Pre-stimulus cortical state predicts context-dependent expression of learned distractor suppression

Suppressing visual distraction depends on observers' goals and learning, but also on the brain state in which the next display arrives. We reanalyzed an fMRI visual-search dataset (N = 34) to ask whether pre-stimulus global signal (GS), a broad state-sensitive BOLD measure, predicts performance and attention-network engagement during learned distractor suppression. Participants searched for an orientation target while ignoring salient distractors defined in the same orientation dimension or a different color dimension; across groups, spatial regularities were assigned to same- or different-dimension distractors. Behavioral and fMRI contrasts reproduced the expected functional architecture: same-dimension distractors slowed responses and recruited a frontoparietal capture-related network, whereas different-dimension distractors produced little interference. Learned spatial suppression was clearest for same-dimension distractors, which produced larger costs and stronger visual and frontoparietal responses in the rare than frequent region. Within this architecture, GS predicted performance in opposite directions across learning contexts: higher GS preceded slower responses when same-dimension distractors carried the spatial regularity, but faster responses when different-dimension distractors did. Higher GS also preceded weaker same-dimension distractor-evoked frontoparietal activation, without a reliable group difference in that neural effect. Default-mode-network activity showed the same behavioral pattern as GS, whereas pupil size showed weaker group-level convergence and its RT slopes did not correlate with GS-RT slopes across participants. Learned distractor suppression therefore appears embedded in a broader state-performance mapping, linking pre-stimulus cortical state to how learned priority settings guide the next trial.