Identification of objects in scenes: the role of scene background in object naming.
Research with brief presentations of scenes has indicated that scene context facilitates object identification. In the present experiments we used a paradigm in which an object in a scene is "wiggled"--drawing both attention and an eye fixation to itself--and then named. Thus the effect of scene context on object identification can be examined in a situation in which the target object is fixated and hence is fully visible. Experiment 1 indicated that a scene background that was episodically consistent with a target object facilitated the speed of naming. In Experiments 2 and 3, we investigated the time course of scene background information acquisition using display changes contingent on eye movements to the target object. The results from Experiment 2 were inconclusive; however, Experiment 3 demonstrated that scene background information present only on either the first or second fixation on a scene significantly affected naming time. Thus background information appears to be both extracted and able to affect object identification continuously during scene viewing.
Boyce
S J
SJ
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ 07733.
Pollatsek
A
A
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011930:Reaction Time; D014706:Verbal Learning