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Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition

Studies on attentional selection typically use unpredictable and meaningless stimuli, such as simple shapes and oriented lines. The assumption is that using these stimuli minimizes effects due to learning or prior knowledge, such that the task performance indexes a “pure” measure of the underlying c...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wu, Rachel, Zhao, Jiaying
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440728/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28588542
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00843
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author Wu, Rachel
Zhao, Jiaying
author_facet Wu, Rachel
Zhao, Jiaying
author_sort Wu, Rachel
collection PubMed
description Studies on attentional selection typically use unpredictable and meaningless stimuli, such as simple shapes and oriented lines. The assumption is that using these stimuli minimizes effects due to learning or prior knowledge, such that the task performance indexes a “pure” measure of the underlying cognitive ability. However, prior knowledge of the test stimuli and related stimuli acquired before or during the task impacts performance in meaningful ways. This mini review focuses on prior knowledge of object associations, because it is an important, yet often ignored, aspect of attentional selection. We first briefly review recent studies demonstrating that how objects are selected during visual search depends on the participant’s prior experience with other objects associated with the target. These effects appear with both task-relevant and task-irrelevant knowledge. We then review how existing object associations may influence subsequent learning of new information, which is both a driver and a consequence of selection processes. These insights highlight the importance of one aspect of prior knowledge for attentional selection and information acquisition. We briefly discuss how this work with young adults may inform other age groups throughout the lifespan, as learners gradually increase their prior knowledge. Importantly, these insights have implications for developing more accurate measurements of cognitive abilities.
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spelling pubmed-54407282017-06-06 Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition Wu, Rachel Zhao, Jiaying Front Psychol Psychology Studies on attentional selection typically use unpredictable and meaningless stimuli, such as simple shapes and oriented lines. The assumption is that using these stimuli minimizes effects due to learning or prior knowledge, such that the task performance indexes a “pure” measure of the underlying cognitive ability. However, prior knowledge of the test stimuli and related stimuli acquired before or during the task impacts performance in meaningful ways. This mini review focuses on prior knowledge of object associations, because it is an important, yet often ignored, aspect of attentional selection. We first briefly review recent studies demonstrating that how objects are selected during visual search depends on the participant’s prior experience with other objects associated with the target. These effects appear with both task-relevant and task-irrelevant knowledge. We then review how existing object associations may influence subsequent learning of new information, which is both a driver and a consequence of selection processes. These insights highlight the importance of one aspect of prior knowledge for attentional selection and information acquisition. We briefly discuss how this work with young adults may inform other age groups throughout the lifespan, as learners gradually increase their prior knowledge. Importantly, these insights have implications for developing more accurate measurements of cognitive abilities. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-05-23 /pmc/articles/PMC5440728/ /pubmed/28588542 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00843 Text en Copyright © 2017 Wu and Zhao. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wu, Rachel
Zhao, Jiaying
Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition
title Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition
title_full Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition
title_fullStr Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition
title_full_unstemmed Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition
title_short Prior Knowledge of Object Associations Shapes Attentional Templates and Information Acquisition
title_sort prior knowledge of object associations shapes attentional templates and information acquisition
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440728/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28588542
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00843
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