Distractor-specific control adaptation in multidimensional environments

We introduced the multidimensional task-set interference paradigm (MULTI), where people attend to one of four stimulus features while the other three act as distractors. Across three experiments, people adapted by suppressing distractors rather than boosting the target, and adaptation was specific to each distractor. A neural network model reproduced these results only when it included separate conflict monitors for each dimension.

Recommended citation: Gheza, D., & Kool, W. (2025). "Distractor-specific control adaptation in multidimensional environments." Nature Human Behaviour, 9, 534–553.
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