The Nature and Role of Attentional Resources in Controlled and Automatic Detection

摘要

A series of experiments examined the role of attentional resources in automatic detection by pairing a consistently mapped visual target detection task with a series of concurrent discrimination tasks. The pattern of intertask interference suggested that automatic detection requires two distinct kinds of resources. The occurrence of automatic visual targets produces a shift of the visual spatial attention system to the area of the target. This reallocation of attention enhances the visual representation of the target and any other forms within the attention field. Subjects do not have complete control of this process since automatic targets disrupt performance on the concurrent task even when subjects are instructed to ignore them. In addition to the spatial attention system, automatic detection requires use of comparison processes in working memory. Even partial attention to a secondary task delays the occurrence of the overt detection response suggesting that decisions on two concurrent tasks must occur in working memory in a serial fashion. Converging evidence from an event-related potential (ERP) experiment supports this conclusion. The magnitude of the P300 component of the ERP, which indexes decision making in working memory, was found to be similar for both controlled and automatic detection tasks. Extensive training in detection tasks does not result in a skill that is 'resource-free'. The main function of consistent-mapping training may be to refine the triggering conditions for the application of limited perceptual resources. (Author)