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Abstract Holistic processing of face and non-face stimuli has been framed as a perceptual strategy, with classic hallmarks of holistic processing, such as the composite effect, reflecting a failure of selective attention, which is a consequence of this strategy. Further, evidence that holistic processing is impacted by training different patterns of attentional prioritization suggest that it may be a result of learned attention to the whole, which renders it difficult to attend to only part of a stimulus. If so, holistic processing should be modulated by the same factors that shape attentional selection, such as the probability that distracting or task-relevant information will be present. In contrast, other accounts suggest that it is the match to an internal face template that triggers specialized holistic processing mechanisms. Here we probed these accounts by manipulating the probability, across different testing sessions, that the task-irrelevant face part in the composite face task will contain task-congruent or -incongruent information. Attentional accounts of holistic processing predict that when the probability that the task-irrelevant part contains congruent information is low (25%), holistic processing should be attenuated compared to when this probability is high (75%). In contrast, template-based accounts of holistic face processing predict that it will be unaffected by manipulation given the integrity of the faces remains intact. Experiment 1 found evidence consistent with attentional accounts of holistic face processing and Experiment 2 extends these findings to holistic processing of non-face stimuli. These findings are broadly consistent with learned attention accounts of holistic processing.
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This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2027
Simon says “stay in touch”: Reachability moderates the effect of irrelevant spatial congruence
Abstract The Simon Effect refers to the finding that simple left-right manual responses tend to be faster and more accurate when the response and stimulus are on the same side (congruent) compared to when they are on opposite sides (incongruent) even though the response is determined by a non-spatial attribute (e.g., color). We compared the Simon Effect with stimuli at reachable and unreachable distances within a virtual reality environment to test its dependence on the potential to interact with the stimulus. We controlled for confounds by matching image size and the viewing angle of stimuli within the environment across groups of participants. The magnitude of the Simon Effect was larger for stimuli in reachable than unreachable locations. These findings held regardless of image-size and viewing-angle conditions. This implies that task-irrelevant spatial congruence, like task-irrelevant motor affordances, is computed in ways that reflect the potential interactions with objects in a three-dimensional world.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2319133
- PAR ID:
- 10703915
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Volume:
- 33
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1069-9384
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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