The role of search difficulty in intertrial feature priming

Previous research has shown that intertrial repetition of target and distractors task-relevant properties speeds visual search performance, an effect known as priming of pop-out (PoP). Recent accounts suggest that such priming results, at least in part, from a mechanism that speeds post-selectional, response-related processes, the marker of which is an interaction between repetition of the target and distractor features and repetition of the response from the previous trial. However, this response-based component of inter-trial priming has been elusive, and it remains unclear what its boundary conditions might be. In addition, what information is represented in the episodic memory traces that underlie the response-based component has not yet been characterized.Here, we show that the response-based component of feature priming reflects an episodic memory retrieval mechanism that is not mandatory or automatic but may be described as a heuristic that subjects sometimes use, in particular when the overall difficulty of the search task is high. In addition, we show that the conjunction of the target and distractor features forms the context that is reactivated during episodic retrieval. Finally, we show that target–distractor discriminability is an important modulator of the selection-based component. The findings are discussed within the framework of the dual-stage model of inter-trial priming (Lamy, Yashar, & Ruderman, 2010).

► Priming of pop-out (PoP) affects both selection- and a response-based processes.
► The response-based component of PoP occurs only when search is difficult.
► It reflects a heuristic processing strategy, with a crucial role for search context similarity.
► Search difficulty also affects the selection-based component of PoP.