Selection and response bias as determinants of priming of pop-out search: Revelations from diffusion modeling

During visual search, both top-down factors and bottom-up properties contribute to the guidance of visual attention, but selection history can influence attention independent of bottom-up and top-down factors. For example, priming of pop-out (PoP) is the finding that search for a singleton target is faster when the target and distractor features repeat than when those features trade roles between trials. Studies have suggested that such priming (selection history) effects on pop-out search manifest either early, by biasing the selection of the preceding target feature, or later in processing, by facilitating response and target retrieval processes. The present study was designed to examine the influence of selection history on pop-out search by introducing a speed-accuracy trade-off manipulation in a pop-out search task. Ratcliff diffusion modeling (RDM) was used to examine how selection history influenced both attentional bias and response execution processes. The results support the hypothesis that selection history biases attention toward the preceding target's features on the current trial and also influences selection of the response to the target.