Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M4543

Inhibition of Return

Inhibition of Return
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Updated 2026-08-02

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Identified by Michael Posner and Yoav Cohen, inhibition of return is the finding that responses to a target are slower when attention has recently visited that location. The effect lasts from a few hundred milliseconds to several seconds and is thought to bias search away from already inspected regions. It functions as an evolved brake against fixating on a local optimum.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Force exploration: build rules that push attention toward unvisited options instead of favorites - Time your return: expect a recently examined option to feel duller than it really is - Schedule re-inspection: revisit a region only after the inhibition window has passed and conditions changed

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Once attention has sampled a location, the system tags it as recently checked and reduces its priority. This makes reorienting to that spot slower and steers the next saccade elsewhere. The mechanism trades a small cost on return for better coverage of the environment, which is why it looks like a built-in defense against local optima.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhibition_of_returnZH · Explicit
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