When the sense of fluency triggers an attentional bias
Abstract
Spatial attention can be captured automatically by an exogenous stimulus (e.g., digital interruption) or by an endogenous stimulus (e.g., valence of the stimulus). In this study, we investigated whether a non-perceptual characteristic (e.g., sense of fluency) has an impact on attention. To this end, we used the conceptual fluency paradigm developed by Whittlesea combined with the dot-probe task developed by MacLeod et al. In three experiments, we measured the response times for each experimental situation (i.e., Valid and Non-valid situations). At each trial, participants were presented in three consecutive displays on a screen: (1) an incomplete and predictive sentence stem; (2) a pair of words, one of which was semantically compatible with the previous sentence stem; and (3) a circle appeared at the spatial location of one of the words. Then, participants had to perform a Go (i.e., a filled circle) and No-go (i.e., an empty circle) task. The analysis found that response times were significantly faster when the Go stimulus appeared at the same location as the semantically compatible word (i.e., Valid situations). Overall, our results show that the sense of fluency triggers attentional capture. Thus, they replicate those of Gardner et al. using another experimental paradigm. Our finding might be helpful to better understand the consequences of digital interruptions on behavioural performance.
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Fluency illusion can be conceptualized as a recursive cycle.
“Viewed as a process rather than a momentary bias, fluency illusion can be conceptualized as a recursive cycle [48].”
From Fluency Illusion: A Review on Influence of ChatGPT in Classroom Settings (2026) · cites this paper as [48]
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Fluency Illusion: A Review on Influence of ChatGPT in Classroom Settings
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Can prediction–perception discrepancies prime the response required by a subsequent task?Preprint
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- Authors
- Turo, S., Collin, F., & Brouillet, D.
- Affiliations
- Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Turo, Sibylle
- Venue
- Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2022-04-07
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 350-360
- ISSN
- 0033-555X (ISSN-L)
- 1747-0218
- 1747-0226
- OpenAlex
- W4214653050
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- attentional capture, conceptual fluency, dot-probe task, spatial attention, semantic compatibility, go/no-go task, reaction time (psychology)
- MeSH terms
- Attentional Bias, Attention, Humans, Language, Reaction Time
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