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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Attention trades off spatial acuity.

Barbara Montagna¹, Franco Pestilli, Marisa Carrasco

¹Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.

Vision Research

|April 23, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Attention enhances spatial acuity at attended locations but reduces it at unattended ones. This trade-off suggests limited visual processing resources, demonstrating no benefit without a cost.

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Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

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Published on: March 18, 2019

Area of Science:

Visual perception
Cognitive neuroscience
Human attention

Background:

Covert attention to a location improves spatial acuity.
It remains unclear if this improvement comes at the cost of acuity at unattended locations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the effects of exogenous and endogenous attention on spatial acuity at both attended and unattended locations.
To determine if enhanced acuity at attended locations is coupled with decreased acuity at unattended locations.

Main Methods:

Observers performed a Landolt gap resolution task to measure acuity thresholds.
Exogenous (involuntary) and endogenous (voluntary) attention conditions were compared to a neutral baseline.
Acuity was measured at both attended and unattended visual field locations.

Main Results:

Both exogenous and endogenous attention significantly increased spatial acuity at attended locations.
Conversely, both attention types significantly decreased spatial acuity at unattended locations compared to baseline.
A clear trade-off was observed: acuity gains at attended locations were mirrored by losses at unattended locations.

Conclusions:

Limited processing resources in early vision are implicated in attentional effects on spatial acuity.
Attentional benefits in spatial resolution are not absolute but involve a reallocation of resources, leading to costs elsewhere.
These findings hold even in simplified visual environments without location uncertainty.