Across-trial spatial suppression in visual search

Lishuang Wang,Benchi Wang,Jan Theeuwes

doi:10.3758/s13414-021-02341-x

Lishuang Wang, Benchi Wang + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02341-x

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Abstract

In order to focus on objects of interest, humans must be able to avoid distraction by salient stimuli that are not relevant to the task at hand. Many recent studies have shown that through statistical learning we are able to suppress the location that is most likely to contain a salient distractor. Here we demonstrate a remarkable flexibility in attentional suppression. Participants had to search for a shape singleton while a color distractor singleton was present. Unbeknown to the participant, the color distractor was presented according to a consistent pattern across trials. Our findings show that participants learn this distractor sequence as they proactively suppressed the anticipated location of the distractor on the next trial. Critically, none of the participants were aware of these hidden sequences. We conclude that the spatial priority map is highly flexible, operating at a subconscious level preparing the attentional system for what will happen next.

Highlights

In everyday life it is important that we are able to resist all distraction by objects and events that grab our attention
This type of learning has been described as “statistical learning,” and refers to an implicit learning process that allows the extraction of distributional properties from sensory input across time and space (Aslin et al, 1998; Frost et al, 2015)
The current study investigated whether participants can learn to anticipate the location of the salient distractor when the location of the distractor moves across the display

Summary

Introduction

In everyday life it is important that we are able to resist all distraction by objects and events that grab our attention. Participants learn to extract the statistical regularities of the display characteristics, which in turn biases attentional selection such that the location that is likely to contain a distractor becomes suppressed.

Results

Conclusion