Prof. Shaun Vecera - Lecture Announcement

Shaun P. Vecera

Professor of Psychology

University of Iowa

 

Title: The control of visual attention: Capture, complexity, and contingency

 

Abstract:

 

How does attention know where to go in a complex visual scene?  Theories of attentional control have divided control into a stimulus-based component and a goal-based component, and much of the literature has been devoted to debating which component is most important. Recent work from my laboratory has examined control from orthogonal directions, asking how attentional control (capture) is affected by perceptual load (complexity) and learning or experience (contingency).  Our findings indicate that attentional capture can be eliminated in complex, high perceptual load displays.  But a supression of capture depends on experience, suggesting a new dimension to consider in attentional control.  I hypothesize that with little experience, attentional control is stimulus driven, but control shifts to goal driven as task parameters are learned through experience with visual displays.