Department of Psychology, Queen's University
Department of Psychology, Queen's University.
Psychol Sci. 2016 May;27(5):606-21. doi: 10.1177/0956797616629130. Epub 2016 Mar 28.
How does one know where to look for objects in scenes? Objects are seen in context daily, but also used for specific purposes. Here, we examined whether an object's function can guide attention during visual search in scenes. In Experiment 1, participants studied either the function (function group) or features (feature group) of a set of invented objects. In a subsequent search, the function group located studied objects faster than novel (unstudied) objects, whereas the feature group did not. In Experiment 2, invented objects were positioned in locations that were either congruent or incongruent with the objects' functions. Search for studied objects was faster for function-congruent locations and hampered for function-incongruent locations, relative to search for novel objects. These findings demonstrate that knowledge of object function can guide attention in scenes, and they have important implications for theories of visual cognition, cognitive neuroscience, and developmental and ecological psychology.
人们如何知道在场景中何处寻找目标？人们每天在场景中看到目标，但也会将其用于特定目的。在这里，我们研究了目标的功能是否可以在场景中的视觉搜索中引导注意力。在实验 1 中，参与者研究了一组发明物体的功能（功能组）或特征（特征组）。在随后的搜索中，功能组比新的（未研究的）物体更快地定位到研究过的物体，而特征组则没有。在实验 2 中，发明的物体被放置在与物体功能一致或不一致的位置。与搜索新物体相比，功能一致的位置搜索研究过的物体更快，而功能不一致的位置搜索则受到阻碍。这些发现表明，对物体功能的了解可以在场景中引导注意力，并且对视觉认知、认知神经科学以及发展和生态心理学的理论具有重要意义。
