Priming of Pop-out provides reliable measures of target activation and distractor inhibition in selective attention

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated a striking role for intertrial priming in visual search. When searching for a discrepant target, repetition of the target feature speeds search, an effect known as Priming of Pop-out (PoP). In two experiments involving color singletons, we identified two independent components of PoP, target activation and distractor inhibition. Each component was reflected by two measures, a repetition benefit and a switching cost, that were highly correlated. Large individual differences on each component were observed and persisted when test and retest were separated by one week. The results suggest that PoP may be a reliable tool for assessing individual differences on target activation and distractor inhibition in selective attention.