Posner, Snyder, and Davidson (1980) examined spatial attention using arrows as a prime. Most of the time, the arrow pointed to the area where the stimulus would appear, but 20% of the time it did not. They compared reaction times (RT) when the cue was valid, when it was invalid, and when a neutral cue was presented. Which of the following results was NOT supported by their findings?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Posner, Snyder, and Davidson's (1980) findings supported the other three statements: RTs were slower in the invalid condition relative to the valid condition, indicating that attention is directed to the cued location; spatial attention is limited in capacity, as evidenced by slower RTs in the invalid condition; and RTs were faster for valid responding relative to neutral responding, indicating that the arrow cue was effective in facilitating attention. However, they did not find evidence that we can attend to two different locations without a reduction in performance.

Posner, Snyder, and Davidson (1980) Examined Spatial Attention Using Arrows