Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026
Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking
Published on: August 29, 2018
Evidence for goal-independent attentional capture from validity effects with unexpected novel color cues--a response
Gernot Horstmann1, Stefanie I Becker
1Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, PO-Box 100 131, Bielefeld, 33 501, Germany. gernot.horstmann@uni-bielefeld.de
Abstract:
Can a stimulus capture attention independent of the observer's goals and intentions? In a recent review, (Burnham, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 392-422, 2007) argued that there is no convincing evidence that attention capture is ever completely independent of the goals and intentions of the observer. By contrast, surprise capture studies have shown that a color singleton can capture attention on its unannounced first occurrence, if it is new and unexpected, and hence is not part of the intentional set. However, the evidence from surprise capture studies has been criticized on methodological grounds. Here, we tested surprise capture in a new paradigm that avoids previous methodological complications. The results refute the prior criticisms and reinstate surprise capture as prime evidence for goal-independent capture.
