Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Millsaps College, 1701 N. State St, Jackson, MS, 39210, USA.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2024 Oct;86(7):2251-2261. doi: 10.3758/s13414-024-02941-3. Epub 2024 Aug 28.
A growing body of research suggests that semantic relationships among objects can influence the control of attention. There is also some evidence that learned associations among objects can bias attention. However, it is unclear whether these findings are due to statistical learning or existing semantic relationships. In the present study, we examined whether statistically learned associations among objects can bias attention in the absence of existing semantic relationships. Participants searched for one of four targets among pairs of novel shapes and identified whether the target was present or absent from the display. In an initial training phase, each target was paired with an associated distractor in a fixed spatial configuration. In a subsequent test phase, each target could be paired with the previously associated distractor or a different distractor. In our first experiment, the previously associated distractor was always presented in the same pair as the target. Participants were faster to respond when this distractor was present on target-present trials. In our second experiment, the previously associated distractor was presented in a different pair than the target in the test phase. In this case, participants were slower to respond when this distractor was present on both target-present and target-absent trials. Together, these findings provide clear evidence that statistically learned associations among objects can bias attention, analogous to the effects of semantic relationships on attention.
越来越多的研究表明，物体之间的语义关系会影响注意力的控制。也有一些证据表明，物体之间习得的联想会使注意力产生偏差。然而，目前还不清楚这些发现是由于统计学习还是现有的语义关系造成的。在本研究中，我们考察了在不存在现有语义关系的情况下，统计学习到的物体之间的联想是否会使注意力产生偏差。参与者在一对新形状中搜索四个目标中的一个，并确定目标是否存在于显示中。在初始训练阶段，每个目标都与一个固定空间配置中的相关干扰项配对。在随后的测试阶段，每个目标可以与之前相关的干扰项或不同的干扰项配对。在我们的第一个实验中，之前相关的干扰项总是与目标一起出现在同一对中。当这个干扰项出现在目标存在的试验中时，参与者的反应速度更快。在我们的第二个实验中，在测试阶段，之前相关的干扰项与目标出现在不同的对中。在这种情况下，当这个干扰项出现在目标存在和目标不存在的试验中时，参与者的反应速度较慢。综上所述，这些发现提供了明确的证据，表明物体之间的统计学习到的联想可以使注意力产生偏差，类似于语义关系对注意力的影响。
