Abstract
In the present study, we tested whether visual singletons remaining outside awareness are processed. Singletons differ by at least one feature from their more homogeneous neighbors. Here, we used backward masking to prevent awareness of shape singleton primes (Experiments 1–4) or color singleton primes (Experiment 5). Masked singleton primes nonetheless produced a congruence effect: Congruent singletons indicating the location of subsequent visible targets facilitated responses, in comparison with incongruent singletons at positions away from the targets. This congruence effect was found with singletons defined by feature presence or feature absence. It was at least partly due to attentional capture by singletons remaining outside of the participants’ awareness. Results are discussed in light of theories pertaining to singleton effects and masked-priming effects.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alpern, M. (1953). Metacontrast.Journal of the Optical Society of America,43, 648–657.
Ansorge, U. (2003). Asymmetric influences of temporally vs. nasally presented masked visual information: Evidence for collicular contributions to nonconscious priming effects.Brain & Cognition,51, 317–325.
Ansorge, U. (2004). Top-down contingencies of nonconscious priming revealed by dual-task interference.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,57A, 1123–1148.
Ansorge, U., Becker, S. I., &Breitmeyer, B. G. (2009). Revisiting the metacontrast dissociation: Comparing sensitivity across different measures and tasks.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,62, 286–309.
Ansorge, U., Breitmeyer, B. G., &Becker, S. I. (2007). Comparing sensitivity across different processing measures under metacontrast masking conditions.Vision Research,47, 3335–3349.
Ansorge, U., Heumann, M., &Scharlau, I. (2002). Influences of visibility, intentions, and probability in a peripheral cuing task.Consciousness & Cognition,11, 528–545.
Ansorge, U., Kiss, M., &Eimer, M. (2009). Goal-driven attentional capture by invisible colors: Evidence from event-related potentials.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,16, 648–653.
Ansorge, U., &Neumann, O. (2005). Intentions determine the effects of invisible metacontrast-masked primes: Evidence for top-down contingencies in a peripheral cueing task.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,31, 762–777.
Bacon, W. F., &Egeth, H. E. (1994). Overriding stimulus-driven attentional capture.Perception & Psychophysics,55, 485–496.
Bauer, F., Cheadle, S. W., Parton, A., Müller, H. J., &Usher, M. (2009). Gamma flicker triggers attentional selection without awareness.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,106, 1666–1671.
Belopolsky, A.V., Schreij, D., &Theeuwes, J. (2010). What is topdown about contingent capture?Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics,72, 326–341.
Bergen, J. R., &Julesz, B. (1983). Parallel versus serial processing in rapid pattern discrimination.Nature,303, 696–698.
Bodis-Wollner, I. (2008). Pre-emptive perception.Perception,37, 462–468.
Breitmeyer, B. G. (1984).Visual masking: An integrative approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Breitmeyer, B. G., &Ogmen, H. (2006).Visual masking: Time slices through conscious and unconscious vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Breitmeyer, B. G., Ro, T., &Singhal, N. S. (2004). Unconscious color priming occurs at stimulus- not percept-dependent levels of processing.Psychological Science,15, 198–202.
Burnham, B. R. (2007). Displaywide visual features associated with a search display’s appearance can mediate attentional capture.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,14, 392–422.
Burnham, B. R., &Neely, J. H. (2008). A static color discontinuity can capture spatial attention when the target is an abrupt-onset singleton.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,34, 831–841.
Cheesman, J., &Merikle, P. M. (1985). Word recognition and consciousness. In D. Besner, T. G. Waller, & G. E. MacKinnon (Ed.),Reading research: Advances in theory and practice (pp. 311–352). New York: Academic Press.
Cole, G. G., Kentridge, R. W., &Heywood, C. A. (2005). Object onset and parvocellular guidance of attentional allocation.Psychological Science,16, 270–274.
Dixon, N. F. (1970).Subliminal perception: The nature of a controversy. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Donk, M., &van Zoest, W. (2008). Effects of salience are short-lived.Psychological Science,19, 733–739.
Dorfman, D. D. (1982). RSCORE II. In J. A. Swets & R. M. Pickett (Eds.),Evaluation of diagnostic systems: Methods from signal detection theory (pp. 212–232). New York: Academic Press.
Dorfman, D. D., &Alf, E., Jr. (1969). Maximum likelihood estimation of parameters of signal detection theory and determination of confidence intervals-rating method data.Journal of Mathematical Psychology,6, 487–496.
Fehrer, E., &Raab, D. (1962). Reaction time to stimuli masked by metacontrast.Journal of Experimental Psychology,62, 143–147.
Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., &Johnston, J. C. (1992). Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,18, 1030–1044.
Forster, K. I. (1998). The pros and cons of masked priming.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,10, 680–698.
Frey, H.-P., Honey, C., &König, P. (2008). What’s color got to do with it? The influence of color on visual attention in different categories.Journal of Vision,8(14, Art. 6), 1–17
Green, D. M., &Swets, J. A. (1966).Signal detection theory and psychophysics. New York: Wiley.
Greenwald, A. G., Draine, S. C., &Abrams, R. L. (1996). Three cognitive markers of unconscious semantic activation.Science,273, 1699–1702.
Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,9, 1–66.
Holender, D., &Duscherer, K. (2004). Unconscious perception: The need for a paradigm shift.Perception & Psychophysics,66, 872–881.
Itti, L., &Koch, C. (2001). Computational modelling of visual attention.Nature Reviews Neuroscience,2, 4–11.
Ivanoff, J., &Klein, R. M. (2003). Orienting of attention without awareness is affected by measurement-induced attentional control settings.Journal of Vision,3, 32–40.
Jonides, J. (1981). Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind’s eye’s movement. In J. Long & A. Baddeley (Eds.),Attention and performance IX (pp. 187-203). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kim, M.-S., &Cave, K. R. (1999). Top-down and bottom-up attentional control: On the nature of interference from a salient distractor.Perception & Psychophysics,61, 1009–1023.
Kiss, M., Jolicoeur, P., Dell’Acqua, R., &Eimer, M. (2008). Attentional capture by visual singletons is mediated by top-down task set: New evidence from the N2pc component.Psychophysiology,45, 1013–1024.
Klotz, W., &Neumann, O. (1999). Motor activation without conscious discrimination in metacontrast masking.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,25, 976–992.
Kolers, P. (1963). Some differences between real and apparent visual movement.Vision Research,3, 191–206.
Lamme, V. A. F., &Roelfsema, P. R. (2000). The distinct modes offered by feedforward and recurrent processing.Trends in Neurosciences,23, 571–579.
Lamme, V. A. F., Zipser, K., &Spekreijse, H. (2002). Masking interrupts figure-ground signals in V1.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,14, 1044–1053.
Lamy, D., &Zoaris, L. (2009). Task-irrelevant stimulus salience affects visual search.Vision Research,49, 1472–1480.
Leber, A. B., &Egeth, H. E. (2006). It’s under control: Top-down strategies can override attentional capture.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,13, 132–138.
Leuthold, H., &Kopp, B. (1998). Mechanisms of priming by masked stimuli: Inferences from event-related brain potentials.Psychological Science,9, 263–269.
Li, Z. (2002). A saliency map in primary visual cortex.Trends in Cognitive Sciences,6, 9–16.
Macmillan, N. A., &Creelman, C. D. (2005).Detection theory: A user’s guide (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Maljkovic, V., &Nakayama, K. (1994). Priming of pop-out: I. Role of features.Memory & Cognition,22, 657–672.
McCormick, P. A. (1997). Orienting attention without awareness.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,23, 168–180.
Mulckhuyse, M., Talsma, D., &Theeuwes, J. (2007). Grabbing attention without knowing: Automatic capture of attention by subliminal spatial cues.Visual Cognition,15, 779–788.
Müller, H. J., Krummenacher, K., Geyer, T., &Zehetleitner, M. (2009). Attentional capture by salient color singleton distractors is modulated by top-down dimensional set.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,35, 1–16.
Müller, H. J., &Rabbitt, P. M. A. (1989). Reflexive and voluntary orienting of visual attention: Time course of activation and resistance to interruption.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 315–330.
Naccache, L., &Dehaene, S. (2001). Unconscious semantic priming extends to novel unseen stimuli.Cognition,80, 215–229.
Neumann, O. (1990). Direct parameter specification and the concept of perception.Psychological Research,52, 207–215.
Neumann, O., &Klotz, W. (1994). Motor responses to nonreportable, masked stimuli: Where is the limit of direct parameter specification? In C. Umiltà & M. Moscovitch (Eds.),Attention and performance XV: Conscious and nonconscious information processing (pp. 123–150). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Parkhurst, D., Law, K., &Niebur, E. (2002). Modelling the role of salience in the allocation of overt visual attention.Vision Research,42, 107–123.
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,32A, 3–25.
Reingold, E. M. (2004). Unconscious perception and the classic dissociation paradigm: A new angle?Perception & Psychophysics,66, 882–887.
Reingold, E. M., &Merikle, P. M. (1988). Using direct and indirect measures to study perception without awareness.Perception & Psychophysics,44, 563–575.
Rizzolatti, G., Riggio, L., Dascola, I., &Umiltà, C. (1987). Reorienting attention across the horizontal and vertical meridians: Evidence in favor of a premotor theory of attention.Neuropsychologia,25, 31–40.
Scharlau, I. (2002). Leading, but not trailing, primes influence temporal order perception: Further evidence for an attentional account of perceptual latency priming.Perception & Psychophysics,64, 1346–1360.
Scharlau, I., &Ansorge, U. (2003). Direct parameter specification of an attention shift: Evidence from perceptual latency priming.Vision Research,43, 1351–1363.
Scharlau, I., &Neumann, O. (2003). Temporal parameters and time course of perceptual latency priming.Acta Psychologica,113, 185–203.
Schmidt, F., &Schmidt, T. (2010). Feature-based attention to unconscious shapes and colours.Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics,72, 1480–1494.
Schmidt, T. (2002). The finger in flight: Real-time motor control by visually masked color stimuli.Psychological Science,13, 112–117.
Schmidt, T., &Vorberg, D. (2006). Criteria for unconscious cognition: Three types of dissociation.Perception & Psychophysics,68, 489–504.
Snodgrass, M., Bernat, E., &Shevrin, H. (2004). Unconscious perception: A model-based approach to method and evidence.Perception & Psychophysics,66, 846–867.
Steglich, C., &Neumann, O. (2000). Temporal, but not spatial, context modulates a masked prime’s effect on temporal order judgment, but not on response latency.Psychological Research,63, 36–47.
Theeuwes, J. (1992). Perceptual selectivity for color and form.Perception & Psychophysics,51, 599–606.
Theeuwes, J. (2004). Top-down strategies cannot override attentional capture.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,11, 65–70.
Theeuwes, J., Atchley, P., &Kramer, A. F. (2000). On the time course of top-down and bottom-up control of visual attention. In S. Monsell & J. Driver (Eds.),Control of cognitive processes: Attention and performance XVIII (pp. 105–125). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Treisman, A., &Gormican, S. (1988). Feature analysis in early vision: Evidence from search asymmetries.Psychological Review,95, 15–48.
Treisman, A., &Souther, J. (1985). Search asymmetry: A diagnostic for preattentive processing of separable features.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,114, 285–310.
van Zoest, W., Donk, M., &Theeuwes, J. (2004). The role of stimulus-driven and goal-driven control in saccadic visual selection.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,30, 746–759.
Vorberg, D., Mattler, U., Heinecke, A., Schmidt, T., &Schwarzbach, J. (2003). Different time courses for visual perception and action priming.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,100, 6275–6280.
Wolford, G., Marchak, F., &Hughes, H. (1988). Practice effects in backward masking.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,14, 101–112.
Yantis, S., &Egeth, H. E. (1999). On the distinction between visual salience and stimulus-driven attentional capture.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,25, 661–676.
Zhaoping, L. (2005). The primary visual cortex creates a bottom-up saliency map. In L. Itti, G. Rees, & J. K. Tsotsos (Eds.),Neurobiology of attention (pp. 570–575). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zhaoping, L. (2008). Attention capture by eye of origin singletons even without awareness—A hallmark of a bottom-up saliency map in the primary visual cortex.Journal of Vision,8(5), 1–18.
Zipser, K., Lamme, V. A., &Schiller, P. H. (1996). Contextual modulation in primary visual cortex.Journal of Neuroscience,16, 7376–7389.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by SERC (U.K.) Grant GR/H/54966 and German Research Foundation (DFG) Grants FOR480 and EC142 (Excellence Cluster ‘CoTeSys’) to H.J.M., and by DFG Grants AN 393/2-1 to U.A. and AN 393/5-1 to U.A., Werner Klotz, and Ingrid Scharlau.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Held, B., Ansorge, U. & Müller, H.J. Masked singleton effects. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 72, 2069–2086 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196684
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196684