Inhibitory effect of a visual prime stimulus in simple reaction time task. / Efeito inibidor de um estímulo precedente visual em uma tarefa de tempo de reação simples.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

Studies about attention orienting that use Posner?s procedure have demonstrated two effects: an initial facilitation of responsivit when the target stimulus appears in the same location as the prime stimulus and a subsequent inhibition of this responsvity. In a previous work we could not find the early facilitatory effect of attention orienting in a simple reaction time task. The hypotheses that we raised to explain this unexpected finding were tested in six experiments. In the first two ones, we examined whether the presence of catch trials influenced the expression of the negative effect of the prime stimulus. In the third experiment we examined the possibility that the prime stimulus reduced responsivity. In the fourth experiment we equalized the intensity of the target stimulus in the two locations where it could be presented (same and opposite). In the fifth and in sixth experiments we evaluated the time course of the negative effect of the prime stimulus, as an attempt to verify whether it would be compatible with a forward masking process. The sixth experiment could additionally give some clue about a contribution of inhibition of return, in this case precocious, to the found negative effect. In all these cases the attentional influence of the prime stimulus would presumably continue to occur, but would be supplanted by the contrary negative of this stimulus influence. Overall, our results suggest that the negative effect of the prime stimulus in a simple reaction time task is due to an interference with the processing of the target stimulus, characterizing a kind of sensory inhibition.

ASSUNTO(S)

reaction time tempo de reação orienting forward masking atenção visual mascaramento inhibition of return orientação espacial (percepção) attention inibição

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