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Edited (or cut) dynamical images are created by changing perspectives in imaging devices, such as videos, or graphical animations. They are abundant in everyday and working life. However little is known about how attention is steered with regard to this material. Here we propose a simple two-step architecture of gaze control for this situation. This model relies on (1) a down-weighting of repeated information contained in optic flow within takes (between cuts), and (2) an up-weighting of repeated information between takes (across cuts). This architecture is both parsimonious and realistic. We outline the evidence speaking for this architecture and also identify the outstanding questions.

Understanding the factors that determine human attention in videos is important for many applications, such as user interface design in interactive television (iTV), continuity editing, or data compression techniques. In this article, we identify the demands that cinematic cuts impose on human attention. We hypothesize, test, and confirm that after cuts the viewers' attention is quickly attracted by repeated visual content. We conclude with a recommendation for future models of visual attention in videos and make suggestions how the present results could inspire designers of second screen iTV applications to optimise their interfaces with regard to a maximally smooth viewing experience.

Unconscious visual stimuli can be processed by human observers and modulate their behavior. This has been shown for masked prime stimuli that influence motor responses to subsequent target stimuli. Beyond this, masked stimuli can also affect participants’ behavior when they are free to choose one of two response alternatives. This finding demonstrates that an apparently free-choice between alternative behaviors can be subject to influences that are outside of awareness. We report three experiments which exhibit that the temporal dynamic of free-choice priming effects corresponds to that of forced-choice priming effects. Forced-choice priming effects were relatively robust against variations of prime stimuli but sensitive to physical features of target stimuli. Free-choice priming effects, in contrast, depended largely on the stimulus–response compatibility of the prime. A simple accumulator model which accounts for forced-choice response priming can also explain free-choice priming effects by the assumption that unconscious stimuli can initiate motor responses when participants are engaged in a speeded choice-reaction time task. According to our analyses free-choice priming results from a response selection mechanism which integrates conscious and unconscious information from external, stimulus driven sources and also from internal sources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Studied visual distractibility in 18 schizophrenic inpatients (aged 19–45 yrs). Ss had to respond to target stimuli while they ignored the visual context, which was either congruent, neutral, or incongruent with respect to the target stimulus. Schizophrenic Ss and 18 healthy controls performed this flanker task. Schizophrenic Ss did not show increased distractibility compared with controls, and both groups showed the same attenuation of visual context effects when the spatial distance between target and flanker stimuli was increased. The 2 groups showed the same amount of interference by incongruent visual context. When flanker and target stimuli were redundant, the responses of schizophrenic Ss were less accelerated than those of controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Die folgenden zentralen Annahmen des ``Continuous-Flow''-Modells (CFM) von C. W. Eriksen und D. W. Schultz werden in einem Experiment überprüft: (1) Aufgrund der Annahme der kontinuierlichen Übertragung der Information der Kontextreize von der Perzeption zur Reaktionsvorbereitung sagt das CFM vorher, dass Beginn und Verlauf des Effekts der Kontextreize auf die kortikale und muskuläre Aktivierung nicht von der Verzögerung der Zielreizdarbietung bereinflußt werden sollten. (2) Aufgrund der Annahme eines Reaktionswettbewerbs zur Erklärung des Kontexteffekts sagt das CFM vorher, dass das Ausmaß des Kontexteffekts mit dem Ausmaß der Aktivierung der falschen Hand zunehmen sollte. Daten wurden an einer Stichprobe von 60 Versuchspersonen erhoben. Es zeigte sich, dass Beginn und Verlauf des Kontexteffekts von der Verzögerung des Zielreizes beeinflusst werden. Das Ausmaß des Kontexteinflusses auf die Reaktionszeit war unabhängig vom Ausmaß der Aktivität auf der falschen Hand. Die Befunde werden insgesamt als Beleg dafür gewertet, dass das Ende des kontinuierlichen Flusses der Informationsübertragung zwischen Perzeption und motorischem System schon vor dem motorischen System erreicht ist.

Visual stimuli (primes) that are made invisible by masking can affect motor responses to a subsequent target stimulus. When a prime is followed by a mask which is followed by a target stimulus, an inverse priming effect (or negative compatibility effect) has been found: Responses are slow and frequently incorrect when prime and target stimuli are congruent, but fast and accurate when prime and target stimuli are incongruent. To functionally localize the origins of inverse priming effects, we applied the psychological refractory period (PRP-) paradigm which distinguishes a perceptual level, a central bottleneck, and a level of motor execution. Two dual-task experiments were run with the PRP-paradigm to localize the inverse priming effect relative to the central bottleneck. Together, results of the Effect-Absorption and the Effect-Propagation Procedure suggest that inverse priming effects are generated by perceptual mechanisms. We suggest two perceptual mechanisms as the source of inverse priming effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Motor responses can be affected by visual stimuli that have been made invisible by masking. Can masked visual stimuli also affect nonmotor operations that are necessary to perform the task? Here, the author reports priming effects of masked stimuli on operations that were cued by masking stimuli. Cues informed participants about operations that had to be executed with a forthcoming target stimulus. In five experiments, cues indicated (1) the required response, (2) part of the motor response, (3) the stimulus modality of the target stimulus, or (4) the task to be performed on a multidimensional stimulus. Motor and nonmotor priming effects followed comparable time courses, which differed from those of prime recognition. Experiment 5 demonstrated nonmotor priming without prime awareness. Results suggest that motor and nonmotor operations are similarly affected by masked stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

When a rapidly rotating ring of dots was briefly flashed, observers saw only a solid ring with no discriminable rotation. However, when this stimulus served as a prime that was followed by a target that consisted of a clearly rotating ring of dots, response times (RTs) to report the target's rotation were shorter when the prime and target directions were congruent than when they were incongruent. In accord with shape priming data, this priming effect increased monotonically with the prime-target stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA). The prime also biased the perceived direction of an ambiguous apparent motion target, but only at an intermediate SOA. At the same SOA, we also found that target presentations enabled above-chance discrimination of prime's rotation direction. These outcomes demonstrate the processing of motion direction information that is not phenomenally represented. They suggest a common mechanism may mediate the priming of RTs by shape and motion, whereas a different mechanism mediates perceptual measures of motion priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Unconscious stimuli can influence participants’ motor behavior as well as more complex mental processes. Previous cue-priming experiments demonstrated that masked cues can modulate endogenous shifts of spatial attention as measured by choice reaction time tasks. Here, we applied a signal detection task with masked luminance targets to determine the source and the scope of effects of masked stimuli. Target-detection performance was modulated by prime-cue congruency, indicating that prime-cue congruency modulates signal enhancement at early levels of target processing. These effects, however, were only found when the prime was perceptually similar to the cue indicting that primes influence early target processing in an indirect way by facilitating cue processing. Together with previous research we conclude that masked stimuli can modulate perceptual and post-central levels of processing. Findings mark a new limit of the effects of unconscious stimuli which seem to have a smaller scope than conscious stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Visual stimuli that are made invisible by a following mask can affect overt motor responses and nonmotor processing. Previous studies have compared the effects of primes that were perceptually similar to the subsequent stimulus with those of primes that were perceptually similar to an alternative stimulus. The present study examined the effect of congruent primes that are perceptually dissimilar to the target (or the cue) but are nonetheless associated with the same response (or the same task) as the later stimulus. Positive and inverse priming effects (negative compatibility effects) were studied in a target priming paradigm (Experiments 1 and 2) and in a cue priming paradigm (Experiments 3 and 4). The results showed stronger priming effects with similar primes than with dissimilar congruent primes. However, the effects of perceptually dissimilar congruent primes differed from those of dissimilar incongruent primes. These findings suggest that a substantial part of both positive target and cue priming effects is produced at levels of processing that are not affected by perceptual similarity. The version of inverse priming effects examined in this study, however, seems to arise from perceptual processing that is affected by the similarity between a prime and the stimulus that follows the mask. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological and neuroscience approaches have promoted much progress in elucidating the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie phenomenal visual awareness during the last decades. In this article, we provide an overview of the latest research investigating important phenomena in conscious and unconscious vision. We identify general principles to characterize conscious and unconscious visual perception, which may serve as important building blocks for a unified model to explain the plethora of findings. We argue that in particular the integration of principles from both conscious and unconscious vision is advantageous and provides critical constraints for developing adequate theoretical models. Based on the principles identified in our review, we outline essential components of a unified model of conscious and unconscious visual perception. We propose that awareness refers to consolidated visual representations, which are accessible to the entire brain and therefore globally available. However, visual awareness not only depends on consolidation within the visual system, but is additionally the result of a post-sensory gating process, which is mediated by higher-level cognitive control mechanisms. We further propose that amplification of visual representations by attentional sensitization is not exclusive to the domain of conscious perception, but also applies to visual stimuli, which remain unconscious. Conscious and unconscious processing modes are highly interdependent with influences in both directions. We therefore argue that exactly this interdependence renders a unified model of conscious and unconscious visual perception valuable. Computational modeling jointly with focused experimental research could lead to a better understanding of the plethora of empirical phenomena in consciousness research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

The inverse priming paradigm can be considered one example which demonstrates the operation of control processes in the absence of conscious experience of the inducing stimuli. Inverse priming is generated by a prime that is followed by a mask and a subsequent imperative target stimulus. With 'relevant' masks that are composed of the superposition of both prime alternatives, the inverse priming effect is typically larger than with 'irrelevant' masks that are free of task-relevant features. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural substrates that are involved in the generation of inverse priming effects with relevant and irrelevant masks. We found a network of brain areas that is accessible to unconscious primes, including supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior insula, middle cingulate cortex, and supramarginal gyrus. Activation of these brain areas were involved in inverse priming when relevant masks were used. With irrelevant masks, however, only SMA activation was involved in inverse priming effects. Activation in SMA correlated with inverse priming effects of individual participants on reaction time, indicating that this brain area reflects the size of inverse priming effects on the behavioral level. Findings are most consistent with the view that a basic inhibitory mechanism contributes to inverse priming with either type of mask and additional processes contribute to the effect with relevant masks. This study provides new evidence showing that cognitive control operations in the human cortex take account of task relevant stimulus information even if this information is not consciously perceived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Examined response activation and inhibition in 18 Ss (mean age 33 yrs) to study executive control in a flanker task. Arrowheads pointing to the left or right served as targets and as congruent or incongruent flanker stimuli, using squares as neutral flanker stimuli. The onset of the flanker stimuli preceded that of the target stimuli by 100 msec. Motor responses were assessed by means of 2 analog devices. The EEG and electrooculogram (EOG) recordings were used for data analyses. Flanker compatibility exerted facilitative and interfering effects on performance. Increased spatial distance between target and flanker stimuli attenuated flanker compatibility effects on response times and error scores. Incongruent flanker condition provoked a N2c amplitude, which covaried with the magnitude of the erroneous response. The N2c, thus, corresponded to the avoidance of inappropriate responses, reflecting the inhibition of automatically but erroneously primed responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Studied motor inhibition using a hybrid choice-reaction go/no-go procedure involving selective response to clarify whether the N2 or the P3 or both event related potential (ERP) components indicate motor inhibition. 18 Ss (mean age 33 yrs), all being right-handed with normal to corrected-to-normal vision, performed the task. Response time and error measures as well as the lateralized readiness potential indicated that responses were primed by flanker stimuli that were associated with 1 of the 2 possible responses. In no-go trials, selective response priming influenced the N2 amplitude whereas the P3 amplitude was unaffected. Since the N2 appeared irrespective of whether an erroneous response was correctable or not, it is concluded that the N2 reflects either detection or the inhibition of an appropriate tendency to respond. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Unconscious stimuli can influence participants’ motor behavior but also more complex mental processes. Recent research has gradually extended the limits of effects of unconscious stimuli. One field of research where such limits have been proposed is spatial cueing, where exogenous automatic shifts of attention have been distinguished from endogenous controlled processes which govern voluntary shifts of attention. Previous evidence suggests unconscious effects on mechanisms of exogenous shifts of attention. Here, we applied a cue-priming paradigm to a spatial cueing task with arbitrary cues by centrally presenting a masked symmetrical prime before every cue stimulus. We found priming effects on response times in target discrimination tasks with the typical dynamic of cue-priming effects (Experiments 1 and 2) indicating that central symmetrical stimuli which have been associated with endogenous orienting can modulate shifts of spatial attention even when they are masked. Prime–Cue Congruency effects of perceptual dissimilar prime and cue stimuli (Experiment 3) suggest that these effects cannot be entirely reduced to perceptual repetition priming of cue processing. In addition, priming effects did not differ between participants with good and poor prime recognition performance consistent with the view that unconscious stimulus features have access to processes of endogenous shifts of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

The processing of a visual target that follows a briefly presented prime stimulus can be facilitated if prime and target stimuli are similar. In contrast to these positive priming effects, inverse priming effects (or negative compatibility effects) have been found when a mask follows prime stimuli before the target stimulus is presented: Responses are facilitated after dissimilar primes. Previous studies on inverse priming effects examined target-priming effects, which arise when the prime and the target stimuli share features that are critical for the response decision. In contrast, 3 experiments of the present study demonstrate inverse priming effects in a nonmotor cue-priming paradigm. Inverse cue-priming effects exhibited time courses comparable to inverse target-priming effects. Results suggest that inverse priming effects do not arise from specific processes of the response system but follow from operations that are more general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Apart from positive priming effects, masked prime stimuli can impair responses to a subsequent target stimulus which shares response-critical features in contrast to a target assigned to the opposite response. This counterintuitive phenomenon is called inverse priming (or negative compatibility effect). Here we examine the generality of this phenomenon beyond priming of motor responses. We used a non-motor cue-priming paradigm to study the underlying mechanism of inverse priming for relevant features masks which include task-relevant stimulus features and for irrelevant masks which omit task-relevant features. We found inverse cue-priming effects with both types of masks. With task-irrelevant masks inverse cue-priming was emphasized in those participants being unable to perceive the prime. The existence of inverse non-motor priming under conditions where simple perceptual interactions between the stimuli are ruled out as the source of inverse priming is at odds with the view that inverse priming reflects motor inhibition. Alternatives are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)