Abstract
Experiments using two different methods and three types of stimuli tested whether stimuli at nonadjacent locations could be selected simultaneously. In one set of experiments, subjects attended to red digits presented in multiple frames with green digits. Accuracy was no better when red digits appeared successively than when pairs of red digits occurred simultaneously, implying allocation of attention to the two locations simultaneously. Different tasks involving oriented grating stimuli produced the same result. The final experiment demonstrated split attention with an array of spatial probes. When the probe at one of two target locations was correctly reported, the probe at the other target location was more often reported correctly than were any of the probes at distractor locations, including those between the targets. Together, these experiments provide strong converging evidence that when two targets are easily discriminated from distractors by a basic property, spatial attention can be split across both locations.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bichot, N. P., Schall, J. D., &Thompson, K. G. (1996). Visual feature selectivity in frontal eye fields induced by experience in mature macaques.Nature,381, 697–699.
Broadbent, D. E., &Broadbent, M. H. P. (1987). From detection to identification: Response to multiple targets in rapid serial visual presentation.Perception & Psychophysics,42, 105–113.
Carpenter, R. H. S. (1988).Movements of the eyes. London: Pion Press.
Castiello, U., &Umiltà, C. (1990). Size of the attentional focus and efficiency of processing.Acta Psychologica,73, 195–209.
Castiello, U., &Umiltà, C. (1992). Splitting focal attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,18, 837–848.
Cave, K. R., & Bichot, N. P. (in press). Visuo-spatial attention: Beyond a spotlight model.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
Cave, K. R., &Pashler, H. (1995). Visual selection mediated by location: Selecting successive visual objects.Perception & Psychophysics,57, 421–432.
Cave, K. R., &Zimmerman, J. M. (1997). Flexibility in spatial attention before and after practice.Psychological Science,8, 399–403.
Cepeda, N. J., Cave, K. R., Bichot, N. P., &Kim, M.-S. (1998). Spatial selection via feature-driven inhibition of distractor locations.Perception & Psychophysics,60, 727–746.
Colby, C. L. (1991). The neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of attention.Journal of Child Neurology,6 (Suppl.), S88-S116.
Constantinidis, C., &Steinmetz, M. A. (1996). Neuronal responses in area 7a to stimuli that attract attention.Society for Neuroscience Abstracts,22, 1198.
Downing, C. J., &Pinker, S. (1985). The spatial structure of visual attention. In M. I. Posner & O. S. M. Marin (Eds.),Attention and performance XI: Mechanisms of attention (pp. 171–187). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Duncan, J. (1984). Selective attention and the organization of visual information.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,113, 501 -517.
Eriksen, C. W., &St. James, J. D. (1986). Visual attention within and around the field of focal attention: A zoom lens model.Perception & Psychophysics,40, 225–240.
Eriksen, C. W., &Yeh, Y.-Y. (1985). Allocation of attention in the visual field.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,11, 583–597.
Goodale, M. A., &Milner, A. D. (1992). Separate visual pathways for perception and action.Trends in Neurosciences,15, 20–25.
Harms, L., &Bundesen, C. (1983). Color segregation and selective attention in a nonsearch task.Perception & Psychophysics,33, 11–19.
Heinze, H.-J., Luck, S. J., Münte, T. F., Gös, A., Mangun, G. R., &Hillyard, S. A. (1994). Attention to adjacent and separate positions in space: An electrophysiological analysis.Perception & Psychophysics,56, 42–52.
Hoffman, J. E., &Nelson, B. (1981). Spatial selectivity in visual search.Perception & Psychophysics,30, 283–290.
Hoffman, J. E., Nelson, B., &Houck, M.R. (1983). The role of attentional resources in automatic detection.Cognitive Psychology,51, 379–410.
Hughes, H. C, & Zimba, L. D. (1985). Spatial maps of directed visual attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,11, 409–430.
Hughes, H. C, & Zimba, L. D. (1987). Natural boundaries for the spatial spread of directed visual attention.Neuropsychologia,25, 5–18.
Jonides, J. (1983). Further toward a model of the mind’s eye’s movement.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,21, 247–250.
Kim, M.S., &Cave, K. R. (1995). Spatial attention in visual search for features and feature conjunctions.Psychological Science,6, 376–380.
Kim, M.-S., & Cave, K. R. (1998). Perceptual grouping via spatial attention in a focused-attention task. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Kramer, A. F., &Hahn, S. (1995). Splitting the beam: Distribution of attention over noncontiguous regions of the visual field.Psychological Science,6, 381–386.
Kramer, A. F., Weber, T. A., &Watson, S. E. (1997). Object-based attentional selection—Grouped arrays or spatially invariant representations? Comment on Vecera and Farah (1994).Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,126, 3–13.
Krose, B.,&Julesz, B. (1989). The control and speed of shifts in attention.Vision Research,29, 1607–1619.
Laberge, D. (1983). Spatial extent of attention to letters and words.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,9, 371–379.
Pan, K., &Eriksen, C. W. (1993). Attentional distribution in the visual field during same-different judgments as assessed by response competition.Perception & Psychophysics,53, 134–144.
Podgorny, R., &Shepard, R. N. (1983). Distribution of visual attention over space.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,9, 380–393.
Posner, M. I., Snyder, C. R. R., &Davidson, B. J. (1980). Attention and the detection of signals.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,109, 160–174.
Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., &Arnell, K. M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task:An attentional blink?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,18, 849–860.
Reeves, A., &Sperling, G. (1986). Attention gating in short-term visual memory.Psychological Review,93, 180–206.
Rizzolatti, G., Riggio, L., Dascola, I., &Umiltà, C. (1987). Reorienting attention across the horizontal and vertical meridians: Evidence infavor of a premotor theory of attention.Neuropsychologia,25, 31–40.
Robinson, D. L., Bowman, E. M., &Kertzman, C. (1995). Covert orienting of attention in macaques: II. Contributions of parietal cortex.Journal of Neurophysiology,74, 698–712.
Schall, J. D., Hanes, D. P., Thompson, K. G., &King, D. J. (1995). Saccade target selection in frontal eye field of macaque: I. Visual and premovement activation.Journal of Neuroscience,15, 6905–6918.
Schall, J. D., Morel, A., King, D.J., &Bullier, J. (1995). Topography of visual cortical afferents to frontal eye fieldin macaque: Functional convergence and segregation of processing streams.Journal of Neuroscience,15, 4464–4487.
Shaw, M. L. (1978) A capacity allocation model for reaction time.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,4, 586–598.
Shaw, M. L., &Shaw, P. (1977). Optimal allocation of cognitive resources to spatial locations.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,2, 201–211.
Shiffrin, R. M., &Gardner, G. T. (1972). Visual processing capacity and attentional control.Journal of Experimental Psychology,93, 72–82.
Shih, S.-I., &Sperling, G. (1996). Is there feature-based attentional selection in visual search?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,22, 758–779.
Steinmetz, M. A., Connor, C. E., Constantinidis, C., &Mclaugh-Lin, J.R. (1994). Covert attention suppresses neuronal responses in area 7a of the posterior parietal cortex.Journal of Neurophysiology,72, 1020–1023.
Theeuwes, J. (1995). Temporal and spatial characteristics of preattentive and attentive processing.Visual Cognition,2, 221–233.
Thompson, K. G., Bichot, N. P., &Schall, J. D. (1997). Dissociation of visual discrimination from saccade programming in macaque frontal eye field.Journal of Neurophysiology,77, 1046–1050.
Thompson, K. G., Hanes, D. P., Bichot, N. P., &Schall, J. D. (1996). Perceptual and motor processing stages identified in the activity of macaque frontal eye field neurons during visual search.Journal of Neurophysiology,76, 4040–4054.
Tsal, Y., &Lavie, N. (1993). Location dominance in attending to color and shape.Journal of Experimental Psychology:Human Perception & Performance,19, 131–139.
Vecera, S. P., &Farah, M. J. (1994). Does visual attention select objects or locations?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,123, 146–160.
Wolfe, J., Cave, K. R., &Franzel, Q. (1989). Guided search: An alternative to the feature integration model for visual search.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 419–433.
Yantis, S. (1995). Attentional capture in vision. In A. F. Kramer, M. G. H. Coles, & G. D. Logan (Eds.),Converging operations in the study of visual selective attention (pp. 45–76). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Training Grant MH-14268, awarded to the Center for Human Information Processing, University of California, San Diego; by Grants NCA2-225 and NCA2-414 from NASA, N00014-91-J-1735 from ONR, and 1-R29-MH45584-01 from NIMH, awarded to H.P.; by Grant P30-EY08126 from NEI, awarded to the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center; and by Grant RO1-EY08890 from NEI awarded to Jeffrey Schall. Experiments 1–5 were performed while the second author was a fellow at the Center for Human Information Processing, University of California, San Diego.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bichot, N.R., Cave, K.R. & Pashler, H. Visual selection mediated by location: Feature-based selection of noncontiguous locations. Perception & Psychophysics 61, 403–423 (1999). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211962
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211962