Evidence for divided automatic attention
A long-standing debate in the literature is whether attention can form two or more independent spatial foci in addition to the well-known unique spatial focus. There is evidence that voluntary visual attention divides in space. The possibility that this also occurs for automatic visual attention was...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Associação Brasileira de Divulgação Científica
2008-02-01
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| Series: | Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-879X2008000200013 |
| _version_ | 1819098256803627008 |
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| author | P.S. Silva L.E. Ribeiro-do-Valle |
| author_facet | P.S. Silva L.E. Ribeiro-do-Valle |
| author_sort | P.S. Silva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A long-standing debate in the literature is whether attention can form two or more independent spatial foci in addition to the well-known unique spatial focus. There is evidence that voluntary visual attention divides in space. The possibility that this also occurs for automatic visual attention was investigated here. Thirty-six female volunteers were tested. In each trial, a prime stimulus was presented in the left or right visual hemifield. This stimulus was characterized by the blinking of a superior, middle or inferior ring, the blinking of all these rings, or the blinking of the superior and inferior rings. A target stimulus to which the volunteer should respond with the same side hand or a target stimulus to which she should not respond was presented 100 ms later in a primed location, a location between two primed locations or a location in the contralateral hemifield. Reaction time to the positive target stimulus in a primed location was consistently shorter than reaction time in the horizontally corresponding contralateral location. This attentional effect was significantly smaller or absent when the positive target stimulus appeared in the middle location after the double prime stimulus. These results suggest that automatic visual attention can focus on two separate locations simultaneously, to some extent sparing the region in between. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T00:28:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d98f5ab844b34fb39ae985b8c72caa7f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0100-879X 1414-431X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T00:28:06Z |
| publishDate | 2008-02-01 |
| publisher | Associação Brasileira de Divulgação Científica |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-d98f5ab844b34fb39ae985b8c72caa7f2022-12-21T18:45:01ZengAssociação Brasileira de Divulgação CientíficaBrazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research0100-879X1414-431X2008-02-01412159169Evidence for divided automatic attentionP.S. SilvaL.E. Ribeiro-do-ValleA long-standing debate in the literature is whether attention can form two or more independent spatial foci in addition to the well-known unique spatial focus. There is evidence that voluntary visual attention divides in space. The possibility that this also occurs for automatic visual attention was investigated here. Thirty-six female volunteers were tested. In each trial, a prime stimulus was presented in the left or right visual hemifield. This stimulus was characterized by the blinking of a superior, middle or inferior ring, the blinking of all these rings, or the blinking of the superior and inferior rings. A target stimulus to which the volunteer should respond with the same side hand or a target stimulus to which she should not respond was presented 100 ms later in a primed location, a location between two primed locations or a location in the contralateral hemifield. Reaction time to the positive target stimulus in a primed location was consistently shorter than reaction time in the horizontally corresponding contralateral location. This attentional effect was significantly smaller or absent when the positive target stimulus appeared in the middle location after the double prime stimulus. These results suggest that automatic visual attention can focus on two separate locations simultaneously, to some extent sparing the region in between.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-879X2008000200013Automatic attentionDivided attentionVisual primingGo/no-go reaction time |
| spellingShingle | P.S. Silva L.E. Ribeiro-do-Valle Evidence for divided automatic attention Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research Automatic attention Divided attention Visual priming Go/no-go reaction time |
| title | Evidence for divided automatic attention |
| title_full | Evidence for divided automatic attention |
| title_fullStr | Evidence for divided automatic attention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evidence for divided automatic attention |
| title_short | Evidence for divided automatic attention |
| title_sort | evidence for divided automatic attention |
| topic | Automatic attention Divided attention Visual priming Go/no-go reaction time |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-879X2008000200013 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pssilva evidencefordividedautomaticattention AT leribeirodovalle evidencefordividedautomaticattention |