School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Cognition. 2021 Jul;212:104732. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104732. Epub 2021 Apr 13.
The attentional template is often described as the mental representation that drives attentional selection and guidance, for instance, in visual search. Recent research suggests that this template is not a veridical representation of the sought-for target, but instead an altered representation that allows more efficient search. The current paper contrasts two such theories. Firstly, the Optimal Tuning account which posits that the attentional template shifts to an exaggerated target value to maximise the signal-to-noise ratio between similar targets and non-targets. Secondly, the Relational account which states that instead of tuning to feature values, attention is directed to the relative value created by the search context, e.g. all redder items or the reddest item. Both theories are empirically supported, but used different paradigms (perceptual decision tasks vs. visual search), and different attentional measures (probe response accuracy vs. gaze capture). The current design incorporates both paradigms and measures. The results reveal that while Optimal Tuning shifts are observed in probe trials they do not drive early attention or eye- movement behaviour in visual search. Instead, early attention follows the Relational Account, selecting all items with the relative target colour (e.g., redder). This suggests that the masked probe trials used in Optimal Tuning do not probe the attentional template that guides attention. In Experiment 3 we find that optimal tuning shifts correspond in magnitude to purely perceptual shifts created by contrast biases in the visual search arrays. This suggests that the shift in probe responses may in fact be a perceptual artefact rather than a strategic adaptation to optimise the signal-to-noise ratio. These results highlight the distinction between early attentional mechanisms and later, target identification mechanisms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Classical theories of attention suggest that attention is guided by a feature-specific target template. In recent designs this has been challenged by an apparent non- veridical tuning of the template in situations where the target stimulus is similar to non-targets. The current studies compare two theories that propose different explanations for non-veridical tuning; the Relational and the Optimal Tuning account. We show that the Relational account describes the mechanism that guides early search behaviour, while the Optimal Tuning account describes perceptual decision-making. Optimal Tuning effects may be due to an artefact that has not been described in visual search before (simultaneous contrast).
注意模板通常被描述为驱动注意力选择和引导的心理表征，例如在视觉搜索中。最近的研究表明，这个模板不是所寻求目标的真实表示，而是一种经过修改的表示，它可以使搜索更有效率。本文对比了两种理论。首先，最优调谐理论假设注意力模板会向夸张的目标值转移，以最大化相似目标和非目标之间的信噪比。其次，关系理论指出，注意力不是指向特征值，而是指向由搜索上下文创建的相对值，例如所有更红的项目或最红的项目。这两种理论都得到了经验支持，但使用了不同的范式（感知决策任务与视觉搜索）和不同的注意力测量方法（探针反应准确性与注视捕获）。本设计结合了这两种范式和测量方法。结果表明，虽然在探针试验中观察到了最优调谐的转移，但它们并没有在视觉搜索中驱动早期注意力或眼动行为。相反，早期注意力遵循关系理论，选择所有具有相对目标颜色的项目（例如，更红的项目）。这表明，在最优调谐中使用的掩蔽探针试验并未探测到引导注意力的注意模板。在实验 3 中，我们发现，最优调谐的转移与视觉搜索数组中对比偏差产生的纯知觉转移在幅度上相对应。这表明，探针反应的转移实际上可能是一种知觉假象，而不是为了优化信噪比而进行的策略性适应。这些结果突出了早期注意机制和后期目标识别机制之间的区别。
经典的注意理论表明，注意力是由特征特定的目标模板引导的。在最近的设计中，这种观点受到了挑战，因为在目标刺激与非目标刺激相似的情况下，模板出现了明显的非真实调谐。本研究比较了两种理论，它们提出了模板非真实调谐的不同解释；关系和最优调谐理论。我们表明，关系理论描述了引导早期搜索行为的机制，而最优调谐理论描述了知觉决策。最优调谐效应可能是由于以前在视觉搜索中没有描述过的一种假象（同时对比）。
