The benefits of getting horizontal

Clevenger, John

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/99402 Copy

Description

Title

The benefits of getting horizontal

Author(s)

Clevenger, John

Issue Date

2017-12-08

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Beck, Diane

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Beck, Diane

Committee Member(s)

• Simons, Daniel
• Gratton, Gabriele
• Hummel, John
• Irwin, David
• Lleras, Alejandro

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Attention
• Vision
• Visual Field
• Attentional Cueing
• Horizontal Advantage
• Visual Attention
• Posner Cueing Task
• Object-Based Attention
• Symmetry

Abstract

The goal of much research in vision is to better understand the mechanisms of attention. This is often accomplished by using models of attention to predict how the placement of stimuli on a computer screen will affect task difficulty. However, recent research has shown there are asymmetries in visual sensitivity across different locations of the visual field and also that there might be interactions between attention and sensitivity across different locations in the visual field. We discuss the potential significance of these asymmetries for attention research, focusing on the possibility of an attentional advantage for targets appearing horizontal to an invalid exogenous cue. We review previous literature concerning this potential horizontal advantage and then describe seven experiments related to it. Experiments 1 and 2 find an advantage for targets appearing horizontal, rather than diagonal, to an invalid cue in a visual display similar to those used in the classic Posner cueing paradigm. Experiments 3 and 4 provide evidence of an advantage for horizontal targets in a display similar to those used in the object-based attention literature. Experiment 5 attempted to determine whether flanking non-targets are necessary to observe a horizontal advantage, but ended up not providing much information. Experiments 6 and 7 attempted to test between two models of the horizontal advantage and, while perhaps ruling one out, do not provide clean evidence for any. In the end, we conclude that the evidence for the horizontal advantage is strong, though there is still much to learn about.

Graduation Semester

2017-12

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99402

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 John Clevenger

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