Doran Matthew M, Hoffman James E
Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2010 Jan;72(1):33-52. doi: 10.3758/APP.72.1.33.
We examined the role of visual attention in the multiple object tracking (MOT) task by measuring the amplitude of the N1 component of the event-related potential (ERP) to probe flashes presented on targets, distractors, or empty background areas. We found evidence that visual attention enhances targets and suppresses distractors (Experiment 1 & 3). However, we also found that when tracking load was light (two targets and two distractors), accurate tracking could be carried out without any apparent contribution from the visual attention system (Experiment 2). Our results suggest that attentional selection during MOT is flexibly determined by task demands as well as tracking load and that visual attention may not always be necessary for accurate tracking.
我们通过测量事件相关电位(ERP)的N1成分的幅值,来探究视觉注意在多目标追踪(MOT)任务中的作用,该幅值用于探测呈现于目标、干扰物或空白背景区域上的探测闪光。我们发现,视觉注意增强目标并抑制干扰物(实验1和3)。然而,我们还发现,当追踪负荷较轻时(两个目标和两个干扰物),无需视觉注意系统的任何明显作用即可进行准确追踪(实验2)。我们的结果表明,MOT过程中的注意选择是由任务需求以及追踪负荷灵活决定的,并且准确追踪不一定总是需要视觉注意。