Trial history shapes the alerting-congruency interaction in selective attention

Cues that alert a person to the presence of an upcoming stimulus increase phasic alertness and speed responses, but these cues can come at a cost where distractors have a greater influence on performance. The interaction between alerting and distractor congruency reveals how transient increases in alertness influence performance. This study investigated whether trial history influences this interaction. We tested whether the interaction between alerting and congruency was moderated by the congruency of the preceding trial or by response repetitions. Using a large online sample (N = 165), participants completed an arrow-flanker task with and without alerting cues along with an Automated Operation Span Task (AOSPAN) to assess working memory capacity (WMC). Results replicated the alerting-congruency interaction, showing that alerting cues amplified distractor interference. The alerting-congruency interaction was not moderated by preceding congruency in either reaction times or accuracy. In contrast, the alerting-congruency interaction was moderated by response repetition in accuracy (but not response time). Working memory capacity was not associated with the alerting-congruency interaction. Together, this pattern is most consistent with the claim that alerting cues boost phasic arousal which amplifies prepotent stimulus-response associations.