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Related Experiment Videos

Does a salient distractor capture attention early in processing?

Dominique Lamy1, Yehoshua Tsal, Howard E Egeth

  • 1Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. domi@freud.tau.ac.il

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|November 19, 2003
PubMed
Summary

This study reveals that top-down attention control can override salient distractors, especially in conjunction search tasks. This finding challenges previous notions about the automatic capture of spatial attention.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Visual Attention
  • Human Perception

Background:

  • Previous research indicated salient distractors capture spatial attention, delaying target selection.
  • The role of top-down control in preventing this capture remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether top-down factors can prevent attention capture by salient distractors.
  • To test if search strategy influences the effect of salient distractors on attention allocation.

Main Methods:

  • Replicated prior findings using a feature search task.
  • Employed a conjunction search task, precluding salience-based search strategies.
  • Measured probe response times at various locations and stimulus onset asynchronies.

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Main Results:

  • Experiment 1 replicated the finding that salient distractors capture attention.
  • In Experiment 2 (conjunction search), probe response times were longest at the distractor location, regardless of timing.
  • This suggests top-down control can influence attention allocation even with salient distractors.

Conclusions:

  • Top-down attentional control can effectively prevent the capture of attention by salient distractors.
  • The strategy employed in visual search significantly impacts how attention is allocated over time.