Brad Stilwell

I study human cognitive behavior using a combination of response time, eye tracking, and electroencephalography (EEG). My focus is on visual attention and perception, specifically, how we learn to ignore sources of visual distraction.

1. How do individuals ignore salient visual distraction? Certain stimuli in our environments tend to “stick out” more than others, because they are perceptually salient. For example, flashing neon lights, or bright orange construction cones tend to automatically grab, or capture our attention. But are we at the mercy of being captured by any salient item, even if it conflicts with our current goals? Under which circumstances can we suppress salient distractors to prevent their capture of our attention? How do we even know an item is perceptually salient? In recent studies, my colleagues and I have developed tools to assess perceptual salience, whether highly salient distractors can be ignored, and how the visual system handles distraction.

Selected Publications:

• Stilwell, B.T., Anderson, B.A. (under review). Signal Suppression Makes Search Less Effortful. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience.

• Stilwell, B.T., Egeth, H.E., & Gaspelin, N. (2024). Evidence Against the Low-Salience Account of Attentional Suppression. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Performance and Perception. 50(10), 1033–1047. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001234

• Stilwell, B.T., Adams, O.J., Egeth, H.E., & Gaspelin, N. (2023). The role of salience in the suppression of distracting stimuli. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 30(6), 2262–2271.https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-023-02302-5

• Stilwell, B.T., Egeth, H.E., & Gaspelin, N. (2022). Electrophysiological evidence for the suppression of highly salient distractors. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 34(5), 787-805. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01827

• Stilwell, B.T. & Gaspelin, N. (2021). Attentional suppression of highly salient color singletons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Performance and Perception. 47(10), 1313-1328. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000948

• How do we learn to ignore sources of visual distraction? We are incredibly adept at picking up statistical regularities in our environments. Can we rely on our previous experiences to ignore visual distractors, even if we are unaware that we are doing so? If you are told what to ignore (e.g., ignore red things) can you even do that, or do you end up falling prey to those items because now you’re thinking about them (you can’t help but look at the red items)? My colleagues and I have studied to what extent do your learned experiences shape how you can ignore visual distraction.

Selected Publications:

• Stilwell, B.T. & Vecera, S.P. (2023). Learned distractor rejection persists across target search in a different dimension. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 85(3), 785–795. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02559-3

• Stilwell, B.T. & Vecera, S.P. (2022). Testing the underlying processes leading to learned distractor rejection: Learned oculomotor avoidance. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 84, 1964–1981. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02483-6

• Stilwell, B.T. & Vecera, S.P. (2020). Learned distractor rejection in the face of strong target guidance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 46(9), 926-941. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000757

• Stilwell, B.T., Bahle, B., & Vecera, S.P. (2019). Feature-based statistical regularities of distractors modulate attentional capture. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 45(3), 419-433. http://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000613

• Stilwell, B.T. & Vecera, S.P. (2019). Cued distractor rejection disrupts learned distractor rejection. Visual Cognition. 27(3-4), 327-342 https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2018.1564808

• Stilwell, B.T. & Vecera, S.P. (2019). Learned and cued distractor rejection for multiple features in visual search. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 81(2), 359-376. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-018-1622-8