Auditory attentional capture: implicit and explicit approaches

The extent to which distracting items capture attention despite being irrelevant to the task at hand can be measured either implicitly or explicitly (e.g., Simons, Trends Cogn Sci 4:147-155, 2000). Implicit approaches include the standard attentional capture paradigm in which distraction is measured in terms of reaction time and/or accuracy costs within a focal task in the presence (vs. absence) of a task-irrelevant distractor. Explicit measures include the inattention paradigm in which people are asked directly about their noticing of an unexpected task-irrelevant item. Although the processes of attentional capture have been studied extensively using both approaches in the visual domain, there is much less research on similar processes as they may operate within audition, and the research that does exist in the auditory domain has tended to focus exclusively on either an explicit or an implicit approach. This paper provides an overview of recent research on auditory attentional capture, integrating the key conclusions that may be drawn from both methodological approaches.