Gaspelin Nicholas, Ruthruff Eric, Lien Mei-Ching
Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis.
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2016 Aug;42(8):1104-20. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000214. Epub 2016 Feb 8.
Researchers are sharply divided regarding whether irrelevant abrupt onsets capture spatial attention. Numerous studies report that they do and a roughly equal number report that they do not. This puzzle has inspired numerous attempts at reconciliation, none gaining general acceptance. The authors propose that abrupt onsets routinely capture attention, but the size of observed capture effects depends critically on how long attention dwells on distractor items which, in turn, depends critically on search difficulty. In a series of spatial cuing experiments, the authors show that irrelevant abrupt onsets produce robust capture effects when visual search is difficult, but not when search is easy. Critically, this effect occurs even when search difficulty varies randomly across trials, preventing any strategic adjustments of the attentional set that could modulate probability of capture by the onset cue. The authors argue that easy visual search provides an insensitive test for stimulus-driven capture by abrupt onsets: even though onsets truly capture attention, the effects of capture can be latent. This observation helps to explain previous failures to find capture by onsets, nearly all of which used an easy visual search. (PsycINFO Database Record
研究人员在无关的突然出现是否会吸引空间注意力这一问题上存在严重分歧。许多研究报告称它们会,而数量大致相当的研究则报告称它们不会。这个谜题引发了无数次调和的尝试,但没有一个得到普遍认可。作者提出,突然出现通常会吸引注意力,但观察到的吸引效应的大小关键取决于注意力在干扰项上停留的时间,而这又反过来关键取决于搜索难度。在一系列空间线索实验中,作者表明,当视觉搜索困难时,无关的突然出现会产生强烈的吸引效应,但在搜索容易时则不会。至关重要的是,即使搜索难度在各次试验中随机变化,这种效应也会出现,从而阻止了对注意力集的任何策略性调整,而这种调整本可调节起始线索吸引注意力的概率。作者认为,简单的视觉搜索为突然出现的刺激驱动型吸引提供了一个不敏感的测试:即使突然出现确实会吸引注意力,吸引效应也可能是潜在的。这一观察结果有助于解释之前未能发现突然出现所产生的吸引效应的原因,几乎所有这些研究都使用了简单的视觉搜索。(《心理学文摘数据库记录》 )