Ignored visual context does not induce latent learning

Abstract

People usually become faster at finding a visual target after repeated exposure to the same search display. This effect, known as contextual cueing, is often thought to rely on a highly efficient learning mechanism, relatively unconstrained by the availability of attentional resources. Consistent with this view, experimental evidence suggests that contextual cueing can be found even when participants are instructed to ignore the repeated visual context, although this learning remains latent until the context receives full attention. The present study explores the contribution of selective attention to contextual cueing in four high-powered preregistered experiments. None of them supported the hypothesis that latent learning can occur without selective attention. In general, our results suggest that selective attention to visual context plays an essential role in both the acquisition and the expression of contextual cueing.