Dynamic modulation of spatial selection: Online and anticipatory adjustments in the flanker task

• Published in: Attention, perception & psychophysics Vol. 87; no. 3; pp. 794 - 814
• Main Authors: Villalonga, Mercedes B., Noyce, Abigail L., Sekuler, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2025
• Subjects: Adult; Anticipation, Psychological; Attention; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Orientation; Orientation, Spatial; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Psychology; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Space Perception; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1943-3921; 1943-393X; 1943-393X
• DOI: 10.3758/s13414-025-03026-5

To track the spatiotemporal dynamics of selective attention, we constructed four theory-driven variants of Eriksen’s flanker task. In each, subjects made speeded binary categorizations of target arrowhead direction while ignoring surrounding flanker arrowheads, whose direction was either congruent or incongruent to the target. Experiment 1 tracked the temporal evolution of target selection by systematically manipulating onset asynchrony between the target and flankers. In Experiments 2 A and 2 B, we increased flanker strength (both experiments) and reduced target strength (Experiment 2 B only) at various times relative to target onset, exploring the effects of dynamic perceptual inputs on flanker congruency effects. Experiment 3 measured how uncertainty about stimulus location impeded spatial selection. Our findings demonstrate that spatial selection in the flanker task is dynamically modulated by both intra- and supra-trial factors.