Pre-stimulus Cortical State Modulates Dimension-Specific Attentional Capture

Abstract

Suppressing visual distraction depends on observers goals and learning, but also on the brain state in which the next display arrives. We reanalyzed an fMRI visual-search dataset (N = 34) to ask whether pre-stimulus global signal (GS), a broad state-sensitive BOLD measure, predicts performance and attention-network engagement during learned distractor suppression. Participants searched for an orientation target while ignoring salient distractors defined in the same orientation dimension or a different color dimension; across groups, spatial regularities were assigned to same- or different-dimension distractors. Behavioral and fMRI contrasts reproduced the expected functional architecture: same-dimension distractors slowed responses and recruited a frontoparietal capture-related network, whereas different-dimension distractors produced little interference. Learned spatial suppression was clearest for same-dimension distractors, which produced larger costs and stronger visual and frontoparietal responses in the rare than frequent region. Within this architecture, GS predicted performance in opposite directions across learning contexts: higher GS preceded slower responses when same-dimension distractors carried the spatial regularity, but faster responses when different-dimension distractors did. Higher GS also preceded weaker same-dimension distractor-evoked frontoparietal activation, without a reliable group difference in that neural effect. Default-mode-network activity showed the same behavioral pattern as GS, whereas pupil size showed weaker group-level convergence and its RT slopes did not correlate with GS-RT slopes across participants. Learned distractor suppression therefore appears embedded in a broader state-performance mapping, linking pre-stimulus cortical state to how learned priority settings guide the next trial.