The eccentricity effect of inhibition of return is resistant to practice

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to a delayed responding to targets appeared at previously cued location relative to an uncued novel location. In a recent study, Bao and Pöppel [1] reported a functional dissociation of inhibitory processing in the visual field with much stronger IOR magnitude in the far periphery relative to the perifoveal visual field up to 15° eccentricity. The present study aimed to examine whether this effect is sensitive to participant experience or practice. Consistent with previous findings, our data demonstrated a larger IOR magnitude at 21° relative to 7° stimulus eccentricity. More importantly, no practice-related IOR magnitude changes were observed for both perifoveal and peripheral stimuli, although response times did decrease significantly with practice. These results suggest that the eccentricity effect of IOR is a robust phenomenon which is resistant to practice.

► Response times decreased significantly with practice.
► IOR magnitude was larger at 21° vs. 7° eccentricity.
► IOR at both 7° and 21° eccentricity did not change with practice.
► The eccentricity effect of IOR is a robust effect which is resistant to practice.