If attention can be guided by the parts of an object, then subjects should be faster to detect invalidly cued targets that appear in the cued part than those that appear in the uncued part. Results overhead Subjects were faster to detect invalidly cued targets that appear within the cued part than in the uncued part. We find qualitatively similar results in a feature report task in which subjects report whether two features are the same or different. Subjects are faster and more accurate when the features are located within the same part than in different parts. Visual scenes obviously can be described at many levels, from the entire scene, to an individual object, to the parts of that object.
Selective attention appears to be sensitive to the different levels present in visual scenes.