The priority state of items in visual working memory determines their influence on early visual processing.

Items held in visual working memory (VWM) influence early visual processing by enhancing memory-matching visual input. Depending on current task demands, memory items can have different priority states. Here, we investigated how the priority state of items in VWM affects two key aspects of early visual processing: access to visual awareness and attention allocation.

Statistical Learning Facilitates Access to Awareness.

Statistical learning is a powerful mechanism that enables the rapid extraction of regularities from sensory inputs. Although numerous studies have established that statistical learning serves a wide range of cognitive functions, it remains unknown whether statistical learning impacts conscious access. To address this question, we applied multiple paradigms in a series of experiments ( = 153 adults): Two reaction-time-based breaking continuous flash suppression (b-CFS) experiments showed that probable objects break through suppression faster than improbable objects.

Replication studies in the Netherlands: Lessons learned and recommendations for funders, publishers and editors, and universities.

Drawing on our experiences conducting replications we describe the lessons we learned about replication studies and formulate recommendations for researchers, policy makers, and funders about the role of replication in science and how it should be supported and funded. We first identify a variety of benefits of doing replication studies. Next, we argue that it is often necessary to improve aspects of the original study, even if that means deviating from the original protocol.

Searching near and far: The attentional template incorporates viewing distance.

According to theories of visual search, observers generate a visual representation of the search target (the "attentional template") that guides spatial attention toward target-like visual input. In real-world vision, however, objects produce vastly different visual input depending on their location: your car produces a retinal image that is 10 times smaller when it is parked 50 compared to 5 m away. Across four experiments, we investigated whether the attentional template incorporates viewing distance when observers search for familiar object categories.