Posner Cueing Task

Background

Michael Posner (1980) developed the cueing paradigm to study covert attention — the ability to shift the focus of attention without moving the eyes. A cue directs attention to a location, followed by a target that appears either at the cued location (valid) or elsewhere (invalid).

Key Findings

Valid cues speed responses by 20–50 ms compared to invalid cues
Endogenous (voluntary) attention is directed by central arrow cues
Inhibition of return (IOR) can occur at long SOAs: previously attended locations become inhibited

This Experiment

You will see three boxes. A central arrow cue will point left or right. After a brief delay (300 ms SOA), a target (*) will appear in one of the side boxes. The cue is valid 70% of the time, creating a strong expectation.

References

Posner, M.I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3–25.
Posner, M.I. & Cohen, Y. (1984). Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma & D. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and Performance X, pp. 531–556.
Klein, R.M. (2000). Inhibition of return. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 138–147.

Three boxes will appear on screen. A central arrow (← or →) will point to one side.

After a brief delay, a target * will appear in one of the side boxes.

Press Space as fast as possible when you see the target.

The arrow is usually (70%) correct, so it helps to pay attention to where it points — but don't move your eyes, just shift your attention.

There are 80 trials total. Focus on speed while maintaining attention to the cue.

Posner Cueing Task

Your Results