Inhibition of return and nonspecific preparation: separable inhibitory control mechanisms in space and time.

Full Abstract

I examined the relation between two inhibitory processes operating on spatial and temporal representations. In two experiments, participants had to detect a peripheral target that was presented after a variable interval following the onset of an uninformative peripheral cue. For the shortest cue-target interval, target detection was faster at the cued than at the uncued location, but this effect was reversed for the longer cue-target intervals. This finding has been taken to reflect a buildup of space-related inhibition over time, known as inhibition of return. Also, target detection was slower when the cue-target interval of the preceding trial was longer than that of the current trial than when this was not so. This sequential effect has been taken to reflect an intertrial carryover of time-related inhibition. Crucially, the spatial and temporal effects were additive in both experiments, suggesting a modular organization of the underlying inhibitory processes.

Author information

Author/s: Los, Sander A (SA);

Affiliation: Department of Cognitive Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. sa.los(-atsign-)psy.vu.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Perception & psychophysics (Percept Psychophys), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2004-Jan; vol 66 (issue 1) : pp 119-30

Dates: Created 2004/04/20; Completed 2004/05/20; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 15095945, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 2/18/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.