Independent effects of statistical learning and top-down attention
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Independent effects of statistical learning and top-down attention Ya Gao 1,2 & Jan Theeuwes 1,2
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract It is well known that spatial attention can be directed in a top-down way to task-relevant locations in space. In addition, through visual statistical learning (VSL), attention can be biased towards relevant (target) locations and away from irrelevant (distractor) locations. The present study investigates the interaction between the explicit task-relevant, top-down attention and the lingering attentional biases due to VSL. We wanted to determine the contribution of each of these two processes to attentional selection. In the current study, participants performed a search task while keeping a location in spatial working memory. In Experiment 1, the target appeared more often in one location, and appeared less often in other location. In Experiment 2, a color singleton distractor was presented more often in location than in all other locations. The results show that when the search target matched the location that was kept in working memory, participants were much faster at responding to the search target than when it did not match, signifying top-down attentional selection. Independent of this top-down effect, we found a clear effect of VSL as responses were even faster when target (Experiment 1) or the distractor (Experiment 2) was presented at a more likely location in visual field. We conclude that attentional selection is driven by implicit biases due to statistical learning and by explicit top-down processing, each process individually and independently modulating the neural activity within the spatial priority map. Keywords Attentional capture . Visual search . Working memory . Statistical regularities . Top-down attention
Introduction It is important to be able to direct our attention to those events that are relevant to us and prevent distraction by events that are unimportant. For example, when driving along a busy street, we have to attend to traffic signs, road markings, and look out for potential targets, such as pedestrians suddenly crossing the road. While doing so, we should ignore the buzzing sound of our telephone telling us that a new message came in and the neon flashing advertising lights of the stores along the road. Attentional selection is crucial for survival and entails the filtering and attenuation of incoming information (Broadbent, 1958). Traditionally, attentional selection is claimed to be the interplay between competitive gains (Desimone & Duncan,
* Ya Gao [email protected] 1
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2
Institute Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (iBBA), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1995) that arise from strategic top-down processes consistent with our goals and intentions (Leber & Egeth, 2006) and bottom-up saliency driven processes that tend to bias attention towards objects that stand out from the environment (Theeuwes, 2010). Recently, however a n
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