The role of cueing in attentional capture

Abstract

In the present study, participants searched for an odd-man-out target within the shape dimension (either a diamond or a circle) while a colour distractor singleton could be present. In some conditions, the identity of the target singleton for the upcoming trial was cued in advance by either a word cue (e.g., a word saying “diamond”) or a symbolic cue (e.g., a cue showing the shape of a diamond). The results indicate that cueing the upcoming target singleton reduced but did not eliminate attentional capture by the irrelevant colour distractor. Furthermore, cueing benefits were especially large when a colour distractor was present, suggesting that top-down processing plays a large role after attention has been captured to the location of the irrelevant colour distractor. Finally, when no distractor is present, top-down processing plays no role; in those circumstances, only priming can facilitate singleton search.