Foerster Rebecca M
Neuro-cognitive Psychology, Department of Psychology & Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology 'CITEC', Bielefeld University Bielefeld, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2016 Nov 23;7:1845. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01845. eCollection 2016.
When performing sequential manual actions (e.g., cooking), visual information is prioritized according to the task determining where and when to attend, look, and act. In well-practiced sequential actions, long-term memory (LTM)-based expectations specify which action targets might be found where and when. We have previously demonstrated (Foerster and Schneider, 2015b) that violations of such expectations that are task-relevant (e.g., target location change) cause a regression from a memory-based mode of attentional selection to visual search. How might task-irrelevant expectation violations in such well-practiced sequential manual actions modify attentional selection? This question was investigated by a computerized version of the number-connection test. Participants clicked on nine spatially distributed numbered target circles in ascending order while eye movements were recorded as proxy for covert attention. Target's visual features and locations stayed constant for 65 prechange-trials, allowing practicing the manual action sequence. Consecutively, a task-irrelevant expectation violation occurred and stayed for 20 change-trials. Specifically, action target number 4 appeared in a different font. In 15 reversion-trials, number 4 returned to the original font. During the first task-irrelevant change trial, manual clicking was slower and eye scanpaths were larger and contained more fixations. The additional fixations were mainly checking fixations on the changed target while acting on later targets. Whereas the eyes repeatedly revisited the task-irrelevant change, cursor-paths remained completely unaffected. Effects lasted for 2-3 change trials and did not reappear during reversion. In conclusion, an unexpected task-irrelevant change on a task-defining feature of a well-practiced manual sequence leads to eye-hand decoupling and a "check-after-surprise" mode of attentional selection.
在执行连续的手动动作（如烹饪）时，视觉信息会根据任务的要求进行优先级排序，以确定何时何地进行关注、观察和行动。在熟练掌握的连续动作中，基于长期记忆（LTM）的预期会明确在何时何地可能找到哪些动作目标。我们之前已经证明（Foerster和Schneider，2015b），与任务相关的此类预期的违反（例如目标位置改变）会导致注意力选择从基于记忆的模式回归到视觉搜索。在这种熟练的连续手动动作中，与任务无关的预期违反会如何改变注意力选择呢？这个问题通过数字连接测试的计算机版本进行了研究。参与者按升序点击九个空间分布的编号目标圆圈，同时记录眼动作为隐蔽注意力的代理指标。在65次预变化试验中，目标的视觉特征和位置保持不变，以便练习手动动作序列。随后，出现了与任务无关的预期违反，并持续20次变化试验。具体来说，动作目标4以不同的字体出现。在15次恢复试验中，数字4恢复为原始字体。在第一次与任务无关的变化试验中，手动点击速度较慢，眼动扫描路径更大且包含更多注视点。额外的注视点主要是在对后续目标进行操作时对变化目标的检查注视。虽然眼睛反复回到与任务无关的变化处，但光标路径完全不受影响。这种影响持续2 - 3次变化试验，在恢复过程中不再出现。总之，在熟练的手动序列的任务定义特征上出现意外的与任务无关的变化会导致眼手解耦和“惊讶后检查”的注意力选择模式。
