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From Capture to Control: Initial Capture Increases Learned Suppression

delete2026-03-18
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OA
AI
Y
Yue Zhang
N
Nicholas Gaspelin
DOI:10.1177/09567976261430288delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
<jats:p> Salient stimuli have the potential to distract us from our immediate goals. Much research has therefore aimed to understand how we learn to use attention to resist distraction by salient stimuli. We propose a new hypothesis whereby an initial instance of distraction can improve future suppression of salient stimuli. Across three experiments ( <jats:italic toggle="yes">N</jats:italic> = 120 college students, aged 18–35 years), we provide evidence for this hypothesis using a new eye-tracking approach. The results demonstrated that an initial instance of distraction occurred before salient distractors were suppressed. Notably, if this initial instance of distraction was eliminated or weakened via experimental manipulations, learned suppression of the distracting stimuli was greatly reduced. Together, these findings suggest that attentional capture can serve as a learning signal that improves future attentional control. They also indicate that learned suppression emerges rapidly, which has strong implications for models of attention and cognitive control. </jats:p>
Keywords:
attentional capture
attentional control
learned suppression
distraction
eye-tracking

Journal

Psychological Science cover
Psychological Science
IF:
5.1
Papers:
164
Citations:
3.4W

Organization

U
university of missouri
Scholars:
1.2K
Papers: 565
Citations: 0