Externally Cued and Internally Generated Selection: Differences in Distractor Analysis and Inhibition

In most studies of selective attention, the experimenter informs the participant what the target is and what action is required. For example, participants may be told to name the red drawing. The present study shows that under such conditions of external selection, distractor inhibition is used to e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 1997-12, Vol.23 (6), p.1617-1630
Main Authors: Baylis, Gordon C, Tipper, Steven P, Houghton, George
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Attention
Biological and medical sciences
Choice Behavior
Cognition & reasoning
Cues
Distraction
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Internal External Locus of Control
Male
Perception
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Vision
Visual Perception
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Summary:In most studies of selective attention, the experimenter informs the participant what the target is and what action is required. For example, participants may be told to name the red drawing. The present study shows that under such conditions of external selection, distractor inhibition is used to ensure that selection is efficient. In external selection, analysis of distractors is limited, causing later recognition of distractor items to be poor. In contrast, during real-world selection a person may be confronted with a number of potential targets and may have to decide what will be the target for action. Under these conditions of internal selection, inhibition of distracting information does not occur. Moreover, distractors are more fully analyzed and thus better recognized at a later test.
ISSN:0096-1523
1939-1277
DOI:10.1037/0096-1523.23.6.1617