title: Object-based attention guided by an invisible object.
abstract: Evidence for object-based attention typically comes from studies using displays with visible objects, and little is known about whether object-based attention can occur with invisible objects. We investigated this issue with a modified double-rectangle cuing paradigm, which was originally developed by Egly et al. (J Exp Psychol Gen 123:161-177, 1994). In this study, low-contrast rectangles were presented very briefly, which rendered them invisible to subjects. With the invisible rectangles, we found a classical object-based attentional effect as indexed by the same-object effect. We also found the instantaneous object effect-object-based attention was dependent on the orientation of the rectangles presented with the target, providing evidence for the dynamic updating hypothesis (Ho and Yeh in Acta Psychol 132:31-39, 2009). These results suggest that object-based attention can be guided by an invisible object in an automatic way, with a minimal influence from high-level top-down control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xilin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult