Effects of spatial attention on motion discrimination are greater in the left than right visual field

In order to investigate differences in the effects of spatial attention between the left visual field (LVF) and the right visual field (RVF), we employed a full/poor attention paradigm using stimuli presented in the LVF vs. RVF. In addition, to investigate differences in the effects of spatial attention between the dorsal and ventral processing streams, we obtained motion thresholds (motion coherence thresholds and fine direction discrimination thresholds) and orientation thresholds, respectively. The results of this study showed negligible effects of attention on the orientation task, in either the LVF or RVF. In contrast, for both motion tasks, there was a significant effect of attention in the LVF, but not in the RVF. These data provide psychophysical evidence for greater effects of spatial attention in the LVF/right hemisphere, specifically, for motion processing in the dorsal stream.

► Examined effects of full/poor attention on lateralized motion and orientation tasks. ► Negligible effects of attention found on orientation task. ► Attention effects found in the left, but not right, visual field for motion tasks. ► Greater attention effects in the dorsal stream of the right, than left, hemisphere.