Reinvestigating endogenous attention and perceived duration of peripheral stimuli: Differential effects for neutral versus valid and invalid cues.

Abstract

Research has shown that increasing stimulus eccentricity can shorten temporal estimations and integration. Endogenous attention has been shown to prolong subjective duration and stimulus processing, especially for more peripheral stimuli. This study investigates the impact of endogenous attention on the perceived duration of peripheral stimuli. In a temporal bisection task, participants judged the varying duration of a probe stimulus (20-220 ms) presented at 3° or 9° of eccentricity left or right from fixation as either short or long. The probe stimulus was either preceded by a valid or neutral central arrow cue (Experiment 1) or valid or invalid central arrow cue (Experiment 2) to manipulate endogenous attention. Eye movements were monitored with an eye tracker. In both experiments, subjective duration decreased with increasing stimulus eccentricity, consistent with earlier findings. Reaction times were lower for valid cues in both experiments, indicating that the cue was successful in shifting attention. While there was no significant difference in perceived duration between valid and neutral cues (Experiment 1), perceived duration was lower for invalid cues compared to valid cues (Experiment 2). In both experiments, there was no interaction between eccentricity and cue. The results are discussed in the context of the underlying processes involved in temporal processing and the notion that perceived duration does not differ between attention distributed over the screen or directed toward the peripheral stimulus, but directing attention away from the stimulus shortens perceived duration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).