Real-worldscenescontainfarmoreinformationthatwecanperceiveandcomprehendatanygivenmoment.A keymechanismformakingreal-worldsceneperceptiontractableisvisualattention?themechanismof preferentiallyprocessingonlypartofthesceneatanygiventime.Whatweattendtoinascenedetermines whatwesee,understand,andremember.Attentionisguidedbyboththevisualpropertiesofthesceneitself andbyourknowledgeaboutsimilarscenesandtheworldingeneral.Howknowledgeisusedtoguide attentionthroughameaningfulsceneremainslargelyunknown.Thecentralideabehindthisproposalisto addressthisfundamentalscientificquestionbyfocusingontwocriticalaspectsofsceneknowledge: knowledgeaboutwhereagivenobjectislikelytoappearinascene,andknowledgeaboutwhichregionsand objectsinascenearemeaningfulandinformative.Thestudiesaimtodeterminehowspatialandmeaning constraintsareusedtoguideattentioninscenes. Thisproposedresearchisinnovativeincombininghigh-resolutioneyetrackingwithnovelexperimental paradigmsformanipulatingandmeasuringknowledge-basedconstraints.First,anewfusionofspatiallearning methodswitheyetrackingisusedtostudytheinfluenceofspatialknowledgeonattentionalguidance.Second, newquantitativescene-ratingandinformation-theoreticmetricsareusedtoindexmeaninginscenes,providing anewtheoreticalapproachtoscenemeaningandnewempiricaltoolsforinvestigatingmeaning.Third,real- timescenemanipulationbasedontheviewer?seyemovementsiscombinedwithmanipulationsofspatialand meaningconstraintstoinvestigatehowquicklyknowledgeaboutascenebecomesavailabletoguideattention. Theprojectissignificantinchallengingcurrentmodelstoexplaintheroleofknowledgeinguidingattentionin scenes.Theexperimentsaredesignedtoadvancethefieldregardlessoftheoutcome,andwillproviderich andtheoreticallyconstrainingresultsthatmayhaveatransformativeeffectoncurrenttheory.Inaddition,the proposedresearchhasimportanttranslationalimplicationsbecausedeficitsinattentionandperceptionare sufferedbymanypsychiatricandneurologicalpopulations.Byunderstandinghowknowledgeinfluencesthe guidanceofattentioninrealscenes,theproposedstudiescanultimatelyleadtothedevelopmentoftargeted rehabilitationstrategiesfortherealworldthatbettercapitalizeonbothdisruptedandsparedfunctions.
This research investigates how our knowledge of the natural environment helps us guide attention in real-world scenes. The studies focus on knowledge concerning where a given object is likely to appear in a given scene, and knowledge concerning which regions are likely to be informative in a given scene. The experiments combine high-resolution eyetracking, tight experimental control of spatial knowledge, novel application of information-theoretic methods to quantify information value in scenes (surprisal and entropy), and new gaze-contingent display-change methods for exploring the time-course of knowledge use. Predictions from cognitive and image-based attentional guidance models are contrasted. Findings will increase our theoretical understanding of attention and perception as applied to meaningful real-world scenes, have the potential to assist in the identification and of individuals with attentional and perceptual deficits, and can ultimately lead to the development of targeted rehabilitation strategies for the real world.
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| Peacock, Candace E; Hayes, Taylor R; Henderson, John M (2018) Meaning guides attention during scene viewing, even when it is irrelevant. Atten Percept Psychophys : |
| Henderson, John M; Hayes, Taylor R; Rehrig, Gwendolyn et al. (2018) Meaning Guides Attention during Real-World Scene Description. Sci Rep 8:13504 |
| Henderson, John M; Hayes, Taylor R (2018) Meaning guides attention in real-world scene images: Evidence from eye movements and meaning maps. J Vis 18:10 |
