Rapid disengagement through statistical learning of distractor–target spatial associations.

Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance, vol. 52, pp. 115–127

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that attentional selection is biased toward locations likely to contain a target and away from those likely to contain a distractor. These biases are thought to arise from statistical learning, which adjusts weights within a spatial priority map to optimize attentional selection. While prior work has shown statistical learning based on across-trial probabilities, it remains unclear whether individuals can learn associations between distractor and target locations within a given trial. To investigate this, two experiments employed the additional singleton paradigm, in which, sometimes, the location of the distractor predicted the location of the target. Results from Experiment 1 revealed that participants responded faster when the distractor appeared at a location predictive of the target, suggesting successful learning of the within-trial association. Experiment 2, which incorporated eye-tracking, showed that this benefit was not because of proactive suppression, but instead driven by faster disengagement from the distractor, as reflected in reduced dwell times. These findings demonstrate a novel form of statistical learning based on within-trial spatial associations. They also indicate that the spatial priority map can be dynamically updated following attentional selection, a process potentially reinforced by the execution of a motor response. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Authors 2

1. Junjie Huang Aachen Department of Cognitive Psychology Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

2. Manon Mulckhuyse Aachen Department of Cognitive Psychology Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University