How fast can you identify a salient object? Are all its features immediately present, or are features near a saliency-marker seen faster than features farther away? The present study shows that local salience markers enhance the representation of nearby locations. Depending on stimulus geometry, items outside an object (but close to the marker) may then be faster discriminated than features of the object itself. This suggests a low-level component in visual attention that modulates neural representation according to cue location, yet without cognitive processing of object identity.

Published online: 06-Dec-2016

Citation: Nothdurft, H.C. (2016). Fast identification of salient objects depends on cue location. VPL-reports, 5, 1-8, www.vpl-reports.de/5/