The Effect of Perceived Perceptual Grouping on the Spatiotemporal Profile of Attention During Reaches and Saccades

Abstract

Attention influences perception of stimuli as well as mediated action. This allows us to interact with complex visual environments. Additionally, hand-eye movements are linked and occur in high levels of synchrony in daily tasks. Existing research examining attentional facilitation during these behaviours has mostly utilised simple paradigms that are not representative of naturalistic settings. This study bridges the existing literary gap by documenting the effect of perceptual grouping on attentional facilitation during hand-eye movements in a complex visual scene. Participants completed a saccade and reach task in two experimental conditions. Eye and hand movements were made to one of two targets after a probe (contrast increment) was displayed in an array of seven constantly present distractors. Attentional facilitation was quantified by correct probe identification. Surprisingly, perceptual grouping did not influence attentional facilitation, though probe location did. Results indicate higher perceptual performance at locations that were not directly in the eye-hand movement trajectory, which was unexpected. One location was completely overlooked, which is consistent with previous findings. The findings suggest a possible difference in attentional facilitation between simple and complex scenes and reaffirm the need for future studies to utilise more naturalistic spatial layouts when examining attentional facilitation.