Altering attentional control settings causes persistent biases of visual attention

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Attentional control settings guide visual behavior and can be modulated by training.
• Long-term modifications to specific attentional control settings remain under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate persistent alterations in feature search mode (attentional bias) towards arbitrary stimuli in healthy individuals.
• To determine if an attentional bias can be induced and maintained over time.

Main Methods:

• Participants were initially biased towards the color green using an information sheet.
• Attentional bias was measured using a change detection task.
• Re-testing occurred after 1-2 weeks, with variations in task relevance and potential for a second bias induction.

Main Results:

• A persistent attentional bias towards green stimuli was observed, impairing task performance.
• Inducing a second attentional bias did not eliminate the initial bias.
• The attentional bias remained stable for at least two weeks.

Conclusions:

• Persistent attentional bias is mediated by chronic changes in attentional control settings, potentially involving contextual cueing.
• These findings suggest potential therapeutic targets for attentional biases seen in psychopathologies.