Abstract: This review will discuss experimental paradigms used in previous IOR researches. In their visual attention experiment, Posner and Cohen first found IOR effect, which refers to slower responding to stimuli at previously occupied spatial location, and the paradigm they used was regarded as the typical IOR experiment. After that, a great deal studies were made, and two basic paradigms are formed, which are cue-target paradigm vs. target-target paradigm. In cue-target paradigm, according as how to present the cue, using which target and whether the stimulus is dynamic or not, and so on, it could be compartmentalized to many modes. And target-target paradigm was mostly used in the experiments with discrimination task and with crossmodal

Key words: inhibition of return (IOR), experimental paradigm, cue-target paradigm, target-target paradigm