ReviewAltered visual perception near the hands: A critical review of attentional and neurophysiological models
Section snippets
Near-hand space
A body of literature indicates that visual perception and performance is altered when visual stimuli occur in the space near the hands (see Brockmole et al., 2013; for a review). That is, identical visual information is processed differently dependent on the relationship between the visual information and the observer's hands. The typical laboratory set-up in which near versus far-hand space is manipulated is to have observers place their hands on response-equipment attached to either side of
Visual attention
Visual attention is a process in which particular stimuli are selected for privileged processing at the expense of others. This process of selection is thought to be necessary, so as not to overwhelm the brain's limited perceptual and cognitive processing resources (Broadbent, 1958, Desimone and Duncan, 1995, Kastner and Pinsk, 2004). This process can operate in a bottom-up or reflexive manner, in which brute stimulus energy or salience determines the stimuli that are selected (Jonides and
Results for further theoretical analysis
As noted above, the M-cell enhancement account offers an alternative possible explanation (to detailed-evaluation theory) for Abrams et al.’s (2008) slowed visual search and poorer T2 identification in the AB, if we assume that these paradigms used high spatial frequency alphanumeric stimuli, unsuitable for M-cell processing (but see section on synthesising attentional and neurophysiological explanations for a critique of this assumption). The finding of reduced IOR in response to flashed cues,
Synthesising attentional and neurophysiological explanations
The motivation for this review arose from some confusion and ambiguity in the literature about equating existing attentional and M-cell enhancement accounts, despite the fact that they make contrasting predictions about performance for different types of visual tasks. For example, the M-cell enhancement account correctly predicts the impairment on spatial gap discrimination tasks for near relative to far-hand space, whereas attentional prioritisation would predict improved perceptual
Conclusion
As reviewed above, there has been a pervasive lack of predictive precision when ‘attention’ is invoked as an explanation for altered visual processing near the hands. Attentional prioritisation (Reed et al., 2006, Reed et al., 2010) and detailed evaluation and prolonged disengagement (Abrams et al., 2008) appear to contradict one another, and both have difficulty explaining many of the emerging findings, which implicate a trade-off whereby spatial acuity and colour perception is impaired while
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE140101734) awarded to S.C.G., ARC Discovery Project (DP110104553) awarded to M.E, a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants awarded S.F. and J.P. Correspondence regarding this study should be addressed to Stephanie Goodhew ([email protected]), Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University.
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