Authors
Daniel Schreij, Christian NL Olivers
Publication date
2009/10/1
Journal
Cognition
Volume
113
Issue
1
Pages
111-116
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
Previous research has revealed that we create and maintain mental representations for perceived objects on the basis of their spatiotemporal continuity. An important question is what type of information can be maintained within these so-called object files. We provide evidence that object files retain specific attentional control settings for items presented inside the object, even when it disappears from vision. The objects were entire visual search displays consisting of multiple items moving into and out of view. It was demonstrated that search was speeded when the search target position was repeated from trial to trial, but especially so when spatiotemporal continuity suggested that the entire display was the same object. We conclude that complete spatial attentional biases can be stored in an object file.
Total citations
2011201220132014132