title: Selecting and perceiving multiple visual objects.
abstract: To explain how multiple visual objects are attended and perceived, we propose that our visual system first selects a fixed number of about four objects from a crowded scene based on their spatial information (object individuation) and then encode their details (object identification). We describe the involvement of the inferior intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) in object individuation and the superior IPS and higher visual areas in object identification. Our neural object-file theory synthesizes and extends existing ideas in visual cognition and is supported by behavioral and neuroimaging results. It provides a better understanding of the role of the different parietal areas in encoding visual objects and can explain various forms of capacity-limited processing in visual cognition such as working memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Room 780, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. yaodaxu@wjh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Yaoda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Marvin M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Chun
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology