A DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT OF EXOGENOUS AND ENDOGENOUS ORIENTING ON THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF VISUAL ATTENTION
The location-precuing paradigm establishes two distinguishable forms of spatial cueing: an endogenous cue, a centrally presented indicator, that directs attention to a peripheral location in a goal-driven fashion; and an exogenous cue, a peripheral onset stimulus, that draws attention in a stimulus-driven fashion. Attention gradients, a phenomenon that attention effects on the unattended locations decline with increasing distance from the attended location, is found whether exogenous or endogenous cues are administered under different experimental settings. However, it is argued from the perspective of limited capacity that there may be a differential effect of exogenous and endogenous cues in the allocation of spatial attention. Using EOG electrodes to monitor eye movements, the allocation of spatial attention is measured with response times to recognition of the targets that are presented at different locations following a cue. The results showed that as opposed to endogenous orienting, there was no distance effect found in exogenous orienting.
Keywords: spatial attention, endogenous orienting, exogenous orienting, attention gradient
