«Dead Zones» in Attention

Utochkin I.S.

Experimental Psychology (Russia) - №2 / 2022 | Перейти к описанию

Web of Science СС

Previous issue (2022. Vol. 15, no. 1)

Included in Web of Science СС (ESCI)

Experimental Psychology (Russia)

Publisher: Moscow State University of Psychology and Education

ISSN (printed version): 2072-7593

ISSN (online): 2311-7036

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published since 2008

Published quarterly

Free of fees
Open Access Journal

RU In Russian

Experimental Psychology (Russia)
2009. Vol. 2, no. 2, 16–30
ISSN: 2072-7593 / 2311-7036 (online)

«Dead Zones» in Attention ²¹⁸³

Utochkin I.S.
PhD in Psychology, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, State University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: iutochkin@hse.ru

PDF (RUS)
Online translation in english

This essay describes two experimental studies, which demonstrate the existence of «dead zones» in visual attention. The phenomenon of «dead zones» manifests in the task of finding and identifying changes, and is one example within the currently widely-studied field of change blindness – the inability to find and/ or identify visual changes of an object in a field of vision, under the conditions of interruptions of perception in the moment of the aforementioned changes. «Dead zones» in visual attention are starkly expressed «blindness» to changes in objects which are located in close proximity to an object which attracts higher attention. In Experiment 1, the phenomenon of «dead zones» is demonstrated in the context of a standard methodology of «flickering», designed to study change blindness in complex visual scenarios (Rensink et al., 1997). In Experiment 2, the phenomenon is demonstrated by a specially developed methodology of sudden changes. This essay discusses hypotheses of the possible mechanisms pertaining to these «dead zones» in attention.

Keywords: change blindness, «dead zones» in attention, attention focus, flicker methodology, sudden change methodology

Column: Psychophysiology

For Reference

Utochkin I.S. «Dead Zones» in Attention. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2009. Vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 16–30. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

Dobrynin N.F. O teorii i vospitanii vnimaniya (On the theory and training of attention) // Psihologiya vnimaniya (Psychology of attention) / Pod red. Yu. B. Gippenreiter, V. Ya. Romanova. M.: CheRo, 2005. S. 518–533.
Beck M. R., Levin D. T. Angelone B. L. Metacognitive errors in change detection: Lab and life converge // Consciousness and Cognition. 2007. V.17. P. 58–62.
Jonides J. Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind’s eye’s movement // Long J. B., Baddeley A. D. (eds.) Attention and Performance IX. Hillsdale, N. J.: Erlbaum, 1981. P. 187–203.
Levin D. T., Drivdahl S. B., Momen N., Beck M. R. False predictions about the detectability of visual changes: The role of beliefs about attention, memory, and the continuity of attended objects in causing change blind- ness // Consciousness and Cognition. 2002. V. 11. P. 507–527.
Levin D. T., Simons D. J. Failure to detect changes to attended objects in motion pictures // Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 1997. V. 4. № 4. P . 501–506.
Neisser U. Cognitive psychology. N. Y.: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.
O’Regan J. K., Rensink R. A., Clark J. J. Change blindness as a result of ‘mudsplashes’ // Nature. 1999. V. 398. P. 34.
Rensink R. A., O’Regan J. K., Clark J. J. To see or not to see: The need for attention to perceive changes in scenes // Psychological Science. 1997. V. 8. № 5. P. 368–373.
Simons D. J. Current approaches to change blindness // Visual Cognition. 2000. V. 7. P. 1–15.
Simons D. J., Levin D. T. Failure to detect changes to people during real-world interaction // Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 1998. V. 5. № 4. P . 644–649.
Utochkin I. S. Strategies of visual search for changes in complex scenes // Journal of Russian and East European Psychology. Submitted.
Velichkovsky B. M., Dornhoefer S. M., Kopf M., Helmert J., Joos M. Change detection and occlusion modes in road-traffic scenarios // Transportation Research. Part F. 2002. V. 5. P. 99–109.