Motion onset really does capture attention

Several properties of visual stimuli have been shown to capture attention, one of which is the onset of motion. However, whether motion onset truly captures attention has been debated. It has been argued that motion onset only captured attention in previous studies because properties of the animated motion used in those experiments caused it to be “jerky” (i.e., there were gaps between successive images during animated motion). The present study sought to determine whether natural motion onset captures attention. Additionally, the present study further examined the circumstances under which animated motion onset, the only type of motion onset that can be produced on a computer display, does and does not capture attention. In Experiment 1, participants identified target letters in search arrays containing distinct animated motion types, either accompanied or unaccompanied by a new object. Animated motion onset captured attention, but not when the motion onset was accompanied by a new object, indicating that prior failures to replicate capture by animated motion onset were limited because a new object had always been included in the display. Experiment 2 employed natural motion rather than animated motion and found that participants were fastest at identifying motion-onset targets compared to other target types. These results provide further support for the claim that motion onset captures attention.