Abstract
Previous studies of change blindness have suggested a distinction between detection and localisation of changes in a visual scene. Using a simple paradigm with an array of coloured squares, the present study aimed to further investigate differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) between trials in which participants could detect the presence of a colour change but not identify the location of the change (sense trials), versus those where participants could both detect and localise the change (localise trials). Individual differences in performance were controlled for by adjusting the difficulty of the task in real time. Behaviourally, reaction times for sense, blind, and false alarm trials were distinguishable when comparing across levels of participant certainty. In the EEG data, we found no significant differences in the visual awareness negativity ERP, contrary to previous findings. In the N2pc range, both awareness conditions (localise and sense) were significantly different to trials with no change detection (blind trials), suggesting that this ERP is not dependent on explicit awareness. Within the late positivity range, all conditions were significantly different. These results suggest that changes can be ‘sensed’ without knowledge of the location of the changing object, and that participant certainty scores can provide valuable information about the perception of changes in change blindness.
Highlights
Change blindness is a phenomenon in which changes to a visual scene are often missed (Rensink 2004; Simons and Levin 1997)
To manipulate this in an experimental setting, the change blindness paradigm typically consists of two images displayed in quick succession that are interrupted by a blank screen or a distractor image
Our results suggest that the sense condition may be distinguishable from the traditional see condition, and that utilising participant confidence is a valuable method to distinguish between levels of awareness in change blindness
Summary
Change blindness is a phenomenon in which changes to a visual scene are often missed (Rensink 2004; Simons and Levin 1997) To manipulate this in an experimental setting, the change blindness paradigm typically consists of two images displayed in quick succession that are interrupted by a blank screen or a distractor image. Participants are asked to report if the trial contained a change or not. The complexity of these images varies across paradigms, ranging from coloured rectangles (Koivisto and Revonsuo 2003) and coloured dots (Schankin and Wascher 2007), to facial expressions (Eimer and Mazza 2005), detailed visual scenes (Fernandez-Duque et al 2003) and household objects (Busch et al 2010). Complete visual information is available, participants often fail to notice or identify changes
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