An asymmetry in the control of eye movements and shifts of attention

Under conditions of monocular viewing, eye movements tend to be directed toward stimuli in the temporal visual field. The present experiments indicate that this bias does not extend to shifts of attention under conditions in which the eyes remain fixed. Experiments 1 and 2 support this conclusion for voluntary shifts of attention, experiment 3 for involuntary shifts of attention. These results support Posner and Cohen's (1980) hypothesis that the temporal bias reflects the properties of an isolable component of the eye movement control system and extend previous dissociations of the mechanisms underlying the control of shifts of attention and eye movements.