Global enhancement of target color—not proactive suppression—explains attentional deployment during visual search.

Oxner, Matt; Martinović, Jasna; Forschack, Norman; Lempe, Romy; Gundlach, Christopher; Müller, Matthias M. · 2023 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1037/xge0001350

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Summary

This study investigates the mechanism underlying attentional deployment during visual search, specifically addressing the debate between "proactive suppression" of distractors and "global feature enhancement" of targets. The Signal Suppression Hypothesis (SSH) posits that observers proactively inhibit task-irrelevant salient distractors via top-down mechanisms. This claim is primarily supported by the "putative distractor suppression effect" (PDSE) in capture-probe tasks, where recall of probes superimposed on singleton distractors is lower than on nonsingleton fillers. The authors argue that this effect is better explained by global facilitation of the target’s features, which enhances attention to fillers sharing those features, rather than active suppression of the distractor. To test this, the researchers conducted five experiments using a capture-probe dual-task design. Participants performed a visual search task to locate a target shape while ignoring distractors. On probe trials, letters were superimposed on the search items, and participants recalled them. The critical manipulation involved varying the color of the nonsingleton fillers relative to the target color. In standard conditions, fillers matched the target color (green), while the singleton distractor was a distinct color (e.g., orange or red). The authors introduced conditions where fillers were either mixed colors or a single color distinct from both the target and the singleton. This design allowed them to isolate whether the reduced recall of singleton distractors was due to suppression of the distractor or enhanced recall of target-colored fillers. The results replicated the PDSE only when fillers matched the target color, showing significantly higher probe recall for green fillers compared to the singleton distractor. However, when filler colors were changed to be distinct from the target (mixed or blue), the recall advantage for fillers disappeared. In these conditions, the relative "suppression" of the singleton was abolished or even reversed, with singleton recall sometimes exceeding filler recall. Further experiments manipulating the color similarity between targets and fillers demonstrated that filler probe recall was graded as a function of this similarity. Singleton distractor recall remained relatively stable across conditions, indicating that the observed differences were driven by fluctuations in filler attention rather than changes in distractor suppression. The findings challenge the validity of proactive distractor suppression as a fundamental perceptual mechanism. The authors conclude that the PDSE is an artifact of global target feature enhancement, which boosts attention to items sharing the target’s features. Because previous studies used fillers that matched the target color, they inadvertently created a baseline shift that made distractors appear suppressed. The study implies that attentional deployment in visual search is driven by the enhancement of target-relevant features rather than the proactive inhibition of distractors, calling for a reevaluation of evidence supporting the Signal Suppression Hypthesis.

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Topics

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• visual search
• attention selective divided
• inattentional change blindness