title: Object-based selection operating on a spatial representation made salient by dimensional segmentation mechanisms: a re-investigation of Egly and Homa (1984).
abstract: Three experiments re-investigated selective attention in the 'ring-cueing' paradigm of Egly and Homa (J Exp Psychol: Human Percept Perform 10:778-793, 1984). Observers were cued to attend to one of three concentric rings of radius 1 degrees, 2 degrees, or 3 degrees, and their signal detection accuracy for cued and uncued rings was measured. Experiment 1, which used a central color cue to indicate a like-colored ring, replicated ring-cueing effects along the lines of Egly and Homa. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether these effects were produced by observers exploiting secondary-depth cues possibly inherent in the display layout. With color cues, the availability of secondary-depth information had no influence on the ring-cueing effects. However, making the rings monochrome and using central size cues significantly reduced the ring-cueing effects when the depth information was disrupted. The results suggest that selection was object-based, operating on a spatial 'grouped-array' representation of the cued ring made salient by color- or depth-based segmentation mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany. hmueller@psy.lmu.de
authors.forename: Hermann J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Rebecca B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: O'Grady
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception