Abstract
While it is common wisdom that a salient visual event draws attention, experimental research provided only mixed support for this hypothesis. The present experiment seeks evidence that a singleton draws attention to the degree that its feature is novel or unexpected. To test this proposition, an irrelevant singleton paradigm is used where a salient singleton that is uncorrelated with the target position is presented on each trial to familiarize participants with the presence of the singleton. On the critical trial, the singleton was presented in a novel color for the first time and without prior announcement. The singleton was gazed at significantly earlier and longer in the critical trial, as compared to the pre-critical trials. This result is consistent with predictions from the expectancy discrepancy hypothesis that color-novelty is sufficient to capture attention.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2016