Extremely selective attention: eye-tracking studies of the dynamic allocation of attention to stimulus features in categorization.
Humans have an extremely flexible ability to categorize regularities in their environment, in part because of attentional systems that allow them to focus on important perceptual information. In formal theories of categorization, attention is typically modeled with weights that selectively bias the processing of stimulus features. These theories make differing predictions about the degree of flexibility with which attention can be deployed in response to stimulus properties. Results from 2 eye-tracking studies show that humans can rapidly learn to differently allocate attention to members of different categories. These results provide the first unequivocal demonstration of stimulus-responsive attention in a categorization task. Furthermore, the authors found clear temporal patterns in the shifting of attention within trials that follow from the informativeness of particular stimulus features. These data provide new insights into the attention processes involved in categorization.
Blair
Mark R
MR
Cognitive Science Program and Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. mblair@sfu.ca
Watson
Marcus R
MR
Walshe
R Calen
RC
Maj
Fillip
F
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology