Abstract

Simple reaction time to a luminance target may be lengthened when the target is preceded by a noninformative cue at the same location. This is known as inhibition of return, because attention is inhibited from returning to the locus of the first stimulus. Three experiments were carried to test several alternative explanations of inhibition of return. Using vertical stimulus arrays in Experiment 1 and employing a voice key in Experiment 2, we failed to obtain evidence for a motor explanation of the inhibition effect. Experiment 3 used response accuracy as a dependent measure and failed to obtain an inhibition effect. In conclusion, 1) eye movements and motor interference are not responsible fa inhibition of return; 2) since inhibition of return is obtained only in a speeded RT task, a peripheral-sensory interference is not the cause of the inhibition effect. To accommodate these results, a revised model of inhibition of return was proposed.