Abstract:  The learning of repeated spatial context expedites human visual search performance, an effect termed as contextual cueing. In the presented review, we investigated the interaction between contextual cueing effects and selective attention based on behavioral, eye movements and the related brain responses to contextual cueing. The review addressed multiple conflicts findings in previous studies which increased the difficulty to understand selective attention mechanism. In order to further disclosure selective attention mechanism of contextual cueing, future study should combine standard contextual cueing paradigm with advanced neuroscience technologies to offer more physiological evidence about the influence of attention on contextual cueing effect.

Key words:  selective attention, contextual cueing, implicit learning, contextual memory, memory retrieval