17. Within-Object Attention: Attentional Concentration and Amplification in Moving Versus Static Conditions

Abstract

When presented with multiple stimuli, attention serves to help us select which items to focus on for further processing. The techniques we apply to determine where to focus within an object are less clearly understood than those applied for selecting objects. This study aims to observe if there are any existing trends in how we allocate our attention within objects, as well as to examine how different factors affect this cognitive process. Two previously identified trends in how attention is allocated within lines are attentional concentration – a tendency to focus on the center of the lines – and attentional amplification – the increase in center focus as line length increases (Alvarez and Scholl, 2005). Object dynamics is a variable that can be manipulated to test if these effects represent a higher-order tracking strategy, or whether they will still be exhibited when presented with stationary lines. This study examines whether these effects can be replicated when tested with moving lines as well as stationary lines. 22 participants completed tracking tasks, either moving or static, where they tracked two designated target lines while simultaneously watching for the appearance of a probe at either the center or end of any of the lines. In the moving condition, probe detection was significantly lower at the ends of lines (indicating attentional concentration), and this decrease in performance grew slightly as line length increased (indicating weak attentional amplification); however, no significant differences in probe detection between centers and ends of lines were found in the static condition.