title: Smooth shifts of visual attention.
abstract: To examine whether visual attention shifts continuously across the visual field, we measured sensitivity to a small flash presented at various locations while the observer was tracking a moving target in an ambiguous apparent motion display. The sensitivity peaked near the target and the peak shifted smoothly along the apparent motion path. Since the peak-shift speed varied with the speed of the tracked target, we conclude that the attention mechanism selects the location to facilitate processing by tracking the target disk continuously. Attention does not simply select a location for enhanced processing, but rather predicts the future location of the object of interest based on its velocity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Information and Image Sciences, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan. shiori@image.tp.chiba-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shioiri
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kageyama
authors.forename: Hirohisa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yaguchi
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology