Department of Psychology, The University of Iowa, 11 Seashore Hall E, Iowa City, IA 52242-1407, USA.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2012 Feb;38(1):135-51. doi: 10.1037/a0024463. Epub 2011 Jul 4.
Attention operates to select both spatial locations and perceptual objects. However, the specific mechanism by which attention is oriented to objects is not well understood. We examined the means by which object structure constrains the distribution of spatial attention (i.e., a "grouped array"). Using a modified version of the Egly et al. object cuing task, we systematically manipulated within-object distance and object boundaries. Four major findings are reported: 1) spatial attention forms a gradient across the attended object; 2) object boundaries limit the distribution of this gradient, with the spread of attention constrained by a boundary; 3) boundaries within an object operate similarly to across-object boundaries: we observed object-based effects across a discontinuity within a single object, without the demand to divide or switch attention between discrete object representations; and 4) the gradient of spatial attention across an object directly modulates perceptual sensitivity, implicating a relatively early locus for the grouped array representation.
注意既可以选择空间位置，也可以选择感知对象。然而，注意定向到对象的具体机制尚不清楚。我们研究了对象结构约束空间注意分布的方式（即“分组数组”）。使用 Egly 等人修改后的对象提示任务，我们系统地改变了对象内距离和对象边界。报告了四项主要发现：1）空间注意在被注意的对象上形成梯度；2）对象边界限制了这种梯度的分布，注意力的扩散受到边界的限制；3）对象内的边界与跨对象边界的作用类似：我们在单个对象内的不连续处观察到基于对象的效应，而无需在离散对象表示之间划分或切换注意力；4）对象上的空间注意梯度直接调节知觉敏感性，这暗示了分组数组表示的相对早期位置。
