Context-dependent control over attentional capture.
نویسندگان
چکیده
A number of studies have demonstrated that the likelihood of a salient item capturing attention is dependent on the "attentional set" an individual employs in a given situation. The instantiation of an attentional set is often viewed as a strategic, voluntary process, relying on working memory systems that represent immediate task priorities. However, influential theories of attention and automaticity propose that goal-directed control can operate more or less automatically on the basis of longer term task representations, a notion supported by a number of recent studies. Here, we provide evidence that longer term contextual learning can rapidly and automatically influence the instantiation of a given attentional set. Observers learned associations between specific attentional sets and specific task-irrelevant background scenes during a training session, and in the ensuing test session, simply reinstating particular scenes on a trial-by-trial basis biased observers to employ the associated attentional set. This directly influenced the magnitude of attentional capture, suggesting that memory for the context in which a task is performed can play an important role in the ability to instantiate a particular attentional set and overcome distraction by salient, task-irrelevant information.
منابع مشابه
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance Context-Dependent Control Over Attentional Capture
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عنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance
دوره 39 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2013