Global and local processing in nonattended objects: a failure to induce local processing dominance

Abstract

Paquet and Merikle (1988) found that subjects can ignore the category of unattended local forms but not that of global forms. Does this finding reflect a priority for global information during perception? In 5 studies, 2 compound stimuli, each surrounded by a frame, were presented side by side, and attention was directed to 1 of the stimuli. The first 2 studies examined whether local dominance would emerge if a small gap (Experiment 1) or the presence of small white lines (Experiment 2) on the surrounding frame specified the target object. No evidence for local dominance was found. Three additional studies examined whether local dominance would be obtained if subjects had extensive practice identifying the local aspect of stimulus displays. Although local practice led to automatic detection of unattended local targets, it did not affect the processing of the global aspect. These results are proposed to exemplify the priority of global information during perception.