title: Facilitatory or Inhibitory Nontarget Effects in the Location-Cuing Paradigm
abstract: The effect of nontargets on the identification of targets in the location-cuing paradigm was investigated in order to determine whether observers consistently allocate their attention to a validly cued location and whether the effect of nontargets is to facilitate or to inhibit performance. In four experiments, the effects of a single matching nontarget or a single nonmatching nontarget were compared. In each experiment, it was shown that observers consistently allocate their attention to a cued location when a precue appears and that performance is inhibited more by nonmatching nontargets in the display than it is facilitated by matching nontargets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, 83725
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chastain
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheal