Abstract
Perceptual grouping modulates performance in attention tasks such as partial report and change detection. Specifically, grouping of search items according to a task-relevant feature improves the efficiency of visual selection. However, the role of task-irrelevant feature grouping is not clearly understood. In the present study, we investigated whether grouping of targets by a task-irrelevant feature influences performance in a partial-report task. In this task, participants must report as many target letters as possible from a briefly presented circular display. The crucial manipulation concerned the color of the elements in these trials. In the sorted-color condition, the color of the display elements was arranged according to the selection criterion, and in the unsorted-color condition, colors were randomly assigned. The distractor cost was inferred by subtracting performance in partial-report trials from performance in a control condition that had no distractors in the display. Across five experiments, we manipulated trial order, selection criterion, and exposure duration, and found that attentional selectivity was improved in sorted-color trials when the exposure duration was 200 ms and the selection criterion was luminance. This effect was accompanied by impaired selectivity in unsorted-color trials. Overall, the results suggest that the benefit of task-irrelevant color grouping of targets is contingent on the processing locus of the selection criterion.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1323-1335 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| ISSN | 1943-3921 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2017 |
Keywords
- Partial report
- Perceptual grouping
- Selective attention