The single-object advantage is said to occur when performance is faster and/or more accurate when the two targets to be compared appear on one object than when they appear on two different objects. The single-object advantage has been interpreted to suggest that attention can select objects rather than unparsed regions of visual space. In five experiments we explored whether directing attention to one object rather than two objects produces:a benefit or a minor cost. Participants were required to compare two target features that belonged to one object, to two objects, or did not belong to any object. In: addition, we varied the relevance to the task of object-related global information, such as symmetry of the object and perceptual cluttering of the background. Results showed that attending to one object in comparison to attending to no object produced a benefit only, when object-related global information was relevant to the task. In contrast, when object-related global information was irrelevant to the task, attending to one object produced a cost. Thus, it can be concluded that attending to an object does not produce an absolute benefit, but rather produces a smaller cost than attending to two objects. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Mapelli, D., Cherubini, P., Umilta, C. (2002). Attending to objects: costs or benefits?. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA, 109(1), 57-74 [10.1016/S0001-6918(01)00050-6].

Attending to objects: costs or benefits?

CHERUBINI, PAOLO;
2002

Abstract

The single-object advantage is said to occur when performance is faster and/or more accurate when the two targets to be compared appear on one object than when they appear on two different objects. The single-object advantage has been interpreted to suggest that attention can select objects rather than unparsed regions of visual space. In five experiments we explored whether directing attention to one object rather than two objects produces:a benefit or a minor cost. Participants were required to compare two target features that belonged to one object, to two objects, or did not belong to any object. In: addition, we varied the relevance to the task of object-related global information, such as symmetry of the object and perceptual cluttering of the background. Results showed that attending to one object in comparison to attending to no object produced a benefit only, when object-related global information was relevant to the task. In contrast, when object-related global information was irrelevant to the task, attending to one object produced a cost. Thus, it can be concluded that attending to an object does not produce an absolute benefit, but rather produces a smaller cost than attending to two objects. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
visual attention; object processing; object-oriented attention
English
2002
109
1
57
74
none
Mapelli, D., Cherubini, P., Umilta, C. (2002). Attending to objects: costs or benefits?. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA, 109(1), 57-74 [10.1016/S0001-6918(01)00050-6].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/5766
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