Abstract
Previous research has suggested that the involuntary allocation of spatial attention to salient, irrelevant stimuli (i.e., attentional capture) is prevented when attention is in a focused state (e.g., Yantis & Jonides, 1990). Recent work has suggested that although focused attention may be necessary to prevent attentional capture by irrelevant stimuli, it is not sufficient (e.g., Folk, Leber, & Egeth, 2002). The present experiments provide evidence that attentional engagement, rather than attentional focusing, prevents capture. Observers performed a rapid serial visual presentation task in which they were asked to identify a target letter defined by color. Peripheral distractors that shared the color of the target produced evidence of attentional capture. This effect was completely eliminated, however, when the peripheral distractor was preceded by a central distractor designed to engage attention on the stream. It is concluded that attentional engagement serves to lock out capture by irrelevant, salient stimuli.
Article PDF
References
Chun, M. M., & Potter, M. C. (1995). A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 21, 109–127.
Folk, C. L., Leber, A. B., & Egeth, H. E. (2002). Made you blink! Contingent attentional capture produces a spatial blink. Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 741–753.
Folk, C. L., Leber, A. B., & Egeth, H. E. (2008). Top-down control settings and the attentional blink: Evidence for non-spatial contingent capture. Visual Cognition, 16, 616–642.
Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., & Johnston, J. C. (1992). Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 18, 1030–1044.
Franconeri, S. L., & Simons, D. J. (2003). Moving and looming stimuli capture attention. Perception & Psychophysics, 65, 999–1010.
Ivanoff, J., & Klein, R. M. (2003). Orienting of attention without awareness is affected by measurement-induced attentional control settings. Journal of Vision, 3, 32–40.
Jonides, J. (1981). Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind’s eye’s movements. In J. B. Long & A. D. Baddeley (Eds.), Attention and performance IX (pp. 187–203). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Joseph, J. S., Chun, M. M., & Nakayama, K. (1997). Attentional requirements in a “preattentive” feature search task. Nature, 387, 805–807.
McCormick, P. A. (1997). Orienting attention without awareness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 23, 168–180.
Nieuwenstein, M. R., Chun, M. M., van der Lubbe, R. H. J., & Hooge, I. T. C. (2005). Delayed attentional engagement in the attentional blink. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 31, 1463–1475.
Posner, M. I., Cohen, Y., & Rafal, R. D. (1982). Neural systems control of spatial orienting. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 298, 187–198.
Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., & Arnell, K. M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 18, 849–860.
Remington, R. W., & Folk, C. L. (2001). A dissociation between attention and selection. Psychological Science, 12, 511–515.
Theeuwes, J. (1991). Exogenous and endogenous control of attention: The effect of visual onsets and offsets. Perception & Psychophysics, 49, 83–90.
Theeuwes, J. (1992). Perceptual selectivity for color and form. Perception & Psychophysics, 51, 599–606.
Wee, S., & Chua, F. K. (2004). Capturing attention when attention “blinks”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 30, 598–612.
Yantis, S., & Jonides, J. (1984). Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: Evidence from visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 10, 601–621.
Yantis, S., & Jonides, J. (1990). Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: Voluntary versus automatic allocation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 16, 121–134.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Folk, C.L., Ester, E.F. & Troemel, K. How to keep attention from straying: Get engaged!. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 16, 127–132 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.16.1.127
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.16.1.127