Transparent Motion and Object-Based Attention
Visual attention is believed to operate at multiple levels. Spatial attention selects information based on location (“where”), feature-based attention enhances specific visual features such as color or motion direction (“what”), and object-based attention selectively enhances information belonging to coherent perceptual objects, even when those objects overlap spatially and share visual features. Whereas spatial and feature-based attention are relatively easily accomodated by models that take advantage of the established spatial and feature-specific tuning of neurons within visual cortical areas, the mechanisms supporting object-based attention are uncertain.
Transparent-motion stimuli, consisting of superimposed moving dot patterns, are useful for studying object-based attention because two perceptual objects (the moving dot patterns) occupy the same region of space, thereby defeating spatial attention. Valdes-Sosa, Cobo, and Pinilla (1998) introduced a transparent-motion design that was designed to also rule out feature-based attention. There have been numerous follow-up studies that have used variants of that design to investigate behavioral and/or neuronal correlates of object-based attention. Catek et al. (2022) offer a concise review of these studies. In our current studies, we are using a delayed-onset design, in which the sudden onset of the delayed dot field is thought to serve as an *exogenous" attentional cue that gives a processing advantage to the delayed dot field.
For the Curious
For those curious about the underlying science, here is a selection of relevant papers organized by topic.
Introductory / Conceptual
- – Duncan (1984) — Selective attention and the organization of visual information. The foundational paper establishing objects as units of attentional selection.
- – Cavanagh (2011) — Visual Cognition. An accessible review of object-based attention and its relationship to visual cognition more broadly.
Transparent Motion and Superimposed Stimuli
- – Valdés-Sosa, Cobo & Pinilla (1998) — Attention to object files defined by transparent motion. Demonstrates that transparently overlapping motion fields define distinct attentional objects.
- – Reynolds, Alborzian & Stoner (2003) — Transparent-motion delayed-onset studies of object-based attention.
- – Stoner & Blanc (2010) — Transparent-motion feature-swap studies of object-based attention.
- – Catak, Ozkan, Kafaligonul & Stoner (2022) — Behavioral and ERP evidence that object-based attention utilizes fine-grained spatial mechanisms. Cortex, 151, 55–72.
Neural / ERP / Physiological Studies
- – O'Craven, Downing & Kanwisher (1999) — fMRI evidence for objects as the units of attentional selection. Nature, 401, 584–587.
- – Hillyard, Vogel & Luck (1998) — Sensory gain control as a mechanism of selective attention: electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence.
- – Hillyard & Anllo-Vento (1998) — Event-related brain potentials in the study of visual selective attention.
- – Wannig, Rodríguez & Freiwald (2007) — Attention to surfaces modulates motion processing in extrastriate area MT. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 803–809.
- – Roelfsema (2006) — Cortical algorithms for perceptual grouping. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 29, 203–227.
Broader Reviews
- – Scholl (2001) — Objects and attention: The state of the art. Cognition, 80, 1–46. A comprehensive review of the field.
- – Chen (2012) — Object-based attention: A tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 784–802.
- – Frontiers Review (2016) — Mechanisms of Object-Based Attention.
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Internal data, session logs, analysis scripts, and experimental protocols are available to invited collaborators. To request access contact Generstoner@gmail.com.