Statistical regularities induce spatial as well as feature-specific suppression.

Failing, Michel; Tobias Feldmann‐Wüstefeld; Wang, Benchi; Olivers, Christian N. L.; Theeuwes, Jan · 2019 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000660

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This study investigates whether the visual system learns to suppress distractors based solely on their spatial location or if this suppression also extends to specific visual features, such as color or shape. While previous research established that recurrent presentation of distractors in specific locations leads to spatially selective attentional suppression, it remained unclear whether this mechanism is feature-agnostic or feature-specific. The authors aimed to disentangle spatial and feature regularities to determine if implicit learning of statistical regularities in visual features contributes to efficient distractor suppression. To address this, the researchers conducted two experiments using a visual search task. Participants searched for a shape or orientation singleton target while ignoring a salient distractor. The experimental design introduced two high-probability locations, each associated with a different distractor feature. In Experiment 1, a red distractor was more likely to appear in one location, while a green distractor was more likely to appear in another. Experiment 2 varied distractors across feature dimensions, with color distractors biased toward one location and shape distractors toward another. This design allowed the authors to compare suppression effects when a distractor appeared in its matching high-probability location versus a mismatching high-probability location or a low-probability location. The results demonstrated that attentional suppression is driven by both spatial and feature-specific regularities. In Experiment 1, response times were fastest when a distractor appeared in the location where its specific feature was most probable (feature match), compared to when it appeared in the high-probability location of the other feature (feature mismatch) or in low-probability locations. This indicates that suppression was stronger when the distractor’s feature matched the statistical regularity of its location. Furthermore, analysis of distractor-absent trials revealed that target processing was impaired at both high-probability locations, confirming spatial suppression. However, the magnitude of suppression varied based on feature congruency. Experiment 2 showed that feature-specific suppression occurred within a feature dimension (e.g., color) but did not spread across different dimensions (e.g., color to shape). These findings conclude that the visual system utilizes complex statistical regularities to optimize cognitive resource distribution. Efficient distractor suppression is not merely spatial but is refined by implicit learning of feature-specific associations. This suggests that attentional control mechanisms are flexible, allowing the brain to suppress specific features at specific locations based on learned environmental regularities, thereby minimizing interference from irrelevant stimuli.

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• visual search