Rejection mechanisms for color singleton distractors operating on different time scales

Rejection mechanisms for color singleton distractors operating on different time scales | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Rejection mechanisms for color singleton distractors operating on different time scales Luca Betteto, Matteo De Tommaso, Massimo Turatto This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6838174/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Color singleton distractors interference is modulated by rejection mechanisms that take into account the distractors rate of occurrence at different locations. Here, to further address color-singleton distractor rejection, we used a modified version of the additional-singleton paradigm, where each trial consisted of four consecutive displays presented in rapid succession. In Experiment 1 the irrelevant singleton was either presented in the last display (single condition, 40% rate) or repeated in all four displays (repeated condition, 10% rate), with the two conditions appearing at separate locations. Contrary to common observations, we found that capture was much more attenuated at the repeated location, despite the lower distractor rate. Furthermore, we found no signs of target processing impairment at the location where capture was basically eliminated, whereas it was present where capture was robust. In Experiment 2, where both locations had repeated distractors, we found target processing impairment only at the location with the highest rate (40%); Experiment 3, indicated that suppression, regardless of any within trial distractor repetitions, becomes evident when the distractor rate is high enough (35%). Experiment 4 replicated these separate previous findings in a single experiment, within the same group of participants. The results suggest the possible existence of rejection mechanisms working on distinct time scales, based on within trial and across trials distractor repetitions. While the across trials mechanism seems to rely on a durable form of suppression to control capture, the within trial one might rely on short-term distractor expectation, or involve a volatile form of suppression. attentional capture distractor suppression distractor expectation surprising stimuli Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementalMaterial.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6838174","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":472130599,"identity":"fd91c428-4764-4e04-b710-e9cb6d12c61d","order_by":0,"name":"Luca Betteto","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3klEQVRIie3SsQrCMBCA4YRAuhx2PangM0hBFNS+ihJwsqs4Sae4FFz7KI6RrMXZwcFS6Fw3N22lCC6pODnkHxIC+bgMIcRm+8M69UKj5lQSAvWuTIQ3BIEwQpOK1EaZzAdh9fXWMRxFVtLDZBs4+2M+lZde4EVUl0ay9JGmSwTQzA9lAdBTLQ/DFUEqNQIK7oVSA+C8lbA7lQ+Efs698ZeEV1NUNYVxj35FoBiOFqnoxqnwB/GpIudFpFIDcR2Rn2+Hmevsjtn1vtaBkwhdbgzk1fzz+P4MNpvNZvu1JzhmRRL/tsA6AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Trento","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luca","middleName":"","lastName":"Betteto","suffix":""},{"id":472130600,"identity":"5bd46340-bbfd-44b9-817d-525f5c29add6","order_by":1,"name":"Matteo De Tommaso","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Milano-Bicocca","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matteo","middleName":"","lastName":"De Tommaso","suffix":""},{"id":472130601,"identity":"452fcafa-3bc9-44d9-a93a-1511dd0321b1","order_by":2,"name":"Massimo Turatto","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Trento","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Massimo","middleName":"","lastName":"Turatto","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-06 15:23:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6838174/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6838174/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92312662,"identity":"8258ae80-1801-4085-b9a2-22f53a9e34ac","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-27 11:01:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1130127,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Bettetoetal2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6838174/v1_covered_eba1ce54-31d6-4c90-b88b-363fa57e317a.pdf"},{"id":84815724,"identity":"7a250735-a09c-4733-b91c-04c11573c574","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-17 15:36:13","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":20323,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementalMaterial.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6838174/v1/40a9123f368689c6989437cb.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Rejection mechanisms for color singleton distractors operating on different time scales","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"attentional capture, distractor suppression, distractor expectation, surprising stimuli","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6838174/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6838174/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eColor singleton distractors interference is modulated by rejection mechanisms that take into account the distractors rate of occurrence at different locations. Here, to further address color-singleton distractor rejection, we used a modified version of the additional-singleton paradigm, where each trial consisted of four consecutive displays presented in rapid succession. In Experiment 1 the irrelevant singleton was either presented in the last display (single condition, 40% rate) or repeated in all four displays (repeated condition, 10% rate), with the two conditions appearing at separate locations. Contrary to common observations, we found that capture was much more attenuated at the repeated location, despite the lower distractor rate. Furthermore, we found no signs of target processing impairment at the location where capture was basically eliminated, whereas it was present where capture was robust. In Experiment 2, where both locations had repeated distractors, we found target processing impairment only at the location with the highest rate (40%); Experiment 3, indicated that suppression, regardless of any within trial distractor repetitions, becomes evident when the distractor rate is high enough (35%). Experiment 4 replicated these separate previous findings in a single experiment, within the same group of participants. The results suggest the possible existence of rejection mechanisms working on distinct time scales, based on within trial and across trials distractor repetitions. While the across trials mechanism seems to rely on a durable form of suppression to control capture, the within trial one might rely on short-term distractor expectation, or involve a volatile form of suppression.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Rejection mechanisms for color singleton distractors operating on different time scales","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-17 15:36:08","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6838174/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b7963f8a-c8a0-40ef-bb3a-c1f90019bf8f","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 17th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-09-27T10:53:47+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-17 15:36:08","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6838174","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6838174","identity":"rs-6838174","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}