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Guidance of Attention by Feature Relationships: The End of the Road for Feature Map Theories?

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Current Trends in Eye Tracking Research

Abstract

What factors determine which stimuli of a scene will be visually selected and become available for conscious perception? Current models of attention assume that top-down control over visual selection is achieved by tuning attention to specific feature values (e.g. red, green, blue). This modulates the output of feature-specific sensory neurons (‘feature maps’) that guide attention to locations that contain the sought-after feature. Contrary to this prevalent view, it has been proposed that visual selection depends on the context. According to a new relational account, features are appraised in a context-dependent manner, so that items are selected in virtue of their relationship to the context (e.g. redder, larger, darker) rather than their absolute feature values (e.g. red vs. green). The present chapter argues that the feature map concept is untenable in view of recent evidence for the relational account, as feature map theories would have to propose an unrealistically large number of additional feature maps to account for guidance by feature relationships. Moreover, it is argued that top-down tuning to feature relationships is neurologically plausible and that the relational theory can potentially replace current feature-based theories of attention.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by an ARC postdoctoral fellowship awarded to Stefanie I. Becker.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Stefanie I. Becker

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  1. Stefanie I. Becker
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Correspondence to Stefanie I. Becker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Noosa Campus, Central Queensland University, Noosaville, Queensland, Australia

    Mike Horsley

  2. Noosa Campus, Central Queensland University, Noosaville, Queensland, Australia

    Matt Eliot

  3. Noosa Campus, Central Queensland University, Noosaville, Queensland, Australia

    Bruce Allen Knight

  4. Department of Computer Science, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

    Ronan Reilly

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Becker, S. (2014). Guidance of Attention by Feature Relationships: The End of the Road for Feature Map Theories?. In: Horsley, M., Eliot, M., Knight, B., Reilly, R. (eds) Current Trends in Eye Tracking Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02868-2_3

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