Region-based shielding of visual search from salient distractors: Target detection is impaired with same- but not different-dimension distractors

Sauter, Marian; Liesefeld, Heinrich R.; Zehetleitner, Michael; Müller, Hermann J. · 2018 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1477-4

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Summary

This study investigates the mechanisms underlying "probability cueing," a phenomenon where observers learn to suppress interference from salient distractors that consistently appear in specific display regions. The authors sought to determine whether this learned suppression operates at the level of spatial location, specific features, or visual dimensions. Specifically, they tested whether the efficiency of shielding visual search depends on whether the distractor and target are defined by the same visual dimension (e.g., both orientation) or different dimensions (e.g., orientation target vs. color distractor). The researchers conducted experiments with 184 participants using a visual search task. Participants searched for a slightly tilted target bar among vertical nontargets. In half of the trials, a salient distractor appeared, occurring with 90% probability in one semicircular region (frequent) and 10% in the other (rare). The study employed a between-subjects design comparing two conditions: a "same-dimension" condition where the distractor was a horizontal bar (orientation-defined), and a "different-dimension" condition where the distractor was a red bar (color-defined). The authors analyzed reaction times to determine if learning the distractor distribution improved search efficiency and whether this learning inadvertently impaired target processing in the frequent-distractor region. The results confirmed a qualitative difference between the two conditions. In the different-dimension condition, observers successfully reduced distractor interference in the frequent region without impairing target detection; this suggests that suppression occurred by down-weighting the distractor-defining dimension (color), leaving the target-defining dimension (orientation) unaffected. Conversely, in the same-dimension condition, while distractor interference was reduced, target detection was significantly impaired when the target appeared in the frequent-distractor region, even on trials where no distractor was present. This indicates that when targets and distractors share a dimension, observers cannot selectively suppress the distractor feature without affecting the target. Instead, they likely inhibit the entire frequent region on the master saliency map, which suppresses both distractor and target signals. These findings support the Dimension-Weighting Account of visual search, suggesting that nonspatial selection is primarily dimension-based rather than feature-based. The study demonstrates that the functional architecture of search guidance adapts its suppression strategy based on dimensional relationships. When dimensional separation allows for selective down-weighting, search is shielded efficiently. However, when such separation is impossible, the system resorts to broader spatial inhibition on the master saliency map, which carries the cost of impaired target processing in suppressed regions. This clarifies the limits of learned distractor suppression and highlights the trade-offs inherent in the visual system’s attentional mechanisms.

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Topics

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• visual search
• inattentional change blindness
• attention selective divided