Attention and Performance

Pashler, Harold; Johnston, James C.; Ruthruff, Eric · 2001 · Annual Review of Psychology

DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.629

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Summary

This review paper examines recent progress in the study of attention and performance, focusing on two central themes: the nature of attentional control and the effects of practice. The authors challenge traditional views of automaticity, arguing that top-down cognitive control is more pervasive than previously suspected, while automatic, stimulus-driven processes are less robust. The review synthesizes findings from dual-task interference, psychological refractory periods, task switching, and attentional capture to propose a revised understanding of how mental sets and voluntary goals govern performance. Regarding attentional control, the paper critiques the long-held distinction between voluntary (endogenous) and reflexive (exogenous) attention. Traditional theories posited that certain stimulus properties, such as abrupt onsets or spatial singletons, automatically capture attention in a bottom-up, involuntary manner. However, recent research supports the "contingent orienting" hypothesis, which asserts that even reflexive attention capture is contingent on the observer’s voluntary task set. For instance, abrupt-onset distractors capture attention only when subjects are searching for abrupt-onset targets; if subjects search for color targets, abrupt onsets do not capture attention. This indicates that attentional control settings are determined by cognitive goals, and stimulus-driven capture is merely an automatic execution of those pre-set goals. Consequently, the boundary between voluntary and involuntary attention is blurred, with top-down processes exerting significant influence over seemingly automatic responses. The review also addresses task switching and the effects of practice. In task switching, the authors highlight the "switch cost"—the performance penalty incurred when changing tasks. They note that while early research suggested switch costs were purely top-down, recent findings indicate that residual switch costs are influenced by bottom-up, stimulus-driven processes, such as the carryover of activation from previous trials. Regarding practice, the authors argue that its effects are less dramatic than commonly believed. While practice improves performance, it rarely leads to true automaticity in the strongest sense, where operations become completely independent of attentional resources. Instead, practice often refines the efficiency of controlled processes rather than eliminating the need for control. The locus of practice effects appears to be tied to learning operations triggered by actual task performance, rather than mere anticipation. In conclusion, the paper suggests a paradigm shift in the field of attention and performance. The findings imply that mental set and voluntary control are more pervasive and influential than earlier models of automaticity allowed. Automaticity is shown to be less robust, with many processes previously thought to be involuntary actually being governed by top-down goals. This re-evaluation has broad implications for understanding the architecture of the human mind, suggesting that cognitive control is deeply integrated into even the most basic perceptual and motor operations. The review underscores the importance of considering the interaction between top-down goals and bottom-up stimuli, rather than treating them as separate modes of control.

Key finding

Involuntary attention capture is contingent on the match between distractor properties and the observer's voluntary task set, indicating that top-down control is more pervasive than previously assumed.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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

• attention selective divided
• task switching
• executive function
• automaticity skill acquisition