Attentional Control in 3-D Space

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Abstract
Two experiments investigated the nature of attention in 3-D space. In Experiment 1, the hypothesis that attention can be localized to a depth plane was tested. Observers searched for a red line in two arrays of green lines. The arrays of lines were near in 2-D space but separated in depth. Search for the target was faster when the depth plane where the target would appear was cued, indicating attention can be localized in depth. A second experiment tested the hypothesis that attending to a location in depth would reduce the effect of a distracter at other depth locations. In this experiment, search for a tilted red line was faster when a distracting vertical line was present at another depth than when it was present at the same depth as the target. Implications for display design using depth information is discussed.