Pre- and post-cue effects on temporal order perception under orthogonal response mapping

When making temporal order judgments (TOJs) between two visually presented targets, a cue presented shortly before the targets typically causes the target on the cued side to be perceived as appearing first-a phenomenon known as the pre-cue effect. Conversely, when a cue is presented shortly after the targets, the target on the cued side tends to be perceived as appearing later-a phenomenon known as the post-cue effect. In previous studies, the cue's spatial location was typically aligned with the response direction, which may have introduced response-related biases. To minimize these confounding factors, this study arranged the cue location and response direction orthogonally. The results revealed that both the pre- and post-cue effects persisted under these conditions, suggesting that, even when potential response bias is minimized, pre- and post-cue effects continue to influence temporal order perception, highlighting the robustness of peripheral cues in shaping temporal judgments.