ABSTRACT
Recent theories of selective visual attention have tended to favor the view that visual attention is essentially object based, selecting perceptually delineated and integrated “object” entities from the visual scene for further processing and action (e.g., Baylis & Driver, 1993; Bundesen, 1990; Duncan, 1984). On such objectbased accounts, perceptual grouping is fundamental to visual scene segmentation and the formation of objects. Neisser (1967) proposed that visual scenes are seg-mented, initially, into groups (i.e., objects) based on the operation of the Gestalt principles of perceptual organization. Visual attention is then focused on separate objects sequentially for further processing.
