Grounding distractor inhibition in action control: Implicit distractor-location learning is viewer dependent

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Spatial selective attention traditionally acts as a sensory filter, prioritizing relevant information.
• Recent research indicates attention involves sensorimotor planning and an action component, not just location-based filtering.
• The role of viewer perspective in suppressing irrelevant distractors remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether the suppression of irrelevant distractors is viewer-dependent, similar to target selection.
• To determine if implicit distractor-location learning is anchored in world coordinates or agent-specific sensorimotor information.
• To explore the influence of active behavior and viewpoint on distractor inhibition.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a visual search task with a salient distractor in dynamic experimental setups.
• Manipulated participant standing positions relative to a tabletop-mounted monitor to alter viewpoint.
• Employed an additional-singleton visual search paradigm to assess implicit distractor-location learning.

Main Results:

• Implicit distractor-location learning was found to be viewer-dependent across all three experiments.
• Findings suggest that learning to inhibit distractors is integrated with sensorimotor processing and the agent's perspective.
• Distractor suppression is not solely based on world coordinates but incorporates how an individual samples information.

Conclusions:

• Spatial selective attention, including distractor suppression, is constrained by sensorimotor processes and the agent's viewpoint.
• The ability to inhibit distractors is not always abstractable from the individual's active engagement with their environment.
• This research highlights the embodied nature of attentional control and learning.