Temporal Cueing of Target-Identity and Target-Location

Abstract

In four experiments either a short or a long foreperiod preceded the presentation of one of two targets, presented either in the center of the screen (Experiment 1) or at one of two locations (Experiments 2–4). Participants were to identify the presented target by pressing a left or a right button as quickly as possible. In Experiment 1, each of the two targets and in Experiment 2, each of the two locations appeared frequently after one and infrequently after the other foreperiod. Experiments 3 and 4 explored the combined effects of disparate frequency distributions of targets and locations to the two foreperiods. Reaction times and error rates revealed faster processing and/or less errors for respectively those targets and locations which were frequent after the current foreperiod. The data suggest that besides location-specific target expectancies ( Hoffmann & Kunde, 1999 ) also time-specific expectancies for those targets and target-locations are formed which are likely at the respective point in time.