Presenter

Helen J. Ha

Abstract

Prior research has independently shown that the type of attention cue (e.g., social gaze vs nonsocial arrow) and the presence of another individual (social presence) can modulate attention differently. However, little has been done to integrate these lines of research. This study aimed to investigate whether the presence of another individual, along with the degree of familiarity, affected spatial attention. In addition, we used both social (gaze) and non-social (arrow) cues to determine whether person presence differentially affected attention to these two types of cues. We manipulated familiarity by having our participants engage in a prompted conversation before (n=54), or after (n=52) the shared computer task. Participants sat at one computer and saw a cue (gaze or arrow) appear, followed by one of two peripheral targets, with one participant responding to one target type, and the other participant responding to the other target. ANOVAs were run, contrasting trials where participants responded twice in a row (no-switch) to those where the responder switched from trial to trial (switch), and whether the previous target was in the same or different location. Although we found no effect of familiarity on attention, we did find that the prior responder and target location affected attention. Specifically, participants inhibited responding when the prior trial was a switch trial, or when the prior target was in the same location, and the extent of attention modulation varied based on the type of cue. Taken together, the presence of another individual, regardless of familiarity, seems to modulate one’s attention.

Poster

Authors & Affiliations

H.J. Ha, D.A. Hayward & R. Dhaliwal (Psychology Department, University of Alberta)