Recent research on the impact of location-based reward on attentional orienting has indicated that reward factors play an influential role in spatial priority maps. The current study investigated whether and how reward associations based on spatial location translate from overt eye movements to covert attention. If reward associations can be tied to locations in space, and if overt and covert a...

We developed a methodology, derived from the theoretical literatures on rule-governed behavior and private events, to experimentally investigate the relationship between covert verbal self-regulation and nonverbal behavior. The methodology was designed to assess whether (a) nonverbal behavior was under the control of covert rules and (b) verbal reports of these rules were functionally equivalen...

There is an ongoing controversy regarding the relationship between covert attention and saccadic eye movements. While there is quite some evidence that the preparation of a saccade is obligatory preceded by a shift of covert attention, the reverse is not clear: Is allocation of attention always accompanied by saccade preparation? Recently, a shifting and maintenance account was proposed suggest...

A peripheral visual cue in an empty field (1) often summons head or eyes, or both, (2) improves efficiency at the cued position while attention is directed to it, even without overt movements, and (3) reduces processing efficiency at the cued position once attention is withdrawn. We have studied the time course and the effects of mid-brain and cortical damage on these components of orienting. T...

In this paper we propose a novel approach to implement high capacity, covert channel by encoding covert information in the physical layer of common wireless communication protocols. We call our technique Dirty Constellation because we hide the covert messages within a “dirty” constellation that mimics noise commonly imposed by hardware imperfections and channel conditions. The cover traffic in ...

Despite extensive research, covert channels are a principal threat to information security. Covert channels employ specially-crafted content or timing characteristics to transmit internal information to external attackers. Most techniques for detecting covert channels model legitimate network traffic. However, such an approach may not be applicable in dynamic virtualized environments because tr...

Although both anonymity and covert channels are part of the larger topic of information hiding, there also exists an intrinsic linkage between anonymity and covert channels. This linkage was illustrated in [1]; however, [1] just scratched the surface of the interplay between covert channels and anonymity, without a formal analysis of the related issues. This paper begins the process of formaliz...

Network covert channels enable a policy-breaking network communication (e.g., within botnets). Within the last years, new covert channel techniques occurred which are based on the capability of protocol switching. There are currently no means available to counter these new techniques. In this paper we present the first approach to effectively limit the bandwidth of such covert channels by intro...