Color and shape in attention processes

Feature Integration Theory

The theory and research founded by researchers Ann Treisman and Garry Gelade identify that attention in its early processes divides between the dimensions of color and shape. In this preliminary perceptual stage, the object is perceived according to separate components such as shape, color, orientation, and movement, while each such component is processed in different areas of the brain. Only in later stages of the stimulus perception and attention process are the components combined together.

( Anne Treisman and Garry Gelade (1980). "A feature-integration theory of attention". Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 97-136 )