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Orienting to external versus internal regions of space: Consequences of attending in advance versus after the fact
Author(s) -
Broadway James M.,
Hilimire Matthew R.,
Corballis Paul M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01307.x
Subject(s) - cued speech , psychology , cognitive psychology , task (project management) , management , economics
We examined effects of knowing where to attend to‐be‐remembered information in advance versus after the fact. Participants performed a visuospatial short‐term memory task with orienting cues that appeared before or after a memory display and reported whether a probe item had appeared on the cued side. Event‐related potentials ( ERP s) were recorded for cues, memory displays, and probes. Performance was better in precued versus postcued conditions. ERP s to orienting cues and memory displays were lateralized in relation to the direction of attention in precued but not postcued conditions. ERP s to recognition probes were lateralized, but this was similar between pre‐ and postcued conditions. Results suggest that we can orient visuospatial attention outwardly to external events and inwardly to remembered events alike, but knowing where to attend information in advance gives a bigger boost to brain and behavior.