Intrusive Effects of Task Irrelevant Semantic Information on Visual Selective Attention

选择性注意包括从环境中动态搜索和选择与当前目标相关的信息的非凡能力。人类认知系统如何做到这一点是认知科学中的一个基本问题。考虑到人类有意识地感知到什么，最终将取决于注意力指向哪里，理解注意机制是揭示支持有意识意识的神经机制的重要第一步。长期以来，人们一直认为，物理特征，如空间位置或物体外观，可以指导空间任务中的注意选择。这些研究人员将研究与手头的空间定向任务无关的视觉项目在多大程度上无意中抓住了注意力，如果该项目恰好与最近经历的东西在语义上相关。研究小组将调查关于这种类型的注意力侵入在试图视觉定位的过程中发生的潜在机制的假说。为了进一步了解这一基本机制，研究小组还将使用神经成像技术来检查这种入侵效应发生在视觉系统的哪个神经阶段。了解什么会吸引视觉注意力以及为什么会有重要的实际应用，例如在平板电脑、智能手机或计算机等设备上更好地设计动态、交互的视觉显示。这项拟议的研究项目旨在测试一组关于场景的高级属性对注意选择的影响的新预测。一个主要目标是通过直接作用于基于空间和对象的表征来严格检验这一假设，即任务无关的语义信息通过直接作用于基于空间和对象的表征来限制注意选择：与最近看到的事物语义相关的任务无关的对象更有可能被注意到。预测将通过使用真实世界的场景和使用真实世界的对象进行测试。除了旨在了解与任务无关但语义启动的刺激对注意力产生干扰作用的机制的严格行为实验外，研究人员还将使用神经成像方法来检验关于这些影响发生在人类视觉系统哪个阶段的假设。

Selective attention involves the remarkable ability to dynamically search for and select information from the environment that is relevant for the current goal. How the human cognitive system achieves this is a fundamental question in cognitive science. Given that what humans consciously perceive will, ultimately, depend on where attention is directed, understanding attentional mechanisms is an important first step toward revealing the neural mechanisms that support conscious awareness. It has long been established that physical features, such as spatial location or object appearance, can guide attentional selection in a spatial task. These researchers will examine the extent to which attention can be inadvertently grabbed by a visual item that is irrelevant to the spatial-orienting task at hand if that item happens to be semantically related to something recently experienced. The research team will investigate hypotheses regarding the underlying mechanism by which this type of attentional intrusion occurs during the process of trying to visually locate something. To further understanding of the basic mechanism, the research team will also use neuroimaging to examine at what neural stage in the visual system this intrusion effect takes place. Understanding what grabs visual attention and why could have important practical applications, such as better designing dynamic, interactive visual displays on devices such as tablets, smart phones, or computers. The proposed research project aims to test a set of novel predictions regarding the influence of high-level properties of a scene to attentional selection. A major goal is to rigorously test the hypothesis that task-irrelevant semantic information constrains attentional selection by directly acting on space- and object-based representations: task-irrelevant objects that semantically relate to something seen recently are more likely to be attended. Predictions will be tested using real-world scenes, and by utilizing real-world objects. In addition to the rigorous behavioral experiments aimed at understanding the mechanism by which task-irrelevant but semantically primed stimuli exert their intrusive effects on attention, the researchers will use neuroimaging methodology to examine hypotheses regarding at what stage in the human visual system the effects occur.