Among the most crucial tasks of vision science is to determine the nature of the basic units over which visual processes operate. Much recent evidence has accumulated that processes of visual attention can in some cases operate over visual objects. The goal of the proposed research is to determine the nature of these visual objects, moving beyond the simple stimuli (static 2D dots, bars, and boxes) typically used in previous research. What is an 'object', in the context of 'object based visual attention'? Several experimental techniques (including change detection, multi-element tracking, spatial cueing, and eye- movement monitoring) will be employed with a broader and more naturalistic set of stimuli (focusing on perceptual groups, rendered 3D volumes, and dynamic 'object schemas'), in the context of various dynamic behaviors (including various degrees of spatiotemporally-continuous motion). This research will uncover the nature of the basic units of visual attentional processing in normal subjects, and will shed light on the nature of various object-based disorders, such as unilateral neglect and Balint syndrome.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
1F32MH012483-01
Application #
6013296
Study Section
Perception and Cognition Review Committee (PEC)
Program Officer
Goldschmidts, Walter L
Project Start
1999-09-22
Project End
Budget Start
1999-09-22
Budget End
2000-09-21
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
071723621
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02138
Most, S B; Simons, D J; Scholl, B J et al. (2001) How not to be seen: the contribution of similarity and selective ignoring to sustained inattentional blindness. Psychol Sci 12:9-17
Scholl, B J; Pylyshyn, Z W; Feldman, J (2001) What is a visual object? Evidence from target merging in multiple object tracking. Cognition 80:159-77
Scholl, B J (2001) Objects and attention: the state of the art. Cognition 80:1-46