Sustained division of the attentional spotlight

M. M. Müller (), P. Malinowski, T. Gruber and S. A. Hillyard
Additional contact information
M. M. Müller: Universität Leipzig
P. Malinowski: Liverpool John Moores University
T. Gruber: Universität Leipzig
S. A. Hillyard: University of California at San Diego

Nature, 2003, vol. 424, issue 6946, 309-312

Abstract: Abstract By voluntarily directing attention to a specific region of a visual scene, we can improve our perception of stimuli at that location1. This ability to focus attention upon specific zones of the visual field has been described metaphorically as a moveable spotlight or zoom lens that facilitates the processing of stimuli within its ‘beam’2,3. A long-standing controversy has centred on the question of whether the spotlight of spatial attention has a unitary beam or whether it can be divided flexibly to disparate locations2,4,5,6. Evidence supporting the unitary spotlight view has come from numerous behavioural3,7,8,9,10 and electrophysiological11,12 studies. Recent experiments, however, indicate that the spotlight of spatial attention may be divided between non-contiguous zones of the visual field for very brief stimulus exposures (

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01812

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