Cueing effects for simple detection can be accounted for by a decision model of selective attention

Abstract

Visual cues help observers detect a target when it appears at the cued location. One hypothesis for this cueing effect, called spatial selective perception, is that spatial attention directed to the cued location enhances the perceptual encoding of the stimulus. Another hypothesis, called selective decision, is that the perceptual encoding is unchanged by attention and instead the cue provides information for decision making. We aimed to distinguish these hypotheses using simultaneous and sequential displays with two spatial locations or two temporal intervals. The simultaneous condition used a partially-valid spatial cue, and the sequential condition used a partially-valid temporal cue. The spatial selective perception hypothesis predicts no cueing effect for sequential displays, while the selective decision hypothesis predicts cueing effects for sequential displays that are well separated in time. Results show cueing effects for the sequential condition, supporting a decision account of selective attention for simple stimuli. We discuss other possible temporal attention hypotheses.