ABSTRACT

Humans are quick to notice if an object is unstable. Does that assessment require attention or can instability serve as a preattentive feature that can guide the deployment of attention? This paper describes a series of visual search experiments, designed to address this question. Experiment 1 shows that less stable images among more stable images are found more efficiently than more stable among less stable; a search asymmetry that supports guidance by instability. Experiment 2 shows efficient search but no search asymmetry when the orientation of the objects is removed as a confound. Experiment 3 independently varies the orientation cues and perceived stability and finds a clear main effect of apparent stability. Experiment 4 shows converging evidence for a role of stability using different stimuli that lack an orientation cue. However, here both search for stable and unstable targets is inefficient. Experiment 5 is a control for Experiment 4, showing that the stability effect in Experiment 4 is not simple side-effects of the geometry of the stimuli. On balance, the data support a role for instability in the guidance of attention in visual search. (184 words)

摘要

人类会很快注意到物体是否不稳定。该评估是否需要引起注意，或者不稳定可以作为可以引导注意部署的先发注意的功能吗？本文介绍了旨在解决此问题的一系列视觉搜索实验。实验1表明，在较不稳定的图像中，较不稳定的图像比在较不稳定的图像中更稳定；支持不稳定性指导的搜索不对称。实验2显示了有效的搜索，但是当对象的方向被混淆时，没有搜索不对称。实验3独立地改变了方向提示和感知到的稳定性，并发现了明显的表观稳定性的主要效果。实验4显示了使用缺乏方向提示的不同刺激稳定作用的证据。然而，在这里，寻找稳定和不稳定的目标都是无效的。实验5是实验4的对照，显示实验4中的稳定性不是刺激几何形状的简单副作用。总而言之，数据在视觉搜索中的注意力引导中起到了不稳定的作用。（184字）