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The attentional mechanism of temporal orienting: determinants and attributes

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Abstract

A review of traditional research on preparation and foreperiod has identified strategic (endogenous) and automatic (exogenous) factors probably involved in endogenous temporal-orienting experiments, such as the type of task, the way by which temporal expectancy is manipulated, the probability of target occurrence and automatic sequential effects, yet their combined impact had not been investigated. These factors were manipulated within the same temporal-orienting procedure, in which a temporal cue indicated that the target could appear after an interval of either 400 or 1,400 ms. We observed faster reaction times for validly versus invalidly cued targets, that is, endogenous temporal-orienting effects. The main results were that the probability of target occurrence (catch-trial proportion) modulated temporal orienting, such that the attentional effects at the short interval were independent of catch trials, whereas at the long interval the effects were only observed when catch trials were present. In contrast, the interval duration of the previous trial (i.e., exogenous sequential effects) did not influence endogenous temporal orienting. A flexible and endogenous mechanism of attentional orienting in time can account for these results. Despite the contribution of other factors, the use of predictive temporal cues was sufficient to yield attentional facilitation based on temporal expectancy.

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Notes

  1. In the experiments reviewed here, the foreperiod durations usually ranged from 0.5 to 16 s.

  2. Although the strategic view could also account for sequential effects, we will consider here sequential effects as an automatic contribution to temporal orienting effects, in order to further isolate the endogenous contribution of other strategic factors, such as the role of predictive temporal cues.

  3. Data from four groups of the discrimination task (within-blocks and between-blocks groups by the 0 and 25% catch trial groups) were already reported in a previous article (Correa et al. 2004).

  4. The medium SOA data were not included in the analyses due to insufficient observations in some experimental conditions (e.g., in the 50% catch trials group). The medium SOA has been previously used to make trend analyses in the RT function, in order to explore whether the attentional resources are assigned to specific moments in time in a gradual manner. Hence, the medium SOA did not provide relevant information for the purposes of the present study.

  5. The manipulation of the between-subjects factors (e.g., the task) did not reverse the cue validity effects, rather it modulated the size of the effect (see results above, and also Correa et al. 2004). Thus, the analysis by combining the groups did not qualitatively change the main results.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Cultura with a predoctoral grant (FPU-AP2000-3167) to the first author, and research grants to Juan Lupiáñez (MCyT, BSO2002-04308-C02-02) and Pío Tudela (MCyT, BSO2003-07292). Please, address correspondence about this article either to Ángel Correa (act@ugr.es) or to Juan Lupiáñez (jlupiane@ugr.es), both at the University of Granada, Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Facultad de Psicología, Campus de Cartuja S/N, 18071 – Granada (Spain).

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  1. Departamento de Psicología Experimental y Fisiología del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología, Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n, Granada, 18071, Spain

    Ángel Correa, Juan Lupiáñez & Pío Tudela

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  1. Ángel Correa
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  2. Juan Lupiáñez
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  3. Pío Tudela
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Correspondence to Ángel Correa.

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Correa, Á., Lupiáñez, J. & Tudela, P. The attentional mechanism of temporal orienting: determinants and attributes. Exp Brain Res 169, 58–68 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0131-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0131-x

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