title: When age is irrelevant: distractor inhibition and target activation in priming of pop-out.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent research suggests that inhibition at early stages of visual processing may be age invariant. We test this proposal using a priming of pop-out (PoP) measure developed by Lamy, Antebi, Aviani, and Carmel (2008. Priming of pop-out provides reliable measures of target activation and distractor inhibition in selective attention. Vision Research, 48, 30-41. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2007.10.009). In PoP, a unique item, which visually "pops-out" in a field of distractors, grabs our attention faster when its defining feature (e.g., color red) repeats across trials and slower when distractor- and target-defining features switch between trials. Here, we explore whether the processes underlying PoP, which prevent access to distractors and facilitate access to the singleton, remain intact with age.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants faced a display of circles and judged the direction of a letter T inscribed within a uniquely colored circle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All underlying components of PoP were present in older and younger adults. Participants revealed distractor inhibition by responding faster to a color singleton when the color of surrounding distractors repeated and slower when the singleton assumed the color of distractors from the previous trial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the inhibitory processes underlying PoP remain intact with age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada. m.wnuczko@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wnuczko
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hasher
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D060865:Repetition Priming; D055815:Young Adult
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