AbstractsPsychology
Visual selective attention: the effect of stimulus onset, perceptual load, and working memory demand on distractor interference
| Institution: | Victoria University |
|---|---|
| Department: | School of Psychology |
| Year: | 2009 |
| Keywords: | 380000 Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences; School of Social Sciences and Psychology |
| Record ID: | 1031876 |
| Full text PDF: | http://vuir.vu.edu.au/15212/ |
Abstract
Humans are capable of selecting information that is goal-relevant. Irrelevant (distractor) information, however, typically is not filtered completely and impacts on responses to the goal. Recent theories of selective attention indicate that distractor interference is determined by the perceptual load of a visual display and the availability of cognitive control mechanisms (working memory load). It is unclear however, which mechanisms assist efficient selective attention and how irrelevant distracting information is rejected. Using a go/no-go visual attention task (Experiment 1) and a visual search task (Experiment 2), this series of experiments examined distractor processing in visual selective attention.
