Task-irrelevant stimulus salience affects visual search.
The relative contributions of stimulus salience and task-related goals in guiding attention remain an issue of debate. Several studies have demonstrated that top-down factors play an important role, as they often override capture by salient irrelevant objects. However, Yantis and Egeth [Yantis, S., & Egeth, H. E. (1999). On the distinction between visual salience and stimulus-driven attentional capture. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 661-676.] have made the more radical claim that salience plays no role in visual search unless the observer adopts an attentional set for singletons or "singleton-detection mode". We reexamine their claim while disentangling effects of stimulus salience from effects of attentional set and inter-trial repetition. The results show that stimulus salience guides attention even when salience is task irrelevant.
Lamy
Dominique
D
Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, POB 39040, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. domi@post.tau.ac.il
Zoaris
Loren
L
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult