Exogenous attention and color perception: Performance and appearance of saturation and hue

Exogenous covert attention is an automatic, transient form of attention that can be triggered by sudden changes in the periphery. Here we test for the effects of attention on color perception. We used the methodology developed by Carrasco, Ling, and Read [Carrasco, M., Ling, S., & Read, S. (2004). Attention alters appearance. Nature Neuroscience, 7 (3) 308–313] to explore the effects of exogenous attention on appearance of saturation (Experiment 1) and of hue (Experiment 2). We also tested orientation discrimination performance for single stimuli defined by saturation or hue (Experiment 3). The results indicate that attention increases apparent saturation, but does not change apparent hue, notwithstanding the fact that it improves orientation discrimination for both saturation and hue stimuli.