2. Attention is spontaneously biased
toward regularities
Zhao, J., Al-Aidroos, N., & Turk-Browne, N. B. (2013).
Psychological Science. Advance online publication.
doi: 10.1177/0956797612460407.
3. Take-Home Message
Regularities or statistical learning, even task-
irrelevant, influence the allocation of spatial and
feature attention.
4. Attention to Regularities
• The mind extracts regularities in the environment to interact
with the environment more efficiently via statistical learning
• Conjectures:
– Structured sources of information receive attentional priority in the
context of other, noisier sources of information
– Attention is biased by regularities even when they do not provide
information that is helpful for performance
6. Method
• 25 participants
• Visual search task
• Structured/Random shape stream in
different locations
• Each shape repeated 50 times
(1 for left; 0 for right)
7. • Test for sensitivity to regularities
– 2AFC test
– Triplet versus Foil
– 3 triplets x 3 foils x 2 repetitions
• Debriefing
– Had you noticed any regularities? Which location?
– Did you use a strategy of attending to a specific location? Which
location?
Method (cont’)
(1000 ms pause)
8. Results
• Statistical learning occurred
– Triplets were chosen over foils on 54%
• Target-discrimination RTs:
– Target in structured < Target in random
• Debriefing:
– 7 participants reported noticing regularities
– Only 1 of them correctly identified which
location contained regularities
Attention is biased toward locations of
regularities
10. Method
• 20 new participants
• Visual search task
• Structured/Random shape stream in
different colors
• Each shape repeated 40 times
• 2AFC test
• Debriefing
(1 for left; 0 for right)
11. Results
• Statistical learning occurred
– Triplets were chosen over foils on 61.1%
• Target-discrimination RTs:
– Target in structured < Target in random
• Main effect in singleton type
• Significant interaction
– Greater capture for the structured color
• Debriefing:
– 6 participants reported noticing
regularities
– Only 2 of them correctly identified
which location contained regularities
Attention is biased toward colors of
regularities, even though shape streams
were task irrelevant
2 (singleton type: target/distractor) X 2 (singleton color: structured/random) ANOVA
12. EXPERIMENT 3
Whether temporal regularities in a feature dimension
enhance capture by singleton in that feature dimension
13. Method
• 30 new participants
• Structured/Random line stream in different dimensions
• Each line repeated 60 times
• 2AFC test and Debriefing
(Between group)
14. Results
• Statistical learning occurred
– Triplets were chosen over foils on
66.3% (color) and 72.6% (orientation)
• Debriefing: (for both group)
– 6 participants reported noticing
regularities
– Only 2 of them correctly identified
which location contained regularities
Attention is biased toward feature
dimension that contains regularities
2 (group: color/orientation) X 2 (singleton type: target/distractor) X 2 (singleton dimension: color/orientation) ANOVA
Greater attentional capture for
singleton in the structured dimension
15. General Discussion
• Across three experiments, locations and features embedded
in temporal regularities received attentional priority in visual
search
• Interpretation: Implicit attentional bias for regularities during
statistical learning
16. General Discussion
1. Explainations
– Randomness
When attempts to learn in random
streams failed, attention may have
redirected to other streams, eventually
settling on the structured stream
– Structure
Regularities matched priority
experience attracted attention
2. Attention and learning interact in a closed-loop manner
3. Is prioritization of regularities stimulus-driven/goal-directed?
18. C
O OC
OC
D
T
D
T
OC
OC
Greater attentional capture for
singleton in the structured dimension
Main effect in singleton dimensionColor group > Orientation group
Main effect in singleton type
