The Time to Detect Targets at Inhibited and Noninhibited Locations: Preliminary Evidence for Attentional Momentum

Inhibition of return refers to the finding that response latencies are longer for targets appearing at previously attended (cued) locations than at novel (uncued) locations. The present research was designed to examine the pattern of detection latencies that occurred for targets appearing at various uncued locations. The first 2 experiments showed that responses were fastest when the target occurred at a location directly opposite the cue. Experiment 3 showed that latencies were related to the angle between the target and the direction in which attention was being oriented. Experiments 4 and 5 showed that manipulating the direction of attentional orientation affected inhibition of return. Overall, the results suggest that inhibition of return may be due to the difference between orienting attention to locations along the path of attention versus orienting attention to those off the path of attention.