Temporal Orienting and Alerting – The Same or Different?

and what to filter out. A warning cue prior to an event can be used to direct attention and improve performance when response to an imperative target is required. Various studies have suggested that warning cues may induce a change in alertness or modulate temporal anticipation of an upcoming event. The current literature presents similar effects for these two functions; hence, effects of a warning cue are sometimes attributed to changes in the state of alertness and in other cases, to voluntary orienting of attention in time. In this article we will discuss whether temporal orienting of attention and alertness are dissociable.