Moving attention: Evidence for time-invariant shifts of visual selective attention

Remington, Roger; Pierce, Leslie · 1984 · Crossref

DOI: 10.3758/bf03206344

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Summary

This study investigates the temporal dynamics of shifting visual selective attention, specifically addressing whether attention moves across the visual field with a fixed velocity or if the shift time is invariant regardless of distance. The authors contrast two theoretical models: a fixed-velocity model, which predicts that attention takes longer to reach distant locations, and a time-invariant model, which posits that velocity adjusts proportionally to distance, resulting in constant shift times. This question was motivated by conflicting prior findings, particularly Shulman et al. (1979), who suggested an analog, constant-velocity shift, and Tsal (1983), whose results were ambiguous due to methodological limitations. To resolve this, the authors conducted two experiments using a central cueing paradigm. Participants fixated on a central cross while a central arrow cued the likely location of a target probe at either 2 degrees (near) or 10 degrees (far) of visual angle. Reaction times to the probe were measured at varying stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) ranging from 16 to 600 milliseconds. Experiment 1 compared expected (cued) and unexpected (uncued) locations. Experiment 2 added a neutral condition (non-informative cue) to establish a baseline and test the robustness of the findings. The design allowed the researchers to infer the locus of attention by analyzing performance differences between attended and unattended locations over time. The results from both experiments demonstrated that reaction times were consistently slower for far locations than near ones, but the time course of the attentional effect was identical for both distances. Specifically, the benefit for cued locations and the cost for uncued locations became evident by 150 milliseconds after the cue, regardless of whether the target was near or far. There was no evidence of the divergence-and-convergence pattern in reaction time differences that would indicate a fixed-velocity shift. Instead, the data supported a time-invariant model where the shift duration is constant across the tested distances. The authors attributed the discrepancy with Shulman et al. (1979) to procedural differences, noting that Shulman’s study involved constant-distance shifts, whereas the current study varied distance, revealing that attention adjusts its velocity based on the target's location. The significance of these findings lies in establishing that spatial attention does not shift with a characteristic fixed velocity. Instead, the movement time is invariant, suggesting that the cognitive mechanism for shifting attention scales its speed according to the distance required. This implies that attentional shifts are optimized for efficiency, similar to saccadic eye movements, rather than operating as a rigid analog process. The study provides critical constraints for models of visual attention, indicating that the dynamics of attention are flexible and dependent on spatial parameters.

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Topics

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• attention selective divided
• peripheral attention
• attention allocation
• inattentional change blindness
• useful field of view