Top-down, bottom-up and selection-history-based control of attention: A failed trichotomy? The case of Priming of pop-out (PoP)

Abstract

When we search for an object, our performance is strongly influenced by our past experience. In the lab, this influence has been demonstrated by investigating a variety of phenomena, including inter-trial priming, statistical learning and reward history, and collectively referred to as selection history. The resulting findings have led researchers to claim that selection history guides attention, thereby challenging the prevailing dichotomy, according to which attentional priority is determined solely by top-down goals and bottom-up salience. The objective of the present review is to reexamine this claim by evaluating the evidence that specifically pertains to the role of selection history in attentional guidance, rather than in later processes occurring after the target is found. We focus on one selection history phenomenon, priming of pop-out (PoP). After demarcating the conditions under which PoP effects can be dissociated from top-down effects, we review the relevant findings, while distinguishing between the main experimental rationales adopted to address this question. We conclude that despite some inconsistencies that should be resolved by further research, most of the extant empirical evidence does not support the idea that PoP affects attentional priority. We call for similar reevaluations of other selection history phenomena and caution against burying the bottom-up vs. top-down dichotomy too hastily.

Assessing the time course and magnitude of different forms of attentional priming

“…Attentional priming, often called "selection history," plays an increasingly large role in theoretical accounts of attention (Awh et al, 2012;Chetverikov et al, 2017;Kristjánsson, 2023;Luck et al, 2021;Theeuwes, 2013;Wolfe, 2021; see Kristjánsson, 2023;Ramgir & Lamy, 2020 for recent overviews). This highlights the need for a thorough understanding of these history-based processes.…”

Comparing apples and oranges in priming of attentional selection?

“…Attentional priming, often called 'selection history', plays an increasingly large role in theoretical accounts of attention (Awh, Belopolsky & Theeuwes, 2012;Chetverikov, Campana & Kristjánsson, 2017;Luck et al, in press;Theeuwes, 2013) including the latest version of the well-known guided search model (version 6.0, Wolfe, 2020; see Ramgir & Lamy, 2020 for a recent overview of these discussions). This highlights the need for a thorough understanding of these history-based processes.…”

“…While Maljkovic & Nakayama (1994) originally argued that what was primed was the attended feature and therefore called this "priming of pop-out", others argued against this conclusion. Huang Holcombe and Pashler (2004) and Hillstrom (2000) argued that the primed entity was selection episodes, while Yashar & Lamy (2010) claimed that priming occurred after attentional selection (see also Ramgir & Lamy, 2020 for an overview). But the problem is that these conclusions have been reached through the use of highly diverse paradigms and there is no certainty that they reflect the same kind of process.…”

“…But it has become increasingly clear that the state of the nervous system at any given time also strongly affects attentional priorities (see e.g. Cicchini & Kristjánsson, 2015;Ramgir & Lamy, 2020 for recent reviews). This influence of priors from temporal context has, in the field of visual attention, mainly been studied with visual search tasks.…”

Reading problems and their connection with visual search and attention: The search for a cause continues

“…These were however reflected in heightened search intercepts while there was no detectable group difference in search slopes. Intercept differences are not traditionally thought to reflect attentional differences as long as the slopes are constant and are instead often interpreted as a difference in some other process that either precedes or follows the actual visual search (Kristjánsson, 2015) where "the actual visual search" could involve factors such as attentional shifting/focusing, attentional engagement, and episodic retrieval (Ramgir & Lamy, 2020). If these assumptions are valid, it is of crucial importance for any claims of visual attentional problems in dyslexia to look for evidence for slope changes, which were not found.…”