Does attention alter appearance? This critical issue, debated for over a century, remains unsettled. From psychophysical evidence that covert attention affects early vision—it enhances contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution—and from neurophysiological evidence that attention increases

Selective attention enhances visual information processing, as measured by behavioral performance and neural activity. However, little is known about its effects on subjective experience. Here, we investigated the effect of transient (exogenous) attention on the appearance of visual motion, using a

Recently the use of public key encryption to provide secure network communication has received considerable attention. Such public key systems are usually effective against passive eavesdroppers, who merely tap the lines and try to decipher the message. It has been pointed out, however

Covert attention not only improves performance in many visual tasks but also modulates the appearance of several visual features. Studies on attention and appearance have assessed subjective appearance using a task contingent upon a comparative judgment (e.g., M. Carrasco, S. Ling, & S. Read

Paying attention to a stimulus affords it many behavioral advantages, but whether attention also changes its subjective appearance is controversial. K. A.

Covert attention not only improves performance in many visual tasks but also modulates the appearance of several visual features. Studies on attention and appearance have assessed subjective appearance using a task contingent upon a comparative judgment (e.g., M. Carrasco, S. Ling, & S.

Covert attention not only improves performance in many visual tasks but also modulates the appearance of several visual features. Studies on attention and appearance have assessed subjective appearance using a task contingent upon a comparative judgment (e.g., M. Carrasco, S. Ling, & S. Read

orientation [11, 12]. However, whether the orientation-discrim-ination performance changes systematically across days of exposure, and whether it interacts with spatial attention, has never been examined. We found that the postexposure

experiments indicated that this transient attentional component was independent of the observers ’ prior knowledge of target position and was not subject to voluntary control. We provide evidence to suggest hat the transient component does not originate at the earliest stages of visual processing, since

ABSTRACT—Transient attention is the automatic and shortlasting preferential processing of an area in visual space initiated by sudden stimulation in the same vicinity. Transient attention enhances early visual processing in a variety of dimensions, increasing contrast sensitivity, spatial