Distractor suppression operates exclusively in retinotopic coordinates

Abstract

AbstractOur attention is influenced by past experiences, and recent studies have shown that individuals learn to extract statistical regularities in the environment, resulting in attentional suppression of locations that are likely to contain a distractor (high-probability location). However, little is known as to whether this learned suppression operates in retinotopic (relative to the eyes) or spatiotopic (relative to the world) coordinates. In the current study, two circular search arrays were presented side by side. Participants learned the high-probability location from a learning array presented on one side of the display (e.g., left). After several trials, participants shifted their gaze to the center of the other search array (e.g., located on the right side) and continued searching without any location probability (labelled as “test array”). Due to the saccade, the test array contained both a spatiotopic and a retinotopic matching location relative to the original high-probability location. The current findings show that, following saccadic eye movements, the learned suppression remained in retinotopic coordinates only, with no measurable transfer to spatiotopic coordinates. Even in a rich environment, attentional suppression still operated exclusively in retinotopic coordinates. We speculate that learned suppression may be resolved by changing synaptic weights in early visual areas.Significance statementIn our daily lives, attention is shaped by past experiences, guiding us to suppress locations that are likely to contain distractions. While this phenomenon has been studied extensively with static search displays, the real world is dynamic - we are constantly moving our eyes. This study addressed this issue by investigating what happens when we learn to suppress a likely distractor location while making eye movements. Do we suppress the same location in space (spatiotopic), or does the learned suppression persist relative to our eyes (retinotopic)? The current findings provide clear evidence of suppression in retinotopic coordinates only.