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Related Concept Videos

Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 19, 2026

Testing Tactile Masking between the Forearms
08:05

Testing Tactile Masking between the Forearms

Published on: February 10, 2016

The hands shield attention from visual interference.

Christopher C Davoli1, James R Brockmole

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 203 Haggar Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. cdavoli@nd.edu

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
|August 3, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Placing hands around visual information reduces interference by acting as a physical attentional window. This finding suggests hands can shield attention from external distractions, enhancing focus on central tasks.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

  • Information processing is enhanced for stimuli within hand space.
  • It remains untested whether this enhancement diminishes processing of external information.
  • The hands' role in attentional filtering is largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if hands can mitigate attentional interference.
  • To determine if hands act as a physical boundary for the attentional window.
  • To test the hypothesis that hands shield attention from visual distractions.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed a flanker task, identifying a central target letter.
  • Flanker letters varied in compatibility with the target.
  • Participants positioned hands around the target or away from the display.

Main Results:

  • Flanker interference was significantly reduced when hands were positioned around the target.
  • This reduction in interference was not due to visual differences between conditions.
  • Hands effectively shielded attention from visual interference.

Conclusions:

  • Hands serve as a physical manifestation of the attentional window.
  • Positioning hands around visual stimuli can reduce external interference.
  • This suggests a novel mechanism for attentional shielding and focus enhancement.