This thesis encompasses five chapters. Chapter 1 details the background literature for how the inhibition of return effect manifests in 3D environments. Additional summary is provided about how positioning cues and targets within the boundary of the same objects affects the spread of IOR when compared to when attention is cued in empty space. Finally, the literature review also provides a background for whether the IOR effect is affected by a viewer-centered or world-centered frame of reference. Chapters 2-4 are empirical chapters. Chapter 2 observes a depth-specific IOR effect in a 3D composed of pictorial depth cues. Chapter 3 suggests that this depth-specificity can only occur when cues and targets are positioned in different objects rather than when positioned within a single object. Chapter 4 investigates how the distances between viewer and cue, viewer and target, and cue and target affect the magnitude of IOR, suggesting that the world-centered reference frame influences IOR. Chapter 5 serves as a general discussion and conclusion chapter, discussing the findings and implications of each empirical chapter. / The distribution of human attention in space can be modulated by spatial and temporal factors. This dissertation studied inhibition of return (IOR), a robust behavioural effect obtained through a spatial cueing paradigm where observers exhibit slower detection times to a target appearing over 300 ms after a cue in a previously cued location. Most research has studied the IOR effect in two-dimensional space; thus, it remains unclear whether, in three-dimensional space (3D) space, slower reaction times occur due to a target appearing in the same world location (defined in 3D coordinates) or in the same retinal location as the cue (i.e., anywhere along an observer’s line of sight to the cue). My thesis examines IOR in a computer-simulated 3D environment, with the location of the cue and target residing in the same versus different depth/distance position either within the same or different object and either relative to the observer or to the world environment. Following a general literature review (Chapter 1), the first empirical chapter (Chapter 2) demonstrates that IOR is depth-specific when the direction of depth switch between cue to target occurs from far-to-near space, suggesting a behavioural advantage for near space in the human attention system. Chapter 3 shows that this depth-specificity and depth-asymmetry of IOR is maintained only when cues and targets are not part of the same object; object membership can therefore override the depth-specific property of IOR in 3D scenes. Chapter 4 introduces motion of the viewpoint, showing that IOR is depth-specific when the cue and target appear in different depth locations in the world environment even when located at the same relative distance from the observer’s viewpoint. Thus, IOR could be the result of an inhibitory tag placed at a location relative to the environment rather than at a location relative to the viewpoint. / Dissertation / Doctor of Science (PhD) / Human attention can be distributed over space and affected by external events. Prior research using 2D environments has shown that some time after the first stimulus (a cue), the reaction time to a subsequent stimulus (a target) appearing in the same location is typically slower compared to when this target appears elsewhere. Thus, attention likely moves away from a previously observed to more novel location of interest. I examined, in a 3D environment, whether this “location” of reduced attention resides in the same 3D location or retinal location as that of the cue. I also assessed the impact on reaction time for when the cue and target belong to the same or different object and when their locations differ in reference to the observer or world environment. My research suggests that humans maintain a higher level of attention for nearer space when the cue previously appears at a farther location.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/27730 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Haponenko, Hanna |
| Contributors | Sun, Hong-jin, Psychology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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