Target-uncertainty effects in attentional capture: color-singleton set or multiple attentional control settings?
Previous spatial cuing studies have shown that the capture of spatial attention is contingent on top-down attentional control settings whose specificity varies as a function of the certainty of the defining features of the target. For example, when the target is a singleton defined by one specific color, observers adopt a control setting for that color. When the target can be one of two possible colors, however, observers appear to adopt a control setting for color singletons in general (see, e.g., Folk & Remington, 2008). The present study tested whether such results instead reflect the simultaneous maintenance of control settings for multiple colors (Adamo, Pun, Pratt, & Ferber, 2008). Observers searched for targets that were unpredictably red or green, preceded by spatial cues that were red, green, or blue. All three cue types produced evidence of capture, consistent with a general set for color singletons rather than the maintenance of multiple control settings.
Folk
Charles L
CL
Department of Psychology, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085, USA. charles.folk@villanova.edu
Anderson
Brian A
BA
D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D035501:Uncertainty