Facilitatory or inhibitory nontarget effects in the location-cuing paradigm.
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.
Chastain
G
G
Department of Psychology, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, 83725, USA.
Cheal
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011897:Random Allocation; D014796:Visual Perception