The left-to-right bias in inhibition of return is due to the direction of reading.
Previous research has shown a left-to-right bias in the inhibition-of-return effect. This bias was found in a sample of English-speaking participants who read in a predominantly left-to-right manner. The goal of the current study was to examine the role that the direction of text reading plays in this bias. The findings replicated the left-to-right bias with an English sample, but showed the opposite bias in an Arabic sample, who read text from right to left. Thus, the regularity of shifting attention in a particular way during text reading seems to be the cause of the bias observed.
Spalek
Thomas M
TM
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. tspalek@sfu.ca
Hammad
Sherief
S
D003463:Cues; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D011932:Reading; D014794:Visual Fields; D014796:Visual Perception