Previewing distracters reduces their effective contrast

Allen, Harriet A. and Humphreys, Glyn W. (2007) Previewing distracters reduces their effective contrast. Vision Research, 47 (23). pp. 2992-3000. ISSN 1878-5646

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Abstract

In a visual search task, when half the distracters are presented earlier than the remainder (‘previewed’), observers find the target item more efficiently than when all the items are presented together—the preview benefit. We measured psychometric functions for contrast increments on Gabors that were presented as a valid preview for subsequent search, and when they were a non-predictive (dummy) preview. Sensitivity to contrast increments was lower (rightwards shift of the psychometric function) on valid, compared to dummy previews. This is consistent with an account of the preview benefit in terms of active inhibition, equivalent to lowering the contrast of previewed items that are being actively ignored.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/704250
Keywords: Attention, Contrast Sensitivity, Inhibition, Marking, Visual Search
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Psychology
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2007.07.019
Depositing User: Allen, Harriet
Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2016 14:27
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 16:27
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/32315

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