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Perceptual load as a necessary condition for selective attention (1995)
| Venue: | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance |
| Citations: | 329 - 18 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Lavie95perceptualload,
author = {Nilli Lavie},
title = {Perceptual load as a necessary condition for selective attention},
journal = {Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance},
year = {1995}
}
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Abstract
The early and late selection debate may be resolved if perceptual load of relevant information determines the selective processing of irrelevant information. This hypothesis was tested in 3 studies; all used a variation of the response competition paradigm to measure irrelevant processing when load in the relevant processing was varied. Perceptual load was manipulated by relevant display set size or by different processing requirements for identical displays. These included the requirement to process conjunctions versus isolated features and the requirement to perform simple detection of a character's presence versus difficult identifi-cation of its size and position. Distractors ' interference was found only under low-load conditions. Because the distractor was usually clearly distinct from the target, it is concluded that physical separation is not a sufficient condition for selective perception; overloading perception is also required. This allows a compromise between early and late selection views and resolves apparent discrepancies in previous work. While no one disputes the importance of selective mech-anisms in mental processing, the locus of selection in the sequence of processing from perception to action remains to
Keyphrases
perceptual load selective attention necessary condition selective mech-anisms response competition paradigm relevant processing different processing requirement relevant information identical display sufficient condition irrelevant processing previous work late selection debate simple detection late selection view selective perception resolve apparent discrepancy isolated feature irrelevant information selective processing mental processing relevant display physical separation presence versus difficult identifi-cation low-load condition
