Testing a priming account of the contingent-capture effect

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Visual Attention

Background:

• The contingent-capture effect demonstrates how specific features guide attention.
• This effect is often attributed to top-down attentional control.
• Recent research highlights the role of selection history and priming in attentional capture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of intertrial priming in the contingent-capture effect.
• To test if task-irrelevant features, previously associated with targets, can automatically capture attention.
• To determine if priming alone can account for contingent-capture effects.

Main Methods:

• Five experiments were conducted using the contingent-capture protocol.
• Participants performed visual search tasks with varying feature relevance.
• The study examined attentional capture by cues with previously encountered target features, even when task-irrelevant.

Main Results:

• A strong version of the priming account was not supported.
• Little evidence was found for contingent capture solely due to intertrial priming of task-irrelevant features.
• Attentional capture effects appear to depend on factors beyond priming of task-irrelevant features.

Conclusions:

• Contingent-capture effects are not fully explained by intertrial priming of task-irrelevant features.
• Top-down control and other processes are critical for contingent-capture phenomena.
• Understanding attentional capture requires considering mechanisms beyond simple feature priming.