Contrast polarity of a stimulus does not affect the cueing effect
Dublin Core
Title
Contrast polarity of a stimulus does not affect the cueing effect
Creator
Eleni Sevastopoulou
Date
2018
Description
According to the contrast polarity effect, people’s attention is sensitive to dark objects within light backgrounds. According to the gaze-cueing effect, a human gaze shift attracts people’s attention towards the direction of the darker region of the observed eyes, thus the gaze-cueing effect depends on the contrast polarity of the observed eyes. Therefore, a human gaze is perceived as a darker spot within a lighter background. In the present study, combining the contrast polarity effect and the gaze-cueing effect we examined whether the colour contrast between a black and a white square that suddenly flip on a computer screen can have a similar effect to that of gaze-cueing. The prediction was that participants would perceive the side where the black square moved after the flipping as attentional cue, therefore when an object appeared on the side that the black square moved, reaction times would be shorter compared to when the object appeared on the opposite side. The results showed that reaction times in the two conditions did not differ significantly. Thus, the contrast polarity of a stimulus does not affect the cueing effect.
Subject
Gaze cueing
Contrast polarity
Gaze perception
Contrast polarity
Gaze perception
Source
The experiment was conducted using a single within-subject design. The independent variable was the cue congruency, which consisted of two conditions: the object appeared either congruently or incongruently with the attentional cue. The dependent variable was the reaction times of the participants which were measured in millisecond (ms).
Procedure. Each participant was tested individually in a quiet room at the library of Lancaster University. Participants were tested at different days and times, including morning and evening hours. The only people present in the room during the conduct of the experiment were the participant and the experimenter.
In the beginning, participants were asked to read the experiment instructions from the computer screen and they were also given clarifications, if needed, by the researcher. Afterwards, the experiment started and two squares, one black and one white, sharing one side were presented on the screen for half a second. The side that the squares shared was located at the centre of the screen, therefore one square appeared on the left side of the screen and the other one on the right side of the screen. Then the squares flipped and changed position and the apparent motion of the two squares was the cue. One second after flipping, the squares disappeared and a picture of an object randomly appeared either on the left or on the right side of the screen for one more second. Afterwards, the object disappeared and the screen remained blank.
The task of the participants was to press the appropriate keyboard button as fast and as accurately as possible, depending on the side of the screen where the object appeared. So, they had to press the «Q» button on the keyboard when the object appeared on the left side of the screen or the «P» button when the object appeared on the right side of the screen. They were given one second to respond to the object appearance. The sequence of the trials was the same for every participant. Each one of the 6 objects appeared on total 30 times congruently with the cue and 30 times incongruently with it. Thus, the total number of trials for every participant was 360, 180 trials that the objects appeared congruently with the cue and 180 that they appeared incongruently with it. The experiment lasted for 20 minutes for each participant and at the end of every session, a message appeared on the screen which informed the participants that the experiment was over.
The prediction was that the side where the black square would move after the flipping would be perceived as an attentional cue by the participants. Their gaze would be attracted to the cue and an effect similar to the gaze-cueing effect would appear. So, their reaction times would be shorter for the trials where the objects would appear on the same side with the attentional cue compared to the trials where the objects would appear on the opposite side of the cue. The independent variable was the cue congruency which included two conditions, the congruent trials (when the object appeared on the same side with the cue) and the incongruent trials (when the object appeared on the opposite side of the cue).
Procedure. Each participant was tested individually in a quiet room at the library of Lancaster University. Participants were tested at different days and times, including morning and evening hours. The only people present in the room during the conduct of the experiment were the participant and the experimenter.
In the beginning, participants were asked to read the experiment instructions from the computer screen and they were also given clarifications, if needed, by the researcher. Afterwards, the experiment started and two squares, one black and one white, sharing one side were presented on the screen for half a second. The side that the squares shared was located at the centre of the screen, therefore one square appeared on the left side of the screen and the other one on the right side of the screen. Then the squares flipped and changed position and the apparent motion of the two squares was the cue. One second after flipping, the squares disappeared and a picture of an object randomly appeared either on the left or on the right side of the screen for one more second. Afterwards, the object disappeared and the screen remained blank.
The task of the participants was to press the appropriate keyboard button as fast and as accurately as possible, depending on the side of the screen where the object appeared. So, they had to press the «Q» button on the keyboard when the object appeared on the left side of the screen or the «P» button when the object appeared on the right side of the screen. They were given one second to respond to the object appearance. The sequence of the trials was the same for every participant. Each one of the 6 objects appeared on total 30 times congruently with the cue and 30 times incongruently with it. Thus, the total number of trials for every participant was 360, 180 trials that the objects appeared congruently with the cue and 180 that they appeared incongruently with it. The experiment lasted for 20 minutes for each participant and at the end of every session, a message appeared on the screen which informed the participants that the experiment was over.
The prediction was that the side where the black square would move after the flipping would be perceived as an attentional cue by the participants. Their gaze would be attracted to the cue and an effect similar to the gaze-cueing effect would appear. So, their reaction times would be shorter for the trials where the objects would appear on the same side with the attentional cue compared to the trials where the objects would appear on the opposite side of the cue. The independent variable was the cue congruency which included two conditions, the congruent trials (when the object appeared on the same side with the cue) and the incongruent trials (when the object appeared on the opposite side of the cue).
Publisher
Lancaster University
Format
data/Excel.csv
Identifier
Sevastopoulou2018
Contributor
Ellie Ball
Rights
Open
Relation
None
Language
English
Type
Data
Coverage
LA1 4YF
LUSTRE
Supervisor
Dr. Eugenio Parise
Project Level
MSc
Topic
Cognitive Psychology
Sample Size
25 Participants
Statistical Analysis Type
t-test
Files
Collection
Citation
Eleni Sevastopoulou, “Contrast polarity of a stimulus does not affect the cueing effect,” LUSTRE, accessed May 2, 2024, https://www.johnntowse.com/LUSTRE/items/show/71.