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Article History

Received: 25 November 2025

Accepted: 27 August 2026

First Online: 4 September 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The United Ethical Review Committee for Research in Psychology (EPKEB) in Hungary gave approval to the procedure. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process: During the preparation and revision of this manuscript, the authors used the AI-based tool ChatGPT (OpenAI) for language editing and stylistic refinement of the English text. The tool was not used for data analysis, statistical testing, or the generation of scientific conclusions. All outputs were critically reviewed, revised, and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Public Significance Statement: This study shows that picking up patterns from the environment is associated with more efficient responding when distracting information is present. In this task, people are less affected by conflicting distractors when upcoming events are predictable. These findings suggest that knowledge acquired automatically through experience can support performance in challenging situations and provide new insight into how humans adapt effectively to complex environments.