title: The coupling between spatial attention and other components of task-set: A task-switching investigation.
abstract: Is spatial attention reconfigured independently of, or in tandem with, other task-set components when the task changes? We tracked the eyes of participants cued to perform one of three digit-classification tasks, each consistently associated with a distinct location. Previously we observed, on task switch trials, a substantial delay in orientation to the task-relevant location and tendency to fixate the location of the previously relevant task-"attentional inertia". In the present experiments the cues specified (and instructions emphasized) the relevant location rather than the current task. In Experiment 1, with explicit spatial cues (arrows or spatial adverbs), the previously documented attentional handicaps all but disappeared, whilst the performance "switch cost" increased. Hence, attention can become decoupled from other aspects of task-set, but at a cost to the efficacy of task-set preparation. Experiment 2 used arbitrary single-letter cues with instructions and a training regime that encouraged participants to interpret the cue as indicating the relevant location rather than task. As in our previous experiments, and unlike in Experiment 1, we now observed clear switch-induced attentional delay and inertia, suggesting that the natural tendency is for spatial attention and task-set to be coupled and that only quasi-exogenous location cues decouple their reconfiguration.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Exeter , Exeter , UK.
authors.forename: Cai S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Longman
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Exeter , Exeter , UK.
authors.forename: Aureliu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavric
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Exeter , Exeter , UK.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Monsell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attentional set; Spatial attention; Task switching; Task-set