Does the size of the attentional window influence encoding of hierarchical stimuli?

The visual environment consists of global structures (e.g., a forest) made up of local parts (e.g., trees). When compound stimuli are presented (e.g., large global letters composed of arrangements of small local letters), the global unattended information slows responses to local targets. Using a negative priming paradigm, we investigated whether inhibition is required to process hierarchical stimuli when information at the local level is in conflict with the one at the global level. The results show that when local and global information is in conflict, global information must be inhibited to process local information, but that the reverse is not true. This finding has potential direct implications for brain models of visual recognition, by suggesting that when local information is conflicting with global information, inhibitory control reduces feedback activity from global information (e.g., inhibits the forest) which allows the visual system to process local information (e.g., to focus attention on a particular tree).

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Age‐related changes in memory for visual hierarchical stimuli

Developmental Neuropsychology ◽

10.1080/87565649309540556 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 9 (3-4) ◽

pp. 259-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Natacha A. Akshoomoff ◽

Dean C. Delis ◽

Frank Haist

Keyword(s):

Age Related ◽

Hierarchical Stimuli ◽

Age Related Changes

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Kalman filter models of multiple-object tracking within an attentional window

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/14.10.706 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 706-706

Author(s):

S.-h. Zhong ◽

Z. Ma ◽

C. Wilson ◽

J. Flombaum

Keyword(s):

Kalman Filter ◽

Object Tracking ◽

Multiple Object Tracking ◽

Multiple Object ◽

Attentional Window

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Broad scope of attention results in better temporal resolution: Evidence from a temporal order judgment study

10.31234/osf.io/3jy8t ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ramya Mudumba ◽

Narayanan Srinivasan

Keyword(s):

Temporal Order ◽

Temporal Order Judgment ◽

Temporal Frequency ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽

Trade Off ◽

Spatiotemporal Processing ◽

Broad Scope ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Hierarchical Stimuli

The nature of spatiotemporal interactions in visual perception due to modulations of attention is still not well understood. Transient shifts of attention have been shown to induce a trade-off in spatiotemporal acuities at the cued location. Attention also can be varied in terms of scope and the evidence for the effects of scope on the spatiotemporal resolution for coupling or trade-offs have been equivocal. We predicted that scaling or changing the scope of attention would rather result in a spatiotemporal trade-off based on the complementary spatial and temporal frequency properties of the magnocellular and parvocellular channels. We manipulated the scope of attention by asking participants to perform a global or local target detection task with hierarchical stimuli. In addition, participants performed a temporal order judgment task with two discs presented alongside the hierarchical stimuli. We found higher temporal sensitivity with broad scope of attention or global processing compared to narrow scope of attention or local processing. The results provide evidence for a spatiotemporal processing trade-off when attention is scaled spatially. This result throws doubt on a general coupling or resource metaphor explanation irrespective of the spatial or temporal nature of the tasks. The results indicate the further need for carefully investigating the spatial and temporal properties of attention and its effect on spatiotemporal processing at different scales.

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Induced pupil oscillations characterize the size of the attentional window at different levels of attentional load

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/19.10.102 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (10) ◽

pp. 102

Author(s):

Monique Michl ◽

Shira Tkacz-Domb ◽

Yaffa Yeshurun ◽

Wolfgang Einhäuser

Keyword(s):

Attentional Load ◽

Attentional Window ◽

Different Levels

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The forest or the trees: preference for global over local image processing is reversed by prior experience in honeybees

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2014.2384 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 282 (1799) ◽

pp. 20142384 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Aurore Avarguès-Weber ◽

Adrian G. Dyer ◽

Noha Ferrah ◽

Martin Giurfa

Keyword(s):

Visual Processing ◽

Visual Information ◽

Visual Recognition ◽

Spatial Configuration ◽

Local Information ◽

Insect Vision ◽

Hierarchical Stimuli ◽

Spatial Configurations ◽

Holistic Perception ◽

Local Cues

Traditional models of insect vision have assumed that insects are only capable of low-level analysis of local cues and are incapable of global, holistic perception. However, recent studies on honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) vision have refuted this view by showing that this insect also processes complex visual information by using spatial configurations or relational rules. In the light of these findings, we asked whether bees prioritize global configurations or local cues by setting these two levels of image analysis in competition. We trained individual free-flying honeybees to discriminate hierarchical visual stimuli within a Y-maze and tested bees with novel stimuli in which local and/or global cues were manipulated. We demonstrate that even when local information is accessible, bees prefer global information, thus relying mainly on the object's spatial configuration rather than on elemental, local information. This preference can be reversed if bees are pre-trained to discriminate isolated local cues. In this case, bees prefer the hierarchical stimuli with the local elements previously primed even if they build an incorrect global configuration. Pre-training with local cues induces a generic attentional bias towards any local elements as local information is prioritized in the test, even if the local cues used in the test are different from the pre-trained ones. Our results thus underline the plasticity of visual processing in insects and provide new insights for the comparative analysis of visual recognition in humans and animals.

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