Priming of pop-out modulates attentional target selection in visual search: behavioural and electrophysiological evidence.

Previous behavioural studies have shown that the repetition of target or distractor features across trials speeds pop-out visual search. We obtained behavioural and event-related brain potential (ERP) measures in two experiments where participants searched for a colour singleton target among homogeneously coloured distractors. An ERP marker of spatially selective attention (N2pc component) was delayed when either target or distractor colours were swapped across successive trials, demonstrating that intertrial feature priming systematically affects the onset of focal-attentional target processing. Results support the hypothesis that priming of pop-out effects are primarily generated at early perceptual/attentional stages of visual processing. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.