2012 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 109-114
Since Posner and Cohen (1984), inhibition of return (IOR) is thought to be a mechanism that prevents to allocate attention to previous attended location. In contrast, Pratt, Spalek, and Bradshaw (1999) proposed that IOR was due to the facilitation effect on the path of attention (attentional momentum hypothesis). This study examined whether attentional momentum caused IOR or not. In Experiment 1, robust IOR was found, but facilitation effect by attentional momentum was found at a limited condition. In Experiment 2, IOR was found again, but facilitation effect shown in Experiment 1 disappeared. These results suggest that attentional momentum is not a reason of IOR.
