Does it help to expect distraction? Attentional capture is attenuated by high distractor frequency but not by trial-to-trial predictability.
Louisa Bogaerts, Dirk van Moorselaar, Jan Theeuwes
Abstract
by embedding identical trial sequences in the to-be-compared conditions. We observed no elimination but significant attenuation of capture in the condition with a higher distractor frequency. In Experiments 2 and 3 we investigated the effect of the trial-to-trial predictability of distractor presence. Repeating regular distractor absent/present patterns did not result in attenuated capture compared with a random condition, not even when upcoming distractor presence was cued. Taken together, the results demonstrate that second-order distractor suppression is not merely a result of repetition priming. However, it is not a response to any type of expectation; this nonspecific type of suppression is almost instantly elicited by environments characterized by a high likelihood of distractors but not by distractor presence that can be anticipated on a trial-by-trial basis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).