Time pressure affects multiple cognitive processes but how it affects attention capture remains unclear. Two experiments were carried out in the present study to assess whether time pressure prevents attention from capturing by salient distractors and explore the underlying neural mechanisms using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results of behavioral tests showed that the singleton effect decreased (Experiment 2) or even disappeared (Experiment 1) when the subject was under time pressure. Neuroimaging data showed that under time pressure, a salient distractor elicited greater activation in the left middle frontal gyrus/inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral superior parietal lobule, brain areas that are thought to be involved in cognitive inhibition and control of spatial attentional shifts. These findings suggest that the reduction or disappearance of the singleton effect under time pressure results from enhanced inhibition of and/or accelerated disengagement from salient distractors.

时间压力会影响多种认知过程，但它如何影响注意力捕捉仍不清楚。本研究进行了两项实验，以评估时间压力是否会阻碍注意力被显着的干扰因素吸引，并利用功能性近红外光谱探索潜在的神经机制。行为测试结果表明，当受试者处于时间压力下时，单例效应减弱（实验2）甚至消失（实验1）。神经影像数据显示，在时间压力下，显着的干扰物会引起左侧额中回/额下回和双侧顶上小叶的更大激活，这些大脑区域被认为参与认知抑制和空间注意力转移的控制。这些发现表明，时间压力下单例效应的减少或消失是由于对显着干扰因素的抑制增强和/或加速脱离造成的。