title: Subliminal spatial cues capture attention and strengthen between-object link.
abstract: According to the spreading hypothesis of object-based attention, a subliminal cue that can successfully capture attention to a location within an object should also cause attention to spread throughout the whole cued object and lead to the same-object advantage. Instead, we propose that a subliminal cue favors shifts of attention between objects and strengthens the between-object link, which is coded primarily within the dorsal pathway that governs the visual guidance of action. By adopting the two-rectangle method and using an effective subliminal cue to compare with the classic suprathreshold cue, we found a different result pattern with suprathreshold cues than with subliminal cues. The suprathreshold cue replicated the conventional location and object effects, whereas a subliminal cue led to a different-object advantage with a facilitatory location effect and a same-object advantage with an inhibitory location effect. These results support our consciousness-dependent shifting hypothesis but not the spreading hypothesis.
authors: Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors: Wei-Lun
authors: WL
authors: Chou
authors: Su-Ling
authors: SL
authors: Yeh
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013028:Space Perception; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation