Abstract
Introduction: There has been no systematic framework that describes the factors of visual-attentional processing. For example, if a type of stimulus is processed efficiently in the visual search, will it also be processed efficiently in the change detection? Methods: Across a broad range of stimulus types and tasks (16 stimulus types × 26 tasks, 1744 observers in total), the present study employed an individual-item differences analysis to extract the factors of visual-attentional processing. The 26 tasks were change detection, long exposure change detection, ensemble change, ensemble matching, feature-based selection, feature counting, feature VWM change, feature VWM probe, grouping, global grouping, location-based selection, difficult location-based selection, monitoring, high-level motion, low-level motion, pattern comparison, previewed pattern comparison, perceptual discrimination, pop-out, saliency-based selection, temporal order, texture segregation, visual search, temporal visual search, VWM encoding, VWM probe. Results: Data of the 26 tasks are in the form of either exposure duration thresholds or accuracies. The reliabilities of all 26 tasks (Cronbach’s α) were very high (in the range of 0.973 to 0.992). The data set (in the form of a 16 × 26 matrix) was then analyzed by a Principal component analysis. Three orthogonal factors were identified and they can be labeled respectively as featural, visual, and spatial strengths. Apart from one exception (low-level motion), the FVS 2.0 framework accounts for the vast majority (95.4%) of the variances in the 25 tasks. Conclusion: The three factors provide a unifying framework for understanding the relationship between stimulus types as well as those between tasks. Besides, the role of preattentive features seems to be rather different from the traditional view: visual features are general-purpose, exclusive, innate, constancy-based, and keyword-like. It seems that the features are conscious-level keywords generated by the specific brain area of V4 and/or IT and then used by all other brain areas.