SENSORY AND ATTENTIONAL COMPONENTS OF SLOWING OF MANUAL REACTION-TIMETO NON-FIXATED VISUAL TARGETS BY IPSILATERAL PRIMES

Reaction time (RT) for detecting extrafoveal targets is lengthened by a non-informative prime at the same location or in the same hemifield (RT inhibition). We assumed that sensory effects at primed locations s hould be the same for unilateral and bilateral primes, whereas systema tic covert orienting to a primed location should occur only with unila teral primes. We found equal RT inhibition for both types of primes at 0.2 sec prime-target intervals (SOA), as contrasted with inhibition f or unilateral but not bilateral primes at 0.6 sec SOAs. We conclude th at RT inhibition involves a succession of sensory components and orien ting-dependent components.