A methodological toolbox for investigating attentional strategy

Abstract

Strategy is a crucial determinant for how attention is controlled. In recent years, researchers have deployed a growing variety of manipulations and dependent measures in service of understanding strategy. This work has revealed a striking degree of diversity and suboptimality in the use of attention, and it prompts the realization that more research on strategy is needed in order to fully understand and explain how attention works. Here, we highlight several approaches to investigate strategy, in what can be considered a 'methodological toolbox' for researchers. These methods can be customized and combined flexibly in what we hope will be a continued expansion of inquiry into this important domain.