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The capacity limitations of multiple-template visual search during task preparation and target selection
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  • Anna Grubert,
  • Ziyi Wang,
  • Ella Williams,
  • Mikel Jimenez,
  • Roger Remington,
  • Martin Eimer
Anna Grubert
Durham University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ziyi Wang
Durham University
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Ella Williams
Oxford University
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Mikel Jimenez
Durham University
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Roger Remington
University of Minnesota
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Martin Eimer
Birkbeck College, University of London
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Abstract

Visual search is guided by mental representations of target-defining features (attentional templates) that are activated in a preparatory fashion. It remains unknown how many templates can be maintained concurrently, and what kind of costs are associated with multiple-template versus single-template search. Here, we compared the operation of attentional templates during three-colour and single-colour search tasks. Preparatory template activation processes were tracked by measuring N2pc components to task-irrelevant singleton colour probes that appeared in rapid succession during the interval between search displays. These probes attract attention (as indexed by an N2pc) if the corresponding colour template is active at the time when the probe appears. In a three-colour search task where target identity was fully predictable (Experiment 1), only probes that matched the upcoming target colour triggered N2pcs, demonstrating that only a single target template was activated. When three possible colour targets appeared randomly and unpredictably (Experiment 2), probes that matched any of these colours triggered N2pcs, demonstrating that all three templates were activated concurrently. However, relative to a single-colour search task, clear costs emerged in this three-colour task for the attentional guidance towards search targets and for search performance. These costs appear to be linked to inhibitory interactions between simultaneously active search templates. These findings show that while at least three target templates can be maintained in parallel, multiple-template search is still subject to capacity limitations which affect both template-guided attentional guidance and the subsequent selective processing of search targets.
12 Jul 2024Submitted to Psychophysiology
14 Jul 2024Submission Checks Completed
14 Jul 2024Assigned to Editor
14 Jul 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
17 Jul 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
12 Aug 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
21 Sep 20241st Revision Received
23 Sep 2024Submission Checks Completed
23 Sep 2024Assigned to Editor
23 Sep 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
25 Sep 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
19 Oct 2024Editorial Decision: Accept