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Object-based attention guided by an invisible object

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Abstract

Evidence for object-based attention typically comes from studies using displays with visible objects, and little is known about whether object-based attention can occur with invisible objects. We investigated this issue with a modified double-rectangle cuing paradigm, which was originally developed by Egly et al. (J Exp Psychol Gen 123:161–177, 1994). In this study, low-contrast rectangles were presented very briefly, which rendered them invisible to subjects. With the invisible rectangles, we found a classical object-based attentional effect as indexed by the same-object effect. We also found the instantaneous object effect—object-based attention was dependent on the orientation of the rectangles presented with the target, providing evidence for the dynamic updating hypothesis (Ho and Yeh in Acta Psychol 132:31–39, 2009). These results suggest that object-based attention can be guided by an invisible object in an automatic way, with a minimal influence from high-level top-down control.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 91024032, 30925014 and 90920012) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2011CBA00405 and 2010CB833903).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Xilin Zhang & Fang Fang

  2. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Fang Fang

  3. IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Fang Fang

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  1. Xilin Zhang
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  2. Fang Fang
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Correspondence to Fang Fang.

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Zhang, X., Fang, F. Object-based attention guided by an invisible object. Exp Brain Res 223, 397–404 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3268-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3268-4

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