If people spontaneously categorize objects, they should be more likely to detect a change that crosses a category boundary than an equally large change that does not. Although recent studies of change blindness have demonstrated that surprisingly large changes are not detected, relatively few studies have examined the mechanisms underlying change detection. What role does the size of the change play in detection. This project uses standard psychophysical techniques to explore the relationship between change magnitude, rate of change, set size, and timing parameters in change detection tasks. The ultimate goal is to gain a better appreciation for the role of motion in change detection and to explore the interaction between the magnitude of the change signal and the need for attention.
Experiments use both simple arrays of precisely controlled objects as well as natural scenes.