Abstract
Recently, Vecera, Behrmann, and McGoldrick (2000), using a divided-attention task, reported that targets are detected more accurately when they occur on the same structural part of an object, suggesting that attention can be directed toward object-internal features. We present converging evidence using the object-based inhibition of return (IOR) paradigm as an implicit measure of selection. The results show that IOR is attenuated when cues and targets appear on the same part of an object relative to when they are separated by a part boundary. These findings suggest that object-based mechanisms of selection can operate over shape representations that make explicit information about objectinternal structure.
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This work was supported by Grant R000239512 from the Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.) to E.C.L. and by a postgraduate fellowship from Unilever PLC to I.R. We thank Patricia Reuter-Lorenz, Tram Neill, and Luis Fuentes for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.
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Reppa, I., Charles Leek, E. The modulation of inhibition of return by objectinternal structure: Implications for theories of object-based attentional selection. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 10, 493–502 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196512
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196512