Studying Spatial Visual Attention: The Attention-Window Task as a Measurement Tool for the Shape and Maximum Spread of the Attention Window

Stefanie Klatt,Daniel Memmert

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614077

Stefanie Klatt, Daniel Memmert

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614077

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Abstract

Visual attentional processes have been an important topic in psychological research for years. Over the last few decades, new methods have been developed, aiming to explore the characteristics of the focus of attention in more detail. Studies that applied the “Attention-Window Task” (AWT) quantified the maximum extent of the “Attention Window” (AW) along its horizontal, vertical, and diagonal meridians, when subjects were required to perceive two peripheral stimuli simultaneously. In three experiments using the AWT, we investigated the effects of cue validity (Experiment 1), stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) (i.e., the interval between the onset of the cues and the onset of the target stimuli), and target stimuli complexity (Experiment 3) on the size and shape of the AW. Results showed that the AW was greater under valid cue conditions compared to invalid conditions, when the locations of cue and target stimuli differed. Furthermore, the AW decreased when the SOA between the cue and targets was reduced and also when the task complexity was higher and more objects within the target stimuli had to be classified. Overall, it can be stated that the AWT with its possible task changes and adjustments can be considered as a potential standard tool to measure the maximum spread and shape of the spatial AW.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, psychologists have developed a series of methods to study visual attentional processes, in order to draw conclusions about the characteristics of the visual focus of attention (Carrasco, 2011)
Three experiments were conducted with slightly modified versions of the basic Attention-Window Task” (AWT); we examined the effects of cue validity (Experiment 1), stimulusonset asynchrony (SOA), and target stimuli complexity (Experiment 3) on the maximum spread and shape of the Attention Window” (AW)
In addition to the basic AWT with an stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between the peripheral cues and target stimuli of 200 ms, we investigated the effects when the SOA was reduced to 50 ms and when it was prolonged to 350 ms

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, psychologists have developed a series of methods to study visual attentional processes, in order to draw conclusions about the characteristics of the visual focus of attention (Carrasco, 2011). When attentional resources are focused in a small area, the concentration of these resources leads to a greater facilitation of perceptual performance in comparison to when these resources are spread more thinly over a larger area This means that with an increasing spatial spread of a unitary focus, processing efficacy, within the area that is attended, decreases. Gradient theories (e.g., LaBerge and Brown, 1989) infer that attention is organized in a gradient fashion around the attentional focus location–i.e., decreasing as the distance from the focus of attention increases While all these models (spotlight, zoom lens, and gradient) assume a focus of attention that is not divisible, an opposing view postulates that attention can be divided between multiple objects (split attentional foci), suggesting that it is possible to focus attention on two non-contiguous areas (e.g., Castiello and Umiltà, 1992; Awh and Pashler, 2000). All the different models and approaches indicate that the distribution of visual attentional resources has not been fully explained yet

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