An advantage for targets located horizontally to the cued location

Abstract

Over the years a number of researchers have reported enhanced performance of targets located horizontally to a cued location relative to those located vertically. However, many of these reports could stem from a known meridian asymmetry in which stimuli on the horizontal meridian show a performance advantage relative to those on the vertical meridian. Here we show a horizontal advantage for target and cue locations that reside outside the zone of asymmetry; that is, targets that appear horizontal to the cue, but above or below the horizontal meridian, are more accurate than those that appear vertical to the cue, but again either above or below the horizontal meridian (Experiments 1 and 4). This advantage does not extend to non-symmetrically located targets in the opposite hemifield (Experiment 2), nor horizontally located targets within the same hemifield (Experiment 3). These data raise the possibility that display designs in which the target and cue locations are positioned symmetrically across the vertical midline may be underestimating the cue validity effect.