PubMed · 732992
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D Hines. 1978. Visual information processing in the left and right hemispheres.. https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(78)90087-8
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It is commonly assumed that certain features are so elementary to the visual system that they require no attentional resources to be perceived. Such 'preattentive' features are traditionally identified by visual search performance, in which the reaction time for detecting a feature difference against a set of distractor items does not increase with the number of distractors. This suggests an unlimited capacity for the perception of such features. We provide evidence to the contrary, demonstrating that detection of differences in a simple feature such as orientation is severely impaired by additionally imposing an attentionally demanding rapid serial visual presentation task involving letter identification. The same visual stimuli exhibit non-increasing reaction time versus set-size functions. These results demonstrate that attention can be critical even for the detection of so-called 'preattentive' features.
A number of studies have investigated the correlation between subjects' perceptual asymmetries on auditory and visual language tasks. With few exceptions, these studies have found low, nonsignificant correlations between the two types of perceptual asymmetries. However, variations in subjects' perceptual asymmetries on these tasks reflect not only individual differences in language lateralization but also several extraneous variables (e.g., random errors, individual differences in left-right attentional biases). Thus, low correlations between the two types of asymmetries may reflect "masking" by these extraneous variables rather than a "true" cross-modal dissociation. Consistent with this view, a meta-analysis of prior studies revealed a small, but significant correlation between the two types of asymmetries for left-handers. The correlation was nonsignificant for right-handers, presumably reflecting stronger attenuation caused by limited variability in language lateralization in this group. Possible factors mediating significant correlations between the two types of perceptual asymmetries include certain language processes shared by the two types of tasks, cross-modal consistency in individual differences in lateralization of certain modality-specific language processes, and cross-modal consistency in individual differences in left-right attentional biases.