A model of spatial and object-based attention for active visual search

The biased competition hypothesis is of particular interest in the visual attention literature currently. We describe the first computational model to apply biased competition in active vision. At the cellular level, the model simulates both spatial and object-based attentional effects over time courses seen in single cell recordings in ventral stream areas. Such effects at the cellular level lead to systems level behaviour that replicates that observed during active visual search for orientation and colour conjunction targets, where the scan path is guided to target coloured locations in preference to locations containing the target orientation or blank areas.