the other hand, research on the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of the event-related potentials (ERPs) identified sensitivity to events (deviants) different from the regularity of stimulus sequences (standards), even if the deviant and standard events are non-attended. The present study sought to investigate the apparent controversy between the experience under the change blindness paradigm and the ERP results. To this end, the stimulus of Rensink, O’Reagen, and Clark (1997) was adapted to a passive oddball ERP paradigm to investigate the underlying processing differences between the standard (original) and deviant (altered) stimuli measured in 22 subjects. Posterior negativity within the 280–330 ms latency range emerged as the difference between ERPs elicited by standard and deviant stimuli, identified as visual mismatch negativity (vMMN). These results raise the possibility that change blindness is not based on the lack of detailed visual representations or the deficiency of comparing two representations. However, effective discrimination of the two scene versions requires considerable frequency differences between them.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Domonkos File
- Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- *Correspondence: Domonkos File,
| | - Bela Petro
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Zsófia Anna Gaál
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Nóra Csikós
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - István Czigler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Moreland JC, Palmer J, Boynton GM. A major role for retrieval and/or comparison in the set-size effects of change detection. J Vis 2021; 21:2. [PMID: 34851390 PMCID: PMC8648049 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.13.2] [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: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Set-size effects in change detection have been attributed to capacity limits in a variety of processes, including perception, memory encoding, memory storage, memory retrieval, comparison, and decision. In this study, we investigated the locus of the effect of increasing set size from 1 to 2. The task was to detect a 90 degree change in the orientation of 1 or 2 briefly presented Gabor patterns in noise. To measure purely attentional effects and not another phenomena, such as crowding, a precue was used to manipulate relevant set size while keeping the display constant. The locus of the capacity limit was determined by varying when observers were cued to a single relevant stimulus. To begin, we measured the baseline set-size effect for change detection. Next, a dual-task procedure and a 100% valid postcue was added to test for an effect of decision: This modification did not reliably change the set-size effects. In the critical experiments, a 100% valid cue was provided during the retention interval between displays, or only one stimulus was presented in the second display (local recognition). For both of these conditions, there was only a relatively small set-size effect. These results are consistent with the bulk of capacity limits being in memory retrieval or comparison and not in perception, memory encoding, or memory storage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James C Moreland
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.,
| | - John Palmer
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.,
| | - Geoffrey M Boynton
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.,
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Scrivener CL, Malik A, Lindner M, Roesch EB. Sensing and seeing associated with overlapping occipitoparietal activation in simultaneous EEG-fMRI. Neurosci Conscious 2021; 2021:niab008. [PMID: 34164153 PMCID: PMC8216203 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niab008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The presence of a change in a visual scene can influence brain activity and behavior, even in the absence of full conscious report. It may be possible for us to sense that such a change has occurred, even if we cannot specify exactly where or what it was. Despite existing evidence from electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye-tracking data, it is still unclear how this partial level of awareness relates to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation. Using EEG, fMRI, and a change blindness paradigm, we found multi-modal evidence to suggest that sensing a change is distinguishable from being blind to it. Specifically, trials during which participants could detect the presence of a colour change but not identify the location of the change (sense trials), were compared to those where participants could both detect and localise the change (localise or see trials), as well as change blind trials. In EEG, late parietal positivity and N2 amplitudes were larger for localised changes only, when compared to change blindness. However, ERP-informed fMRI analysis found no voxels with activation that significantly co-varied with fluctuations in single-trial late positivity amplitudes. In fMRI, a range of visual (BA17,18), parietal (BA7,40), and mid-brain (anterior cingulate, BA24) areas showed increased fMRI BOLD activation when a change was sensed, compared to change blindness. These visual and parietal areas are commonly implicated as the storage sites of visual working memory, and we therefore argue that sensing may not be explained by a lack of stored representation of the visual display. Both seeing and sensing a change were associated with an overlapping occipitoparietal network of activation when compared to blind trials, suggesting that the quality of the visual representation, rather than the lack of one, may result in partial awareness during the change blindness paradigm.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catriona L Scrivener
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Asad Malik
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK
| | - Michael Lindner
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK
| | - Etienne B Roesch
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Fu Y, Yan W, Shen M, Chen H. Does consciousness overflow cognitive access? Novel insights from the new phenomenon of attribute amnesia. SCIENCE CHINA-LIFE SCIENCES 2021; 64:847-860. [DOI: 10.1007/s11427-020-1831-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
|
10
|
Xiang W. Implicit Detection Observation in Different Features, Exposure Duration, and Delay During Change Blindness. Front Psychol 2021; 11:607863. [PMID: 33488470 PMCID: PMC7820674 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607863] [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: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
To investigate whether implicit detection occurs uniformly during change blindness with single or combination feature stimuli, and whether implicit detection is affected by exposure duration and delay, two one-shot change detection experiments are designed. The implicit detection effect is measured by comparing the reaction times (RTs) of baseline trials, in which stimulus exhibits no change and participants report “same,” and change blindness trials, in which the stimulus exhibits a change but participants report “same.” If the RTs of blindness trials are longer than those of baseline trials, implicit detection has occurred. The strength of the implicit detection effect was measured by the difference in RTs between the baseline and change blindness trials, where the larger the difference, the stronger the implicit detection effect. In both Experiments 1 and 2, the results showed that the RTs of change blindness trials were significantly longer than those of baseline trials. Whether under set size 4, 6, or 8, the RTs of the change blindness trials were significantly longer than those in the baseline trials. In Experiment 1, the difference between the baseline trials’ RTs and change blindness trials’ RTs of the single features was significantly larger than that of the combination features. However, in Experiment 2, the difference between the baseline trials’ RTs and the change blindness trials’ RTs of single features was significantly smaller than that of the combination features. In Experiment 1a, when the exposure duration was shorter, the difference between the baseline and change blindness trials’ RTs was smaller. In Experiment 2, when the delay was longer, the difference between the two trials’ RTs was larger. These results suggest that regardless of whether the change occurs in a single or a combination of features and whether there is a long exposure duration or delay, implicit detection occurs uniformly during the change blindness period. Moreover, longer exposure durations and delays strengthen the implicit detection effect. Set sizes had no significant impact on implicit detection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wang Xiang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.,School of Education Science, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning, China
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Change deafness can be reduced, but not eliminated, using brief training interventions. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2019; 85:423-438. [PMID: 31493050 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01239-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Research on change deafness indicates there are substantial limitations to listeners' perception of which objects are present in complex auditory scenes, an ability that is important for many everyday situations. Experiment 1 examined the extent to which change deafness could be reduced by training with performance feedback compared to no training. Experiment 2 compared the efficacy of training with detailed feedback that identified the change and provided performance feedback on each trial, training without feedback, and no training. We further examined the timescale over which improvement unfolded by examining performance using an immediate post-test and a second post-test 12 h later. We were able to reduce, but not eliminate, change deafness for all groups, and determined that the practice content strongly impacted bias and response strategy. Training with simple performance feedback reduced change deafness but increased bias and false alarm rates, while providing a more detailed feedback improved change detection without affecting bias. Together, these findings suggest that change deafness can be reduced if a relatively small amount of practice is completed. When bias did not impede performance during the first post-test, the majority of the learning following training occurred immediately, suggesting that fast within-session learning primarily supported improvement on the task.
Collapse
|
12
|
Umanath S, Ries F, Huff MJ. Reducing suggestibility to additive versus contradictory misinformation in younger and older adults via divided attention and/or explicit error detection. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sharda Umanath
- Department of Psychological SciencesClaremont McKenna College Claremont California
| | - François Ries
- Department of Psychological SciencesClaremont McKenna College Claremont California
| | - Mark J. Huff
- Department of PsychologyThe University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg Mississippi
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Scrivener CL, Malik A, Marsh J, Lindner M, Roesch EB. An EEG study of detection without localisation in change blindness. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:2535-2547. [PMID: 31338534 PMCID: PMC6751272 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05602-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies of change blindness have suggested a distinction between detection and localisation of changes in a visual scene. Using a simple paradigm with an array of coloured squares, the present study aimed to further investigate differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) between trials in which participants could detect the presence of a colour change but not identify the location of the change (sense trials), versus those where participants could both detect and localise the change (localise trials). Individual differences in performance were controlled for by adjusting the difficulty of the task in real time. Behaviourally, reaction times for sense, blind, and false alarm trials were distinguishable when comparing across levels of participant certainty. In the EEG data, we found no significant differences in the visual awareness negativity ERP, contrary to previous findings. In the N2pc range, both awareness conditions (localise and sense) were significantly different to trials with no change detection (blind trials), suggesting that this ERP is not dependent on explicit awareness. Within the late positivity range, all conditions were significantly different. These results suggest that changes can be ‘sensed’ without knowledge of the location of the changing object, and that participant certainty scores can provide valuable information about the perception of changes in change blindness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catriona L Scrivener
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
| | - Asad Malik
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Jade Marsh
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Michael Lindner
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Etienne B Roesch
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Ward EJ. Downgraded phenomenology: how conscious overflow lost its richness. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0355. [PMID: 30061468 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Our in-the-moment experience of the world can feel vivid and rich, even when we cannot describe our experience due to limitations of attention, memory or other cognitive processes. But the nature of visual awareness is quite sparse, as suggested by the phenomena of failures of awareness, such as change blindness and inattentional blindness. I will argue that once failures of memory or failures of comparison are ruled out as explanations for these phenomena, they present strong evidence against rich awareness. To accommodate and explain these massive failures of awareness, any theory of phenomenal consciousness must downgrade phenomenology to a degree where it is functionless or, ironically, does not reflect what we experience.This article is part of the theme issue 'Perceptual consciousness and cognitive access'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emily J Ward
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Implicit processing during change blindness revealed with mouse-contingent and gaze-contingent displays. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 80:844-859. [PMID: 29363028 PMCID: PMC5948240 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1468-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
People often miss salient events that occur right in front of them. This phenomenon, known as change blindness, reveals the limits of visual awareness. Here, we investigate the role of implicit processing in change blindness using an approach that allows partial dissociation of covert and overt attention. Traditional gaze-contingent paradigms adapt the display in real time according to current gaze position. We compare such a paradigm with a newly designed mouse-contingent paradigm where the visual display changes according to the real-time location of a user-controlled mouse cursor, effectively allowing comparison of change detection with mainly overt attention (gaze-contingent display; Experiment 2) and untethered overt and covert attention (mouse-contingent display; Experiment 1). We investigate implicit indices of target detection during change blindness in eye movement and behavioral data, and test whether affective devaluation of unnoticed targets may contribute to change blindness. The results show that unnoticed targets are processed implicitly, but that the processing is shallower than if the target is consciously detected. Additionally, the partial untethering of covert attention with the mouse-contingent display changes the pattern of search and leads to faster detection of the changing target. Finally, although it remains possible that the deployment of covert attention is linked to implicit processing, the results fall short of establishing a direct connection.
Collapse
|
16
|
Stavans M, Lin Y, Wu D, Baillargeon R. Catastrophic individuation failures in infancy: A new model and predictions. Psychol Rev 2019; 126:196-225. [PMID: 30550314 PMCID: PMC6600085 DOI: 10.1037/rev0000136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Comparison of infant findings from the physical-reasoning and object-individuation literatures reveals a contradictory picture. On the one hand, physical-reasoning results indicate that young infants can use featural information to guide their actions on objects and to detect interaction violations (when objects interact in ways that are not physically possible) as well as change violations (when objects spontaneously undergo featural changes that are not physically possible). On the other hand, object-individuation results indicate that young infants typically cannot use featural information to detect individuation violations (when the number of objects revealed at the end of an event is less than the number of objects introduced during the event). In this article, we attempt to reconcile these two bodies of research. In a new model of early individuation, we propose that two systems help infants individuate objects in physical events: the object-file and physical-reasoning systems. Under certain conditions, disagreements between the systems result in catastrophic individuation failures, leading infants to hold no expectation at all about how many objects are present. We report experiments with 9- to 11-month-old infants (N = 216) that tested predictions from the model. After two objects emerged in alternation from behind a screen, infants detected no violation when the screen was lowered to reveal no object. Similarly, after two objects emerged in alternation from inside a box, which was then shaken, infants detected no violation when the box remained silent, as though empty. We end with new directions, suggested by our model, for research on early object representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maayan Stavans
- Psychology Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Yi Lin
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA
| | - Di Wu
- Psychology Department, Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH 45314, USA
| | - Renée Baillargeon
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Xie W, Zhang W. Familiarity Speeds Up Visual Short-term Memory Consolidation: Electrophysiological Evidence from Contralateral Delay Activities. J Cogn Neurosci 2018; 30:1-13. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
To test how preexisting long-term memory influences visual STM, this study takes advantage of individual differences in participants' prior familiarity with Pokémon characters and uses an ERP component, the contralateral delay activity (CDA), to assess whether observers' prior stimulus familiarity affects STM consolidation and storage capacity. In two change detection experiments, consolidation speed, as indexed by CDA fractional area latency and/or early-window (500–800 msec) amplitude, was significantly associated with individual differences in Pokémon familiarity. In contrast, the number of remembered Pokémon stimuli, as indexed by Cowan's K and late-window (1500–2000 msec) CDA amplitude, was significantly associated with individual differences in Pokémon familiarity when STM consolidation was incomplete because of a short presentation of Pokémon stimuli (500 msec, Experiment 2), but not when STM consolidation was allowed to complete given sufficient encoding time (1000 msec, Experiment 1). Similar findings were obtained in between-group analyses when participants were separated into high-familiarity and low-familiarity groups based on their Pokémon familiarity ratings. Together, these results suggest that stimulus familiarity, as a proxy for the strength of preexisting long-term memory, primarily speeds up STM consolidation, which may subsequently lead to an increase in the number of remembered stimuli if consolidation is incomplete. These findings thus highlight the importance of research assessing how effects on representations (e.g., STM capacity) are in general related to (or even caused by) effects on processes (e.g., STM consolidation) in cognition.
Collapse
|
18
|
McAnally KI, Morris AP, Best C. Metacognitive monitoring and control in visual change detection: Implications for situation awareness and cognitive control. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0176032. [PMID: 28915244 PMCID: PMC5600364 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2015] [Accepted: 07/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Metacognitive monitoring and control of situation awareness (SA) are important for a range of safety-critical roles (e.g., air traffic control, military command and control). We examined the factors affecting these processes using a visual change detection task that included representative tactical displays. SA was assessed by asking novice observers to detect changes to a tactical display. Metacognitive monitoring was assessed by asking observers to estimate the probability that they would correctly detect a change, either after study of the display and before the change (judgement of learning; JOL) or after the change and detection response (judgement of performance; JOP). In Experiment 1, observers failed to detect some changes to the display, indicating imperfect SA, but JOPs were reasonably well calibrated to objective performance. Experiment 2 examined JOLs and JOPs in two task contexts: with study-time limits imposed by the task or with self-pacing to meet specified performance targets. JOPs were well calibrated in both conditions as were JOLs for high performance targets. In summary, observers had limited SA, but good insight about their performance and learning for high performance targets and allocated study time appropriately.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ken I. McAnally
- Aerospace Division, Defence Science and Technology Group, Fishermens Bend, Victoria, Australia
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Adam P. Morris
- Neuroscience Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christopher Best
- Aerospace Division, Defence Science and Technology Group, Fishermens Bend, Victoria, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Gaston J, Dickerson K, Hipp D, Gerhardstein P. Change deafness for real spatialized environmental scenes. COGNITIVE RESEARCH-PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS 2017; 2:29. [PMID: 28680950 PMCID: PMC5487906 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-017-0066-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2016] [Accepted: 06/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The everyday auditory environment is complex and dynamic; often, multiple sounds co-occur and compete for a listener’s cognitive resources. ‘Change deafness’, framed as the auditory analog to the well-documented phenomenon of ‘change blindness’, describes the finding that changes presented within complex environments are often missed. The present study examines a number of stimulus factors that may influence change deafness under real-world listening conditions. Specifically, an AX (same-different) discrimination task was used to examine the effects of both spatial separation over a loudspeaker array and the type of change (sound source additions and removals) on discrimination of changes embedded in complex backgrounds. Results using signal detection theory and accuracy analyses indicated that, under most conditions, errors were significantly reduced for spatially distributed relative to non-spatial scenes. A second goal of the present study was to evaluate a possible link between memory for scene contents and change discrimination. Memory was evaluated by presenting a cued recall test following each trial of the discrimination task. Results using signal detection theory and accuracy analyses indicated that recall ability was similar in terms of accuracy, but there were reductions in sensitivity compared to previous reports. Finally, the present study used a large and representative sample of outdoor, urban, and environmental sounds, presented in unique combinations of nearly 1000 trials per participant. This enabled the exploration of the relationship between change perception and the perceptual similarity between change targets and background scene sounds. These (post hoc) analyses suggest both a categorical and a stimulus-level relationship between scene similarity and the magnitude of change errors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy Gaston
- Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Adelphi, MD USA
| | - Kelly Dickerson
- Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Adelphi, MD USA
| | - Daniel Hipp
- Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Adelphi, MD USA
| | - Peter Gerhardstein
- Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Adelphi, MD USA
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Wang SH, Onishi KH. Enhancing Young Infants’ Representations of Physical Events Through Improved Retrieval (Not Encoding) of Information. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2017.1281279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
|
21
|
Abstract
How can we reconcile remarkably precise long-term memory for thousands of images with failures to detect changes to similar images? We explored whether people can use detailed, long-term memory to improve change detection performance. Subjects studied a set of images of objects and then performed recognition and change detection tasks with those images. Recognition memory performance exceeded change detection performance, even when a single familiar object in the postchange display consistently indicated the change location. In fact, participants were no better when a familiar object predicted the change location than when the displays consisted of unfamiliar objects. When given an explicit strategy to search for a familiar object as a way to improve performance on the change detection task, they performed no better than in a 6-alternative recognition memory task. Subjects only benefited from the presence of familiar objects in the change detection task when they had more time to view the prechange array before it switched. Once the cost to using the change detection information decreased, subjects made use of it in conjunction with memory to boost performance on the familiar-item change detection task. This suggests that even useful information will go unused if it is sufficiently difficult to extract.
Collapse
|
22
|
Infants Actively Construct and Update Their Representations of Physical Events: Evidence from Change Detection by 12-Month-Olds. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1155/2016/3102481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The present research investigates the effects of top-down information on 12-month-olds’ representations of physical events, focusing on their ability to detect an object change across different events. Infants this age typically fail to detect height changes in events with tubes even though they successfully do so in events with covers. In Experiment 1, infants who saw a tube event in which objects did not interact successfully detected a change in an object’s height, suggesting that object interaction affects infants’ categorization of physical events. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the fine-grained process of event representation. In Experiment 2, infants detected the change in the tube event if they were led by pretest exposure to believe that the event was conducted with a cover. In Experiment 3, infants who initially believed so updated their representation if shown a tube before object interaction occurred (but not after). Together, these findings provide new evidence that infants, like older children and adults, actively construct physical events. Whether they notice a change depends on their existing knowledge and the current representation of the event.
Collapse
|
23
|
Ward EJ, Bear A, Scholl BJ. Can you perceive ensembles without perceiving individuals?: The role of statistical perception in determining whether awareness overflows access. Cognition 2016; 152:78-86. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2015] [Revised: 01/05/2016] [Accepted: 01/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
24
|
Varakin DA, Levin DT, Collins KM. Comparison and Representation Failures Both Cause Real-World Change Blindness. Perception 2016; 36:737-49. [PMID: 17624119 DOI: 10.1068/p5572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Change blindness (CB) occurs when people miss changes across views. Hypothetically, CB would occur if observers failed to represent information about the changing object, but CB would also occur if observers represented and failed to compare information across views, or represented only the pre- or post-change object. For a variety of reasons, previous studies have been unable to determine which of these alternatives contribute to CB in an incidental real-world setting. To address these ambiguities, we conducted two real-world experiments using stimuli that changed on only one feature and tested recognition memory for both the changing feature and a non-changing feature. Participants also provided confidence ratings on recognition responses, allowing us to test whether CB has multiple causes within a single task setting. The results suggest that, in a single real-world setting, CB can be caused by both a failure to represent and a failure to compare information across views.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- D Alexander Varakin
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
Abstract
People often fail to notice large changes to visual scenes, a phenomenon now known as change blindness. The extent of change blindness in visual perception suggests limits on our capacity to encode, retain, and compare visual information from one glance to the next; our awareness of our visual surroundings is far more sparse than most people intuitively believe. These failures of awareness and the erroneous intuitions that often accompany them have both theoretical and practical ramifications. This article briefly summarizes the current state of research on change blindness and suggests future directions that promise to improve our understanding of scene perception and visual memory.
Collapse
|
26
|
Zimmermann JF, Moscovitch M, Alain C. Attending to auditory memory. Brain Res 2015; 1640:208-21. [PMID: 26638836 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.11.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2015] [Revised: 11/18/2015] [Accepted: 11/19/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Attention to memory describes the process of attending to memory traces when the object is no longer present. It has been studied primarily for representations of visual stimuli with only few studies examining attention to sound object representations in short-term memory. Here, we review the interplay of attention and auditory memory with an emphasis on 1) attending to auditory memory in the absence of related external stimuli (i.e., reflective attention) and 2) effects of existing memory on guiding attention. Attention to auditory memory is discussed in the context of change deafness, and we argue that failures to detect changes in our auditory environments are most likely the result of a faulty comparison system of incoming and stored information. Also, objects are the primary building blocks of auditory attention, but attention can also be directed to individual features (e.g., pitch). We review short-term and long-term memory guided modulation of attention based on characteristic features, location, and/or semantic properties of auditory objects, and propose that auditory attention to memory pathways emerge after sensory memory. A neural model for auditory attention to memory is developed, which comprises two separate pathways in the parietal cortex, one involved in attention to higher-order features and the other involved in attention to sensory information. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline F Zimmermann
- University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1.
| | - Morris Moscovitch
- University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1
| | - Claude Alain
- University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Ball F, Bernasconi F, Busch NA. Semantic Relations between Visual Objects Can Be Unconsciously Processed but Not Reported under Change Blindness. J Cogn Neurosci 2015; 27:2253-68. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Change blindness—the failure to detect changes in visual scenes—has often been interpreted as a result of impoverished visual information encoding or as a failure to compare the prechange and postchange scene. In the present electroencephalography study, we investigated whether semantic features of prechange and postchange information are processed unconsciously, even when observers are unaware that a change has occurred. We presented scenes composed of natural objects in which one object changed from one presentation to the next. Object changes were either semantically related (e.g., rail car changed to rail) or unrelated (e.g., rail car changed to sausage). Observers were first asked to detect whether any change had occurred and then to judge the semantic relation of the two objects involved in the change. We found a semantic mismatch ERP effect, that is, a more negative-going ERP for semantically unrelated compared to related changes, originating from a cortical network including the left middle temporal gyrus and occipital cortex and resembling the N400 effect, albeit at longer latencies. Importantly, this semantic mismatch effect persisted even when observers were unaware of the change and the semantic relationship of prechange and postchange object. This finding implies that change blindness does not preclude the encoding of the prechange and postchange objects' identities and possibly even the comparison of their semantic content. Thus, change blindness cannot be interpreted as resulting from impoverished or volatile visual representations or as a failure to process the prechange and postchange object. Instead, change detection appears to be limited at a later, postperceptual stage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Felix Ball
- 1Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany
- 2Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
| | - Fosco Bernasconi
- 1Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany
- 2Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
| | - Niko A. Busch
- 1Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany
- 2Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Exploring Attentional Bias for Real-World, Pain-related Information in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Using a Novel Change Detection Paradigm. Clin J Pain 2015; 31:680-8. [DOI: 10.1097/ajp.0000000000000149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
29
|
Effect of Decision Load on Whole-Display Superiority in Change Detection. Atten Percept Psychophys 2015; 77:749-58. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-015-0834-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
|
30
|
Chen H, Wyble B. Amnesia for object attributes: failure to report attended information that had just reached conscious awareness. Psychol Sci 2015; 26:203-10. [PMID: 25564523 DOI: 10.1177/0956797614560648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
People intuitively believe that when they become consciously aware of a visual stimulus, they will be able to remember it and immediately report it. The present study provides a series of striking demonstrations of behavior that is inconsistent with such an intuition. Four experiments showed that in certain conditions, participants could not report an attribute (e.g., letter identity) of a stimulus even when that attribute had been attended and had reached a full state of conscious awareness just prior to being questioned about it. We term this effect attribute amnesia, and it occurs when participants repeatedly locate a target using one attribute and are then unexpectedly asked to report that attribute. This discovery suggests that attention to and awareness of a stimulus attribute are insufficient to ensure its immediate reportability. These results imply that when attention is configured by using an attribute for target selection, that attribute will not necessarily be remembered.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hui Chen
- The Pennsylvania State University
| | | |
Collapse
|
31
|
Inattentional blindness reflects limitations on perception, not memory: Evidence from repeated failures of awareness. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 22:722-7. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0745-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
|
32
|
The scene and the unseen: manipulating photographs for experiments on change blindness and scene memory: image manipulation for change blindness. Behav Res Methods 2014; 46:689-701. [PMID: 24311058 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-013-0414-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The change blindness paradigm, in which participants often fail to notice substantial changes in a scene, is a popular tool for studying scene perception, visual memory, and the link between awareness and attention. Some of the most striking and popular examples of change blindness have been demonstrated with digital photographs of natural scenes; in most studies, however, much simpler displays, such as abstract stimuli or "free-floating" objects, are typically used. Although simple displays have undeniable advantages, natural scenes remain a very useful and attractive stimulus for change blindness research. To assist researchers interested in using natural-scene stimuli in change blindness experiments, we provide here a step-by-step tutorial on how to produce changes in natural-scene images with a freely available image-processing tool (GIMP). We explain how changes in a scene can be made by deleting objects or relocating them within the scene or by changing the color of an object, in just a few simple steps. We also explain how the physical properties of such changes can be analyzed using GIMP and MATLAB (a high-level scientific programming tool). Finally, we present an experiment confirming that scenes manipulated according to our guidelines are effective in inducing change blindness and demonstrating the relationship between change blindness and the physical properties of the change and inter-individual differences in performance measures. We expect that this tutorial will be useful for researchers interested in studying the mechanisms of change blindness, attention, or visual memory using natural scenes.
Collapse
|
33
|
Nishiyama M, Kawaguchi J. Visual long-term memory and change blindness: Different effects of pre- and post-change information on one-shot change detection using meaningless geometric objects. Conscious Cogn 2014; 30:105-17. [PMID: 25282403 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2014] [Revised: 08/29/2014] [Accepted: 09/02/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
To clarify the relationship between visual long-term memory (VLTM) and online visual processing, we investigated whether and how VLTM involuntarily affects the performance of a one-shot change detection task using images consisting of six meaningless geometric objects. In the study phase, participants observed pre-change (Experiment 1), post-change (Experiment 2), or both pre- and post-change (Experiment 3) images appearing in the subsequent change detection phase. In the change detection phase, one object always changed between pre- and post-change images and participants reported which object was changed. Results showed that VLTM of pre-change images enhanced the performance of change detection, while that of post-change images decreased accuracy. Prior exposure to both pre- and post-change images did not influence performance. These results indicate that pre-change information plays an important role in change detection, and that information in VLTM related to the current task does not always have a positive effect on performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Megumi Nishiyama
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kojimachi Business Center Building, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan; Nagoya University, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Department of Social and Human Environment, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
| | - Jun Kawaguchi
- Nagoya University, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Department of Social and Human Environment, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Ray WC, Rumpf RW, Sullivan B, Callahan N, Magliery T, Machiraju R, Wong B, Krzywinski M, Bartlett CW. Understanding the sequence requirements of protein families: insights from the BioVis 2013 contests. BMC Proc 2014; 8:S1. [PMID: 25237388 PMCID: PMC4155613 DOI: 10.1186/1753-6561-8-s2-s1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction In 2011, the BioVis symposium of the IEEE VisWeek conferences inaugurated a new variety of data analysis contest. Aimed at fostering collaborations between computational scientists and biologists, the BioVis contest provided real data from biological domains with emerging visualization needs, in the hope that novel approaches would result in powerful new tools for the community. In 2011 and 2012 the theme of these contests was expression Quantitative Trait Locus analysis, within and across tissues respectively. In 2013 the topic was updated to protein sequence and mutation visualization. Methods The contest was framed in the context of a real protein with numerous mutations that had lost function, and the question posed "what minimal set of changes would you propose to rescue function, or how could you support a biologist attempting to answer that question?". The data was grounded in actual experimental results in triosephosphate isomerase(TIM) enzymes. Seven teams composed of 36 individuals submitted entries with proposed solutions and approaches to the challenge. Their contributions ranged from careful analysis of the visualization and analytical requirements for the problem through integration of existing tools for analyzing the context and consequences of protein mutations, to completely new tools addressing the problem. Results Judges found valuable and novel contributions in each of the entries, including interesting ways to hierarchicalize the protein into domains of informational interaction, tools for simultaneously understanding both sequential and spatial order, and approaches for conveying some types of inter-residue dependencies. In this manuscript we document the problem presented to the contestants, summarize the biological contributions of their entries, and suggest opportunities that this work has highlighted for even more improved tools in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William C Ray
- Nationwide Children's Hospital, 575 Children's Crossroad, 43215, Columbus, OH, USA ; The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Ave, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA ; Contest Chairs
| | - R Wolfgang Rumpf
- Nationwide Children's Hospital, 575 Children's Crossroad, 43215, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Brandon Sullivan
- The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Ave, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA ; Domain Experts
| | - Nicholas Callahan
- The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Ave, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA ; Domain Experts
| | - Thomas Magliery
- The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Ave, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA ; Domain Experts
| | - Raghu Machiraju
- The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Ave, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA ; Contest Chairs
| | - Bang Wong
- The Broad Institute, 7 Cambridge Center, 02142, Cambridge, MA, USA ; Contest Chairs
| | - Martin Krzywinski
- Genome Sciences Centre, 570 W, 7th Avenue, V5Z 4S6, Vancouver, BC, Canada ; Contest Chairs
| | - Christopher W Bartlett
- Nationwide Children's Hospital, 575 Children's Crossroad, 43215, Columbus, OH, USA ; The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Ave, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA ; Contest Chairs
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Johnson JS, Simmering VR, Buss AT. Beyond slots and resources: grounding cognitive concepts in neural dynamics. Atten Percept Psychophys 2014; 76:1630-54. [PMID: 24306983 PMCID: PMC4047207 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-013-0596-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Research over the past decade has suggested that the ability to hold information in visual working memory (VWM) may be limited to as few as three to four items. However, the precise nature and source of these capacity limits remains hotly debated. Most commonly, capacity limits have been inferred from studies of visual change detection, in which performance declines systematically as a function of the number of items that participants must remember. According to one view, such declines indicate that a limited number of fixed-resolution representations are held in independent memory "slots." Another view suggests that such capacity limits are more apparent than real, but emerge as limited memory resources are distributed across more to-be-remembered items. Here we argue that, although both perspectives have merit and have generated and explained impressive amounts of empirical data, their central focus on the representations--rather than processes--underlying VWM may ultimately limit continuing progress in this area. As an alternative, we describe a neurally grounded, process-based approach to VWM: the dynamic field theory. Simulations demonstrate that this model can account for key aspects of behavioral performance in change detection, in addition to generating novel behavioral predictions that have been confirmed experimentally. Furthermore, we describe extensions of the model to recall tasks, the integration of visual features, cognitive development, individual differences, and functional imaging studies of VWM. We conclude by discussing the importance of grounding psychological concepts in neural dynamics, as a first step toward understanding the link between brain and behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey S Johnson
- Department of Psychology and Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, North Dakota State University, Dept. 2765, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, North Dakota, 58108-6050, USA,
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
36
|
Change deafness and object encoding with recognizable and unrecognizable sounds. Neuropsychologia 2014; 61:19-30. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Revised: 04/16/2014] [Accepted: 06/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
|
37
|
Infants detect changes in everyday scenes: The role of scene gist. Cogn Psychol 2014; 72:142-61. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2012] [Revised: 02/10/2014] [Accepted: 03/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
|
38
|
Gao C, Sang N, Huang R. Biologically inspired scene context for object detection using a single instance. PLoS One 2014; 9:e98447. [PMID: 24871350 PMCID: PMC4037228 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2013] [Accepted: 05/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper presents a novel object detection method using a single instance from the object category. Our method uses biologically inspired global scene context criteria to check whether every individual location of the image can be naturally replaced by the query instance, which indicates whether there is a similar object at this location. Different from the traditional detection methods that only look at individual locations for the desired objects, our method evaluates the consistency of the entire scene. It is therefore robust to large intra-class variations, occlusions, a minor variety of poses, low-revolution conditions, background clutter etc., and there is no off-line training. The experimental results on four datasets and two video sequences clearly show the superior robustness of the proposed method, suggesting that global scene context is important for visual detection/localization.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Changxin Gao
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Image Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Nong Sang
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Image Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Rui Huang
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Image Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Tovey M, Herdman CM. Seeing changes: How familiarity alters our perception of change. VISUAL COGNITION 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2014.894167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
|
40
|
Abstract
Does becoming aware of a change to a purely visual stimulus necessarily cause the observer to be able to identify or localise the change or can change detection occur in the absence of identification or localisation? Several theories of visual awareness stress that we are aware of more than just the few objects to which we attend. In particular, it is clear that to some extent we are also aware of the global properties of the scene, such as the mean luminance or the distribution of spatial frequencies. It follows that we may be able to detect a change to a visual scene by detecting a change to one or more of these global properties. However, detecting a change to global property may not supply us with enough information to accurately identify or localise which object in the scene has been changed. Thus, it may be possible to reliably detect the occurrence of changes without being able to identify or localise what has changed. Previous attempts to show that this can occur with natural images have produced mixed results. Here we use a novel analysis technique to provide additional evidence that changes can be detected in natural images without also being identified or localised. It is likely that this occurs by the observers monitoring the global properties of the scene.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Piers D. L. Howe
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Margaret E. Webb
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Aly M, Ranganath C, Yonelinas AP. Neural correlates of state- and strength-based perception. J Cogn Neurosci 2013; 26:792-809. [PMID: 24283493 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual judgments can be based on two kinds of information: state-based perception of specific, detailed visual information, or strength-based perception of global or relational information. State-based perception is discrete in the sense that it either occurs or fails, whereas strength-based perception is continuously graded from weak to strong. The functional characteristics of these types of perception have been examined in some detail, but whether state- and strength-based perception are supported by different brain regions has been largely unexplored. A consideration of empirical work and recent theoretical proposals suggests that parietal and occipito-temporal regions may be differentially associated with state- and strength-based signals, respectively. We tested this parietal/occipito-temporal state/strength hypothesis using fMRI and a visual perception task that allows separation of state- and strength-based perception. Participants made same/different judgments on pairs of faces and scenes using a 6-point confidence scale where "6" responses indicated a state of perceiving specific details that had changed, and "1" to "5" responses indicated judgments based on varying strength of relational match/mismatch. Regions in the lateral and medial posterior parietal cortex (supramarginal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus) were sensitive to state-based perception and were not modulated by varying levels of strength-based perception. In contrast, bilateral fusiform gyrus activation was increased for strength-based "different" responses compared with misses and did not show state-based effects. Finally, the lateral occipital complex showed increased activation for state-based responses and additionally showed graded activation across levels of strength-based perception. These results offer support for a state/strength distinction between parietal and temporal regions, with the lateral occipital complex at the intersection of state- and strength-based processing.
Collapse
|
42
|
Abstract
Language comprehension involves analysis at the level of the word, sentence, and message and the integration of message meaning with the prior discourse and world knowledge. Contemporary research converges on another facet of comprehension: the validation of message consistency. Existing evidence already favors several principles in validation of reading and listening. Validation is initiated immediately and is routine rather than requiring intentional strategies. Successful validation is a precondition to updating the situational representation of the message. Validation applies to discourse inferences as well as explicit assertions. Finally, the memory-retrieval processes that enable validation closely resemble those of intentional discourse memory. Competing observations of people’s validation failures are proposed to systematically stem from features of the message, understander, and comprehension task. Therefore, theoretical analysis that accommodates both successful and deficient language validation ought to be attainable.
Collapse
|
43
|
Differential functioning of retrieval/comparison processing in detection of the presence and absence of change. PLoS One 2013; 8:e68789. [PMID: 23826395 PMCID: PMC3691123 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068789] [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] [Received: 01/31/2012] [Accepted: 06/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The phenomenon of change blindness may reflect the failure to detect the presence of change or the absence of change. Although performing the latter is considered more difficult than the former, the differential functioning of retrieval/comparison processing that leads to differences between the detection of the presence and the absence of change has not been clarified. This study aimed to fill this research gap by comparing performance in the detection of the presence and the absence of a change in one item among a set of items. Methodology/Principal Findings Twenty subjects performed two types of change detection tasks, the first task was detection of one changed item among a set of unchanged items (detection of the presence of a change) and the other was the detection of one unchanged item among a set of changed items (detection of the absence of a change). The ANOVA results for the percentage of correct responses and signal detection measurement of A’ values regarding change detection and the pattern of the results indicate that the subjects found (1) detection of the presence of change less difficult than detection of the absence of change (2), rejection of the presence of change less difficult than acceptance of the presence of change, and (3) rejection of the absence of change as difficult as acceptance of the absence of change. Conclusions/Significance Retrieval/comparison processing for the detection of the presence of change differs from that for the absence of change, likely because the retrieval/comparison process appears aimed at determining whether an item has changed but not whether an item appears the same as it had previously. This conclusion suggests the existence of an identification process that recognizes each item as the same as that observed previously that exists apart from the mechanism underlying retrieval/comparison processing.
Collapse
|
44
|
Busch NA. The fate of object memory traces under change detection and change blindness. Brain Res 2013; 1520:107-15. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2012] [Revised: 04/03/2013] [Accepted: 05/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
45
|
Stevenson RJ, Mahmut MK. Detecting olfactory rivalry. Conscious Cogn 2013; 22:504-16. [PMID: 23528731 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2013.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2012] [Revised: 01/09/2013] [Accepted: 02/19/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Olfactory rivalry can occur when a binary mixture is sniffed repeatedly, with one percept dominating then the other. Experiment 1 demonstrated olfactory rivalry using several new techniques. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether participants can notice rivalry. Participants received trials composed of odor pairs: either a mixture followed by the same mixture; or a pure odor followed by the same pure odor. On some trials participants judged whether the two stimuli were the same or different, to see if they could detect rivalry. On other trials participants judged the quality of each odor, allowing us to determine whether rivalry occurred. We found evidence for rivalry when we compared reports of odor quality for one stimulus and then the other, but no evidence that participants could detect this change. These findings are consistent with the idea that people can experience olfactory illusions, but may not know they have occurred.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Richard J Stevenson
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
| | | |
Collapse
|
46
|
Garrison TM, Williams CC. Impact of Relevance and Distraction on Driving Performance and Visual Attention in a Simulated Driving Environment. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.2917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Teena M. Garrison
- Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems; Mississippi State University; Starkville, Mississippi; USA
| | - Carrick C. Williams
- Department of Psychology and Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems; Mississippi State University; Starkville, Mississippi; USA
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Wei Z, Wang XJ, Wang DH. From distributed resources to limited slots in multiple-item working memory: a spiking network model with normalization. J Neurosci 2012; 32:11228-40. [PMID: 22895707 PMCID: PMC3433498 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0735-12.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2012] [Revised: 05/31/2012] [Accepted: 06/27/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent behavioral studies have given rise to two contrasting models for limited working memory capacity: a "discrete-slot" model in which memory items are stored in a limited number of slots, and a "shared-resource" model in which the neural representation of items is distributed across a limited pool of resources. To elucidate the underlying neural processes, we investigated a continuous network model for working memory of an analog feature. Our model network fundamentally operates with a shared resource mechanism, and stimuli in cue arrays are encoded by a distributed neural population. On the other hand, the network dynamics and performance are also consistent with the discrete-slot model, because multiple objects are maintained by distinct localized population persistent activity patterns (bump attractors). We identified two phenomena of recurrent circuit dynamics that give rise to limited working memory capacity. As the working memory load increases, a localized persistent activity bump may either fade out (so the memory of the corresponding item is lost) or merge with another nearby bump (hence the resolution of mnemonic representation for the merged items becomes blurred). We identified specific dependences of these two phenomena on the strength and tuning of recurrent synaptic excitation, as well as network normalization: the overall population activity is invariant to set size and delay duration; therefore, a constant neural resource is shared by and dynamically allocated to the memorized items. We demonstrate that the model reproduces salient observations predicted by both discrete-slot and shared-resource models, and propose testable predictions of the merging phenomenon.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ziqiang Wei
- Department of Systems Science and National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, and
- Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia 20147
| | - Xiao-Jing Wang
- Department of Neurobiology and Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510
| | - Da-Hui Wang
- Department of Systems Science and National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Department of Neurobiology and Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Persuh M, Genzer B, Melara RD. Iconic memory requires attention. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:126. [PMID: 22586389 PMCID: PMC3345872 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2012] [Accepted: 04/19/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Two experiments investigated whether attention plays a role in iconic memory, employing either a change detection paradigm (Experiment 1) or a partial-report paradigm (Experiment 2). In each experiment, attention was taxed during initial display presentation, focusing the manipulation on consolidation of information into iconic memory, prior to transfer into working memory. Observers were able to maintain high levels of performance (accuracy of change detection or categorization) even when concurrently performing an easy visual search task (low load). However, when the concurrent search was made difficult (high load), observers' performance dropped to almost chance levels, while search accuracy held at single-task levels. The effects of attentional load remained the same across paradigms. The results suggest that, without attention, participants consolidate in iconic memory only gross representations of the visual scene, information too impoverished for successful detection of perceptual change or categorization of features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marjan Persuh
- Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, City College, City University of New York NY, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
49
|
Abstract
An area of research that has experienced recent growth is the study of memory during perception of simple and complex auditory scenes. These studies have provided important information about how well auditory objects are encoded in memory and how well listeners can notice changes in auditory scenes. These are significant developments because they present an opportunity to better understand how we hear in realistic situations, how higher-level aspects of hearing such as semantics and prior exposure affect perception, and the similarities and differences between auditory perception and perception in other modalities, such as vision and touch. The research also poses exciting challenges for behavioral and neural models of how auditory perception and memory work.
Collapse
|
50
|
Nakashima R, Yokosawa K. Sustained attention can create an (illusory) experience of seeing dynamic change. VISUAL COGNITION 2012. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2012.658102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
|