Work

Dynamic suppression of likely distractor locations: Task-critical modulation

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: When a distractor frequently appears in a certain region of a search display, it interferes less with performance, reflecting learned distractor suppression. While this effect is well established, it remains unknown whether this suppression is ongoing (tonic) or deactivated upon task completion (phasic). To address this, the present eye-tracking study examined the time course of distractor suppression. Participants searched for and compared two targets to determine whether to make a response or withhold responding (“No-go” trials). The No-go trials allowed observation of post-decision suppression via eye movements. Response-critical target features either remained present for the whole trial (Experiment 1) or were removed halfway through (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, distractors in the frequent region were substantially less likely to attract eye movements, including after inspection of both targets. However, in Experiment 2, the post-target distractor-region effect disappeared when the response-critical information was removed, indicating that suppression operates phasically and flexibly.

Source: Visual Cognition

DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2024.2393467

Authors: Fredrik Allenmark, Miloš Stanković, Hermann J. Müller, Zhuanghua Shi

Institutions: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Regensburg

Language: English

Topic: Visual Attention and Saliency Detection

Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Award: G1010279995