A search for analog processes in orienting to sounds from different locations

Eight experiments are reported in which subjects were encouraged to direct their attention to auditory imperative stimuli. Task requirements ranged from simple detection to tone matching. Results are interpre­ted as supporting the assertion by Russell (1985), that subjects can successfully orient their attention to auditory stimuli. When the stimuli are spatially separated in tone matching tasks, reaction times are progressively slowed with increasing separation. Two explanations for this phenomena; based either on phenom­ena association with the matching task, or the orienting of attention, are proposed. An attempt to decide between these explanations was inconclusive