Different factors are known to improve resolution of target-distractor conflict. When information about the location of the impending target is given, for example in the form of a cue preceding the task, saccade deviation towards the distractor is reduced, and becomes deviation away, which suggests that spatial attention to the target location allows other locations to be inhibited more effectively (Al-Aidroos & Pratt,
2010; Walker, McSorley, & Haggard,
2006). A similar effect has been demonstrated for information about the location of the distractor. If a cue indicates that a distractor will probably appear at a certain location, saccades deviate away from that location, even if no distractor actually appears, which suggests that the process of spatial inhibition can begin before the onset of distraction (Van der Stigchel & Theeuwes,
2006). If the target and the distractor are of different colors, deviation towards the distractor is reduced compared to when it is the same color as the target (Al-Aidroos & Pratt,
2010; Ludwig & Gilchrist,
2003; Mulckhuyse, Van der Stigchel, & Theeuwes,
2009). This finding has been taken as evidence of the deployment of an attentional control set (Folk, Remington, & Johnston,
1992; Folk, Remington, & Wright,
1994) to inhibit items that do not match target features. Finally, in experiments involving both distractor-present and distractor-absent trials, saccades are more likely to land on target if the participant knows in advance that the trial will involve a distractor (Moher, Abrams, Egeth, Yantis, & Stuphorn,
2011).