Inhibition of return mediates the relationship between openness to experience and visuospatial ability

Background Openness to experience—a core dimension of the Big Five personality framework—has been increasingly linked to cognitive functioning, though the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Visuospatial ability (VA), a key cognitive domain involved in perception, memory, and problem-solving, has shown associations with Openness in prior research. Inhibition of return (IOR), a bottom-up attentional mechanism that slows responses to recently examined locations to promote orienting toward new ones, may serve as a cognitive intermediary by optimizing how visual attention is dynamically allocated. Objective This study investigated whether IOR mediates the relationship between Openness and VA, offering new insights into personality-related differences in attentional processing. Methods A total of 290 healthy adults completed standardized assessments of personality traits (NEO-FFI), cognitive function (RBANS), and a MATLAB-based exogenous cueing paradigm to quantify IOR. △ LRT_s, a transformed metric representing IOR strength, was calculated as the response time difference between valid and invalid trials. Group comparisons, correlation analyses, and mediation models were conducted using SPSS and the PROCESS macro, controlling for age, gender, and education. Results Participants with high Openness scores demonstrated significantly higher VA and stronger IOR effects ( i.e. , larger △ LRT_s) than those with low Openness (both p < 0.001). Correlational analyses revealed positive associations among Openness, △ LRT_s, and VA. Mediation analysis confirmed that △ LRT_s partially mediated the relationship between Openness and VA (indirect effect: B = 0.058, 95% CI [0.011–0.120]), suggesting that IOR contributes to the visuospatial advantage observed in individuals high in Openness. Conclusions This study provides novel evidence that IOR serves as a mediating attentional mechanism linking Openness to enhanced visuospatial performance. These findings highlight the dynamic interaction between personality traits and low-level cognitive processes, suggesting that IOR may represent a neurocognitive pathway through which Openness facilitates efficient attentional allocation. The results have implications for understanding individual differences in cognitive functioning.