Change detection: Evidence for information accumulation in flicker paradigms

Vierck, E., & Kiesel, A. (2008). Change detection: Evidence for information accumulation in flicker paradigms. Acta Psychologica, 127(2), 309-323.

Abstract:
Change detection in rapidly alternating pictures separated by a blank frame has been shown to be very difficult (e.g., [Rensink, R. A., O'Regan, J. K., & Clark, J. J. (1997). To see or not to see: The need for attention to perceive changes in scenes. Psychological Science, 8, 368-373]). The three experiments reported here focus on the mechanism behind detection. More specifically, we explored whether information about the stimulus material accumulates in visual memory and thereby improves change detection. For that purpose the first experiment varied the number of repetitions of the original and modified stimulus version. Results showed that detection improved with more repetitions. The second experiment demonstrated that repetition performance improved more when both the original and the modified picture were repeated. Finally, the third experiment strengthened these findings by showing poorer detection performance when the repetition sequence was randomized. Together, our findings suggest accumulation of information in memory over picture presentations and moreover improved performance when both picture types were repeated. These results underline the importance of developing representations for both picture versions in change detection.

Note:
This paper reviews the literature of change detection and addresses the issue whether information can be accumulated across saccades in the flicker paradigm. (The introduction is well-written.
They distinguished the dynamic change detection (flicker paradigm) from the completed change detection (one-shot paradigm. The former is related to the attention focus in change detection; the latter is related to the memory focus in change detection. But, the authors still argue that there is no clear cut between the two tasks. They thought that no studies investigated the accumulation of information in the context of dynamic change detection.
In Exp1, they manipulated the types of the cycles (AB, AABB, and AAAAABBBBB), and types of changes (color, location, and presence). Results showed fewer changes were needed with the repetition of one particular frame than without repetition. Results from Exp 2 suggested that both the repetition of original and modified frames is important (e.g. RT in AAABBB is faster than RT in AAAAAB) (But I have an alternative account). Exp 3 showed the regularity of presentations is important (e.g. RT in AABB is faster than RT in random presentation). Together, results suggested that the information can be accumulated into VSTM, some is retained in LTM.

* I thought the results from Exp 2 is not direct enough to say both repetition of original and modified displays is crucial for the accumulation of information. The presentation frequency of the modified displays is relatively low in AAAAAB procedure. It may affect the probability of attention allocation on the changed region. Even though the authors discussed the uncertainty of saccadic movement in the flicker paradigm in General Discussion, the possibility still exists.