Wholist–analytic cognitive styles modulate object-based attentional selection

Previous studies have shown that individual difference plays an important role in the object-based cueing effect observed in experiments on attentional selection. A wide range of studies have also used the theory of cognitive style to explain individual strategies in most cognitive processes. However, the characteristics of individuals that modulate object-based attentional selection are still unclear. To investigate the modulation of object-based attention by cognitive style, this study used a classic two-rectangle paradigm and compared space-based effects and object-based effects for individuals who had been preselected as wholists or analysts in terms of cognitive style. The results revealed that a space-based effect was obtained for both wholist and analytic individuals. However, an object-based effect was obtained only for analysts and not wholists, regardless of object orientation. The results further indicated that a wholist versus analytic cognitive style can modulate object-based attention by way of perceptual grouping. Our study provides the first evidence that object-based attention can indeed be influenced by individual characteristics and extends traditional model of cognitive style by indicating that wholist individuals tend to group two or more objects in a scene into one larger gestalt.