Top-down, bottom-up and selection-history-based control of attention: A failed trichotomy? The case of Priming of pop-out (PoP)

When we search for an object, our performance is strongly influenced by our past experience. In the lab, this influence has been demonstrated by investigating a variety of phenomena, including inter-trial priming, statistical learning and reward history, and collectively referred to as selection history. The resulting findings have led researchers to claim that selection history guides attention, thereby challenging the prevailing dichotomy, according to which attentional priority is determined solely by top-down goals and bottom-up salience. The objective of the present review is to reexamine this claim by evaluating the evidence that specifically pertains to the role of selection history in attentional guidance, rather than in later processes occurring after the target is found. We focus on one selection history phenomenon, priming of pop-out (PoP). After demarcating the conditions under which PoP effects can be dissociated from top-down effects, we review the relevant findings, while distinguishing between the main experimental rationales adopted to address this question. We conclude that despite some inconsistencies that should be resolved by further research, most of the extant empirical evidence does not support the idea that PoP affects attentional priority. We call for similar reevaluations of other selection history phenomena and caution against burying the bottom-up vs. top-down dichotomy too hastily.