An ERP study on visual spatial priming with peripheral onsets

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Abstract
Visual event‐related potentials were measured for peripheral target stimuli that were preceded by a peripheral square. Targets appeared either at the same location as the square or in the opposite visual hemifield. In Experiment 1, 75% of the trials were same‐location trials, and in Experiment 2, same‐ and opposite‐location trials were equiprobable. The subject's overt response was dependent either on the identity or on the location of the target. In both experiments, opposite‐location targets elicited an enhanced PI at posterior electrodes ipsilateral to the position of the letter. This enhancement may be due to a sensory inhibition of same‐location targets. Same‐location targets elicited an enhanced negativity between 130 and 300 ms, with a first peak located parietally and a second peak broadly distributed over midline electrodes. This effect was larger in Experiment 1 than in Experiment 2 and is interpreted as enhanced processing of same‐location targets due to an attentional orienting process elicited by the peripheral square.