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Oculomotor capture by irrelevant onsets with and without color contrast
Author(s) -
Becker Stefanie I.,
Lewis Amanda Jane
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/nyas.12685
Subject(s) - gaze , stimulus onset asynchrony , contrast (vision) , stimulus (psychology) , perception , psychology , feature (linguistics) , visual search , computer science , artificial intelligence , communication , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , linguistics , philosophy
It is widely known that irrelevant onsets (i.e., items appearing in previously empty locations) can automatically capture attention and attract our gaze. Some studies have shown that onset capture is stronger when the onset distractor matches the target feature, indicating that onset capture can be modulated by feature‐based (top‐down) tuning to the target. However, it is less clear whether and to what extent the perceptual saliency of the distractor can further modulate this effect. This study examined the effects of target similarity, competition between target and distractor, and bottom‐up color contrast on the ability of onset distractor to capture the gaze, by varying the color (contrast) and stimulus‐onset asynchrony of the onset distractor. The results clearly show that competition and feature‐based attention modulate capture by the irrelevant onset to a large extent, whereas bottom‐up color contrasts do not modulate onset capture. These results indicate the need to revise current accounts of gaze control.