Measuring the spatial distribution of the metaattentional spotlight

Abstract

Studies in cognitive psychology have shown that the deployment of visual attention operates under spatial limitations, rendering its assignment to multiple locations difficult or costly. This study explored whether this conventional understanding applies to human metaattention as well. I measured the spatial distribution of metaattention during viewing of natural scenes and found that participants believed they could attend to multiple locations simultaneously. Study 2 tested whether this tendency could be modified by information about the tendency to overestimation. After participants were informed of this tendency toward overestimation with both verbal instruction and demonstrations of attentional blindness and blindness to these phenomena, the selectivity of metaattention increased. Study 3 demonstrated that participants overestimated their attentional abilities by comparing the metaattentional drawings and the actual behavioral performances of the same participants. These results were consistent with recent findings of metaattentional overestimation in change detection and suggested human insensitivity in monitoring attentional limitations.