src/Observers/AttributeUpdateObserver.php
protected function initializeAttribute(array $attr)
    {

        // try to load the EAV attribute with the attribute code
        if ($attribute = $this->loadAttributeByEntityTypeIdAndAttributeCode($this->getEntityTypeId(), $attr[MemberNames::ATTRIBUTE_CODE])) {
            return $this->mergeEntity($attribute, $attr);
        }

        // simply return the attributes
        return $attr;
    }
protected function initializeAttribute(array $attr)
    {

        // try to load the EAV attribute with the attribute code
        if ($attribute = $this->loadAttributeByEntityTypeIdAndAttributeCode($this->getEntityTypeId(), $attr[MemberNames::ATTRIBUTE_CODE])) {
            return $this->mergeEntity($attribute, $attr);
        }

        // simply return the attributes
        return $attr;
    }
Initialize the attribute with the passed attributes and returns an instance.

@param array $attr The attribute attributes

@return array The initialized attribute