Unique sudden onsets capture attention even when observers are in feature-search mode

• Published in: Psychological research 2012, Vol.76 (1), p.8-19
• Main Authors: Spalek, Thomas M., Yanko, Matthew R., Poiese, Paola, Lagroix, Hayley E. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Attention; Attention - physiology; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Color; Experiments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Original Article; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Perception; Psychological research; Psychology; Psychology Research; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rocket launches; Streams; Vigilance. Attention. Sleep; Vision; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0340-0727; 1430-2772
• DOI: 10.1007/s00426-011-0329-4

Two sources of attentional capture have been proposed: stimulus-driven (exogenous) and goal-oriented (endogenous). A resolution between these modes of capture has not been straightforward. Even such a clearly exogenous event as the sudden onset of a stimulus can be said to capture attention endogenously if observers operate in singleton-detection mode rather than feature-search mode. In four experiments we show that a unique sudden onset captures attention even when observers are in feature-search mode. The displays were rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams of differently coloured letters with the target letter defined by a specific colour. Distractors were four #s, one of the target colour, surrounding one of the non-target letters. Capture was substantially reduced when the onset of the distractor array was not unique because it was preceded by other sets of four grey # arrays in the RSVP stream. This provides unambiguous evidence that attention can be captured both exogenously and endogenously within a single task.