overt orienting
Summary
Overt orienting is shifting attention by physically moving the eyes, head, or body toward a stimulus so its image falls on the fovea. Covert orienting shifts attention while gaze stays fixed. Testable point: overt versus covert depends on whether the eyes move, not on whether the shift is voluntary.
Detail
Meaning: Orienting is directing attention to a location or stimulus so it is processed better. In overt orienting, the eyes (saccades), head, or body turn toward the target, placing its image on the fovea, where acuity is highest. In covert orienting, attention shifts while gaze stays fixed. Either kind can be exogenous (pulled by a sudden stimulus) or endogenous (directed by a goal).
On the MCAT: A cueing task (Posner paradigm) has participants fixate on a central point, see a cue, then respond to a target. Valid cues (pointing to the target's location) give faster reaction times than neutral cues, and invalid cues give slower ones. Because fixation is held, this design measures covert orienting. If eye tracking shows gaze moving toward the cue, the orienting is overt. Questions often ask which condition gives the longest reaction time (invalid) or ask you to classify a scenario as overt or covert.
Common confusion: Overt does not mean voluntary. Overt versus covert describes whether the eyes move; exogenous versus endogenous describes what drives the shift. A sudden noise can pull the eyes reflexively (overt, exogenous), and a person can deliberately attend to a peripheral spot without looking at it (covert, endogenous).
Sources
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychology
- Sensation and Perception
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.