Test of the effect of attention on judged length of a line.

Full Abstract

Studies to assess experimentally whether attention affects the judged length of a line have produced discordant results. This paper reports the results of a test designed to avoid factors that were not controlled in previous studies. Stimuli were either two vertical lines or two horizontal lines of equal physical length presented briefly on opposite sides of a fixation cross. Subjects were asked to direct their attention to one line when the arm of the cross pointing to the line changed in luminance. This arm was used either as a precue or as a postcue. Subjects judged lines to be longer when a precue preceded the line than when a postcue followed the line.

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Author information

Author/s: Masin, Sergio C (SC);

Affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Italy. scm(-atsign-)unipd.it

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Perceptual and motor skills (Percept Mot Skills), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Apr; vol 96 (issue 2) : pp 599-606

Dates: Created 2003/06/02; Completed 2003/09/30; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12776842, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Attention
Cues
Eye Movements - physiology
Fixation, Ocular

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