Contingent capture is weakened in search for multiple features from different dimensions.

Abstract

Can observers maintain more than 1 attentional set and search for 2 features in parallel? Previous studies that relied on attentional capture by irrelevant distractors to answer this question focused on features from the same dimension and specifically, on color. They showed that 2 separate color templates can guide attention selectively and simultaneously. Here, the authors investigated attentional guidance by 2 features from different dimensions. In three spatial-cueing experiments, they compared contingent capture during single-set versus dual-set search. The results showed that attention was guided less efficiently by 2 features than by just 1. This impairment varied considerably across target-feature dimensions (color, size, shape and orientation). Confronted with previous studies, our findings suggest avenues for future research to determine whether impaired attentional guidance by multiple templates occurs only in cross-dimensional disjunctive search or also in within-dimension search. The present findings also showed that although performance improved when the target feature repeated on successive trials, a relevant-feature cue did not capture attention to a larger extent when its feature matched that of the previous target. These findings suggest that selection history cannot account for contingent capture and affects processes subsequent to target selection. (PsycINFO Database Record

Feature singletons attract spatial attention independently of feature priming

“…Previous studies on this topic have tested how IFP interacts with various forms of attention measured in a variety of ways, but they all involved top-down guidance or voluntary attention. For instance, some studies manipulated goal-driven rather than stimulus-driven attention to the singletons and did not have an independent manipulation of saliency (Belopolsky et al, 2010 ; Biderman, Biderman, Zivony, & Lamy, in press ; Folk & Remington, 2008 ; Irons et al, 2010 ). Other studies did make the singletons task irrelevant, but they neither manipulated nor measured spatial attention, merely inferring its effects or lack thereof (Fecteau, 2007 ; Huang et al, 2004 ; Kristjánsson, 2006 ; Michal et al, 2014 ).…”

Lack of free choice reveals the cost of multiple-target search within and across feature dimensions

“…Searching for two or more target objects typically comes with performance costs relative to search for a single target, in terms of both speed and accuracy (Barrett & Zobay, 2014;Biderman, Biderman, Zivony, & Lamy, 2017;Houtkamp & Roelfsema, 2009;Menneer, Barrett, Phillips, Donnelly, & Cave, 2007;Stroud, Menneer, Cave, Donnelly, & Rayner, 2011). Performance suffers in particular when the search target changes from one trial to the next, resulting in what is known as a switch cost (Dombrowe, Donk, & Olivers, 2011;Found & Müller, 1996;Juola, Botella, & Palacios, 2004;Kristjánsson & Campana, 2010;Maljkovic & Nakayama, 1994;Monsell, 2003;Olivers & Humphreys, 2003;Olivers & Meeter, 2006;Wolfe, Butcher, Lee, & Hyle, 2003).…”

Uncertainty as a determinant of attentional control settings

“…Even though attentional control settings for multiple target colors can be maintained simultaneously, it has been suggested that search performance based on multiple attentional control settings is impaired (e.g., Biderman, Biderman, Zivony, & Lamy, 2017;Dombrowe, Donk, & Olivers, 2011;Meneer, Cave, & Donnelly, 2009). For example, in Dombrowe et al's experiment, in which participants were to search for two targets presented in a target display simultaneously, target search accuracy was lower when the two targets were defined by different colors than when they were defined by a single color.…”

“…For example, in Dombrowe et al's experiment, in which participants were to search for two targets presented in a target display simultaneously, target search accuracy was lower when the two targets were defined by different colors than when they were defined by a single color. This impairment is possibly due to the difficulty in maintaining multiple attentional control settings in working memory simultaneously (e.g., Biderman et al, 2017;Harris et al, 2015) or less computational efficiency when multiple attentional control settings are established than when a single attentional setting adopted (Harris et al, 2015). Thus, if the attentional control setting specifies values to ignore and other values to select when the target is defined with multiple colors and the distractor feature is certain, it is possible to maximize search performance with minimal effort.…”