Feature integration theory: Difference between revisions

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Research participant R.M., a [[Bálint's syndrome]] sufferer who is unable to focus attention on individual objects, experiences illusory conjunctions when presented with simple stimuli such as a "blue O" or a "red T." For 23% of trials, even when able to view the stimulus for as long as 10 seconds, R.M. reported seeing a "red O" or a "blue T" <ref> Friedman-Hill et al., 1995; Robertson et al., 1997. </ref>. This finding is in accordance with feature integration theory's prediction of how one with a lack of focused attention would erroneously combine features.

[[File:treismanshapes.png|thumb|alt=The stimuli resembling a carrot, lake and tire, respectively.|The stimuli resembling a carrot, lake and tire, respectively. Treisman et al.(1986).]]However, if people use their knowledge or experience to perceive an object, itthey isare less likely to make mistakes. Treisman did another experiment to explain this phenomenon – she presented three shapes to participants and illusory conjunctions persisted. Surprisingly, when she told participants that they were being shown a carrot, lake and tire (in place of the orange triangle, blue oval, and black circle, respectively), illusory conjunctions disappeared <ref>Illusory words: The roles of attention and of top–down constraints in conjoining letters to form words.

By Treisman, Anne; Souther, Janet. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol 12(1), Feb 1986, 3-17.</ref>. Treisman maintained that prior-knowledge played an important role in proper perception. Normally, bottom-up processing is used for identifying novel objects; but, once we recall prior knowledge, top-down processing is used. This explains why people are good at identifying familiar objects rather than unfamiliar.