Joint and visual shifts of attention are based on similar mechanisms – or are they? An individual differences approach U Leonards, C Hedge, H Thiel, R Taylor, A Broyd, J Clark, A Rowe |
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School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
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| To establish whether the temporal profiles for spatial shifts of visual and joint attention are in line with assumptions about overlapping neural mechanisms, and to see whether the speed of shifting attention is linked to object preferences for socially cued objects, 83 participants performed an object categorization task with social (eyes) and neutral (arrow) cues (e.g. Bayliss et al, 2006, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(6): 1061-1066). Unexpectedly, cueing indices for median reaction times (RTs) revealed no significant correlations between social and basic visual shifts of attention, but social cueing indices for RTs correlated highly with object preference indices. Multi-level regression modelling confirmed the important role of individual differences in object preferences induced by joint attention shifts, with more than half of the variance in preference ratings accounted for by differences in participants’ overall response patterns and task manipulations such as cue type: RTs had a prominent association with preference ratings, suggesting a common mechanism underlying the speed with which object discrimination is performed under joint attention conditions and later preference ratings of the objects used during the task. Moreover, individual differences in personality traits identified several personality dimensions as relevant to task outcomes, including Sensation Seeking and Schizotypy. |
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