Joe Opdenaker¹, Miranda Scolari¹; ¹Texas Tech University

The size and extent of a cued area can induce a focal or diffused spotlight of attention. Theories of visual attention such as the zoom lens and gradient models explain how attention allocation can be guided by pre-stimulus cues and redistributed to accurately process stimuli. We conducted a flanker task (n = 38) where a pre-cue encompassed the upcoming target location (focal cue) or one that encompassed both the target and distractor locations (diffuse cue) to investigate the effects of pre-cue size on performance. As expected, a significant flanker effect in accuracy emerged in both focal and diffuse cue conditions. Unexpectedly, the flanker effect in the focal cue was significantly larger than the diffuse cue, suggesting a breakdown in attentional focus when competing distractors were presented. This pattern of results may have occurred due to a redistribution of attention following the sudden onset of near (<1 degree), salient distractor stimuli. Competing distractors may have broadened the attentional spotlight or shifted the attentional gradient outward to include distractors. In contrast, the diffuse cue preemptively distributed attention more evenly across the target and distractor location, reducing the likelihood of an attentional redistribution following array onset, resulting in a smaller flanker effect. These findings suggest that attentional resetting may be driving changes in resource allocation shaped by the extent of pre-stimulus cue that do not initially include near distractors. Two follow up studies are underway to test this hypothesis.