Teasing apart attentional repulsion: a multimethodological approach

Shifting the attentional focus in space results in performance benefits at attended vs. unattended locations. For instance, stimuli positions outside the focus are perceived as repulsed from the attended location – Attentional Repulsion Effect (ARE). This bias is assumed to reflect a change of visual field representations in retinotopic areas induced by the attentional shift. We tested whether warped representations are uniform across the visual field. We found that the ARE is a quadrant specific bias and therefore most likely generated in neural areas with quadrantic representations of the visual field (V2/V3). Since the ARE's attentional nature was questioned, we assessed eye-movement and event-related potential (ERP) signatures of exogenous and endogenous attention shifts during the ARE task. With these methods, we provided a first direct link between attention shifts and the ARE. Hence, we conclude that the ARE is a prime example for quadrant-specific biased perception outside the focus of attention.