Are feature and dimension switch costs attentional or decisional?

Rachael Hurst (2011). Are feature and dimension switch costs attentional or decisional? Honours Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.

       
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Author Rachael Hurst
Thesis Title Are feature and dimension switch costs attentional or decisional?
School, Centre or Institute School of Psychology
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2011-10-12
Thesis type Honours Thesis
Supervisor Dr Stefanie Becker
Total pages 54
Language eng
Subjects 1701 Psychology
Abstract/Summary From everyday experience we know that an object that differs from its surrounding objects appears to “pop-­out” from the background. Research has shown that response times are slower when the target feature or dimension switches on the next trial than when the target feature or dimension repeats. Currently, it is still unclear whether these switch costs arise early or late in processing. The aim of the current study was to determine whether switch costs arise early or late in processing by investigating eye-­movements in a visual search task. This experiment improved on the current literature by comparing feature and dimension switch costs using the same task. Participants completed a discrimination task that manipulated the feature of the items (colour) or the dimension of the items (colour or shape) and were instructed to respond to the orientation of the bars inside the odd-­man-out target. It was predicted that one of the following hypotheses would be supported: an early view of switch costs would be supported in both feature and dimension conditions; a late view of switch costs would be supported in both feature and dimension conditions; or an early view of feature switch costs would be supported, and a late view of dimension switch costs would be supported. The results showed partial support for all hypotheses. An attentional explanation for feature switch costs, and a post-­selectional explanation for dimension switch costs was put forward. However, the results did not fully support this view, so more research would be needed to fully support this claim.
Keyword Feature switch costs
Processing, attentional or decisional?

 
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Created: Thu, 14 Jun 2012, 16:00:19 EST by Mrs Ann Lee on behalf of School of Psychology