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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

A Method for Investigating Change Blindness in Pigeons (Columba Livia)
Published on: September 7, 2018
Inhibition of return exaggerates change blindness
Daniel T Smith1, Thomas Schenk
1Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Wolfson Research Institute, University of Durham, Queens Campus, Stockton on Tees, UK. daniel.smith2@durham.ac.uk
Spatial cueing can suppress visual awareness, contrary to expectations. Inhibition of return (IOR) effects, typically guiding attention, were found to worsen change blindness, impacting conscious perception.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual perception
Background:
- Peripheral cues shift attention, aiding perception and awareness.
- Inhibition of return (IOR) moves attention away from cued locations.
- The link between attention and awareness is established, but negative effects on awareness are unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if spatial cueing, specifically IOR, can negatively impact visual awareness.
- To test the counterintuitive prediction that inhibiting attention may inhibit awareness.
Main Methods:
- Utilized subliminal peripheral cues in a change blindness task.
- Measured the effect of cue-target latencies on awareness of visual changes.
Main Results:
- Subliminal cues exacerbated change blindness at long cue-change latencies.
- Demonstrated that IOR can suppress visual awareness of changes.
Conclusions:
- Inhibition of return can directly suppress visual awareness.
- Challenges the notion that attention is solely a prerequisite for awareness, suggesting a more complex interaction.
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