[Facilitating and inhibiting effects of the orientation of attention using peripheral cues]

The attentional field resulting from the presentation of peripheral cues; which were either informative or non informative about the position of the imperative stimulus, was studied. Different time intervals between cue and stimulus (120, 300, 600 ms) were used. The results showed facilitation of the response with the informative cue and inhibition with the non informative cue. This happened for the longest cue-stimulus intervals and when the position of the cue and the position of the stimulus were congruent. Also order of cue presentation (i.e., either informative followed by the non informative cue or vice versa) proved important in producing facilitatory and inhibitory effects.