Abstract
Observers adopt attentional control settings (ACSs) based on their goals that guide the capture of attention: Searched-for stimuli capture attention, and stimuli that are not searched for do not. While previous behavioural research indicates that observers can adopt long-term memory (LTM) ACSs (Giammarco et al. Visual Cognition, 24, 78–101, 2016), it seems surprising that representations in LTM could guide attention quickly enough to control attentional capture. To assess the claim that LTM ACSs exert control over early attentional orienting, we recorded electroencephalography while participants studied and searched for 30 target objects in an attention cueing task. Participants reported the studied target and ignored the preceding cues. To control for perceptual evoked responses, on each trial we presented two cue objects (one studied and one nonstudied). Even though participants were instructed to ignore the cues, studied cues produced the N2pc event-related potential, indicating early attentional orienting that was preferentially directed towards the studied cue versus the nonstudied cue. Critically, the N2pc was detectable within 170 ms, confirming that LTM ACSs rapidly control early capture. We propose an update to contemporary models of attentional capture to account for rapid attentional guidance by LTM ACSs.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the wording on our consent forms at time of data collection, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
There is a growing body of research indicating that search distractor costs (i.e., longer search times when distracted by memory-matching versus memory nonmatching irrelevant stimuli), may not purely reflect visual-spatial attentional capture (Al-Aidroos et al., 2010; Becker, 2007; Folk & Remington, 1998; Plater et al., 2022). Thus, it is important here to use other tasks, like an attention cueing task or spatial blink task, to measure the capture of visual spatial attention.
Note that we also conducted the same analysis using a 50% threshold, which may be a more sensitive measure of onset time (Kiesel et al., 2008).
Re-running this analysis using a 50% threshold (Kiesel et al., 2008) revealed an N2pc onset of 171 ms, CI95 = [160, 182].
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The authors would like to thank Christine Salahub for assistance with the HEOG residual analysis.
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This work was supported by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant No. 418507-201) and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (Grant No. 30374).
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Plater, L., Giammarco, M., Joubran, S. et al. Control over attentional capture within 170 ms by long-term memory control settings: Evidence from the N2pc. Psychon Bull Rev 31, 283–292 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-023-02352-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-023-02352-9