Selective attention and performance with a multidimensional visual display.

Selective attention was studied in four experiments in which stimuli varied in both spatial location and visual form. In Experiment 1 the likely location and likely form of targets were both precued. An advantage was found for cued over uncued forms at both cued and uncued locations. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, different forms tended to occur at different locations. Regardless of whether a location was cued or uncued, form selective effects were found in accordance with form probability for that location. It was not the case that selective attention simply favored certain locations or certain stimulus forms in preference to others. Rather, selective attention was sensitive to precise combinations of form and location. These results could not be reconciled with mental spotlight notions of spatial selectivity.