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We examined the attentional demands of the preparation process that intervenes a warning stimulus (S1) and a subsequent reaction stimulus (S2). Twelve participants performed a reaction task with a variable S1–S2 interval both with and without concurrent memory load that served to deplete attentional resources. We found that memory load did not modify the effect of the S1-S2 interval on reaction time. We argue that this finding casts doubt on the common notion that the preparation process is under direct attentional control.