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We review a series of studies exploring distractor suppression. It is often assumed that preparatory distractor suppression is controlled via top-down mechanisms of attention akin to those that prepare brain areas for target enhancement. Here, we consider two alternative mechanisms: secondary inhibition and expectation suppression within a predictive coding framework. We draw on behavioural studies, evidence from neuroimaging and some animal studies. We conclude that there is very limited evidence for selective top-down control of preparatory inhibition. By contrast, we argue that distractor suppression often relies secondary inhibition of non-target items (relatively non-selective inhibition) and on statistical regularities of the environment, learned through direct experience.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.bbr.2017.10.010

Type

Journal article

Journal

Behav Brain Res

Publication Date

14/12/2018

Volume

355

Pages

36 - 47

Keywords

Alpha oscillations, Attention, Distractor inhibition, Frontoparietal network, Predictive coding, Animals, Attention, Brain, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological