The ability to react to salient objects is vital for survival, but salient objects can distract us from our goals. When and how salient distractors capture attention is debated. Lin et al. provide evidence from intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) recordings in humans for the involvement of a large network of brain regions.

Attentional capture has usually been investigated using behavioural studies in humans or neurophysiological studies in non-human primates. To further understand the neural dynamics and brain regions involved in salient distractor processing, Lin et al. performed an iEEG study with 18 people undergoing neurosurgery for clinical purposes.