Habituation to onsets is controlled by spatially selective distractor expectation.

Abstract

Habituation to onset distractors has been shown to be stronger the higher the distractor probability. However, since in previous studies distractor probability covaried with distractor numerosity, it was unclear whether habituation was controlled by a mechanism that relies on distractor expectation (Sokolov, 1963), or by a mechanism that is merely driven by the number of stimulations delivered to the nervous system (Groves & Thompson, 1970). To address this issue, we manipulated the probability of distractor occurrence at a fixed location, without varying the number of distractors being presented. The results of Experiment 1 clearly favored the Sokolov model of habituation, showing that habituation of capture is controlled by the level of distractor expectation for the same distractors number. Experiment 2 excluded that the pattern of habituation was determined by the difference in the temporal frequency of the distractor between higher and lower distractor rates. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 3 suggested that the amount of habituation of capture is mainly controlled by the local rather than by the global rate of the onset distractor occurrence, thus indicating that habituation of capture is largely spatially specific. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).