Probability cueing of distractor locations: both intertrial facilitation and statistical learning mediate interference reduction

Goschy, Harriet; Bakos, Sarolta; ller, Hermann J. MÃ ⁄; Zehetleitner, Michael · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01195

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Summary

This study investigates whether "probability cueing"—the phenomenon where observers exploit uneven spatial distributions to enhance performance—applies to distractor locations, thereby reducing interference from salient, task-irrelevant stimuli. While previous research established that targets appearing in probable regions are detected faster, it remained unclear if observers could similarly learn to suppress distractors in frequent locations. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms of this effect were debated: whether they stem from statistical learning (long-term formation of stimulus expectancies) or intertrial facilitation (short-term priming from consecutive position repetitions). The authors aimed to resolve these questions by determining if distractor probability cueing exists in efficient visual search tasks and identifying the specific mechanisms mediating interference reduction. To address these questions, the researchers conducted three visual search experiments using an "additional singleton" paradigm. Participants searched for an orientation-defined target among non-targets, with a salient, color-defined distractor present on half of the trials. Experiment 1 established the basic effect by manipulating distractor frequency across broad hemifields (left/right or top/bottom), with distractors appearing 90% of the time in the frequent area and 10% in the rare area. Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to disentangle the contributions of intertrial facilitation and statistical learning. Specifically, Experiment 3 excluded distractor position repetitions to test if statistical learning could occur independently of short-term priming. Response times (RTs) served as the primary measure of interference, calculated as the difference between distractor-present and distractor-absent trials. The results demonstrated that observers successfully utilized uneven distractor distributions to reduce interference. In Experiment 1, distractors appearing in frequent locations caused significantly less RT slowing (33 ms) compared to those in rare locations (79 ms). This reduction in interference occurred regardless of whether participants were consciously aware of the probability distribution, indicating that the effect does not rely on explicit knowledge. Crucially, Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that both intertrial facilitation and statistical learning contribute to this probability cueing effect. Even when distractor position repetitions were experimentally excluded, statistical learning still mediated interference reduction, confirming that the effect is not solely driven by short-term priming. These findings expand the understanding of attentional control by showing that probability cueing serves not only to facilitate target detection but also to shield likely distractor locations. The study confirms that observers can implicitly learn statistical regularities regarding distractor positions to minimize interference, independent of whether the distractor repeats its position from the previous trial. This suggests that attentional systems adaptively suppress probable distractor locations through both short-term priming and long-term statistical learning, providing a robust mechanism for managing distraction in complex visual environments.

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• visual search