Covert attention is attracted to prior target locations: Evidence from the probe paradigm

Talcott, Travis N.; Levy, Alyssa P.; Gaspelin, Nicholas · 2022 · Attention Perception & Psychophysics

DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02462-x

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Summary

This study investigates whether intertrial location priming—the phenomenon where attention is drawn to the location of a target from the previous trial—reflects a genuine bias in covert visual attention or merely postperceptual response facilitation. Previous research relying on manual reaction times has been challenged by evidence suggesting that faster responses on repeat-location trials may result from inhibited attentional allocation to the previous location, with speed gains occurring only after target detection. To resolve this ambiguity, the authors employed a modified capture-probe paradigm to directly measure covert attentional allocation, independent of motor response stages. The experimental design involved participants performing a visual search task where they identified a specific target shape among distractors and indicated the location of a dot within it. Eye movements were strictly monitored and prohibited to ensure covert attention was the sole mechanism under investigation. Crucially, the task included infrequent "probe trials" where letters briefly appeared at all search locations. Participants were then asked to recall these letters. Accuracy in reporting these letters served as an index of attentional resources allocated to each location. The study manipulated whether the current target appeared at the same location as the previous trial’s target (repeat-location) or a different location (change-location), allowing researchers to assess if attention was biased toward the previously attended location even when it currently contained a distractor. The results from three experiments consistently supported the hypothesis that covert attention is attracted to prior target locations. On probe trials, participants demonstrated significantly higher report accuracy for letters appearing at the location of the previous trial’s target compared to nonprimed distractor locations. This effect persisted even when the current target was strongly defined by shape, indicating that location priming can override explicit top-down attentional goals. Furthermore, the attentional bias was observed even when the primed location contained a distractor rather than the current target, confirming that the effect is not limited to enhancing target processing but involves a general attraction of attention to the previous location. The magnitude of this priming effect was also shown to depend on the nature of the preceding trial, being stronger after search trials than after probe trials. These findings provide robust evidence that intertrial location priming involves a genuine shift in covert attentional priority toward previously attended locations, rather than solely reflecting postperceptual response facilitation. The study demonstrates that selection history significantly guides visual attention, attracting it to prior target locations even in the presence of strong goal-driven attentional sets. This clarifies the mechanism behind location priming, supporting models of visual attention that incorporate associative memory and selection history as key drivers of attentional allocation.

Key finding

Covert visual attention is automatically attracted to the location of the target from the previous trial, as evidenced by enhanced probe report accuracy at primed locations independent of eye movements or response facilitation.

Methodology

lab_experiment

Sample size: 24

Provenance

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

Topics

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• attention selective divided
• inattentional change blindness
• visual search