TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Pop-out without awareness: unseen feature singletons capture attention only when top-down attention is available
JO  - Psychological science
A1  - Hsieh, Po-Jang
A1  - Colas, Jaron T.
A1  - Kanwisher, Nancy
SP  - 1220
EP  - 1226
VL  - 22
IS  - 9
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0956-7976
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611419302
ID  - ref1
ER  -