An object-based template for rejection effect

ABSTRACT

In the process of searching for targets, our visual system not only prioritizes target-relevant features, but can also suppress nontarget-related features. Although this template for rejection has been well demonstrated, whether the features (i.e. the objects) or locations are suppressed remains unresolved due to the experimental paradigms in previous studies: in particular, object-based templates for rejection were confounded with location-based inhibition in visual search paradigms. The present study examined an object-based template for rejection by introducing search arrays comprised of two overlapping shapes with search items distributed along the shape's contours. To discourage location-based inhibition, the two shapes were spatially intermingled (Experiment 1), rotated (Experiment 2), or jiggled (Experiment 3). Participants identified the colour of a target cross. The pre-cue indicated the shape in which the target would appear (positive cue condition), the shape in which only distractors would appear (negative cue condition), or the shape that was irrelevant to the current search array (neutral cue condition). In all three experiments, the reaction times for the negative cue condition were shorter than those for the neutral cue condition, which is a hallmark of the object-based template for rejection effect, even under conditions in which location-based inhibition was discouraged.

KEYWORDS:

• Object based attention
• visual attention
• attentional control
• visual search
• template for rejection
• distractor inhibition

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 17H02648 to JIK and from Graduate Grant Program of Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University to TT.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in https://osf.io with the identifier [data doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/GYB49].

ORCID

Tomoyuki Tanda http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9759-5925

Jun Kawahara http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4096-3923

Notes

1 Regarding Experiment 1, 39 subjects participated but 3 were removed due to low accuracy (lower than 70% in one condition). Out of the remaining 36, data from first 21 participants was analyzed in the main text. An ANOVA without omitting any participants, including cue type as a within-subject factor in Experiment 1, indicated a significant main effect of cue type on mean reaction time (F(2, 76) = 18.79, p < .001, ${\eta }_P^2$ = .33). Reaction times under the positive cue condition was the shortest and those of under the neutral cue condition was the longest (positive vs. neutral, t(38) = 5.27, p < .001, r = .65; negative vs. neutral, t(38) = 2.39, p = .022, r = .36; positive vs. negative, t(38) = 4.70, p < .001, r = .61).

2 Regarding Experiment 2, 43 subjects participated but 13 were removed due to low accuracy (lower than 70% in one condition). Out of the remaining 30, data from first 21 participants was analyzed in the main text. An ANOVA without omitting any participants, including cue type as a within-subject factor indicated a significant main effect of cue type on mean reaction time (F(2, 84) = 66.79, p < .001, ${\eta }_P^2$ = .61). Reaction times under the positive cue condition was the shortest and those of under the neutral cue condition was the longest (positive vs. neutral, t(42) = 8.82, p < .001, r = .81; negative vs. neutral, t(42) = 8.07, p < .001, r = .78; positive vs. negative, t(42) = 4.64, p < .001, r = .58).

3 Regarding Experiment 3, 34 subjects participated but 13 were removed due to low accuracy (lower than 70% in one condition). An ANOVA without omitting any participants, including cue type as a within-subject factor in Experiment 3, indicated a significant main effect of cue type on mean reaction time (F(2, 66) = 72.14, p < .001, ${\eta }_P^2$ = .69). Reaction times under the positive cue condition was the shortest and those of under the neutral cue condition was the longest (positive vs. neutral, t(33) = 10.05, p < .001, r = .87; negative vs. neutral, t(33) = 7.59, p < .001, r = .80; positive vs. negative, t(33) = 4.84, p < .001, r = .65).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [grant number 17H02648]; Graduate Grant Program of Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University.