Eccentricity determines the competition for attention

It is widely assumed that attention for peripheral visual information is reduced, especially when such information competes with information closer to the fovea. However, existing evidence for such a peripheral attention deficit has suffered from several confounds. Here we reinvestigated how stimuli presented at different eccentricities compete for attention. Human observers saw two equally relevant orientations (Experiment 1) or colors (Experiment 2), presented at close and far eccentricities. The two patterns were presented sequentially (thus competing little for attention), or simultaneously (thus directly competing for attention), after which participants indicated the seen stimuli using a continuous report scale. Errors increased with eccentricity, but increased markedly more so when the items were presented simultaneously. Thus, in situations of competition for attention, the more peripheral item loses out. The findings are not only relevant for fundamental theories of vision, but also for applied situations in which detection of peripheral stimuli is crucial. The data and materials are available online ( https://osf.io/m6xjk/ ).