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Filtering distractors is costly.

Brian A Anderson1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.

Cognition & Emotion
|March 1, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Filtering visual search distractors is effortful. People will accept an electric shock to skip difficult visual search trials, indicating the high cognitive cost of distractor filtering.

Keywords:
Selective attentionaversioncognitive effortdistractor filteringvisual search

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Filtering task-irrelevant distractors is crucial for visual search.
  • Previous research shows individuals will endure physical discomfort to avoid working memory tasks, suggesting cognitive effort is costly.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if filtering distractors in visual search is similarly effortful.
  • To quantify the cost of distractor filtering by examining willingness to accept an electric shock to skip a trial.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed visual search tasks with varying levels of distractor filtering demands.
  • Participants were given the option to accept an electric shock to skip a trial.

Main Results:

  • Individuals were willing to accept an electric shock to skip a visual search trial, particularly when distractor filtering demands were high.
  • This willingness persisted even when skipping the trial offered no time savings.
  • Factors like boredom and curiosity also influenced shock acceptance.

Conclusions:

  • Distractor filtering in visual search imposes a significant cognitive burden.
  • The findings suggest that people actively seek to avoid demanding cognitive effort, aligning with broader theories of effort aversion.