Baitong Mu¹ (), Brad Stilwell¹; ¹Wake Forest University

Recent research suggests that feature-based distractor suppression is a learned skill rather than a passive consequence of statistical learning. This study investigated whether learning to suppress a specific distractor color in one task facilitated suppression of that same color in a novel task, analogous to athletic skill transfer across similar sports (e.g., using a racquet in badminton and tennis). To test, participants completed two paradigms (with task order counterbalanced) while their eye movements were tracked: a gaze-contingent Visual Search task and a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) task. In the Visual Search task, participants searched through an array of two-color squares to find a target letter “F” among “O’s” and reported its orientation. In the RSVP task, participants were instructed to identify a centrally presented target letter, rendered in a unique color, within the stream. Prior to the target appearing, at varying lags, task-irrelevant hashtag symbols were flashed surrounding the central stream. Critically, for each participant, across both tasks, the target never appeared in one color (i.e., the consistent distractor color). The remaining pool of colors served as variable distractor colors (i.e., randomly serving as the target or nontarget colors). The key comparison was between the consistent and variable distractor conditions (i.e., distractor suppression) as a function of time. We hypothesized that for both tasks, participants would show robust learned distractor suppression, such that suppression would build with experience via either task. Crucially, if learning to suppress the consistent distractor color transferred across tasks, distractor suppression should continue from the first task into the second. However, if learned distractor suppression was context specific, then distractor suppression should have “reset” during the second task. We found that learned distractor suppression transferred between tasks, suggesting that learned distractor suppression operates like a trained skill, generalizing across contexts.