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From Capture to Control: Initial Capture Increases Learned Suppression

Yue Zhang & Nicholas Gaspelin

Psychological Science2026https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976261430288article
AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Salient stimuli have the potential to distract us from our immediate goals. Much research has therefore aimed to understand how we learn to use attention to resist distraction by salient stimuli. We propose a new hypothesis whereby an initial instance of distraction can improve future suppression of salient stimuli. Across three experiments (N = 120 college students, aged 18-35 years), we provide evidence for this hypothesis using a new eye-tracking approach. The results demonstrated that an initial instance of distraction occurred before salient distractors were suppressed. Notably, if this initial instance of distraction was eliminated or weakened via experimental manipulations, learned suppression of the distracting stimuli was greatly reduced. Together, these findings suggest that attentional capture can serve as a learning signal that improves future attentional control. They also indicate that learned suppression emerges rapidly, which has strong implications for models of attention and cognitive control.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976261430288

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@article{yue2026,
  title        = {{From Capture to Control: Initial Capture Increases Learned Suppression}},
  author       = {Yue Zhang & Nicholas Gaspelin},
  journal      = {Psychological Science},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976261430288},
}

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From Capture to Control: Initial Capture Increases Learned Suppression

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.