Attention Archives – Guides to classic experiments

Illustration of a trial in the Posner cueing task showing to squares, one of which highlighted in yellow.

Posner Cueing Task – Free online template and explainer guide

We have become used to talk about attention in terms of the forces that act on it. We may say that the sound or sight of a Twitter notification ‘pulled’ our attention away from our work. Or we might be ‘glued’ to a captivating story in a book. The Posner cueing task measures how attention is pulled across our visual field even when our eyes remain fixated.

Attention

Flanker task – A 5-minute guide from theory to implementation

The Flanker task was originally described by Eriksen & Eriksen (1974) as a test of the participants’ ability to inhibit conflicting but irrelevant information using a simple experimental paradigm.

Attention

Attentional Blink (RSVP) task – Use and adapt our free template and run this test online

The attentional blink can be tested using Rapid serial presentation of visual stimuli, where stimuli are shown sequentially at very short presentation times, usually around 15-75 milliseconds.

Category: Attention