To look or not to look: Subliminal abrupt-onset cues influence constrained free-choice saccades

To look or not to look: Subliminal abrupt-onset cues influence constrained free-choice saccades

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Subliminal cues have been shown to capture attention and modulate manual response behaviour but their impact on eye movement behaviour is not well-studied.In two experiments, we examined if subliminal cues influence constrained free-choice saccades and if this influence is under strategic control as a function of task-relevancy of the cues.On each trial, a display containing four filled circles at the centre of each quadrant was shown.A central coloured circle indicated the relevant visual field on each trial (Up or Down in Experiment 1; Left or Right in Experiment 2).Next, abrupt-onset cues were presented for 16 ms navy drapery fabric at one of the four locations.

Participants were then asked to freely choose and make a saccade to one of the two target circles in the relevant visual field.The analysis of the frequency of saccades, saccade endpoint deviation and saccade latency revealed a significant influence of the relevant subliminal cues on saccadic decisions.Latency data showed reduced capture by spatially-irrelevant cues under some conditions.These results indicate that spatial attentional control settings as defined in our study could modulate the influence of operation igloo white subliminal abrupt-onset cues on eye movement behaviour.We situate the findings of this study in the attention-capture debate and discuss the implications for the subliminal cueing literature.