Exploring Attentional Capture: Depth of Processing Distractors
Sonia Pathak, Divya Shettigar
Department of Psychology
Faculty Supervisor: Ezequiel Morsella
In this study, we investigate the limits of executive function through a cognitive control task that involves distractor interference. Research in attentional capture reveals a tendency for attention to be attracted to visually salient, unique “pop out” stimuli. This tendency interferes in visual search tasks (Theeuwes, 1992). We hypothesize that the “pop out” distractor stimuli are processed quite deeply. In a variant of a visual search task (Theeuwes, 1992), participants were instructed to find a target stimulus (e.g., a green circle) amongst other stimuli (e.g., green squares), including a single “pop-out” distractor (e.g., a red square). Inside each shape, there is an arithmetic stimulus (e.g., 3 + 1). In the critical experimental conditions, the answers of the arithmetic problems of the distractor and target stimuli will either match or mismatch. A match would be when the target presents, for example, “3 + 2,” and the distractor presents “4 + 1.” We have found that the distractor conditions result in longer reaction times compared to the neutral condition, and that there is a significant difference in reaction time between the match and mismatch conditions.