Dynamic competition between selective attention and spatial prediction during visual search

Abstract

During visual search, we rely on both selective attention and spatial predictions to guide our behavior. However, whether and how these mechanisms interact is largely unclear. Using a contextual cueing paradigm, we investigated whether learning and exploitation of spatial predictive context can occur outside attentional focus. Repeating search scenes enabled distractor context to serve as a contextual cue predicting target location. Participants searched for a target among distractors in two colors: the same as the target-to-be-searched (attended context) or a different color (ignored context). Halfway through the experiments, we changed the target color, thereby altering the attentional status of distractor contexts while maintaining their spatial predictiveness. In Experiment 1, where participants regularly switched between target colors, we found exploitation of spatial predictive context both within and outside attentional focus. However, in Experiment 2, where attention was more stably focused on one target color, only the attended predictive context was exploited before transfer. Intriguingly, after transfer, previously ignored predictive context showed immediate benefits, revealing latent learning. These findings demonstrate a dynamic competition between selective attention and spatial predictions: while learning occurs independently of attention, exploitation may require attentional selection. Our results suggest that selective attention gates the influence of spatial predictions on behavior, with gating strength determined by the stability of attentional control. Significance statementThis research addresses a fundamental question in cognitive science: can we learn from visual information we are not paying attention to? Our findings reveal a dynamic competition between selective attention and spatial prediction that can explain conflicting findings in the literature. We demonstrate that specifically the ability to exploit predictive spatial context depends critically on attentional stability. When required to flexibly switch attentional sets, we can benefit from both attended and unattended predictive information. However, when attention remains focused, unattended information is learned, but only becomes accessible when it is part of our attentional focus. These results reveal that the filtering operation of selective attention and the utilization of spatial prediction during visual search may actually compete dynamically, with selective attention ultimately constraining predictions influence on behavior. This advances our understanding of how these fundamental cognitive mechanisms interact under competition.