The Determinants of Attentional Capture

What controls the allocation of attention to particular locations in visual space is a question of fundamental theoretical and practical interest in cognitive psychology. It has been well documented that salient aspects of external stimuli can capture visual attention, but a considerable controversy exists over whether attention is captured at the level of object-representation or at the level of sensory change detection. This project examines the principles that determine which sources of information are attended during involuntary attention shifts. The differential effects of low-level versus object-based considerations in attentional capture will be dissociated and directly compared.

Conference Presentations

Owens C Spehar B 2001 "Varieties of attentional capture" Paper presented at the 27th Australian Experimental Psychology Conference, April, Melbourne

Owens C Spehar B Andrews S 2001 "The importance of singleton relevance for attentional capture" Paper to be presented at the 42nd Psychonomic Society Conference, November 15-18, Orlando, Florida

Funding sources:

UNSW URSP Scheme in 2001.


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