Spatial Cueing
Attention is like a spotlight. You can move it around and focus it in different regions of space. Cognitive psychologists have discovered that when attention is directed to a particular location in space, items that are located within that space are processed more efficiently.
Spotlight Theory of Visual Attention
The spotlight theory of visual attention states that when attention is directed to a particular spatial location, items located in that region of space are processed more efficiently. This phenomenon has been studied with spatial cueing experiments in which cues are used to direct attention to a particular location in space before the presentation of some targets. It is then found that processing time for cued targets is quicker than for targets whose location is not cued in advance. Experimenters use two types of cues. Exogenous, or “push,” cues direct attention with information. The word “right” (or an arrow pointing right) is an exogenous cue to direct attention to the right. Endogenous, or “pull,” cues direct attention by appearing in a particular location of space. An endogenous cue would be a flash appearing on the right, which would serve to pull attention to the right.
Spatial Cueing Paradigm
In this lab activity, you will experience both exogenous and endogenous (push and pull) cues that will direct your attention to either the left or right. A fixation + will appear and when ready press the spacebar to begin a trial. You will then be presented with either a cue that will direct your attention to the left or right, which will be accurate (i.e., predictive) 80% of the time, or a neutral stimulus that will not direct your attention one way or another. Next, you will see a circle to the left or right of the fixation +. Your task is to respond to the circle as quickly and accurately as possible by pressing the “B” key. In one block of trials, you will be shown exogenous (push) cues. In another block, you will be shown endogenous (pull) cues. The task in both blocks is the same. Each block contains 10 practice trials and 106 experimental trials. At the end, you will be shown your response times for all experimental trials.
Exogenous/Endogenous vs. Valid/Invalid Responses
In this activity, arrows served as exogenous (push) cues and the boxes served as endogenous (pull) cues. If your results showed similar response times for exogenous and endogenous trials, then your results are typical. Response times should be faster for valid compared to invalid cues. Valid cues are when arrows indicate the side where the target will appear; invalid cues indicate the incorrect spatial location where the target will appear. Response times for neutral cues (double-sided arrows for exogenous; no boxes for endogenous) should be somewhere in the middle.
Role of Attention in Processing Visual Stimuli
Eye-tracking experiments have shown similar results to spatial cueing even when participants’ eyes do not move. These findings support spotlight theories of attention, suggesting that attention in addition to vision is necessary for the processing of visual stimuli.