Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Publication

Statistically defined visual chunks engage object-based attention

Title / Series / Name
Nature Communications
Publication Volume
12
Publication Issue
1
Pages
Editors
Keywords
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/13923
Abstract
Although objects are the fundamental units of our representation interpreting the environment around us, it is still not clear how we handle and organize the incoming sensory information to form object representations. By utilizing previously well-documented advantages of within-object over across-object information processing, here we test whether learning involuntarily consistent visual statistical properties of stimuli that are free of any traditional segmentation cues might be sufficient to create object-like behavioral effects. Using a visual statistical learning paradigm and measuring efficiency of 3-AFC search and object-based attention, we find that statistically defined and implicitly learned visual chunks bias observers’ behavior in subsequent search tasks the same way as objects defined by visual boundaries do. These results suggest that learning consistent statistical contingencies based on the sensory input contributes to the emergence of object representations.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2021
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1038/s41467-020-20589-z
Publisher link
Unit