Can new objects override attentional control settings?

Folk, Charles L.; Remington, Roger · 1999 · Crossref

DOI: 10.3758/bf03205541

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates whether the appearance of new perceptual objects can override top-down attentional control settings, challenging the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis. Previous research established that attentional capture by abrupt onsets is contingent on the observer’s current attentional set (e.g., searching for onset vs. color). However, conflicting evidence suggested that new objects might exert purely stimulus-driven control, capturing attention regardless of top-down goals. The authors aimed to determine if new objects possess this overriding power or if their capture is also subject to top-down modulation. The researchers conducted experiments using a modified spatial cuing paradigm. Participants searched for targets defined either by abrupt onset (luminance change) or by color (a red character among white ones). Distractors appeared 150 ms (Experiments 1–2) or 50 ms (Experiment 3) before the target. Two distractor types were used: "old-object" distractors (brightening of an existing box) and "new-object" distractors (appearance of a new box in a previously blank location). Crucially, distractors appeared at the target location on only 20% of trials, ensuring that any attentional shifts were involuntary rather than strategic. Response times (RTs) served as the primary measure of attentional capture, with slower RTs for distractors at nontarget locations indicating capture. The results consistently demonstrated that attentional capture was contingent on the target definition. When participants searched for onset targets, both old-object and new-object distractors produced significant capture effects, evidenced by slower RTs when distractors appeared at nontarget locations. Conversely, when participants searched for color targets, neither distractor type produced capture; RTs did not differ significantly based on distractor location or object status. Experiment 2 confirmed these findings by keeping the distractor on screen until response, ruling out rapid recovery from capture as an explanation for the lack of effect in the color condition. Experiment 3 further ruled out rapid recovery by reducing the stimulus onset asynchrony to 50 ms, yet still found no capture by new objects when the attentional set was for color. The study concludes that attentional capture by new objects is subject to top-down modulation by attentional control settings, just like capture by abrupt onsets. This finding supports the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis, which posits that all attentional capture is ultimately dependent on the observer’s current goals. The results refute the claim that new objects can override top-down sets to produce purely stimulus-driven shifts in attention. Instead, the formation of a new object file does not guarantee capture if the object does not match the feature property specified by the attentional set.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• inattentional change blindness
• attention selective divided
• visual search