Effects of different stimulus onset asynchronies on visual attention shifts Y Hashimoto1, N Utsuki2 |
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1Department of nursing, The University of Shimane, Japan |
| Previous studies have reported that a directional visual stimulus, such as eye gaze, triggers an automatic shift of visual attention toward the direction indicated by the stimulus. This occurs at very short stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA; the time between the onset of the directional stimulus and the onset of the target). In this study, we examined in detail the effects of different SOAs on visual attention. Twelve undergraduate students performed a localization task involving a target presented either to the left or to the right on a screen. Eye gaze, arrows, Chinese characters, and English capital letters (R/L) were used. The SOAs were 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 500, 600, and 1000 ms. Three SOAs were combined and fixed in a test block and assigned randomly to a participant. We found that response time (RT) gains for arrows were greatest for the shorter SOAs. The gains were primarily caused by the interference effect, as responses were significantly delayed in the invalid trials. For face stimuli, the RT gain was greatest at a SOA of 100 ms, consistent with previous studies. Chinese characters and English capital letters did not show a significant RT gain. |
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