Stimulus-driven attentional capture: evidence from equiluminant visual objects

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1994 Feb;20(1):95-107. doi: 10.1037//0096-1523.20.1.95.

Abstract

Previous work has shown that abrupt visual onsets capture attention. Possible attention. Possible mechanisms for this phenomenon include (a) a luminance-change detection system and (b) a mechanism that detects the appearance of new perceptual objects. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that attention is captured in visual search by the appearance of a new perceptual object even when the object is equiluminant with its background and thus exhibits no luminance change when it appears. Experiment 3 showed that a highly salient luminance increment alone is not sufficient to capture attention. These findings suggest that attentional capture is mediated by a mechanism that detects the appearance of new perceptual objects.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Attention*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Light
  • Male
  • Motion Perception
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Reaction Time
  • Vision Disparity
  • Visual Perception*