Attention and memory resolution in hierarchical search: Behavioral and diffusion model evidence Q-Y Nie, H J Müller, M Conci |
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Department of Psychology, LMU Munich, Germany
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| Objects can be represented at multiple hierarchical levels, but typically, more global object levels receive precedence over more local levels(Navon, 1977). Here, we explored the resolution of attention and memory across global and local hierarchical object levels using a visual search task with Navon letters as targets and non-targets (Deco & Heinke, 2007). Our results show that search for targets defined at the global level was more efficient than search for local-level targets. Moreover, this global precedence effect on attention was transferred to memory, as an analysis of cross-trial contingencies revealed priming to occur only for global targets but not for local targets. Subsequent experiments manipulated the prevalence of global and local targets. When local targets were presented more frequently than global targets (i.e. local targets on 75% of all trials), global precedence was overall reduced and priming occurred at both object levels. In addition, when systematically changing the prevalence of global and local targets throughout the experiment, attention showed a dynamic hierarchical adjustment according to target prevalence, but memory remained constant. In sum, our findings demonstrate that the resolution of attention and memory both reflect hierarchical object structure, but both processes show different underlying dynamics of object-level adjustment. |
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