| Abstract: | In the present experiments two different attention modalities were investigated: focused and distributed attention. In Experiment 1 manual choice reaction times to lateralized visual stimuli were measured. Visual stimuli (rectangles or squares) were presented in one of six positions along the horizontal axis. In between each position a digit 1 to 5 was permanently displayed. The subjects were instructed to switch their attention to one of the five digits and to respond as fast as possible to the stimulus target flashed either on the right or on the left of the focus of attention. The only difference in Experiment 2 was that the digit stayed on 100 msec only. The results show the importance of a visual cue (Exp. 1) for focused attention. In the absence of a permanent visual cue (Exp. 2) only distributed attention can be employed. |
