INHIBITION OF RETURN ON THE PATH OF A CUED MOVING OBJECT

Mechanisms for selecting distinguishing relevant from irrelevant objects are crucial to our adaptation and survival. One way of facilitating this selection process is via inhibition; for example, specifically preventing attention from returning to a previously searched location. When a particular environmental event cues our attention to a location and a target appears there immediately after, target detection will be speeded relative to an uncued location. However, if the presentation of the target is delayed, detection will be slower than at uncued locations. Studies have suggested that IOR can be found both at cued locations and for cued objects that move through space prior to target onset. The present study looks at whether targets appearing in a path that has been traversed by a cued object will also be responded to slower than targets appearing in a path of non-cued object. In essence, we ask whether a cued object (which presumably attracts inhibition) leads to inhibition of the space through which it travels. Results suggest some support for this hypothesis, but only when the stimuli visual angle is kept minimal and in detection task. Future studies are required to affirm whether this effect is specific or can be explained with alternatives hypothesis. The results expand our knowledge of inhibitory mechanisms, and potentially inform the creation of work and home environments that will foster more efficient search.