Implicit contextual cuing refers to the ability to learn the association between contextual information of our
environment and a specific target, which can be used to guide attention during visual search. It was recently
suggested that the storage of a snapshot image of the local context of a target underlies implicit contextual cuing.
To make such a snapshot, it is necessary to use peripheral vision. In order to test whether peripheral vision can
underlie implicit contextual cuing, we used a covert visual search task, in which participants were required to
indicate the orientation of a target stimulus while foveating a fixation cross. The response times were shorter
when the configuration of the stimuli was repeated than when the configuration was new. Importantly, this effect
was still found after 10 days, indicating that peripherally perceived spatial context information can be stored in
memory for long periods of time. These results indicate that peripheral vision can be used to make a snapshot
of the local context of a targetThis research was supported by a grant from the BIAL Foundation (No. 73/06) and the FCT (SFRH/BPD/22088/2005
