Abstract:
Recent research has pointed to object-based attention under certain circumstances behaving in accordance with a “growth-cone model”, whereby the speed attention spreads from one point of an object to another point on the same object depends on size of homogenous spaces separating those two points. So far, the growth-cone model has succeeded in explaining performance (in terms of reaction time) on line-tracing tasks, and tasks in which the viewer fixates on an object before responding to the onset of a peripherally-located stimulus within the same (or different) object. This thesis attempts to take this model a step forward and apply it to a flanker task. In Experiments 1-3 of this thesis different configurations and parameters are manipulated to attempt to find an object-based effect in a flanker task, and furthermore, whether this object-based effect is modulated by factors uniquely specified by the growth-cone models. Moreover, this thesis attempts to address shortcomings of previous experiments investigating object-based effects in flanker-tasks by using an eye-tracking device to maintain fixation. The results suggest that there is no consistent object-based effect in the flanker tasks used. Consequently, the relevance of the growth-cone model to flankers tasks is inconclusive.