Showing papers on "Attentional blink published in 2001"
TL;DR: This work demonstrates that ASA is sufficient to evoke the N400 effect and suggests that automatic spread of activation (ASA) can be evoked by missed primes within the attentional blink.
Abstract: When subjects identified a target among distractors in a rapid serial visual presentation task, the detection of a subsequent target is impaired (attentional blink). By measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) we investigated if the processing of an unidentified prime word elicits the N400 semantic priming effect. Subjects (N = 12) had to identify three target words among distractors in a rapid serial visual presentation task. We varied the association strength between a prime (second target) and a probe (third target). The detection of the prime was impaired. Missed primes did not elicit a P300, indicating that they were not explicitly recognized. Despite this difference between recognized and missed primes, the N400 effect was present in both cases. This result suggests that automatic spread of activation (ASA) can be evoked by missed primes within the attentional blink. It furthermore demonstrates that ASA is sufficient to evoke the N400 effect.
205 citations
18 Oct 2001
TL;DR: This book discusses methods for studying attention in the context of search, and a review of the literature on attentional blindness and dual-tasking reveals a variety of approaches.
Abstract: CONTENTS LIST CHAPTER 1 - TEMPORAL METHODS FOR STUDYING ATTENTION: HOW DID WE GET HERE AND WHERE ARE WE GOING? CHAPTER 2 - THE ATTENTIONAL BLINK AND TASK SWITCHING WITHIN AND ACROSS MODALITIES CHAPTER 3 - TASK SWITCHING: USING RSVP METHODS TO STUDY AN EXPERIMENTER-CUED SHIFT OF SET CHAPTER 4 - VISUAL MASKING AND TASK SWITCHING IN THE ATTENTIONAL BLINK CHAPTER 5 - THE ATTENTIONAL BLINK BOTTLENECK CHAPTER 6 - PERCEPTUAL AND CENTRAL INTERFERENCE IN DUAL-TASK PERFORMANCE CHAPTER 7 - MULTIPLE SOURCES OF INTERFERENCE IN DUAL-TASK PERFORMANCE: CHAPTER 8 - CROSS-MODAL INTERACTIONS IN DUAL-TASK PARADIGMS CHAPTER 9 - GETTING BEYOND THE SERIAL/PARALLEL DEBATE IN VISUAL SEARCH: A HYBRID APPROACH CHAPTER 10 - VISUAL ATTENTION MOVES NO FASTER THAN THE EYES CHAPTER 11 - PERCEPTUAL LINKS AND ATTENTIONAL BLINKS CHAPTER 12 - A SPATIOTEMPORAL FRAMEWORK FOR DISORDERS OF VISUAL ATTENTION
120 citations
TL;DR: This paper used an individual differences methodology to show that performance in the traditional “stream”-like presentation was highly correlated with performance in the authors' modified “target mask, target mask” paradigm, thus allowing for comparisons beyond the present methodology to much of the previous literature that has used the stream paradigm.
Abstract: The attentional blink is the robust finding that processing a masked item (T1) hinders the subsequent identification of a backwards masked second item (T2), which follows soon after the first one. There has been some debate about the theoretically important relation between the difficulty of T1 processing and the ensuing blink. In Experiment 1 we manipulated the difficulty of T1 in such a way as to affect the quality of data without altering the amount of resources allocated to its identification. We found no relation between the accuracy of T1 identification and the blink. In Experiment 2, the same difficulty manipulation was applied to T2, and we observed an additive pattern with the blink. Together, this pattern of results indicates that a data-limited difficulty manipulation does not affect the blink, whether applied to T1 or T2. In Experiment 3 we used an individual differences methodology to show that performance in the traditional “stream”-like presentation (rapid serial visual presentation) was hi...
111 citations
TL;DR: This article found that the attentional blink was larger among older adults as compared to younger adults, supporting Hasher and Zacks' (1988) inhibitory deficit hypothesis and current models of the Attentional blink.
Abstract: When people attend to a target in a rapid sequence of items, their perception of a subsequent target is impaired for about 500 ms. This is termed the attentional blink. In the present experiment, a dual task rapid serial presentation task (Raymond, Shapiro & Arnell, 1992) was used as a measure of inhibitory function of younger and older adults. We found that the attentional blink was larger among older adults as compared to younger adults, supporting Hasher and Zacks' (1988) inhibitory deficit hypothesis and current models of the attentional blink.
64 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that adults with ADHD can use automatic (reflexive) attention to detect items in close temporal proximity in the RSVP stream, but have difficulty allocating controlled attention to multiple stimuli separated by several hundred milliseconds.
Abstract: In two experiments, we examined the ability of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to process multiple targets appearing in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream. Using a standard attentional blink (AB) task, subjects were required to both identify a target in the RSVP stream and detect a probe appearing in one of several posttarget serial positions. In Experiment 1, ADHD adults exhibited a protracted AB compared to controls, in that their probe detection did not improve as a function of increasing probe-to-target intervals (450–720 msec). In Experiment 2, the ADHD group performed as well as controls in detecting probes appearing immediately (i.e., 90 msec) after the target. Taken together, the results demonstrate that adults with ADHD exhibit a selective deficit in rapidly shifting attention between the target and the probe, when the two appear several hundred milliseconds apart. These results suggest that adults with ADHD can use automatic (reflexive) attention to detect items in close temporal proximity in the RSVP stream, but have difficulty allocating controlled attention to multiple stimuli separated by several hundred milliseconds.
63 citations
TL;DR: Attention is required in both identification and detection, and 2 factors contribute to the AB, masking of T2 while attention is focused on T1 and decay of the T2 trace while unattended.
Abstract: Perception of the 2nd of 2 targets (T1 and T2) is impaired if the lag between them is short (0-500 ms). The authors used this attentional blink (AB) to index attentional requirements in detection and identification tasks, with or without backward masking of T2, in 2 stimulus domains (line orientation, coherent motion). With masking, the AB occurred because T2 was masked during the attentional dwell time created by T1 processing (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). Without masking, an AB occurred only in identification because during the attentional dwell time, T2 decayed to a level that could support simple detection but not complex identification. However, an AB occurred also in detection if T2 was sufficiently degraded (Experiment 4). The authors drew 2 major conclusions: (a) Attention is required in both identification and detection, and (b) 2 factors contribute to the AB, masking of T2 while attention is focused on T1 and decay of the T2 trace while unattended.
59 citations
TL;DR: The results imply that theories of visible persistence and visual masking must account for attentional influences in addition to lower-level effects and have practical implications for use of the temporal-integration task in the assessment of group and individual differences.
Abstract: When two visual patterns are presented in rapid succession, their contours may be combined into a single unified percept This temporal integration is known to be influenced by such low-level visual factors as stimulus intensity, contour proximity, and stimulus duration In this study we asked whether temporal integration is modulated by an attentional-blink procedure The results from a localisation task in experiment 1 and a detection task in experiment 2 pointed to two separate effects First, greater attentional availability increased the accuracy of spatial localisation Second, it increased the duration over which successive stimuli could be integrated These results imply that theories of visible persistence and visual masking must account for attentional influences in addition to lower-level effects They also have practical implications for use of the temporal-integration task in the assessment of group and individual differences
52 citations
TL;DR: The authors conclude that temporal selection and spatial selection rely on a common attentional process.
Abstract: Both spatial and temporal selection require focused attention. The authors examine how temporal attention affects spatial selection. In a dual-task rapid serial visual presentation paradigm, temporal selection of a target (T1) impairs processing of a second target (T2) that follows T1 within 500 ms. This process is the attentional blink (AB). To test the effects of withdrawing temporal attention, the authors measured concurrent distractor interference on T2 when the distractors were presented during and outside of the AB. Perceptual interference was manipulated by the similarity in color between T2 and concurrent distractors, and response interference was manipulated by the flanker congruency task. Results showed that perceptual interference was larger during the AB. Response interference also increased during the AB, but only when perceptual interference was high. The authors conclude that temporal selection and spatial selection rely on a common attentional process.
51 citations
18 Oct 2001
TL;DR: It is concluded that the standard AB deficit is restricted to visual targets and can be distinguished from an additional deficit that results from a task switch between T1 and T2, and is additive with the AB effect.
Abstract: The attentional blink (AB) is a robust deficit obtained for a second visual target (T2) appearing within 200 600 ms of a correctly identified first target (T1). In most AB studies both targets appear among distractors in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), and a key variable is the lag or SOA between the two targets. In the present chapter we review research bearing on the basis for the AB deficit and related deficits, including cross-modal versions of the AB procedure and tasks that require a task switch (a switch in target criterion) between T1 and T2. We conclude that the standard AB deficit is restricted to visual targets and can be distinguished from an additional deficit that results from a task switch between T1 and T2. The latter effect is found with cross-modal and auditory stimuli as well as visual stimuli, and is additive with the AB effect (when both targets are visual). We propose that the standard AB effect occurs at a different stage of processing than the more central taskswitching deficit and shows features that distinguish it from the latter. The visual AB effect represents a limit in the speed with which visual targets — which are vulnerable to masking — can be consolidated into working memory or awareness: A second target may be lost while queuing for access to the consolidation process. We review studies that show a clear dissociation between AB and task-switching deficits, consistent with complementary findings of Allport and Hsieh (this volume) on criterion shifting in RSVP target search. The evidence suggests that there are multiple bottlenecks in processing which individually or together limit performance when two target stimuli must be processed close in time.
48 citations
TL;DR: Abnormal attentional blink may help explain difficulties on rapid, visually demanding cognitive tasks such as reading and automobile driving and may explain performance deficits in brain damaged patients with nonspatial disorders of visual processing.
Abstract: Background: Once a person identifies a visual object, the ability to detect a second object is impaired for the next few hundred milliseconds. This attentional blink is reported to increase in subjects with neglect due to acute right hemisphere lesions. Method: To examine neural substrates of the attentional blink, the authors examined the performance of 13 subjects with chronic focal brain lesions visualized by MRI and nine control subjects without neurologic impairments on a rapid serial visual presentation task that used letters as targets. Results: Attentional blink length in the lesion group was more than twice that of controls ( p Conclusions: Attentional blink length and attentional blink magnitude measure different components of the attentional blink process. Abnormal attentional blink can occur with different chronic focal brain lesions in a network of structures for vision and attention, and it has no special status in hemispatial neglect. Abnormal attentional blink may help explain difficulties on rapid, visually demanding cognitive tasks such as reading and automobile driving and may explain performance deficits in brain damaged patients with nonspatial disorders of visual processing.
48 citations
TL;DR: The results from this study indicate that the two-surface cost corresponds to competitive effects in early vision and is associated with a reduced N1 brain response in contrast to reports for AB.
TL;DR: Proposed data support proposals that the attentional blink reflects a difficulty in consolidating information into working memory in people who are severely limited in the rate that they can identify and report visual events presented in rapid succession.
Abstract: The authors tested whether the attentional blink (AB), a deficit in the ability to report a second target appearing within half a second of a first target, may reflect limitations for consolidating visual stimuli into working memory and awareness. Previous research has shown that people are severely limited in the rate that they can identify and report visual events presented in rapid succession. Word length was examined, a variable known to affect verbal working memory. Experiment 1 showed that the AB was modulated by the phonological length of the first target. Phonologically longer pseudowords triggered larger blink deficits. Experiment 2 also demonstrated the word-length effect on the AB using real-world stimuli, anagrams, that controlled for low-level visual differences between conditions. These data support proposals that the AB reflects a difficulty in consolidating information into working memory.
18 Oct 2001
TL;DR: It is concluded that the AB may represent the temporal cost of reconfiguring the visual system in readiness for different sequential tasks because it occurs reliably even without a mask after the second target.
Abstract: When two targets are presented in rapid succession, identification of the first target is nearly perfect, but identification of the second target is impaired when it follows the first by less than about 500 ms. In the present chapter, we examine the role of two factors – visual masking and attentional switching – in producing this second-target deficit, commonly known as the attentional blink (AB). We begin by reporting that the AB is affected in different ways by how the first and second targets are masked. The AB occurs whether the first target is masked by interruption or by integration. In contrast, only interruption masking is effective for the second target. In the next section, we examine the role of attentional switching as revealed by the phenomenon of “lag-1 sparing”, which refers to a reduction in the magnitude of the AB when the second target is presented directly after the first. This “sparing” points to the importance of attentional switching between sequential tasks in producing the AB. In the final section, we present new evidence showing that when the two targets have different attentional requirements, the AB occurs reliably even without a mask after the second target. Based on this evidence, we conclude that the AB may represent the temporal cost of reconfiguring the visual system in readiness for different sequential tasks. Visual Masking and Task Switching — Page 3
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: The purpose of this chapter is to explore the possibility that these dual-task phenomena might reflect the same underlying processing limitation – a central bottleneck.
Abstract: Humans often experience difficulty when asked to perform multiple tasks at the same time. Two of the better-known forms of dual-task interference are the attentional blink (AB) effect and the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) effect. These phenomena have traditionally been studied independently, using divergent methodologies and different dependent measures. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the possibility that these dual-task phenomena might reflect the same underlying processing limitation – a central bottleneck. We also discuss how AB and PRP effects are related to other phenomena such as repetition blindness and movements of spatial attention across visual space.
TL;DR: Four experiments are reported in which two target stimuli were presented in different modalities at varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), with each stimulus being associated with a distinct task, Task1 and Task2, with an SOA-locked impairment in Task2.
Abstract: In order to substantiate recent theorization on the possible links between the causes of the attentional blink and the psychological refractory period phenomena (e.g., Jolicoeur, 1999a), four experiments are reported in which two target stimuli, T1 and T2, were presented in different modalities at varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), with each stimulus being associated with a distinct task, Task1 and Task2. In Experiment 1, T1 was a tone, and Task1 was a speeded vocal response based on pitch. T2 was a brief press applied to either of two distal fingerpads, and Task2 was a speeded manual response based on tactile stimulus location. In Experiment 2, the same T1 as that used in Experiment 1 was presented, and in Task1 the subject either made a speeded vocal response based on pitch or ignored T1. T2 was a masked tactile stimulation, and Task2 was an unspeeded manual discrimination of the tactile stimulation location. This Task2 was maintained in Experiments 3 and 4. The auditory T1 was replaced with a white digit embedded in a rapid serial visualization presentation of a stream of black letters, and in Task1 the subject either made an unspeeded decision based on T1 identity or ignored T1. In all the experiments, the results showed an SOA-locked impairment in Task2. As SOA was decreased, reaction times in the speeded Task2 of Experiment 1 increased, and accuracy in the unspeeded Task2 of Experiments 2–4 decreased. The SOA-locked impairment was almost eliminated when T1 could be ignored or was absent. The results are discussed in terms of central processing limitations as the cause of such effects.
TL;DR: A significant positive relation between T1 difficulty and blink magnitude was found and resource allocation put in place to encode T1 in advance of a dual-target trial thus seems to be the critical factor in mediating this relation.
Abstract: Short Reports Abstract When one masked target (T2) follows another (T1) in close temporal proximity, identification accuracy of the second target is reduced for a period referred to as the attentional blink. Analysis of the attentional blink literature suggests that increasing the difficulty of T1 processing increases the magnitude of the blink. In a previous study that eliminated several untoward features of the typical attentional blink design (e.g., task switching, location switching, and stream contribution), we found no effect on blink magnitude when three levels of T1 difficulty (manipulated in a data-limited manner) were randomly intermixed. Here, when we repeated the previous study using a blocked manipulation of T1 difficulty, which is characteristic of the literature, a significant positive relation between T1 difficulty and blink magnitude was found. Resource allocation put in place to encode T1 in advance of a dual-target trial thus seems to be the critical factor in mediating this relation. Resume Lorsque la presentation d'une cible masqude (T2) suit rapidement celle d'une autre (T1) l'exactitude de l'identification de la seconde cible est reduite pendant une periode dite de >. Les travaux portant sur le clignotement attentionnel suggerent que plus le traitement de T1 est exigeant, plus I'ampleur du clignotement est marquee. Dans une precedente etude ou l'on a elimine plusieurs caracteristiques perverses de la procedure conventionnelle de clignotement attentionnel (p. ex., passage d'une tache a une autre ou d'un site a un autre et role du flot d'information), nous n'avons constate aucun effet sur l'ampleur du clignotement lorsque trois niveaux de difficulte quant a T1 (manipules en limitant les donnees) etaient agences de facon aleatoire. Dans la presente etude, lorsque nous avons reproduit l'etude precedente en ayant recours a une manipulation de la difficulte de T1 par blocs, comme dans la plupart des travaux, nous avons obtenu une correlation positive entre le niveau de difficulte de T1 et l'amplitude du clignotement. L'attribution de ressources a l'encodage de T1 avant un essai a deux cibles semble donc intervenir de facon critique dans l'etablissement de cette relation. The processing of a masked first target (Ti) hinders the subsequent detection or identification of a second masked target (T2) that follows within a short interval. This reduction in T2 processing has been referred to as the attentional blink (Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992) or cognitive dwell time (Duncan, Ward, & Shapiro, 1994). Although much is known about the attentional blink (Shapiro, Arnell, & Raymond, 1997), one issue of debate is the relation between T1 difficulty and magnitude of the blink. Early reports (e.g., Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1995; Shapiro, Raymond, & Arnell, 1994) failed to show an effect, whereas recent work has concluded that there is a relation such that blink magnitude increases as T1 difficulty increases (see Seiffert & Di Lollo, 1997 for a review; also Grandison, Ghirardelli, & Egeth, 1997; Moore, Egeth, Berglan, & Luck, 1996). In a recent meta-analytic review, Seiffert and Di Lollo (1997) showed, using data from five published studies, that blink magnitude increased as T1 difficulty increased. They concluded that "any operation... that increases the difficulty of Ti processing will result in a greater attentional blink deficit (p. 1072)" and this view has been, until recently (see below), widely adopted in the blink literature (e.g., see Jolicoeur, 1998). Contemporary theories of the blink have responded to (or anticipated) this conclusion by explicitly or implicitly incorporating the assumption that T1 occupies a limited capacity processing mechanism; and that as T1 difficulty is increased, this mechanism is less available for the processing of T2 (see Discussion). The relation between T1 difficulty and blink magnitude was recently reviewed and reexamined by McLaughlin, Shore, and Klein (2001) using a data-limited manipulation of T1 difficulty (cf. …
TL;DR: This set of 6 experiments used a 2-target rapid serial visual presentation paradigm to address 2 main questions: What is the nature of the code retrieved from nontarget (i.e., unselected) items?
Abstract: This set of 6 experiments used a 2-target rapid serial visual presentation paradigm to address 2 main questions: (a) What is the nature of the code retrieved from nontarget (i.e., unselected) items? and (b) How do the processing demands of the target affect the nature of the codes extracted from its proximate distractors? There were 3 main results: First, unless a nontarget receives attentional processing, its codes remain dormant. The type of activated codes depends on the perceptual load imposed by the other items that also underwent processing. Second, the item trailing the target invariably gets processed, but those farther downstream are excluded. If target selection is exacting, the codes of the item leading the target may also be enhanced. Third, the magnitude of the attentional blink increases with target selection difficulty; it is, however, unaffected by the perceptual load imposed by the target.
TL;DR: The present results confirm previous findings indicating that attentional processes can modulate startle at very short lead intervals and differentiate between Group Task and Group No-Task.
18 Oct 2001
15 Jul 2001
TL;DR: Extension of the basic model to include further control modules is supported by more time-pressuring paradigms, such as the attentional blink.
Abstract: A control framework for attention is described and supported by two paradigms: single cell responses and cost-benefit analysis in cued response. Extension of the basic model to include further control modules is supported by more time-pressuring paradigms, such as the attentional blink.
TL;DR: The results suggest that the MOD is not due to masking, attentional blink, repetition blindness, Reeves and Sperling’s (1986) order illusion, memory limitations, or decision criteria, and may reflect an attentional cost to the initiation of order encoding, which is distinct from the allocation of attention required in order to detect and identify individual items.
Abstract: The relative order of an auditory sequence can be more difficult to apprehend when it is presented repeatedly without pause (i.e., cycling) than when it is presented only once (Warren, Obusek, Farmer, & Warren, 1969). We find that this phenomenon, referred to as themidstream order deficit (MOD), can also occur with visual stimuli. The stimuli need not form separate perceptual “streams,” and the effect can occur with presentation rates as slow as five items per second, even though the identification of individual letters is very accurate at this rate. However, if the first item of the sequence is visually very distinct from the preceding items, relative order reports can be as accurate in the cycling condition as in the single-presentation condition. Our results suggest that the MOD is not due to masking, attentional blink, repetition blindness, Reeves and Sperling’s (1986) order illusion, memory limitations, or decision criteria. The MOD may reflect an attentional cost to the initiation of order encoding, which is distinct from the allocation of attention is required in order to detect and identify individual items. To initiate order encoding successfully, one’s attention must be set for, or captured by, an initial salient event.
TL;DR: The role of amygdala is demonstrated by studying perceptual detection in a patient with damage in this brain structure by using the so-called ‘attentional blink’ effect, in which the detection of a target by healthy subjects is temporarily impeded immediately after detecting another stimulus.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This paper explored the immediate perceptual/cognitive consequences of an attended-to tonal stimulus within a stream of tonal stimuli and found that the perception of subsequent tones is also a function of age.
Abstract: This research explored the immediate perceptual/cognitive consequences of an attended-to tonal stimulus within a stream of tonal stimuli. Previous results have suggested that processing information about a tone within a stream of tones presented at a rate of 11 tones/s can modify perception of subsequent tones. The results of the current study suggest that perception of subsequent tones is also a function of age.
TL;DR: In this article, a new theoretical framework is proposed to explain both these and more traditional forms of masking, such as masking by four small dots that surround but do not touch the target object, and masks by a surrounding object that remains on display after the target has been turned off.
Abstract: The brief presentation of a visual display, although clearly visible when shown by itself, can be rendered invisible by the subsequent presentation of a second visual display in the same location. Recent studies of backward masking of this kind have revealed several new effects that are not predicted by standard theories of masking. Among these are masking by four small dots that surround but that do not touch the target object, and masking by a surrounding object that remains on display after the target has been turned off. A critical ingredient in both these masking effects is the focus of spatial attention: almost no masking occurs if attention can be rapidly focused on the target, but powerful masking ensues if attention to the target is delayed. A new theoretical framework, inspired by recent developments in neuroscience, is described to explain both these and more traditional forms of masking. In addition to accounting for backward masking, this framework sheds light on several other active areas of vision research, including work on the attentional blink, inattentional blindness, and change blindness.
01 Sep 2001
TL;DR: An implemented model of the attentional blink effect is presented which relies on process exchanges between propositional meaning and a more abstract, implicational level of meaning.
Abstract: In this paper we illustrate the potential of process algebra to implement modular mental architectures of wide scope in which control is distributed rather than centralised. Drawing on the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems mental architecture, we present an implemented model of the attentional blink effect which relies on process exchanges between propositional meaning and a more abstract, implicational level of meaning. The key elements that are required in order to obtain the blink are the use of delay-lines to implement time-constrained serial order and also a mechanism for allocating limited attentional resources.