• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

In this study, we examined the effects of spatial attention in Hangul word recognition depending on visual factors. The visual complexity of words (Experiment 1) and contrast (Experiment 2) were manipulated to examine whether the effect of spatial attention differs depending on visual quality. Participants responded to words with and without codas in experiment 1 and words in high-contrast and low-contrast conditions in experiment 2. The effects of spatial attention were investigated by calculating the difference in performance between the condition where spatial cues were given at the target location (valid trial) and the condition where the spatial cues were not given at the target location (invalid trial) as the cuing effects. As a result, the cuing effects were similar depending on the complexity of the words. It indicates that the effects of spatial attention were not different across the visual complexity conditions. The cuing effects were greater in the low-contrast condition than in the high-contrast condition. The greater effect of spatial attention when the contrast is low was explained as a mechanism of signal enhancement.