Abstract
Implicit learning about where a visual search target is likely to appear often speeds up search. However, whether implicit learning guides spatial attention or affects post-search decisional processes remains controversial. Using eye tracking, this study provides compelling evidence that implicit learning guides attention. In a training phase, participants often found the target in a high-frequency, "rich" quadrant of the display. When subsequently tested in a phase during which the target was randomly located, participants were twice as likely to direct the first saccadic eye movement to the previously rich quadrant than to any of the sparse quadrants. The attentional bias persisted for nearly 200 trials after training and was unabated by explicit instructions to distribute attention evenly. We propose that implicit learning guides spatial attention but in a qualitatively different manner than goal-driven attention.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014