The functional role of alternation advantage in the sequence effect of symbolic cueing with nonpredictive arrow cues

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that attention orienting is influenced by the orienting processes of previous trials in a spatial-cueing paradigm. This sequence effect is due to the fact that performance is facilitated when cue validity (valid or invalid) repeats between trials. In this study, we investigated the influences of cue direction and target location on the sequence effect of symbolic cueing with a nonpredictive central arrow cue. The cue direction was manipulated to always point in a certain direction in one condition, and to always point in the opposite direction in a second condition. The results showed that sequence effects were enhanced by the alternation of cue direction and target location and were impaired by the repetition of cue direction and target location. The same result pattern was found when the cue direction was chosen randomly in the third condition. The results suggested that both the repetition advantage effect of cue validity and the alternation advantage effect of cue direction and target location are involved in the sequence effect within the symbolic-cueing paradigm.