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Abstract:
Our critical analysis of the literature on the relations
between overt (eye movements) and covert (attention) orienting
points to the need for further study. We have, therefore, developed
and validated four synergetic paradigms that provide a foundation
for a neuroscientific assessment of the relations between attention
and eye movements. Endogenous orienting of attention or preparation
of a saccade was elicited using informative, centrally presented,
color cues. We found a 40 ms cuing effect in RT to perform a
peripheral size discrimination following endogenous cuing of
attention. With endogenous control of saccade preparation we found
about 50 ms of cuing, which was entirely due to costs on invalidly
prepared trials, a pattern that closely replicates Klein &
Pontefract (1994, Exp. 1) despite the use of very different
methods. Using peripherally presented luminance increments that
were unpredictive of target location to activate orienting
mechanisms exogenously, we found a 40 ms cuing effect when the SOA
was 300 ms, and very little cuing when the SOA was much shorter.
With exogenous control of oculomotor activation we found a 15 ms
cueing effect, regardless of SOA, that was due entirely to costs on
invalid trials. Eye movements and attention are overlapping but
dissociable aspects of a coordinated structure for spatial
orienting.
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