Volume 3, Number 3, Article 3, Pages 209-229 doi:10.1167/3.3.3 http://journalofvision.org/3/3/3/ ISSN 1534-7362
Comparison of two weighted integration models for the cueing task: linear and likelihood
Steven S. Shimozaki
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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Miguel P. Eckstein
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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Craig K. Abbey
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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Abstract

In a task in which the observer must detect a signal at two locations, presenting a precue that predicts the location of a signal leads to improved performance with a valid cue (signal location matches the cue), compared to an invalid cue (signal location does not match the cue). The cue validity effect has often been explained with a limited capacity attentional mechanism improving the perceptual quality at the cued location. Alternatively, the cueing effect can also be explained by unlimited capacity models that assume a weighted combination of noisy responses across the two locations. We compare two weighted integration models, a linear model and a sum of weighted likelihoods model based on a Bayesian observer. While qualitatively these models are similar, quantitatively they predict different cue validity effects as the signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) increase. To test these models, 3 observers performed in a cued discrimination task of Gaussian targets with an 80% valid precue across a broad range of SNR’s. Analysis of a limited capacity attentional switching model was also included and rejected. The sum of weighted likelihoods model best described the psychophysical results, suggesting that human observers approximate a weighted combination of likelihoods, and not a weighted linear combination.

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History
Received February 1, 2002; published April 15, 2003
Citation
Shimozaki, S. S., Eckstein, M. P., & Abbey, C. K. (2003). Comparison of two weighted integration models for the cueing task: linear and likelihood. Journal of Vision, 3(3):3, 209-229, http://journalofvision.org/3/3/3/, doi:10.1167/3.3.3.
Keywords
cueing, Bayesian observer, selective attention
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