Revisiting object contextual cueing: A replication study on implicit learning

ABSTRACT Object contextual cueing is an implicit learning paradigm in which the repeated co-occurrence of certain objects facilitates target detection, even when their spatial arrangement varies. In two experiments – where participants performed a visual search task in which the target was accompanied by either consistently repeated or randomly varying distractors – we attempted to replicate Chun and Jiang’s (1999) study. In Experiment 1 (N = 25, M = 20.8 years), although participants became faster and more accurate over time, no significant difference emerged between repeated and new configurations. Thus, using the same experimental design, we were unable to replicate the object contextual cueing effect. In Experiment 2, we tested whether search strategy influences the effect by instructing one group to adopt an active search strategy and another to use a passive one (N = 20 per group, M = 21.8 and 21.7 years, respectively; active: actively search for the target, passive: let the unique item pop out). However, the manipulation had no effect: the contextual cueing effect did not emerge in either group. Importantly, within each group we observed substantial individual differences – some participants showed a facilitation effect, others no effect, and some even showed a reverse pattern. These findings suggest that object contextual cueing may not be a robust or universal phenomenon and may instead depend on individual cognitive styles or learning tendencies. Highlights - Replication of Chun and Jiang’s (1999) object cueing study was unsuccessful. - Active vs. passive strategy instructions had no effect on object contextual cueing. - Large individual differences emerged in the contextual cueing effect.