Preparation and persistence of deploying attention to locations or stimulus structures
Subtitle
Evidence from intermixed probe trials
Publication date
2024-05-24
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
ISSN
Series or journal
Acta Psychologica
Periodical volume
245
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Keyword
Global/local processing
Selective attention
Task preparation
Abstract
Attention can be directed to the global or local level of a visual stimulus (i.e., Navon figure). Previous studies yielded reliable trial-to-trial level switch costs (i.e., worse performance when responding to the other level than on a previous trial), even though level cueing effects indicated anticipatory deployment of attention to the upcoming target level. To investigate the interplay of attentional preparation and persistence, we applied a probe trial method assumed to ensure a high degree of preparation for the upcoming target level and minimizing stimulus-specific proactive interference. Mirroring previous findings obtained in the domain of spatial attention, we found evidence for anticipatory attentional focusing on global/local target levels but not for persistence of the attentional set adopted on the previous trial. In a second experiment, we prevented preparation for upcoming attentional demands (in both global-local and spatial attention tasks). This resulted in the modulation of performance (in critical probe trials) by the attentional demands of the predecessor trial. Together, our findings demonstrate sensitivity of the probe trial method for attentional persistence and raise the possibility that such persistence can be completely eliminated by sufficiently strong preparation for the attentional demands of the following trial.
Version
Published version
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