Wilschut Anna, Theeuwes Jan, Olivers Christian N L
VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2013 Sep;144(1):40-50. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.04.020. Epub 2013 Jun 4.
Performance in spatial cueing tasks is characterized by a rapid attentional enhancement with increasing cue-target SOA. We recently found that this enhancement function also applies when the cue and the target are presented invariably at a single central location, suggesting a universal cueing time course [Wilschut et al., 2011, PLoS ONE, 6, e27661]. However, using a very similar cueing task, Nieuwenstein et al. [2009, JoV, 9, 1-14] have found a rather different pattern, namely a U-shaped deficit in performance after a cue-like stimulus. The present study varied the properties of the cue and the target in order to investigate the mechanisms underlying the different time functions. In four experiments, cueing was found to either improve or decrease performance with increasing SOA, depending on the type of target that was used. In addition, the level of performance at the shortest cue-target intervals (33-83ms) was dependent on the relative strength of the cue and the target, akin to what has been found in visual masking studies. The results suggest that cueing shapes performance via two mechanisms, one sensory-related and one attention-related, the combination of which results in either U-shaped or monotonic patterns.
空间线索任务中的表现特点是随着线索-目标刺激间隔（SOA）的增加，注意力迅速增强。我们最近发现，当线索和目标始终呈现在单个中央位置时，这种增强功能同样适用，这表明存在一种通用的线索时间进程[威尔舒特等人，2011年，《公共科学图书馆·综合》，6，e27661]。然而，使用非常相似的线索任务时，纽文斯坦等人[2009年，《视觉杂志》，9，1 - 14]发现了一种相当不同的模式，即在类似线索的刺激后表现呈U形缺陷。本研究改变了线索和目标的属性，以探究不同时间函数背后的机制。在四个实验中，发现线索对表现的影响随SOA增加而改善或降低，这取决于所使用的目标类型。此外，在最短的线索-目标间隔（33 - 83毫秒）时的表现水平取决于线索和目标的相对强度，这与视觉掩蔽研究中的发现类似。结果表明，线索通过两种机制塑造表现，一种与感觉相关，一种与注意力相关，两者的结合导致U形或单调模式。
