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The influence of viewing eye on pseudoneglect magnitude

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2001

MARK E. McCOURT ,
MATT GARLINGHOUSE  and
JASON BUTLER
MARK E. McCOURT
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
MATT GARLINGHOUSE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
JASON BUTLER
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
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Abstract

Various factors influence the degree of leftward error (pseudoneglect) that typifies the performance of normal individuals in line bisection tasks. This experiment reveals that the eye through which stimuli are viewed also exerts a modulating influence on spatial attention, as indexed by significant alterations in the magnitude of pseudoneglect. Using a forced-choice tachistoscopic line bisection protocol, 24 participants (12 male; 12 female) bisected horizontally oriented lines (22.6° w × 0.39° h) presented to central vision in 3 conditions: left uniocular viewing (L), right uniocular viewing (R), and binocular viewing (B). Perceived line midpoint, a measure of bisection accuracy, deviated significantly leftward of veridical ( p < .05) in all viewing conditions, confirming a tonic asymmetry of visuospatial attention in normal young observers. In addition, a significant influence of viewing condition was found (p < .05) where pseudoneglect was greatest in the L condition, followed by the B and R conditions, respectively. Analysis of the slopes of the psychometric functions revealed significantly greater bisection precision in the binocular versus uniocular viewing conditions (p < .05). The results are interpreted to suggest that phasic effects on spatial attention can be produced by uniocular viewing via asymmetric retinotectal projections. The results are consistent with activation–orientation theories of attentional asymmetry. (JINS, 2001, 7, 391–395.)

Keywords

Line bisectionPseudoneglectSpatial attentionUniocularBinocular
Type
BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , March 2001 , pp. 391 - 395
Copyright
© 2001 The International Neuropsychological Society

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