Navigation auf zora.uzh.ch

Search ZORA

ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive)

DDOS: due to massive botnet requests against our ‘Advanced Search’ we have restricted access to UZH (local and VPN). Thank you for your understanding.

The role of first- and second-order stimulus features for human overt attention

Frey, H P; König, P; Einhäuser, W (2007). The role of first- and second-order stimulus features for human overt attention. Perception and Psychophysics, 69(2):153-161.

Abstract

When processing complex visual input, human observers sequentially allocate their attention to different subsets of the stimulus. What are the mechanisms and strategies that guide this selection process? We investigated the influence of various stimulus features on human overt attention—that is, attention related to shifts of gaze with natural color images and modified versions thereof. Our experimental modifications, systematic changes of hue across the entire image, influenced only the global appearance of the stimuli, leaving the local features under investigation unaffected. We demonstrated that these modifications consistently reduce the subjective interpretation of a stimulus as “natural” across observers. By analyzing fixations, we found that first-order features, such as luminance contrast, saturation, and color contrast along either of the cardinal axes, correlated to overt attention in the modified images. In contrast, no such correlation was found in unmodified outdoor images. Second-order luminance contrast (“texture contrast”) correlated to overt attention in all conditions. However, although none of the second-order color contrasts were correlated to overt attention in unmodified images, one of the second-order color contrasts did exhibit a significant correlation in the modified images. These findings imply, on the one hand, that higher-order bottom-up effects—namely, those of second-order luminance contrast—may partially account for human overt attention. On the other hand, these results also demonstrate that global image properties, which correlate to the subjective impression of a scene being “natural,” affect the guidance of human overt attention

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:07 Faculty of Science > Institute of Neuroinformatics
Dewey Decimal Classification:570 Life sciences; biology
Scopus Subject Areas:Social Sciences & Humanities > Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Life Sciences > Sensory Systems
Social Sciences & Humanities > General Psychology
Language:English
Date:2007
Deposited On:19 Mar 2014 10:21
Last Modified:10 Jun 2025 01:40
Publisher:Psychonomic Society
ISSN:0031-5117
OA Status:Hybrid
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193738
Download PDF  'The role of first- and second-order stimulus features for human overt attention'.
Preview
  • Content: Published Version
  • Language: English
  • Description: Nationallizenz 142-005

Metadata Export

Statistics

Citations

Dimensions.ai Metrics
24 citations in Web of Science®
28 citations in Scopus®
Google Scholar™

Altmetrics

Downloads

35 downloads since deposited on 19 Mar 2014
7 downloads since 12 months
Detailed statistics

Authors, Affiliations, Collaborations

Similar Publications