Duration of attention: The perceptual deprivation effect

College students viewed 18-sided randomly generated polygons. They were told to attend to each form until they “finished looking at it.” Before each stimulus presentation, 2, 16, 30, or 44 sec of perceptual deprivation was administered. The results indicated that there was a direct relationship between the duration of perceptual deprivation and the duration of attention. The results were interpreted in terms of the deprivation establishing a need for stimulation that is satisfied by attending.