Involuntary transfer of a top-down attentional set into the focus of attention: evidence from a contingent attentional capture paradigm.
In the present study, we investigated whether involuntarily directing attention to a target-colored distractor causes the corresponding attentional set to enter a limited-capacity focus of attention, thereby facilitating the identification of a subsequent target whose color matches the same attentional set. As predicted, in Experiment 1, contingent attentional capture effects from a target-colored distractor were only one half to one third as large when subsequent target identification relied on the same (vs. a different) attentional set. In Experiment 2, this effect was eliminated when all of the target colors matched the same attentional set, arguing against bottom-up perceptual priming of the distractor's color as an alternative account of our findings. In Experiment 3, this effect was reversed when a target-colored distractor appeared after the target, ruling out a feature-based interference account of our findings. We conclude that capacity limitations in working memory strongly influence contingent attentional capture when multiple attentional sets guide selection.
Moore
Katherine Sledge
KS
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 1012 East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. mooreks@umich.edu
Weissman
Daniel H
DH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D012718:Set, Psychology; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult