Irrelevant singletons capture attention: Evidence from inhibition of return

Abstract

Previous research has shown that a salient feature singleton may capture attention in a stimulus-driven, bottom-up fashion (e.g., Theeuwes, 1992, 1994b). This conclusion has been challenged by others claiming that the observed attentional capture by irrelevant singletons may not be stimulus driven but due to top-down attentional control settings and/or nonspatial filtering costs. In the present study, we show that inhibition of return (IOR) occurs at the location of an irrelevant singleton. Participants were slower to detect a target presented at the location of the irrelevant singleton, relative to other locations. Since IOR can be observed only as a result of an exogenous, stimulus-driven shift of spatial attention, it is unlikely that top-down control settings and/or nonspatial filtering costs played a role. In line with earlier claims, the present findings provide strong evidence that salient singletons capture spatial attention in a purely bottom-up way.