Gist perception requires attention

• Published in: Visual cognition Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 300 - 327
• Main Authors: Mack, Arien, Clarke, Jason
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hove Taylor & Francis Group 01.03.2012; Psychology Press
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Blindness; Cognition; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Inattentional Blindness; Perceived Gist; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Repetition; Vigilance. Attention. Sleep; Vision; Visual perception; Human; Priming effect; Vision; Attention; Inattentional Blindness; Perception; Perceived Gist; Cognition; Experimental study; Amorçage négatif; Visual attention; Repetition
• ISSN: 1350-6285; 1464-0716
• DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2012.666578

Four experiments (240 subjects) explored gist perception without attention using the Mack and Rock (1998) cross task. Twelve scenes were flashed under conditions of inattention, divided, and full attention. Subjects described what they saw on critical trials in which a scene was flashed with the cross. In Experiments 3 and 4 subjects also chose the scene from a four scene array. In Experiment 4 the critical scenes were shown twice in the inattention condition. Overall, only 17% reported gist in the inattention condition, 65% did so with divided, and 82% did so with full attention. In Experiment 4 most subjects remained inattentionally blind to the scenes even though they were shown twice, conditions which fostered repetition priming, and we found a suggestion of negative priming. The results of all 4 experiments indicate that gist requires attention.