title: Distractor eccentricity and its effect on selective attention.
abstract: Previous research has shown conflicting results regarding the effect of distractor eccentricity on selective attention. The present study examines the relationship between a distractor's retinal location and participants' response latencies to a target while holding constant the distribution of attention. In three experiments, the participants searched for a target among several distractors. The retinal location of the critical distractor was manipulated so that it was at either a central or a peripheral location. The results show that all else being equal, an incompatible distractor causes more interference at a peripheral location than at a central location. This distractor eccentricity effect suggests that the visual system can overcome the default bias in the distribution of attention that favors a central stimulus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. zhe.chen@canterbury.ac.nz
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D014794:Visual Fields