Perceptual integration modulates dissociable components of experience-driven attention.

To interact efficiently with the visual environment, one perceptually integrates fragmented visual inputs into complete units. Another approach is to rely on previous experience to determine what should receive attention and what should be discarded. While both perceptual integration and learning experiences have been found to influence attentional selection, the interaction between these processes remains unexplored. The present study investigated whether perceptual integration modulates the effects of learning experiences on attentional selection using experiments, in which colors were associated either with a reward or a search target. During this association phase, stimuli featuring those colors either did or did not form a perceptually integrated object. We found that while stimuli that were previously associated with rewards impaired target processing, stimuli that were related to previous targets facilitated target search. Importantly, perceptual integration magnified the effects of reward-based and search history-based attention. Furthermore, the interaction between perceptual integration and experience-driven attention cannot be attributed solely to the fact that perceptual integration increases stimulus salience. We discuss specific mechanisms by which perceptual integration affects the dissociable components of experience-driven attention.