@article{ref1,
title="Pop-out without awareness: unseen feature singletons capture attention only when top-down attention is available",
journal="Psychological science",
year="2011",
author="Hsieh, Po-Jang and Colas, Jaron T. and Kanwisher, Nancy",
volume="22",
number="9",
pages="1220-1226",
abstract="Visual pop-out occurs when a unique visual target (e.g., a feature singleton) is present in a set of homogeneous distractors. However, the role of visual awareness in this process remains unclear. In the experiments reported here, we showed that even though subjects were not aware of a suppressed pop-out display, their subsequent performance on an orientation-discrimination task was significantly better at the pop-out location than at a control location. These results indicate that conscious visual awareness of a feature singleton is not necessary for it to attract attention. Furthermore, the subliminal pop-out effect disappeared when subjects diverted their attention toward a rapid sequential visual presentation task while presented with the same subliminal pop-out display. These results suggest that top-down attention is necessary for the subliminal pop-out effect and that the cognitive processes underlying attention and awareness are somewhat independent.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0956-7976",
doi="10.1177/0956797611419302",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611419302"
}