Attentional Capture Essay

Extensive research has been conducted on attentional mechanisms of the visual system over the recent decades focusing specifically on stimulus-driven attentional capture – an exogenous system of attentional capture by a stimulus that occurs independent of top-down control of the observer, that is, it is irrelevant to the task of the observer. The effect of capture by the stimulus is most powerful when stimulus is a sudden onset - entering the field of view of subject abruptly without priming (Yantis, 2003), (source, year). In passive attentional states, sudden onset stimulus is suggested to be prioritized, capturing attention automatically; however, many hypotheses that perceptual attention is limited in its capacity, and strict endogenous allocation of cognitive resources occur in a focused attentional state (source, year). In a visual search task, this can be stimulated by the use of an informative central cue that endogenously directs attention to a localised spot, bringing observer out of a diffused state, thus the focused attention can endogenously priorities attentional resources, reducing the distractive …show more content…
Another prominent study that contributes to understanding of the factors that influence exogenous control of visual attention was conducted in 2003; based on the findings of Yantis and Jonides, Neo and Chau provides evidence for the hypothesis that the strength of attentional capture by sudden onset is affected by the rarity of the onset, even with a central endogenous