The impact of predictive cues and visual working memory on dynamic oculomotor selection

Strategic use of advanced information about search display properties can benefit covert attentional selection. However, little work has investigated this benefit on overt selection. The present study examined how cued information impacts oculomotor selection over time and the role played by individual differences in visual working memory (VWM) capacity in utilizing such cues. Participants searched for a specific orientation target in a saccade localization search task. Prior to each trial, additional information regarding secondary display features (color singleton identity) was either provided by a word cue or not. The cue increased accuracy performance from the earliest saccadic responses. VWM capacity was measured via a change-detection task and results showed that individuals' VWM capacity scores were associated with cue impact, whereby participants with higher capacity derived an increased cue performance benefit. These findings suggest that strategic use of cue information to select and reject salient singletons can develop very early following display presentation and is related to an individual's VWM capacity. This research indicates that stimulus-driven and goal-directed processes are not simply additive in oculomotor selection, but instead exhibit a distinct and dynamic profile of interaction.