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SPATIAL PROXIMITY, OBJECT FORMATION, AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION

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Date Issued:
1985
Summary:
In these studies subjects judged the curvature direction of one of a pair of parentheses. In one condition the pair of parentheses formed a single object and in a second condition the parentheses formed two objects. The one- and two-object conditions were used to examine the contrasting positions of mental spotlight and object-based theories of attention. Mental spotlight theory holds that attention is allocated to regions in visual space, whereas object-based theory states that attention is allocated to objects in visual space. To evaluate the positions of these theories, the retinal proximity between the parentheses was varied. Mental spotlight theory predicts that performance differences, due to the changes of retinal proximity, should be the same regardless of whether the stimuli form one or two objects. Object-based theory predicts that retinal proximity facilitates performance for the one-object condition and retards performance for the two-object condition. The results indicated that retinal proximity facilitated performance for the one-object parentheses but retarded performance for the two-object parentheses. These results support the view that attention is allocated to objects rather than regions in visual space.
Title: SPATIAL PROXIMITY, OBJECT FORMATION, AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION.
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Name(s): LALOMIA, MARY JEAN
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1985
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 51 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: In these studies subjects judged the curvature direction of one of a pair of parentheses. In one condition the pair of parentheses formed a single object and in a second condition the parentheses formed two objects. The one- and two-object conditions were used to examine the contrasting positions of mental spotlight and object-based theories of attention. Mental spotlight theory holds that attention is allocated to regions in visual space, whereas object-based theory states that attention is allocated to objects in visual space. To evaluate the positions of these theories, the retinal proximity between the parentheses was varied. Mental spotlight theory predicts that performance differences, due to the changes of retinal proximity, should be the same regardless of whether the stimuli form one or two objects. Object-based theory predicts that retinal proximity facilitates performance for the one-object condition and retards performance for the two-object condition. The results indicated that retinal proximity facilitated performance for the one-object parentheses but retarded performance for the two-object parentheses. These results support the view that attention is allocated to objects rather than regions in visual space.
Identifier: 14249 (digitool), FADT14249 (IID), fau:11059 (fedora)
Note(s): Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1985.
Subject(s): Attention--Testing
Attention--Experiments
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14249
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.