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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
06:46

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Attentional control settings prevent abrupt onsets from capturing visual spatial attention.

Naseem Al-Aidroos1, Stephenie Harrison, Jay Pratt

  • 1University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. naseem.al.aidroos@utoronto.ca

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|September 4, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Visual spatial attention capture by distractors depends on attentional control settings (ACSs), not just distractor timing. This finding clarifies how top-down control influences attention, even with early or concurrent irrelevant stimuli.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
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Published on: March 18, 2019

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Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking
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Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Published on: August 29, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Visual distractors can influence target detection, with effects varying based on timing and location.
  • Previous research suggested early distractors capture attention differently than concurrent distractors, impacting attentional control settings (ACSs).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the timing of visual distractors (early vs. concurrent) or the comparison method (location-based vs. presence/absence) explains differing effects on visual spatial attention capture.
  • To determine if attentional control settings (ACSs) universally modulate attention capture by distractors.

Main Methods:

  • A target-detection task incorporating both early and concurrent visual distractors.
  • Assessing response times and attentional capture using same-location/different-location and distractor/no-distractor comparisons.
  • Manipulating attentional control settings (ACSs) to evaluate their influence.

Main Results:

  • Regardless of distractor timing (early or concurrent), attentional capture was contingent on attentional control settings (ACSs) when using a same-location/different-location comparison.
  • Stimulus-driven effects of irrelevant stimuli were observed, but these did not equate to attentional capture without ACS modulation.

Conclusions:

  • The capture of visual spatial attention is consistently contingent on attentional control settings (ACSs), irrespective of distractor timing.
  • The incongruity in previous findings likely stemmed from the comparison methods used, not solely distractor presentation timing.