INHIBITION AND DISINHIBITION OF RETURN - EVIDENCE FROM TEMPORAL-ORDERJUDGMENTS

In the present study the temporal order judgment (TOJ) task was used t o investigate whether or not inhibition of return (IOR) affects percep tual processing. Previous failures to obtain IOR in the TOJ task have been taken to suggest that IOR does not affect perceptual processing ( e.g., Maylor, 1985). The present study showed that IOR is modulated by the temporal disparity between successive targets as well as the rela tive order in which they appear at cued and uncued locations. Conseque ntly, IOR affects TOJs in some conditions but not in others. The selec tive occurrence of IOR in the TOJ task provides converging support for the notion that IOR does affect perceptual processing, and also accou nts for the previous failures to observe IOR in the TOJ task. Moreover , these and other results suggest that inhibitory processing at the cu ed location can be disinhibited when stimulation occurs at other locat ions.