Abstract
The introduction of an abrupt sudden-onset to a goal-directed task may result in at least partially automatic attentional capture, though its occurrence will be more probable when the sudden-onsets occur rarely (Neo & Chua, 2006), and the cognitive load is low (Lavie, 2005). Yantis and Jonides (1990) measured sudden-onset attentional capture, and concluded that capture is modulated according to the level of focus the observer has on a particular task. Attentional capture was stated to be lessened by informative central cues that draw the observer's attention towards the primary goal. Through 6 experiments, this study investigated the impact of cognitive load and the rarity of sudden-onsets on attentional capture. Results showed that …show more content…
Determining the causes of stimulus-driven attentional capture is important for cognitive research, because by studying its effects (as opposed to goal-directed selection), one can assess levels of automaticity when information is unrelated to the primary focus of the observer (Yantis, 1993). Two ways of measuring attentional capture are by varying the cue validity of each experiment (Yantis & Jonides, 1990), as well as changing the frequency of the sudden-onset (Neo & Chua, …show more content…
Overall, when comparing experiments where sudden-onsets were present in all trials (Conditions 1, 3, 5) to those where the sudden-onset was presented in only 18.75% trials (Conditions 2, 4, 6), there was a general pattern of greater effect when the sudden-onset was rarer, as per Neo and Chua (2006). The assumption that high loading would result in less attentional capture (Lavie, 2005) was more problematic. Although no significant capture was found in Condition 1, which had no informative central cue (i.e. the highest loading), Condition 3 obtained no significant effect either, despite attention towards the primary goal being deployed in
The introduction of an abrupt sudden-onset to a goal-directed task may result in at least partially automatic attentional capture, though its occurrence will be more probable when the sudden-onsets occur rarely (Neo & Chua, 2006), and the cognitive load is low (Lavie, 2005). Yantis and Jonides (1990) measured sudden-onset attentional capture, and concluded that capture is modulated according to the level of focus the observer has on a particular task. Attentional capture was stated to be lessened by informative central cues that draw the observer's attention towards the primary goal. Through 6 experiments, this study investigated the impact of cognitive load and the rarity of sudden-onsets on attentional capture. Results showed that …show more content…
Determining the causes of stimulus-driven attentional capture is important for cognitive research, because by studying its effects (as opposed to goal-directed selection), one can assess levels of automaticity when information is unrelated to the primary focus of the observer (Yantis, 1993). Two ways of measuring attentional capture are by varying the cue validity of each experiment (Yantis & Jonides, 1990), as well as changing the frequency of the sudden-onset (Neo & Chua, …show more content…
Overall, when comparing experiments where sudden-onsets were present in all trials (Conditions 1, 3, 5) to those where the sudden-onset was presented in only 18.75% trials (Conditions 2, 4, 6), there was a general pattern of greater effect when the sudden-onset was rarer, as per Neo and Chua (2006). The assumption that high loading would result in less attentional capture (Lavie, 2005) was more problematic. Although no significant capture was found in Condition 1, which had no informative central cue (i.e. the highest loading), Condition 3 obtained no significant effect either, despite attention towards the primary goal being deployed in