Dynamic Competition Between Selective Attention and Spatial Prediction During Visual Search

During visual search, we rely on both selective attention and spatial predictions to guide our behavior. However, whether and how these mechanisms interact is largely unclear. Using a contextual cueing paradigm, we investigated whether learning and exploitation of spatial predictive context can occur outside attentional focus. Repeating search scenes enabled the distractor context to serve as a contextual cue predicting the target location. Participants searched for a target among distractors in two colors: the same as the target-to-be-searched (attended context) or a different color (ignored context). Halfway through the experiments, we changed the target color, thereby altering the attentional status of distractor contexts while maintaining their spatial predictiveness. In Experiment 1, where participants regularly switched between target colors, we found exploitation of spatial predictive context both within and outside attentional focus. However, in Experiment 2, where attention was more stably focused on one target color, only the attended predictive context was exploited before transfer. Intriguingly, after transfer, previously ignored predictive context showed immediate benefits, revealing latent learning. These findings demonstrate a dynamic competition between selective attention and spatial predictions: Whereas learning occurs independently of attention, exploitation may require attentional selection. Our results suggest that selective attention gates the influence of spatial predictions on behavior, with the gating strength determined by the stability of attentional control.