Facilitation of return in voluntary orienting to visual attributes1

Abstract: The present study examined the effects of voluntary and automatic orienting after a relatively long interval in an attentional cueing paradigm. Facilitation of return was observed after the voluntary orienting to a designated color (Experiment 1) and motion direction (Experiment 2), whereas inhibition of return was observed after the automatic orienting to an abrupt stimulus onset (Experiment 1). These results suggest that the voluntary orienting to a visual attribute modulates subsequent processes differently from the automatic orienting to an abrupt onset. In the voluntary orienting to visual attributes, it would be advantageous to return attention to the previously attended location, which is a potential source of information.