Incorporating Visual Asymmetries into a Semantic-Based Theory of the Symbolic Control of Attention

Humans routinely use spatial symbols to guide the attention of others towards relevant aspects of the environment. Contemporary research suggests that the various ways these symbols are semantically processed have important implications regarding how attention is subsequently distributed. However, the majority of these studies have failed to account for inherent irregularities that exist throughout the human visual system. Thus, it was the primary aim of this research to incorporate the extensive literature on visual asymmetries into a semantic-based theory of the symbolic control of attention. In particular, the present study sought to reevaluate a taxonomy of spatial cues that is based on linguistic categories of spatial relations. Unfortunately, the identification of additional confounding spatial biases barred any definitive conclusions from being made on the basis of the present findings. Still, further examination of these effect was not entirely fruitless, as they offer an impetus for promising avenues of future research.