title: Urbanization increases left-bias in line-bisection: an expression of elevated levels of intrinsic alertness?
abstract: Urbanization impairs attentional selection and increases distraction from task-irrelevant contextual information, consistent with a reduction in attentional engagement with the task in hand. Previously, we proposed an attentional-state account of these findings, suggesting that urbanization increases intrinsic alertness and with it exploration of the wider environment at the cost of engagement with the task in hand. Here, we compare urbanized people with a remote people on a line-bisection paradigm. We show that urbanized people have a left spatial bias where remote people have no significant bias. These findings are consistent with the alertness account and provide the first test of why remote peoples have such an extraordinary capacity to concentrate.
authors.affiliation: Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London London, UK.
authors.forename: Karina J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Linnell
authors.affiliation: Psychologie, Université de Nîmes Nîmes, France.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caparos
authors.affiliation: Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London London, UK.
authors.forename: Jules
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davidoff
keywords: alertness; attention; control; engagement; laterality; spatial attention; spatial bias; urbanization