Overriding auditory attentional capture

Dalton, Polly; Lavie, Nilli · 2007 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/bf03193739

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Summary

This study investigates whether auditory attentional capture (AC) by irrelevant feature singletons is an involuntary, stimulus-driven process or if it depends on the observer’s attentional strategy, similar to findings in visual search. Previous research established that irrelevant auditory singletons (e.g., high-intensity sounds) interfere with search tasks when the target is a unique feature singleton. The authors hypothesized that this interference would be eliminated if participants were forced to adopt a "feature search" strategy rather than a "singleton detection" strategy, thereby challenging the view that hearing acts as an automatic early warning system tuned to all unique stimuli. The researchers conducted four experiments using sequential auditory search arrays. Participants searched for target sounds defined by frequency and responded based on the target’s duration. In Experiment 1, targets were reliable frequency singletons against a homogeneous background, allowing a singleton detection strategy. Results showed significant reaction time (RT) interference when an irrelevant high-intensity singleton was present, replicating prior findings of auditory AC. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated the search strategy to prevent singleton detection. In Experiment 2, nontargets were made heterogeneous (mixed frequencies), removing the target’s status as a unique singleton. In Experiment 3, trials included either one or two targets, preventing the target from being a reliable singleton. In both experiments, the interference effect caused by the irrelevant high-intensity singleton was eliminated. Reaction times did not differ significantly between singleton-present and singleton-absent conditions, despite comparable overall task difficulty. The findings demonstrate that auditory attentional capture by irrelevant singletons is not automatic but is contingent on the attentional set adopted by the listener. Specifically, capture occurs only when the search strategy allows for singleton detection (i.e., when the target is a unique feature). When the target is not a singleton, forcing a feature-based search strategy, the irrelevant distractor fails to capture attention. This parallels visual search literature, where AC by color singletons is eliminated when the target is not a color singleton. The significance of these results lies in refining theories of auditory attention. The study contradicts the notion that the auditory system is inherently more susceptible to involuntary capture than vision due to its role as an early warning system. Instead, it shows that auditory AC is strategy-dependent, just like visual AC. This implies that listeners can override capture by irrelevant unique stimuli if their attentional set is directed toward specific features rather than general uniqueness. The results support a unified model of attentional capture across sensory modalities, where top-down control via search strategy determines whether bottom-up singleton features disrupt processing.

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Topics

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• attention selective divided
• auditory
• inattentional change blindness
• multisensory crossmodal
• visual search