PONE-D-24-53417The Relationship between Latent Inhibition, Divergent Thinking, and Eyewitness Memory: A Study on Attention to Irrelevant StimuliPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Rodriguez,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

The article is well-structured; however, a revision is needed that takes into account the reviewers' comments, with particular attention to the methodological aspect. In fact, it is advisable to enhance the clarity of the methodology used by providing a detailed description of the applied methods and the statistical analysis employed.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 02 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Andrea Cioffi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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“This research was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Grant No. PID2020-120215GB-I00) and Gobierno Vasco (Grant No. IT-1501-22).”

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The methods section provided important details regarding the sample size determination using G*Power and described the software used for the analysis, i.e., SPSS. However, a major limitation is the lack of explicit mention of the statistical analyses performed:

The use of G*Power to justify the sample size demonstrates methodological rigor. However, the absence of detailed information about the statistical tests conducted (e.g., ANOVA, regression, or correlation analyses) weakens the transparency of the study.

Readers cannot assess the exact and appropriateness of the statistical analysis used or their alignment with the research questions.

More detailed descriptions of how the software was used, beyond sample size determination, would enhance clarity.

Reviewer #2: The introduction section is written extremely well and sets out a clear and convincing argument to both contextualise and support the aims of the study.

The design, sample, procedure, and instruments are explained very well, with careful attention to detail and all technical aspects discussed clearly and in-depth. The methodological approach is novel and contributes meaningfully to advancing further empirical research in the field, and the description is highly suitable to support replication. Ethical requirements for the study were adhered to and are discussed briefly but sufficiently.

It would be useful to have more detail about the analytic approach adopted in the study, particularly about how the assumptions for the statistical techniques were checked and managed during the analytic process. For example, the skewness and kurtosis estimates in Tables 1 and 2 suggest that certain variables were not normally distributed in the sample – it would be useful to know how this was accounted for in the later analyses. Including a brief discussion about independence, normality, heteroscedasticity, and no multicollinearity for both the 3-way ANOVAs and the multiple regression models would also be useful, especially as these techniques provide the basis for the main conclusions drawn in the study. The results themselves are reported clearly and the interpretations made are accurate in relation to the analyses that were run, however it would be important to support these by verifying the suitability of the techniques based on meeting the assumptions for these.

The general discussion of the results is presented very well and sets out technically accurate, interesting, and comprehensive accounts of the findings. It would, however, be useful to include additional in-text citations to support some of the statements made referencing existing theory or hypotheses. At the end of the discussion, it would also be very useful to discuss the limitations of the study and to briefly contextualise the findings in light of these, as well as to slightly expand the discussion of future directions for research, given the novelty of the study and its potential for encouraging further research in the field.

Recommended technical changes:

Introduction, paragraph 1, line 3 – spelling of ‘inhibition’

Introduction, paragraph 4, lines 6-7 – wording slightly unclear, recommend re-phrasing (e.g. ‘…this flexibility would be the reason why latent inhibition manifests as a retardation in, and not as a total impediment of, learning…’)

General discussion, paragraph 7, lines 15-16 – wording slightly unclear, recommend re-phrasing (e.g. ‘…and it would become entirely inconsistent in the context of an explanation that assumes leaky attention as a trait…’)

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Reviewer #1: Yes:  ERNESTINA AIDOO

Reviewer #2: No

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PONE-D-24-53417R1The Relationship between Latent Inhibition, Divergent Thinking, and Eyewitness Memory: A Study on Attention to Irrelevant StimuliPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Rodriguez,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Dear Authors,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript. After careful review, one of the reviewers found your work acceptable for publication, while another raised some issues that need your attention. Please review the comments from the reviewer and address them thoroughly.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jul 05 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols . Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols .

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Mario Treviño Villegas, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Partly

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: No

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: This study explores the relationship between latent inhibition and divergent thinking and attention. However, there are some deficiencies authors need address.

(1) The purpose of this study is not very clear, what deficiencies in this field at present? What are the problems need address? Which issues does this research intend to solve? These need to be strengthened.

(2) This study used two dependent variables, but what's the relationship between them? The overall logic of the research needs to be strengthened.

(3) Although the divergent thinking of three dimensions is very high, the natures of the dimensions are different, the author is not recommended to integrate them.

(4) The manipulation could be further checked; the manipulation of failure data should be cleaned.

(5) Data analysis should take two conditions as independent variables, rather than bating success rate.

(6) the gender, age, and other potential control variables should be considered when authors detect the difference between two group.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy .

Reviewer #1: Yes:  ERNESTINA AIDOO

Reviewer #3: Yes:  Quanlei Yu

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

The Relationship between Latent Inhibition, Divergent Thinking, and Eyewitness Memory: A Study on Attention to Irrelevant Stimuli

PONE-D-24-53417R2

Dear Dr. Rodriguez,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Mario Treviño Villegas, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: