Eyes in a schematic face and arrows can each cue an upcoming target such that responses to a target are faster to a valid than an invalid cue. These effects are sometimes claimed to reflect “automatic” orienting. One test of an automatic process concerns the extent to which it can be interfered with by another process. The present experiment investigates the ability of eyes and arrows to cue an upcoming target when both cues are present at the same time. On some trials they are congruent (both cues signal the same direction); on other trials they are incongruent (the two cues signal opposite directions). When the cues are congruent a valid cue produced faster RTs than an invalid cue. In the incongruent case arrows are resistant to interference from eyes, whereas an incongruent arrow eliminates a cueing effect for eyes. The discussion elaborates briefly on the theoretical implications.

示意图中的眼睛和箭头可以各自提示即将到来的目标，使得对目标的响应对有效提示比对无效提示更快。有时声称这些效果反映了“自动”定向。自动过程的一项测试涉及其受另一过程干扰的程度。本实验研究了当两种提示同时存在时，眼睛和箭头提示即将到来的目标的能力。在某些试验中，它们是一致的（两种线索都表明相同的方向）；在其他试验中，它们是不一致的（这两个线索发出相反的方向）。当提示一致时，有效提示比无效提示产生更快的 RT。在不一致的情况下，箭头可以抵抗眼睛的干扰，而不一致的箭头则消除了对眼睛的提示效果。讨论简要阐述了理论意义。