Abstract
Attention speeds up information processing. Although this finding has a long history in experimental psychology, it has found less regard in computational models of visual attention. In psychological research, two frameworks explain the function of attention.Selection for perception emphasizes that perception- or consciousness-related processing presupposes selection of relevant information, whereas selection for action emphasizes that action constraints make selection necessary. In the present study, we ask whether or how far attention, as measured by the speed-up of information processing, is based on selection for perception or selection for action. The accelerating effect was primarily based on selection for perception, but there was also a substantial effect of selection for action.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aglioti, S., DeSouza, J.F.X., Goodale, M.A.: Size contrast illusions deceive the eye but not the hand. Curr. Biol. 5, 679–685 (1995)
Allport, A.: Attention and Selection-For-Action. In: Perspectives on Perception and Action, pp. 395–419. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale (1987)
Ansorge, U., Neumann, O.: Intentions Determine the Effect of Invisible Metacontrast-Masked Primes: Evidence for Top-Down Contingencies in a Peripheral Cuing Task. J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 31, 762–777 (2005)
Broadbent, D.E.: Perception and Communication. Pergamon Press, London (1958)
Bröckelmann, A.K., Junghöfer, M., Scharlau, I., Hamker, F.H.: Reentrant processing from attentional task sets: Converging support from magnetoencephalography and computational modeling (in preparation)
Deutsch, J.A., Deutsch, D.: Attention: Some theoretical considerations. Psychol. Rev. 70, 80–90 (1963)
Folk, C.L., Remington, R.W., Johnston, J.C.: Involuntary Covert Orienting is Contingent on Attentional Control Settings. J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 18, 1030–1044 (1992)
Hamker, F.H.: A Dynamic Model of How Feature Cues Guide Spatial Attention. Vision Res. 44, 501–521 (2004)
Itti, L., Koch, C.: Computational Modeling of Visual Attention. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2, 194–203 (2001)
Kahneman, D.: Treisman: The Cost of Visual Filtering. J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 9, 510–522 (1983)
Mack, A., Rock, I.: Inattentional Blindness. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1998)
Neumann, O., Scharlau, I.: Visual Attention and the Mechanism of Metacontrast. Psychol. Res. – Psych. Fo. 71, 626–633 (2007)
Neumann, O., Scharlau, I.: Experiments on the Fehrer-Raab-Effect and on the “Weather-Station-Model” of visual backward masking. Psych. Fo. 71, 667–677 (2007)
Pashler, H.E.: The Psychology of Attention. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)
Posner, M.I.: Orienting of Attention. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 32, 3–25 (1980)
Rensink, R.A.: Change Detection. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 53, 245–277 (2002)
Rensink, R.A., O’Regan, J.K., Clark, J.J.: To See or not to See: The Need for Attention to Perceive Changes in Scenes. Psychol. Sci. 8, 368–373 (1997)
Riddoch, M.J., Humphreys, G.W., Edwards, S., Baker, T., Willson, K.: Seeing the Action: Neuropsychological Evidence for action-based effects on object selection. Nat. Neurosci. 6, 82–89 (2003)
Scharlau, I.: Leading, but not Trailing, Primes Influence Temporal Order Perception: Further Evidence for an Attentional Account of Perceptual Latency Priming. Percept. Psychophys. 64, 1346–1360 (2002)
Scharlau, I.: Evidence Against Response Bias in Temporal Order Tasks with Attention Manipulation by Masked Primes. Psychol. Res. – Psych. Fo. 68, 224–236 (2004)
Scharlau, I.: Temporal Processes in Prime-Mask Interaction: Assessing Perceptual Consequences of Masked Information. Adv. Cognitive Psychol. 3, 241–255 (2007)
Scharlau, I., Ansorge, U.: Direct Parameter Specification of an Attention Shift: Evidence from Perceptual Latency Priming. Vision Res. 43, 1351–1363 (2003)
Scharlau, I., Ansorge, U., Horstmann, G.: Latency Facilitation in Temporal Order Judgments: Time Course of Facilitation as Function of Judgment Type. Acta Psychol. 122, 129–159 (2006)
Scharlau, I., Neumann, O.: Perceptual Latency Priming by Masked and Unmasked Stimuli: Evidence for an Attentional Explanation. Psychol. Res. – Psych. Fo. 67, 184–197 (2003)
Schneider, W.X., Deubel, H.: Selection-for-Perception and Selection-for-spatial-motor-action are coupled by visual attention: a review of recent findings and new evidence from stimulus-driven-saccade control. In: Prinz, W., Hommel, B. (eds.) Attentenion and Performance XIX. Common mechanisms in perception and action, pp. 609–627. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2002)
Shore, D.I., Spence, C., Klein, R.M.: Visual Prior Entry. Psychol. Sci. 12, 205–212 (2001)
Simons, D.J., Chabris, C.F.: Gorillas in our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events. Perception 28, 1059–1074 (1999)
Stelmach, L.B., Herdman, C.M.: Directed Attention and Perception of Temporal Order. J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 17, 539–550 (1991)
Titchener, E.M.: Lectures on the Elementary Psychology of Feeling and Attention. MacMillan, New York (1908)
Treisman, A., Gelade, G.: A Feature Integration Theory of Attention. Cognitive Psychol. 12, 97–136 (1980)
Treisman, A., Schmidt, H.: Illusory Conjunctions in the Perception of Objects. Cognitive Psychol. 14, 107–141 (1982)
Weiß, K., Scharlau, I.: Simultaneity and Temporal Order Perception: Different Sides of the Same Coin? Evidence from a Visual Prior Entry Study (submitted)
Wolfe, J.M.: Guided Search 2.0. A Revised Model of Visual Search. Psychon. B. Rev. 1, 202–238 (1994)
Wundt, W.: Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie [Main Features of Physiological Psychology]. Engelmann, Leipzig (1887)
Yantis, S., Jonides, J.: Abrupt Visual Onsets and Selective Attention: Voluntary versus Automatic Allocation. J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 16, 121–134 (1990)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Weiß, K., Scharlau, I. (2009). Attention Speeds Up Visual Information Processing: Selection for Perception or Selection for Action?. In: Mertsching, B., Hund, M., Aziz, Z. (eds) KI 2009: Advances in Artificial Intelligence. KI 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5803. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04617-9_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04617-9_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-04616-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-04617-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)