Attention Capture by Novel Stimuli

In several experiments, observers were given glimpses of 4-word arrays. Accuracy of word localization was tested after each array. Some words, called familiar , appeared many times across the series of arrays; others, called novel , appeared only once. The ratio of novel to familiar words in an arra...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of experimental psychology. General 1990-12, Vol.119 (4), p.397-411
Hauptverfasser: Johnston, William A, Hawley, Kevin J, Plewe, Steven H, Elliott, John M. G, DeWitt, M. Jann
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:In several experiments, observers were given glimpses of 4-word arrays. Accuracy of word localization was tested after each array. Some words, called familiar , appeared many times across the series of arrays; others, called novel , appeared only once. The ratio of novel to familiar words in an array ranged from 0:4 to 4:0. When familiar and novel words were not intermixed (in 0:4 and 4:0 arrays), localization accuracy was higher for familiar words. However, when they were intermixed, especially in 1:3 arrays, accuracy tended to be higher for the novel words. This novel popout effect was the outcome of the suppressed localizability of the familiar words (relative to the 0:4 baseline) and the enhanced localizability of the novel words (relative to the 4:0 baseline). Novel popout may reflect an automatic orientation of attention away from more fluently unfolding regions of the perceptual field (familiar objects) and toward less fluently unfolding regions (novel objects).
ISSN:0096-3445
1939-2222
DOI:10.1037/0096-3445.119.4.397