Orienting is the gateway to attention and is defined as the aligning of attention with a source of sensory signal. Covert orienting is the shifting of attention without eye or head movement. It enhances performances by detecting the targets faster and more accurately. Posner’s location cueing paradigm has been used to study this phenomenon scientifically and it has become one of the most important topics of research in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience. In this paradigm cue is used to orient the attention covertly where the target is likely to appear. The present paper is an endeavor to systematically define covert orienting, focus on its historical background, the paradigm used to study this phenomenon scientifically, and explain the factors such as cue type, cue location, cue validity and SOA levels which affects it and its exogenous and endogenous components.
Attention is a …show more content…
In 18th century Christian Wolff pointed out the nature of attention shift in his textbooks ‘Psychologia Emprica’ (1738) and ‘Psychologia Rahalis’ (1740), in which he discussed about voluntary control of attentional processing and the relationship between eye movement and shift of attention (Hatfield, 1998). First scientific investigation of our capacity to shift attention independent of eye movement was conducted by Helmholtz (1867/1925). He constructed an apparatus similar to tachistoscope and continuously fixed his eyes at the central fixation and did not move his eyes from that location. Before momentarily illuminating the display he decided where he wanted to concentrate his attention on. During the brief period of illumination those letters in the area where attention has been shifted were most identifiable. In contrast, letters in the vicinity of ocular fixation were difficult for him to
Attention is a …show more content…
In 18th century Christian Wolff pointed out the nature of attention shift in his textbooks ‘Psychologia Emprica’ (1738) and ‘Psychologia Rahalis’ (1740), in which he discussed about voluntary control of attentional processing and the relationship between eye movement and shift of attention (Hatfield, 1998). First scientific investigation of our capacity to shift attention independent of eye movement was conducted by Helmholtz (1867/1925). He constructed an apparatus similar to tachistoscope and continuously fixed his eyes at the central fixation and did not move his eyes from that location. Before momentarily illuminating the display he decided where he wanted to concentrate his attention on. During the brief period of illumination those letters in the area where attention has been shifted were most identifiable. In contrast, letters in the vicinity of ocular fixation were difficult for him to