Citation

Lambert A, Spencer M, Hockey R. Acta Psychol. 1991; 76(2): 149-163.

Affiliation

University of Durham, UK.

Erratum On

Acta Psychol (Amst) 1992 Feb;79(1):97

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1862729

Abstract

Three experiments are reported investigating the attentional effects of peripheral visual changes. In agreement with previous work, experiment 1 demonstrated facilitatory and inhibitory effects of a peripheral visual change on the latency of peripheral target detection. However, after a few minutes practice the facilitatory effect disappeared entirely. The inhibitory effect, though slightly reduced in later blocks, remained significant. Hence, the two effects are dissociable and not inter-dependent as argued by Maylor (1985). In experiments 2 and 3 the perceptual salience of the peripheral cue was manipulated. With a low energy, barely noticeable cue there was no reduction in either facilitation or inhibition as a function of practice. In contrast, the attentional effects of cues higher in energy tended to diminish with practice. Theoretical implications of these data are discussed.

Language: en