Spatial cuing in a stereoscopic display: Evidence for a "depth-blind" attentional spotlight.

This experiment explored whether attentional selection observed in a spatial cuing task is based on a representation that includes depth information or not. Targets were presented inside placeholders appearing at the samex,y location on a stereoscopic display, but on different depth planes, or at differentx,y locations on the same depth plane. A peripheral precue produced significant cuing effects in the latter but not in the former condition. In a control experiment, significant cuing effects were found for targets appearing at differentx,y coordinates within the fovea, confirming that the lack of cuing effects in the depth condition was not due to foveal presentation. Together, the results suggest that spatial selection in spatial cuing tasks operates on a representation that does not include depth information.