The size of an attentional window modulates attentional capture by color singletons

Belopolsky, Artem V.; Zwaan, Laura; Theeuwes, Jan; Kramer, Arthur F. · 2007 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/bf03194124

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Summary

This study investigates the conditions under which task-irrelevant color singletons capture attention, addressing a long-standing debate in visual search literature. Previous research presented conflicting views: Theeuwes (1992) argued that salient features always capture attention bottom-up, while Jonides and Yantis (1988) demonstrated that static color singletons do not capture attention if they are irrelevant to the search goal. The authors propose that the size of the observer’s “attentional window” modulates this capture. They hypothesized that when attention is diffused across the entire display, irrelevant color singletons would capture attention, whereas focused attention would prevent such capture. To test this, the researchers employed a visual search task with 14 participants. Participants searched for a target letter (E or H) among distractors arranged in either a 3-element or 9-element triangular display. One letter was always red (the singleton), while the others were green. The experiment manipulated the attentional window through two conditions: a “diffuse attention” condition, where participants had to detect a global shape (an upward-pointing triangle) to initiate search, forcing attention across the whole display; and a “focused attention” condition, where participants monitored a central fixation point (a circle) to initiate search, encouraging focal attention. The target was the unique red letter on only 1/3 or 1/9 of trials, ensuring no top-down incentive to attend to the color singleton. The results revealed a significant three-way interaction between attention condition, target uniqueness, and display size. In the diffuse attention condition, search slopes were significantly shallower when the target was the unique color singleton (16.3 msec/item) compared to when it was nonunique (26.4 msec/item), indicating that attention was frequently captured by the salient distractor. Conversely, in the focused attention condition, search slopes were nearly identical for unique (27.9 msec/item) and nonunique (27.4 msec/item) targets, demonstrating no attentional capture. Error rates did not differ significantly between conditions. These findings suggest that the size of the attentional window is a critical determinant of bottom-up attentional capture. When the attentional window is wide, allowing parallel processing of the visual field, irrelevant salient singletons capture attention regardless of top-down goals. When the window is narrow, restricting processing to a focal area, such capture does not occur. The authors conclude that while the size of the attentional window is under top-down control, selection within that window is driven purely by bottom-up salience. This challenges models proposing distinct “search modes” (e.g., singleton detection vs. feature search), suggesting instead that capture depends on the spatial extent of attentional deployment. The study also offers a neurophysiological explanation, noting that diffusing attention may amplify weak static signals from the periphery, facilitating the detection of color singletons.

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Topics

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• attention selective divided
• inattentional change blindness
• visual search
• useful field of view
• attention