Rethinking Attentional Habits

Attentional habits acquired by visual statistical learning cause enduring biases toward specific locations. These habits, driven by recent search history, are thought to be independent of both goal-directed and stimulus-driven attentional mechanisms. This theoretical claim is based on three characteristics that these habits apparently exhibit, that is, they are inflexible, implicit, and efficient. We review methodological limitations in previous studies and briefly describe recent results that challenge this new framework. We conclude that it might be premature to assume that attentional habits are based on a special search history process that differs from the two traditionally recognized attentional mechanisms.

Automated summary

The article discusses the enduring biases toward specific locations caused by attentional habits acquired through visual statistical learning, which are believed to be independent of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attentional mechanisms. The methodological limitations in previous studies are reviewed, and recent challenging results are briefly described, leading to questioning the assumption of attentional habits being based on a special search history process that differs from the two traditionally recognized attentional mechanisms.