Attending to structure in the visual field

我们的环境包含的视觉信息比我们的视觉系统在任何给定时刻所能处理的要多得多。正因为如此，我们将视觉注意力的焦点从一个位置移动到另一个位置，从一个物体移动到另一个物体，在整个视野中选择信息，以便在大脑中进行更详细的处理。这一过程是视觉认知研究的关键问题之一；人类是如何在我们遇到的视觉场景中分配我们的注意力的？在过去，这个问题的答案主要集中在构成物体的直接物理特征上，比如颜色、形状和大小。事实上，我们已经了解了很多关于什么直接的身体特征吸引了我们的注意力。但是，物体远比它们各部分的简单总和复杂得多，这项拟议的研究将检验人们如何将注意力分配到物体的物理性质（我称之为“结构”）之间的关系上。我们与环境的互动教会了我们期待某些结构；例如，稳定的物体有较大的底座和较小的顶部，放置在其他物体上的物体需要大致垂直对齐（否则它们会摔倒），并且移除支撑较低的物体对于支撑较高的物体来说是不稳定的。因此，物体可能被认为具有良好的结构（稳定的，支持的，符合我们对物理的直觉理解）或不良的结构（不稳定的，不支持的，不符合我们对物理的直觉理解）。本研究将回答关于好结构和坏结构的两个问题；是否其中一种（或两者都有）引导我们的注意力跨越视野（即，结构是否吸引注意力），结构是否被我们的注意力系统视为基本特征（就像颜色、形状和大小一样）？为了回答这些问题，提出了两个研究方案。在每个项目中，多个研究计划使用各种实验设计，其中一些是众所周知的实验程序的改编，而另一些是针对手头的问题新设计的。考虑到结构在我们的视觉环境组织中所起的无处不在的作用，以及我们如何与这些环境相互作用，这项研究将为启动一个新的注意力研究领域提供基础工作。此外，这项研究符合最近关注方法的广泛领域，这些方法超越了对简单的物理特征（颜色、形状、大小）的研究，而是对所有权、活力和背景的研究。这项研究的意义延伸到工程、工业、建筑、土木规划以及所有形式的设计和艺术。简单地说，理解我们的注意力系统如何处理结构意味着更全面地理解我们在我们所居住的结构化视觉环境（包括自然的和人为的）中所感知到的东西。

Our environments contain much more visual information than our visual system can process at any given moment. Because of this, we move the focus of our visual attention from location to location, and from object to object, across the visual field to select information for more detailed processing in our brains. One of the key questions in the study of visual cognition concerns this process; how do humans allocate our attention across the visual scenes we encounter? In the past, the answer to this question has focused on the direct physical features that make up objects, such as colour, shape, and size. Indeed, we have learned much about what direct physical features capture our attention. But objects are much more complex than simply the sum of their parts, and this proposed research will examine how attention is allocated to the relationship of physical properties in objects (which I will term "structure"). Our interactions with environments have taught us to expect certain structures; for example, stable objects have larger bases and smaller tops, objects resting on other objects need to be roughly vertically aligned (or they will fall over), and removing a supporting lower object is precarious for upper objects being supported. Thus, objects may be said to have good structure (stable, supportive, and match our intuitive understanding of physics) or bad structure (unstable, unsupportive, do not match our intuitive understanding of physics). The present research will answer two questions regarding good and bad structure; does either (or both) guide our attention across the visual field (i.e., does structure capture attention) and is structure treated as a fundamental feature (as is color, shape, and size) by our attentional system? To answer these questions, two programs of research are proposed. Within each program, multiple studies are planned using a variety of experimental designs, some of which are adaptations of well-known experimental procedures while others are newly designed for the questions at hand. Given the ubiquitous role that structure plays in the organization of our visual environments, and how we interact with such environments, this research will provide the foundational work to launch a new field of attentional research. Moreover, this research fits into the broad domain of the recent approaches to attention that go beyond examining simple physical features (colour, shape, size) to ownership, animacy, and the context. The implications for the research extend into engineering, industry, architecture, civil planning, and all manners of design and art. Simply put, understanding how our attention system processes structure means a more complete understanding of what we perceive in the structured visual environments (both natural and human-made) that we inhabit.