The Strategic Control of Attention in Visual Search- Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes

What captures attention? Under which circumstances can visual attention becaptured? For over a century the control of visual attention has been examinedin terms of top-down and bottom-up processes. The top-down guidanceof attention derives from the knowledge one has about what one wants tofind. The bottom-up guidance of attention derives from when something inan image is unique and contrasts with what surrounds it. This book firstreviews the literature on the visual attributes that guide attention in visualsearch. The second part of this book reviews the results from a set ofexperiments that utilize a novel visual search procedure to address the role oftop-down and bottom-up processes in visual search for conjunctions offeatures (for example a real-world object may be defined as a conjunction ofcolor and shape like a red and round apple). The main experimental result isthat bottom-up processes guide attention in a conjunction search task. Theseresults and this method can be applied to the study of both normal cognitionand special populations such as persons with ADHD Autism or Schizophrenia.The book is addressed to professionals in psychology cognitiveneuroscience vision and philosophy. It is also directed towards clinical researcherswith an interest in applying visual search and attention methods.