Researchers have long debated whether salient stimuli can involuntarily 'capture' visual attention. We review here evidence for a recently discovered inhibitory mechanism that may help to resolve this debate. This evidence suggests that salient stimuli naturally attempt to capture attention, but capture can be avoided if the salient stimulus is suppressed before it captures attention. Importantly, the suppression process can be more or less effective as a result of changing task demands or lapses in cognitive control. Converging evidence for the existence of this suppression mechanism comes from multiple sources, including psychophysics, eye-tracking, and event-related potentials (ERPs). We conclude that the evidence for suppression is strong, but future research will need to explore the nature and limits of this mechanism.

中文翻译：

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抑制在避免显着刺激分心方面的作用


研究人员长期以来一直在争论显着刺激是否会不由自主地“吸引”视觉注意力。我们在此回顾最近发现的抑制机制的证据，该机制可能有助于解决这一争论。这一证据表明，显着刺激自然会试图吸引注意力，但如果在吸引注意力之前抑制显着刺激，则可以避免捕获。重要的是，由于任务要求的变化或认知控制的失误，抑制过程可能或多或少有效。这种抑制机制存在的证据来自多个来源，包括心理物理学、眼动追踪和事件相关电位（ERP）。我们的结论是，抑制的证据是强有力的，但未来的研究需要探索这种机制的性质和局限性。