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Manipulating the disengage operation of covert visual spatial attention
1La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia. james@neuro.mhri.edu.au
Perception & Psychophysics
|May 1, 1997
Summary
Disengaging covert visual attention does not speed up eye movements. Experiments show that removing a visual cue before a target appears does not facilitate faster saccadic eye movements, challenging existing theories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Covert visual spatial attention is linked to saccadic eye movement programming.
- The gap paradigm's reduced saccadic latency is hypothesized to result from attention disengagement.
- This hypothesis lacks direct empirical support regarding attention disengagement facilitation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if facilitating the disengagement of covert attention can speed up saccadic eye movements.
- To test the hypothesis that attention disengagement is necessary for express saccade generation.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilized covert orienting of visual attention tasks (COVAT).
- Peripheral cues were extinguished before target onset to facilitate attention disengagement.
- A gap condition (cue offset to target onset) was compared to a no-gap condition.
Main Results:
- Saccadic responses to targets were slower in the gap condition compared to the no-gap condition.
- This indicates that prior offset of a covertly attended object did not facilitate attention disengagement.
Conclusions:
- The findings do not support the hypothesis that attention disengagement facilitates express saccades.
- Removing a peripheral cue does not appear to speed up the disengagement of covert visual spatial attention.