Abstract
We examined grouping under inattention using Driver, Davis, Russell, Turatto, & Freeman’s (2001) method. On each trial, two successive displays were briefly presented, each comprising a central target square surrounded by elements. The task was to judge whether the two targets were the same or different. The organization of the background elements stayed the same or changed, independently of the targets. In different conditions, background elements grouped into columns/rows by color similarity, a shape (a triangle/arrow, a square/cross, or a vertical/horizontal line) by color similarity, and a shape with no other elements in the background. We measured the influence of the background on the target same-different judgments. The results imply that background elements grouped into columns/rows by color similarity and into a shape when no segregation from other elements was involved and the shape was relatively “good.” In contrast, no background grouping was observed when resolving figure-ground relations for segregated units was required, as in grouping into a shape by color similarity. These results suggest that grouping is a multiplicity of processes that vary in their attentional demands. Regardless of attentional demands, the products of grouping are not available to awareness without attention.
Article PDF
References
Behrmann, M., &Kimchi, R. (2003). What does visual agnosia tell us about perceptual organization and its relationship to object perception?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,29, 19–42.
Ben-Av, M. B., Sagi, D., &Braun, J. (1992). Visual attention and perceptual grouping.Perception & Psychophysics,52, 277–294.
Di Lollo, V., Kawahara, J., Zuvic, S. M., &Visser, T. A. W. (2001). The preattentive emperor has no clothes: A dynamic redressing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,130, 479–492.
Driver, J., Davis, G., Russell, C., Turatto, M., &Freeman, E. (2001). Segmentation, attention and phenomenal visual objects.Cognition,80, 61–95.
Enns, J. T., &Kingstone, A. (1995). Access to global and local properties in visual search for compound stimuli.Psychological Science,6, 283–291.
Feldman, J. (2000). Bias toward regular form in mental shape spaces.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,26, 152–165.
Garner, W. R. (1974).The processing of information and structure. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Han, S., &Humphreys, G. W. (1999). Interactions between perceptual organization based on Gestalt laws and those based on hierarchical processing.Perception & Psychophysics,61, 1287–1298.
Han, S., Humphreys, G. W., &Chen, L. (1999). Parallel and competitive processes in hierarchical analysis: Perceptual grouping and encoding of closure.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,25, 1411–1432.
Julesz, B. (1984). A brief outline of the texton theory of human vision.Trends in Neurosciences,7, 41–45.
Kimchi, R. (1998). Uniform connectedness and grouping in the perceptual organization of hierarchical patterns.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,24, 1105–1118.
Koffka, K. (1935).Principles of Gestalt psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
Mack, A., Tang, B., Tuma, R., Kahn, S., &Rock, I. (1992). Perceptual organization and attention.Cognitive Psychology,24, 475–501.
Marr, D. (1982).Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. San Francisco: Freeman.
Moore, C. M., &Egeth, H. (1997). Perception without attention: Evidence of grouping under conditions of inattention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,23, 339–352.
Neisser, U. (1967).Cognitive psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Palmer, S. E. (1991). Goodness, Gestalt, groups, and Garner: Local symmetry subgroups as a theory of figural goodness. In G. R. Lockhead & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.),The perception of structure: Essays in honor of Wendell R. Garner (pp. 23–39). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rock, I. (1986). The description and analysis of object and event perception. In K. R. Boff, L. Kaufman, & J. P. Thomas (Eds.),Handbook of perception and human performance (Vol. 2, pp. 33.1–33.71). New York: Wiley.
Russell, C., Howlett, H., & Driver, J. (2000, April).Implicit measures of visual grouping under conditions of inattention. Paper presented at the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco.
Treisman, A. (1982). Perceptual grouping and attention in visual search for features and for objects.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,8, 194–214.
Trick, L. M., &Enns, J. T. (1997). Clusters precede shapes in perceptual organization.Psychological Science,8, 124–129.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was conducted at the Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, and was partly based on I.R.-A.’s dissertation under the supervision of R.K.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kimchi, R., Razpurker-Apfeld, I. Perceptual grouping and attention: Not all groupings are equal. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 11, 687–696 (2004). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196621
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196621