The role of social mechanisms in modulating attentional interference

Spatial cueing of attention occurs when attention is oriented by the onset of a stimulus at a location signalled by a cue, creating an expectation that a stimulus will appear in that location (Posner, 1980; QJEP). To study this phenomenon, Samson et al. (2010; JEP: HPP) created a computer task consisting in a visual scene with a cue (a human avatar) pointing toward some targets. Participants were prompted to assume either their own or the avatar’s perspective with the pronouns YOU and S/HE, respectively. Participants had to judge how many targets were visible. Authors found that the cue interferes with participants reporting what they see and suggested that this interference is due to the social characteristics of the cue. To test whether social characteristics are necessary to generate this interference, we replicated Samson’s experiment by systematically manipulating the social characteristics of (a) the cue: avatar, camera, and arrow; and (b) the pronoun used to prompt the perspective: social (e.g., YOU) vs. nonsocial (e.g., TOTAL). Results showed that the interference persisted when social components were removed from both the cue and the prompt. It is concluded therefore that the directional information of the cue is sufficient to orient attention and to generate interference.