Attention trades off spatial acuity.
Covertly attending to a stimulus location increases spatial acuity. Is such increased spatial acuity coupled with a decreased acuity at unattended locations? We measured the effects of exogenous (transient and involuntary) and endogenous (sustained and voluntary) attention on observers' acuity thresholds for a Landolt gap resolution task at both attended and unattended locations. Both types of attention increased acuity at the attended and decreased it at unattended locations relative to a neutral baseline condition. These trade-off findings support the idea that limited processing resources affect early vision, even when the display is impoverished and there is no location uncertainty. There was no benefit without a cost.
Montagna
Barbara
B
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Pestilli
Franco
F
Carrasco
Marisa
M
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D011601:Psychophysics; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*