Research School of Psychology (Building 39), The Australian National University, Science Road, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2022 Aug;84(6):1845-1857. doi: 10.3758/s13414-021-02392-0. Epub 2021 Nov 22.
The formation of ensemble codes is an efficient means through which the visual system represents vast arrays of information. This has led to the claim that ensemble representations are formed with minimal reliance on attentional resources. However, evidence is mixed regarding the effects of attention on ensemble processing, and researchers do not always make it clear how attention is being manipulated by their paradigm of choice. In this study, we examined the effects of Posner cueing - a well-established method of manipulating spatial attention - on the processing of a global motion stimulus, a naturalistic ensemble that requires the pooling of local motion signals. In Experiment 1, using a centrally presented, predictive attentional cue, we found no effect of spatial attention on global motion performance: Accuracy in invalid trials, where attention was misdirected by the cue, did not differ from accuracy in valid trials, where attention was directed to the location of the motion stimulus. In Experiment 2, we maximized the potential for our paradigm to reveal any attentional effects on global motion processing by using a threshold-based measure of performance; however, despite this change, there was again no evidence of an attentional effect on performance. Together, our results show that the processing of a global motion stimulus is unaffected when spatial attention is misdirected, and speak to the efficiency with which such ensemble stimuli are processed.
集合代码的形成是视觉系统表示大量信息的有效手段。这导致了一种说法，即集合表示是在最小程度上依赖注意力资源形成的。然而，关于注意力对集合处理的影响的证据是混杂的，并且研究人员并不总是清楚他们选择的范式是如何操纵注意力的。在这项研究中，我们研究了 Posner 线索（一种广泛用于操纵空间注意力的方法）对全局运动刺激（一种需要局部运动信号汇聚的自然集合）处理的影响。在实验 1 中，使用中央呈现的、预测性的注意力线索，我们发现空间注意力对全局运动表现没有影响：在注意力被线索误导的无效试验中，准确性与注意力被引导到运动刺激位置的有效试验中没有差异。在实验 2 中，我们通过使用基于阈值的性能测量方法，最大限度地提高了我们的范式揭示任何注意力对全局运动处理影响的潜力；然而，尽管有这种变化，仍然没有证据表明注意力对性能有影响。总之，我们的结果表明，当空间注意力被误导时，全局运动刺激的处理不受影响，并且说明了这种集合刺激的处理效率。
