In this work, we show the capability of a new model of saliency, of reproducing remarkable psychophysical results. The model presents low computational complexity compared to other models of the state of the art. It is based in biologically plausible mechanisms: the decorrelation and the distinctiveness of local responses. Decorrelation of scales is obtained from principal component analysis of multiscale low level features. Distinctiveness is measured through the Hotelling’s T² statistic. The model is conceived to be used in a machine vision system, in which attention would contribute to enhance performance together with other visual functions. Experiments demonstrate the consistency with a wide variety of psychophysical phenomena, that are referenced in the visual attention modeling literature, with results that outperform other state of the art models.