Research On The Mechanism Of Object Segregation Based On Temporal And Spatial Dimensions

Human perception systems face the task of transforming continuous sensory inputs into discrete objects or events.This process of extracting objects from feed-forward perceptual input is called individuation.This process includes selecting features from a crowded scene,binding them to a single spatiotemporal entity,and individuating this perceptual unit from others in the field of view(Kahneman,Treisman,&Gibbs,1992;Pylyshyn,1989;Treisman,1982;Xu&Chun,2009).Object individuation is considered to be the psychological mechanism behind a variety of cognitive processes,including multi-object tracking,small number processing advantages(subitizing),and visual working memory.As a hot spot in the field of visual processing,researchers have proposed FINST Theory,Object File Theory and Neural Object-file Theory to explain it.Previous studies have found that based on the allocation and capacity limitation of attentional resources,the spatial and temporal characteristics of stimuli,as well as spatial and temporal cues,may affect the individuation capacity of the object,limiting it to four.With the help of the variant of the missing element paradigm,this study explored the ability to separate several objects(object segregation)from the external environment in the dimensions of space and time,so as to expand the study of object individuation from a new perspective,and in-depth discussion on the role of attention in the process of object individuation.This research included three experiments to explore the effects of spatial and temporal characteristics of stimuli and bottom-up attention interference(Experiment 1),top-down spatial cues(Experiment 2),and top-down temporal cues(Experiment 3)on the ability to separate objects.This study found that different spatial positions are the most important and basic condition for the separation of two objects.As the spatial distance between the targets increased,the ability to separate objects is improved.Different time points were also important conditions for the separation of two objects.As the time interval between targets increased,the ability to separate objects could also be improved,but this improvement depended on the spatial distance.Only when the spatial distance between the targets is short and the subjects could not accurately separate the two objects,the extension of the time interval would have an obvious promotion effect.When the spatial information was sufficient(the distance between the targets is far),the time information was redundant.Bottom-up attentional interference would weaken the ability to separate objects,but only in the case of relatively simple tasks.When the difficulty of the task increased,the temporal and spatial attributes of the stimulus itself would occupy most attention resources,and the weakening effect of attentional interference disappears.This study did not find the role of temporal and spatial cues in promoting the separation of objects,which may be because the subjects’ temporal and spatial orientations were not successfully induced.It is necessary to further manipulate the factors influencing the spatio-temporal cue effect in subsequent experiments to successfully induce temporal and spatial orientation,and then explore its promotion of object separation and its relationship with the physical properties of the stimulus.In general,the spatiotemporal information of the object is the key to the segregation of the object,and it has played a certain role in supplementing the original theory of the object file.At the same time,this study is based on the experimental design of the missing element paradigm,which can study the influence of multiple factors on the separation of objects while keeping the stimulus unchanged,and can be applied to future related research.