Attentional capture and aging: Implications for visual search performance and oculomotor control

Arthur F. Kramer, Sowon Hahn, David E. Irwin, Jan Theeuwes
1999 Psychology and Aging  
Two studies examined potential age-related differences in attentional capture. Subjects were instructed to move their eyes as quickly as possible to a color singleton target and to identify a small letter located inside it. On half the trials, a new stimulus (i.e., a sudden onset) appeared simultaneously with the presentation of the color singleton target. The onset was always a task-irrelevant distractor. Response times were lengthened, for both young and old adults, whenever an onset
more » ... r appeared, despite the fact that subjects reported being unaware of the appearance of the abrupt onset. Eye scan strategies were also disrupted by the appearance of the onset distractors. On about 40% of the trials on which an onset appeared, subjects made an eye movement to the task-irrelevant onset before moving their eyes to the target. Fixations close to the onset were brief, suggesting parallel programming of a reflexive eye movement to the onset and goal-directed eye movement to the target. Results are discussed in terms of age-related sparing of the attentional and oculomotor processes that underlie attentional capture. The interaction of top-down or goal-directed and bottom-up or stimulus-driven influences on attentional control has become a central issue in the study of visual attention (Martin-Emerson & Kramer, 1997; Theeuwes, 1995; Yantis, 1996) . When driving an automobile in unfamiliar surroundings, people spend a great deal of time intentionally directing their attention to other automobiles, pedestrians, and features of the roadway that are important to the task of driving. However, salient features of the environment, such as a brightly flashing neon sign on the side of the roadway or a loud and abrupt protestation from one of two children sitting in the backseat arguing about a favorite toy, also appear to grab or capture people's attention regardless of the intention to attend to these events. Indeed, the stimulus-driven capture of attention can have a positive influence on the task at hand, such as the sound of squealing tires alerting a driver to a potential accident ahead. However, attentional capture can also have negative consequences such as in the example above in which the driver is attending to the bright roadway sign rather than other automobiles. Analogs of these situations, that is, settings in which positive and negative consequences are realized with attentional capture, have been examined in the laboratory.
doi:10.1037//0882-7974.14.1.135 pmid:10224638 fatcat:2w47o64emjd65auwebvlohmaga