Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Tracking an object through feature space

Nature volume 408, pages 196–199 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Visual attention allows an observer to select certain visual information for specialized processing. Selection is readily apparent in ‘tracking’ tasks where even with the eyes fixed, observers can track a target as it moves among identical distractor items1. In such a case, a target is distinguished by its spatial trajectory. Here we show that one can keep track of a stationary item solely on the basis of its changing appearance—specified by its trajectory along colour, orientation, and spatial frequency dimensions—even when a distractor shares the same spatial location. This ability to track through feature space bears directly on competing theories of attention, that is, on whether attention can select locations in space2,3,4, features such as colour or shape5,6,7, or particular visual objects composed of constellations of visual features. Our results affirm, consistent with a growing body of psychophysical8,9,10,11,12,13 and neurophysiological14,15,16 evidence, that attention can indeed select specific visual objects. Furthermore, feature-space tracking extends the definition of visual object17 to include not only items with well defined spatio-temporal trajectories18, but also those with well defined featuro-temporal trajectories.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Objects in feature space.
Figure 2: Experiment 2 results; percentage correct jump-direction judgements for each condition and observer.
Figure 3: Assessment of ‘sharing’ versus ‘switching’ models of attention resources.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Pylyshyn, Z. W. & Storm, R. W. Tracking multiple independent targets: Evidence for a parallel tracking mechanism. Spatial Vision 3, 179–197 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Posner, M. I. Orienting of attention. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 32, 3–25 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Sagi, D. & Julesz, B. Enhanced detection in the aperture of focal attention during simple discrimination tasks. Nature 321, 693–695 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Eriksen, C. W. & Hoffman, J. E. Temporal and spatial characteristics of selective encoding from visual displays. Percept. Psychophys. 12, 201–204 ( 1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cavanagh, P. Attention-based motion perception. Science 257, 1563–1565 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wolfe, J. M., Cave, K. R. & Franzel, S. L. Guided search: an alternative to the feature integration model for visual search. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 15, 419–433 ( 1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Corbetta, M., Miezin, F. M., Dobmeyer, S., Shulman, G. L. & Petersen, S. E. Attentional modulation of neural processing of shape, color, and velocity in humans. Science 248, 1556–1559 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Duncan, J. Selective attention and the organization of visual information. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 113, 501–517 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Valdes-Sosa, M., Cobo, A. & Pinilla, T. Transparent motion and object-based attention. Cognition 66, B13–B23 ( 1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Luck, S. J. & Vogel, E. K. The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions. Nature 390, 279–281 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kahneman, D., Treisman, A. & Gibbs, B. J. The reviewing of object files: object-specific integration of information. Cogn. Psychol. 24, 175– 219 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Baylis, G. C. & Driver, J. Visual attention and objects: evidence for hierarchical coding of location. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 19, 451–470 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Treisman, A. Feature binding, attention and object perception. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 353, 1295–1306 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Driver, J., Baylis, G. C. & Rafal, R. D. Preserved figure–ground segregation and symmetry perception in visual neglect. Nature 360, 73–75 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Valdes-Sosa, M., Bobes, M. A., Rodriguez, V. & Pinilla, T. Switching attention without shifting the spotlight object-based attentional modulation of brain potentials. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 10, 137–151 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. O'Craven, K. M., Downing, P. E. & Kanwisher, N. fMRI evidence for objects as the units of attentional selection. Nature 401, 584– 587 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Treisman, A. & Paterson, R. Emergent features, attention, and object perception. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 10, 12–31 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. von Hofsten, C. & Spelke, E. S. Object perception and object-directed reaching in infancy. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 114, 198–212 ( 1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Lappin, J. S. Attention in the identification of stimuli in complex visual displays. J. Exp. Psychol. 75, 321–328 (1967).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bonnel, A. M. & Prinzmetal, W. Dividing attention between the color and the shape of objects. Percept. Psychophys. 60, 113–124 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. He, S., Cavanagh, P. & Intriligator, J. Attentional resolution and the locus of visual awareness. Nature 383, 334–337 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Blaser, E., Sperling, G. & Lu, Z. L. Measuring the amplification of attention. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 11681– 11686 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Qian, N., Andersen, R. A. & Adelson, E. H. Transparent motion perception as detection of unbalanced motion signals. I. Psychophysics. J. Neurosci. 14, 7357–7366 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Neisser, U. & Becklen, R. Selective looking: Attending to visually specified events. Cogn. Psychol. 7, 480–494 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Rock, I. & Gutman, D. The effect of inattention on form perception. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 7, 275–285 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Shih, S. I. & Sperling, G. Is there feature-based attentional selection in visual search? J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 22, 758–779 ( 1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Sperling, G. & Melchner, M. J. The attention operating characteristic: examples from visual search. Science 202, 315–318 (1978).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Lee, D. K., Koch, C. & Braun, J. Attentional capacity is undifferentiated: concurrent discrimination of form, color, and motion. Percept. Psychophys. 61, 1241–1255 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Scholl, B. J. & Pylyshyn, Z. W. Tracking multiple items through occlusion: clues to visual objecthood. Cognit. Psychol. 38, 259–290 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by an NIH Grant to Z.P. and an NRSA Institutional Postdoctoral Fellowship to E.B. We thank P. Cavanagh for helpful discussion and comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, 08854, New Jersey, USA

    Erik Blaser & Zenon W. Pylyshyn

  2. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138 , Massachusetts, USA

    Alex O. Holcombe

Authors
  1. Erik Blaser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zenon W. Pylyshyn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alex O. Holcombe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erik Blaser.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Blaser, E., Pylyshyn, Z. & Holcombe, A. Tracking an object through feature space. Nature 408, 196–199 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35041567

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35041567

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing