title: Testing the controllability of contextual cuing of visual search.
abstract: Locating a target among distractors improves when the configuration of distractors consistently cues the target's location across search trials, an effect called contextual cuing of visual search (CC). The important issue of whether CC is automatic has previously been studied by asking whether it can occur implicitly (outside awareness). Here we ask the novel question: is CC of visual search controllable? In 3 experiments participants were exposed to a standard CC procedure during Phase 1. In Phase 2, they localized a new target, embedded in configurations (including the previous target) repeated from Phase 1. Despite robust contextual cuing, congruency effects - which would imply the orientation of attention towards the old target in repeated configurations - were found in none of the experiments. The results suggest that top-down control can be exerted over contextually-guided visual search.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luque
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom.|Departamento de Psicología Básica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vadillo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Básica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Universidad de Málaga, Málaga 29071, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Básica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Universidad de Málaga, Málaga 29071, Spain.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Shanks