Effects of priority assignment of attentional resources, order of testing, and response sequence on tunnel vision

The effects of relative priority of attentional resources allocated to simultaneous peripheral and foveal tasks, response sequence to the tasks, and order to testing with two levels of foveal cognitive loading on tunnel vision were studied with 32 Chinese undergraduates. Two levels of foveal condition were used for the foveal task while the peripheral task required a single-target detection. Performance decrement value and a significant interaction of levels x eccentricities indicated that tunnel vision was most prominent when the foveal task was primary. Greater magnitude of tunnel vision was obtained when the more difficult foveal task was tested prior to the no-foveal-load condition. Responding sequence to the tasks was nonsignificant.