Three experiments were conducted to examine the interaction of top-down and
bottom-up influences on visual search. More specifically, we examined the
extent to which stimulus-driven capture of attention by abrupt onset distra
ctors would disrupt the acquisition and expression of memory-based guidance
of attention as exemplified by the contextual cueing effect (Chun & Jiang,
1998, 1999). In Experiment 1 onset distractors were introduced at the begi
nning of practice on the search task. Results indicated that onset distract
ors and repeated distractor patterns had independent and opposing influence
s on the efficiency of search. Experiment 2 ruled out an alternative hypoth
esis concerning the capture of attention by abrupt onsets. In Experiment 3,
abrupt onset distractors were introduced following several hundred trials
of practice with repeated and new distractor patterns in visual search. In
this case contextual cueing observed in the repeated distractor configurati
on condition partially suppressed the detrimental influence of the abrupt o
nset distractors on search performance. These data are discussed in terms o
f the interaction of top-down and bottom-up influences on visual search.