Distractor handling via dimension weighting

Salient-but-irrelevant objects have the potential to distract attention. Objects are salient if they differ from their surround in some feature dimension, such as shape, orientation, or motion. One way to reduce distraction, therefore, is to attenuate all saliency signals from the respective feature dimension. This mechanism, or strategy, which follows from a broader theory of attentional selection termed Dimension-Weighting Account (DWA), is very powerful, as evidenced by the massive distractor interference observed when it is ineligible. However, it also consumes scarce cognitive resources, so that it is not always employed and often complemented by other mechanisms of distractor handling. These alternative mechanisms might be less effective and/or have negative side effects.