Revisiting contextual cueing effects: The role of perceptual processing.

Abstract

Incidental learning of invariant configurations of items can facilitate visual search, which is termed contextual cueing effect. Previous debates about the mechanisms of the contextual cueing effect mainly focused on the roles of attentional guidance and response-related components. Because the time for perceiving displays is very short, few studies have revealed the role of initial perceptual processing. Thus, in the present study, we manipulated the key variable of display contrast to prolong the perceptual processing duration in low-contrast displays. With response-time and eye-movement recording, the study explored the role of initial perceptual processing. In addition, we examined the roles of attentional guidance and response-related components. From three experiments we found: In addition to the role of attentional guidance, the initial perceptual processing could also contribute to a contextual cueing effect in a low-contrast condition; there was only the facilitation from attentional guidance in a high-contrast condition. These results suggest that perceptual processing can also play a role if the perceptual processing time is prolonged, but the main role involves improved attentional guidance.