Showing papers on "Attentional blink published in 2019"
TL;DR: The results suggest that confidence does not perfectly evaluate the limits of temporal attention in challenging situations, as it remains blind to delays in response selection for the second target.
Abstract: Temporal attention enhances the perceptual representation of a stimulus at a particular point in time. The number of possible attentional episodes in a given period is limited, but whether observers’ confidence reflects such limitations is still unclear. To investigate this issue, we adapted an “Attentional Blink” paradigm, presenting observers with a rapid visual stream of letters containing two targets cued for subsequent perceptual reports and confidence judgments. We found three main results. First, when two targets fell within the same attentional episode, the second target underwent a strong under-confidence bias. In other words, confidence neglected that a single attentional episode can benefit to both targets. Second, despite this initial bias, confidence was strongly correlated with response probability. Third, as confidence was yoked to the evidence used in perceptual reports, it remains blind to delays in response selection for the second target. Notably, the second target was often mistaken with a later item associated with higher confidence. These results suggest that confidence does not perfectly evaluate the limits of temporal attention in challenging situations.
16 citations
TL;DR: A visual attentional blink (VAB) model (vabCPM) is constructed, comparing its performance predictions and network edges associated with successful and unsuccessful behavior to the saCPM, and it is concluded that these partially overlapping networks each have general attentional functions.
Abstract: Attention is a critical cognitive function, allowing humans to select, enhance, and sustain focus on information of behavioral relevance. Attention contains dissociable neural and psychological components. Nevertheless, some brain networks support multiple attentional functions. Connectome-based Predictive Models (CPM), which associate individual differences in task performance with functional connectivity patterns, provide a compelling example. A sustained attention network model (saCPM) successfully predicted performance for selective attention, inhibitory control, and reading recall tasks. Here we constructed a visual attentional blink (VAB) model (vabCPM), comparing its performance predictions and network edges associated with successful and unsuccessful behavior to the saCPM9s. In the VAB, attention devoted to a target often causes a subsequent item to be missed. Although frequently attributed to attentional limitations, VAB deficits may attenuate when participants are distracted or deploy attention diffusely. Participants (n=73; 24 males) underwent fMRI while performing the VAB task and while resting. Outside the scanner, they completed other cognitive tasks over several days. A vabCPM constructed from these data successfully predicted VAB performance. Strikingly, the network edges that predicted better VAB performance (positive edges) predicted worse selective and sustained attention performance, and vice versa. Predictions from the saCPM mirrored these results, with the network9s negative edges predicting better VAB performance. Furthermore, the vabCPM9s positive edges significantly overlapped with the saCPM9s negative edges, and vice versa. We conclude that these partially overlapping networks each have general attentional functions. They may indicate an individual9s propensity to diffusely deploy attention, predicting better performance for some tasks and worse for others.
14 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that dispositional mindfulness, in particular the Non-reacting facet, was related to faster disengagement of attention from emotional stimuli, which could have implications for mood disorders characterised by an exaggerated attentional bias toward emotional stimuli.
14 citations
TL;DR: Overall, the results indicate that visual consciousness is characterised by enhanced neural activity representing the visual stimulus and that this effect arises as early as 180 ms post-stimulus onset.
13 citations
TL;DR: The authors show that conscious access differs between semantic categories and is driven by category-related visual features commonly associated with processing in higher level visual areas.
Abstract: Conscious perception is crucial for adaptive behaviour yet access to consciousness varies for different types of objects. The visual system comprises regions with widely distributed category information and exemplar-level representations that cluster according to category. Does this categorical organisation in the brain provide insight into object-specific access to consciousness? We address this question using the Attentional Blink approach with visual objects as targets. We find large differences across categories in the attentional blink. We then employ activation patterns extracted from a deep convolutional neural network to reveal that these differences depend on mid- to high-level, rather than low-level, visual features. We further show that these visual features can be used to explain variance in performance across trials. Taken together, our results suggest that the specific organisation of the higher-tier visual system underlies important functions relevant for conscious perception of differing natural images.
12 citations
TL;DR: This work finds large differences across categories in the AB and employs activation patterns extracted from a deep convolutional neural network to reveal that these differences depend on mid- to high- level, rather than low-level, visual features.
Abstract: Conscious perception is crucial for adaptive behaviour yet access to consciousness varies for different types of objects. The visual system comprises regions with widely distributed category information and exemplar-level representations that cluster according to category. Does this categorical organisation in the brain provide insight into object-specific access to consciousness? We address this question using the Attentional Blink (AB) approach with visual objects as targets. We find large differences across categories in the AB then employ activation patterns extracted from a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to reveal that these differences depend on mid- to high-level, rather than low-level, visual features. We further show that these visual features can be used to explain variance in performance across trials. Taken together, our results suggest that the specific organisation of the higher-tier visual system underlies important functions relevant for conscious perception of differing natural images.
11 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that the rate of attentional focusing, like orienting, can be modulated by both exogenous and endogenous mechanisms.
Abstract: Selective visual attention involves prioritizing both the location (orienting) and distribution (focusing) of processing. To date, much more research has examined attentional orienting than focusing. One of the most well-established findings is that orienting can be exogenous, as when a unique change in luminance draws attention to a spatial location (e.g., Theeuwes in Atten Percept Psychophys 51:599–606, 1992; Yantis and Jonides in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 10:601, 1984), and endogenous, as when a red distractor shape diverts attention when one is looking for a red target (e.g., Bacon and Egeth in Percept Psychophys 55:485–496, 1994; Folk et al. in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:1030, 1992). Here we ask whether attentional focusing—the broadening and contracting of prioritized processing—is influenced by the same two factors. Our methodology involved a dual-stream attentional blink task; participants monitored two spatially separated streams of items for two targets that could appear unpredictably either in the same stream or in opposite streams. The spatial distribution of attention was assessed by examining second-target accuracy in relation to inter-target lag and target location (same or opposite streams). In Experiment 1, we found that attentional contracting was more rapid when the targets differed in luminance from the distractor items. In Experiments 2 and 3, we found that the rate of attentional contracting was slower when there were task-relevant distractors in the stream opposite the first target. These results indicate that the rate of attentional focusing, like orienting, can be modulated by both exogenous and endogenous mechanisms.
10 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that valid expectations about the identity of an upcoming stimulus increase the likelihood that it is consciously reported and that global pre-stimulus neural activity biased perceptual decisions for a ‘seen’ response.
Abstract: Subjective experience can be influenced by top-down factors, such as expectations and stimulus relevance. Recently, it has been shown that expectations can enhance the likelihood that a stimulus is consciously reported, but the neural mechanisms supporting this enhancement are still unclear. We manipulated stimulus expectations within the attentional blink (AB) paradigm using letters and combined visual psychophysics with magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings to investigate whether prior expectations may enhance conscious access by sharpening stimulus-specific neural representations. We further explored how stimulus-specific neural activity patterns are affected by the factors expectation, stimulus relevance and conscious report. First, we show that valid expectations about the identity of an upcoming stimulus increase the likelihood that it is consciously reported. Second, using a series of multivariate decoding analyses, we show that the identity of letters presented in and out of the AB can be reliably decoded from MEG data. Third, we show that early sensory stimulus-specific neural representations are similar for reported and missed target letters in the AB task (active report required) and an oddball task in which the letter was clearly presented but its identity was task-irrelevant. However, later sustained and stable stimulus-specific representations were uniquely observed when target letters were consciously reported (decision-dependent signal). Fourth, we show that global pre-stimulus neural activity biased perceptual decisions for a 'seen' response. Fifth and last, no evidence was obtained for the sharpening of sensory representations by top-down expectations. We discuss these findings in light of emerging models of perception and conscious report highlighting the role of expectations and stimulus relevance.
9 citations
TL;DR: Assigning newly acquired semantic knowledge to objects increased overall conscious detection in comparison to objects associated with minimal knowledge while controlling for object familiarity, suggesting that semantic knowledge can shape the contents of consciousness by affecting early stages of perceptual processing.
Abstract: It is becoming increasingly established that information from long-term memory can influence early perceptual processing, a finding that is in line with recent theoretical approaches to cognition such as the predictive coding framework. Notwithstanding, the impact of semantic knowledge on conscious perception and the temporal dynamics of such an influence remain unclear. To address this question, we presented pictures of novel objects to participants as the second of two targets in an attentional blink paradigm. We found that associating newly acquired semantic knowledge to objects increased overall conscious detection in comparison to objects associated with minimal knowledge while controlling for object familiarity. Additionally, event-related brain potentials revealed a corresponding modulation beginning 100 msec after stimulus presentation in the P1 component. Furthermore, the size of this modulation was correlated with participant's subjective reports of conscious perception. These findings suggest that semantic knowledge can shape the contents of consciousness by affecting early stages of perceptual processing.
9 citations
TL;DR: When attentional resources were severely insufficient, individuals under stress were more able to focus on the current target; that is, stress facilitated selective attention.
9 citations
TL;DR: These findings challenge the current understanding of the impact of social status on attentional competition and attribute the workings of comparatively early processing stages, separate from those mediating spatial attention shifts, which are tuned to physical features associated with low dominance.
Abstract: Social status can be attained through either dominance (coercion and intimidation) or prestige (skill and respect). Individuals high in either of these status pathways are known to more readily attract gaze and covert spatial attention compared to their low-status counterparts. However it is not known if social status biases allocation of attentional resources to competing stimuli. To address this issue, we used an attentional blink paradigm to explore non-spatial attentional biases in response to face stimuli varying in dominance and prestige. Results from a series of studies consistently indicated that participants were biased towards allocating attention to low- relative to high- dominance faces. We also observed no effects of manipulating prestige on attentional bias. We attribute our results to the workings of comparatively early processing stages, separate from those mediating spatial attention shifts, which are tuned to physical features associated with low dominance. These findings challenge our current understanding of the impact of social status on attentional competition.
TL;DR: Enhanced attention for visual food stimuli seems to play no direct causal role in eating styles associated with overeating, and there is evidence for a prioritisation of food stimuli in the allocation of attentional resources.
TL;DR: Three experiments used an emotion-induced blindness task to examine whether this prioritisation of emotional faces occurs in a purely stimulus-driven fashion or whether it emerges only when the faces are task-relevant, and found that reward-related faces impaired subsequent target identification.
Abstract: Facial emotion constitutes an important source of information, and rapid processing of this information may bring adaptive advantages. Previous evidence suggests that emotional faces are sometimes prioritised for cognitive processing. Three experiments used an emotion-induced blindness task to examine whether this prioritisation occurs in a purely stimulus-driven fashion or whether it emerges only when the faces are task-relevant. Angry or neutral faces appeared as distractors in a rapid serial visual presentation sequence, shortly before a target that participants were required to identify. Either the emotion (Experiment 1) or gender (Experiments 2 and 3) of the distractor face indicated whether a correct/incorrect response to the target would produce reward/punishment, or not. The three experiments found that reward-related faces impaired subsequent target identification, replicating previous results. Target identification accuracy was also impaired following angry faces, compared with neutral faces, demonstrating an emotion-induced attentional bias. Importantly, this impairment was observed even when face emotion was entirely irrelevant to the participants' ongoing task (in Experiments 2 and 3), suggesting that rapid processing of the facial emotion might arise (at least in part) from the operation of relatively automatic cognitive-perceptual processes.
TL;DR: These findings suggest that the grouping benefit emerges at early perceptual stages, automatically drawing attentional resources, thereby leading to either sustained benefits or transient costs—depending on the task-relevance of the grouped object.
Abstract: Previous work has demonstrated that perceptual grouping modulates the selectivity of attention across space. By contrast, how grouping influences the allocation of attention over time is much less clear. This study investigated this issue, using an attentional blink (AB) paradigm to test how grouping influences the initial selection and the subsequent short-term memory consolidation of a target. On a given trial, two red Kanizsa-type targets (T1 and T2) with varying grouping strength were embedded in a rapid serial visual presentation stream of irrelevant distractors. Our results showed the typical AB finding: impaired identification of T2 when presented close in time following T1. Moreover, the AB was modulated by the T2 grouping-independently of the T1 structure-with stronger grouping leading to a decreased AB and overall higher performance. Conversely, a reversed pattern, namely an increased AB with increasing grouping strength was observed when the Kanizsa figure was not task-relevant. Together, these findings suggest that the grouping benefit emerges at early perceptual stages, automatically drawing attentional resources, thereby leading to either sustained benefits or transient costs-depending on the task-relevance of the grouped object. This indicates that grouping modulates processing of objects in time.
TL;DR: Testing whether emotional interference on a primary task can be modulated on a more dynamic basis, by the anticipation of unpredictable electric shock found that threat of unpredictableElectric shock prolonged the duration of the emotional interference out to 400 ms and 700 ms, without affecting the overall magnitude of the performance impairment.
Abstract: When we view emotionally arousing images, our perception of stimuli that follow soon afterward is transiently impaired-a phenomenon known as emotion-induced blindness. Previous studies have demonstrated that the magnitude and time course of this visual processing impairment is exaggerated by the presence of psychopathology and anxiety-related traits. Here, we tested whether emotional interference on a primary task can be modulated on a more dynamic basis, by the anticipation of unpredictable electric shock. We embedded naturalistic scenes in a 10-Hz rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream, while varying the hedonic content of distractor images (aversive or neutral) and their temporal position (200, 400, and 700 ms) with respect to landscape targets. In Experiment 1, we found that, under typical conditions, aversive distractors induced a temporary visual performance decrement that exhibited a full rebound following a 400-ms distractor-target lag. In Experiment 2, subjects performed an identical RSVP task while under continuous threat of electric shock. We found that threat of unpredictable electric shock prolonged the duration of the emotional interference out to 400 ms and 700 ms, without affecting the overall magnitude of the performance impairment. In Experiment 3, the prolonged emotional interference under threat of unpredictable electric shock persisted at the 400-ms lag despite observed practice effects within subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
TL;DR: Three experiments were conducted to examine whether attention can be deployed in divided form from the outset, or whether it is first deployed as a unitary focus before being divided.
Abstract: Whether focused visual attention can be divided has been the topic of much investigation, and there is a compelling body of evidence showing that, at least under certain conditions, attention can be divided and deployed as two independent foci. Three experiments were conducted to examine whether attention can be deployed in divided form from the outset, or whether it is first deployed as a unitary focus before being divided. To test this, we adapted the methodology of Jefferies, Enns, and Di Lollo (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 40: 465, 2014), who used a dual-stream Attentional Blink paradigm and two letter-pair targets. One aspect of the AB, Lag-1 sparing, has been shown to occur only if the second target pair appears within the focus of attention. By presenting the second target pair at various spatial locations and assessing the magnitude of Lag-1 sparing, we probed the spatial distribution of attention. By systematically manipulating the stimulus-onset-asynchrony between the targets, we also tracked changes to the spatial distribution of attention over time. The results showed that even under conditions which encourage the division of attention, the attentional focus is first deployed in unitary form before being divided. It is then maintained in divided form only briefly before settling on a single location.
TL;DR: There are homeostatic and circadian variations in the capacity to process any incoming information, especially in tasks with brief duration stimuli presented at a high frequency.
Abstract: An important property of attention is the limitation to process new information after responding to a stimulus. This property of attention can be evaluated by the Attentional Blink (AB), a phenomenon that consists of a failure to detect the second of two targets when the interval between them is 200-500 ms. The aim of the present work is to determine the possible existence of time awake (homeostatic changes) and time of day (circadian rhythm) variations in the AB. Eighteen undergraduate students, 11 men and 7 women, age = 18.06 ± 1.16 years, participated voluntarily in this research. They were recorded in a constant routine protocol during 29 h, in which rectal temperature was recorded every minute, while subjective sleepiness and responses to a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) task, to measure the AB, were recorded every hour. Homeostatic and circadian variations in all parameters of the RSVP task were observed, including changes in the capacity to process a new stimulus (Target 1 accuracy), a second stimulus occurring in a short interval after the first (Target 2 accuracy at lag 2, 200 ms) and to process another successive independent stimulus (Target 2 accuracy at lag 8, 800 ms). The acrophase of these parameters occurred with a phase delay of 2 h compared to the circadian rhythm of rectal temperature. The AB magnitude, an index of the AB, showed a decline with time awake, but no variations with time of day. In conclusion, there are homeostatic and circadian variations in the capacity to process any incoming information, especially in tasks with brief duration stimuli presented at a high frequency.
01 Dec 2019
TL;DR: In this article, a single 15min video game training session was used to induce an expectancy effect in visual attentional performance with a brief single placebo training session, and the results showed an overall significant increase in the Useful field of view performance uniquely for the placebo group.
Abstract: Numerous studies in the last decade have shown the potential for video games to enhance several cognitive processes, with most evidence targeting visual attention. However, a debate has emerged in the literature pointing to flawed experimental design being responsible for such findings. For example, participants’ expectancy effects (i.e., a placebo) have been proposed as an alternate explanation for observed cognitive enhancement resulting from video game training. Nevertheless, to this day, there is no empirical evidence suggesting that video game studies are susceptible to expectancy effects. Here, we investigate whether we could induce an expectancy effect in visual attentional performance with a brief single placebo video game training session. We recruited naive participants and randomly assigned them into two groups that went through the same experimental procedure, except for the experimental instructions. The experimental procedure included a pre-test with an Attentional Blink task and a Useful field of view task, then a single 15-min video game training session, and finally a post-test with the same tasks as the pre-test. The placebo group received instructions implying that the video game would make them perform better, while the control group was told that they would play a video game to give them a break from the experiment. Our results show an overall significant increase in the Useful field of view performance uniquely for the placebo group. Together, these results confirm the hypothesis that video game training experiments are susceptible to expectancy effects.
TL;DR: This work shows that the LPE is more than just an inflated miss rate: When observers successfully detected rare targets, they were less likely to spot subsequent targets and found that detecting low-prevalence targets exacerbates the LC refractory period.
Abstract: In many visual search tasks (e.g., cancer screening, airport baggage inspections), the most serious search targets occur infrequently. As an ironic side effect, when observers finally encounter important objects (e.g., a weapon in baggage), they often fail to notice them, a phenomenon known as the low-prevalence effect (LPE). Although many studies have investigated LPE search errors, we investigated the attentional consequences of successful rare target detection. Using an attentional blink paradigm, we manipulated how often observers encountered the first serial target (T1), then measured its effects on their ability to detect a following target (T2). Across two experiments, we show that the LPE is more than just an inflated miss rate: When observers successfully detected rare targets, they were less likely to spot subsequent targets. Using pupillometry to index locus-coeruleus (LC) mediated attentional engagement, Experiment 2 confirmed that an LC refractory period mediates the attentional blink (`Nieuwenhuis, Gilzenrat, Holmes, & Cohen, 2005, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134[3], 291–307), and that these effects emerge relatively quickly following T1 onset. Moreover, in both behavioral and pupil analyses, we found that detecting low-prevalence targets exacerbates the LC refractory period. Consequences for theories of the LPE are discussed.
TL;DR: This study reports significant differences in the processing speeds of divided attention and the error rates in the AB test between the congenitally hearing impaired and the normal with the hearing impaired having slower speeds of processing but making less errors in AB test.
Abstract: Background: Enhanced visual attention is one of the major documented effects in auditory deprivation. However, in parallel, it has been shown that the congenitally deaf show deficits in their temporal processing. Aim: In this study, we aimed to study the parameters of visual attention. Materials and Methods: The speed of processing of divided attention (using the symbol digit modality test [SDMT]) and the central attention with attentional blink (AB) using a commercially available App, the BrainBaseline App. We tested these parameters of visual attention in students who are congenitally hearing impaired and those with normal hearing. Results: The measure of visual attention (error scores) using the SDMT did not show any significant differences between the congenitally hearing impaired and the students with normal hearing. However, we report significant differences in the processing speeds of divided attention and the error rates in the AB test between the congenitally hearing impaired and the normal with the hearing impaired having slower speeds of processing but making less errors in AB test. Conclusion: This finding probably indicates the redistribution or allocation of available brain resources as a result of sensory deprivation.
TL;DR: Findings support the notion that the DLPFC plays a role in facilitating information transition from the unconscious to the conscious stage of processing, by using transcranial direct current stimulation to potentiate or reduce neural excitability in the context of an AB task.
Abstract: Adaptive behaviour requires the ability to process goal-relevant events at the expense of irrelevant ones. However, perception of a relevant visual event can transiently preclude access to consciousness of subsequent events - a phenomenon called attentional blink (AB). Here we investigated involvement of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in conscious access, by using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to potentiate or reduce neural excitability in the context of an AB task. In a sham-controlled experimental design, we applied between groups anodal or cathodal tDCS over the left DLPFC, and examined whether this stimulation modulated the proportion of stimuli that were consciously reported during the AB period. We found that tDCS over the left DLPFC affected the proportion of consciously perceived target stimuli. Moreover, anodal and cathodal tDCS had opposing effects, and exhibited different temporal patterns. Anodal stimulation attenuated the AB, enhancing conscious report earlier in the AB period. Cathodal stimulation accentuated the AB, reducing conscious report later in the AB period. These findings support the notion that the DLPFC plays a role in facilitating information transition from the unconscious to the conscious stage of processing.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of blink and non-blink cyclicity (BNBC) were analyzed using the Stroop Test for emotion elicitation, and features were extracted from a categorical time series (0: nonblink;1: blink) recorded by the eye-tracking system.
Abstract: Previous studies have shown that eye activities, including blinks, can indicate the psychological state of an individual. However, almost all previous studies analyzing blinks merely concentrated on traditional descriptive statistics, which are unable to reflect their dynamic processes. Furthermore, the states of non-blink (opening the eyes) and blink alternate with each other, forming a physiological cycle. If we only investigate blinks alone, it may be inadequate to describe how blinking works. Therefore, we attempted to recognize the affective state (“relaxation” vs. “stress”) of an individual through the dynamics of blink and non-blink cyclicity (BNBC), as one example, to illustrate this method. First, the “Stroop Test” was employed for emotion elicitation. Then, features were extracted from a categorical time series (0: nonblink;1: blink), which was recorded by the eye-tracking system. Finally, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values were obtained via eight commonly used classifiers. The results show that, compared with the traditional approaches for blink analysis, BNBC exhibits more compelling proficiency to detect stress. In summation, BNBC can be considered a new type of psychophysiological measure, which could be widely applied in psychology, medicine, and engineering.
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that the EAB is robust to manipulations of top-down attention, suggesting that the temporary capture of attention by emotionally salient stimuli involves processes that are distinct from those that produce the attentional blink.
Abstract: The emotional attentional blink (EAB) refers to a temporary impairment in the ability to identify a target when it is preceded by an emotional distractor. It is thought to occur because the emotional salience of the distractor exogenously captures attention for a brief duration, rendering the target unattended and preventing it from reaching awareness. Here we tested the extent to which the EAB can be attenuated by inducing a diffuse top-down attentional state, which has been shown to improve target identification in an analogous attentional phenomenon, the attentional blink. Rapid sequences of landscape images were presented centrally, and participants reported the orientation of a ± 90° rotation of a landscape target. To induce a diffuse state of attention, participants were given a secondary task of monitoring for the appearance of a colored dot in the periphery. We found that emotional distractors impaired target recognition performance to comparable extents, regardless of whether or not participants concurrently performed the peripheral-monitoring task. Moreover, we found that performance of the secondary task led to an impaired ability to ignore neutral distractors. Subjective ratings of target vividness mirrored the behavioral accuracy, with frequent reports of intermediate levels of vividness suggesting that the EAB might impair target visibility in a graded manner. Our results demonstrate that the EAB is robust to manipulations of top-down attention, suggesting that the temporary capture of attention by emotionally salient stimuli involves processes that are distinct from those that produce the attentional blink.
TL;DR: The authors investigated the temporal aspect of infants' working memory using an attentionally demanding task by focusing on the attentional blink effect, in which the identification of the second of the two brief targets is impaired when inter-target lags are short.
Abstract: Primary cognitive processes, such as spatial attention, are essential to our higher cognitive abilities and develop dramatically in the first year of life. The spatial aspect of infants' working memory is equivalent to that of adults. However, it is unclear whether this is true for the temporal domain. Thus, we investigated the temporal aspect of infants' working memory using an attentionally demanding task by focusing on the attentional blink effect, in which the identification of the second of the two brief targets is impaired when inter-target lags are short. We argue that finding a similar pattern of the attentional blink in preverbal infants and adults indicates that infants can complete the consolidation of the first target into working memory at a similar temporal scale as adults. In this experiment, we presented 7- to 8-month-old infants with rapid serial visual streams at a rate of 100 ms/item, including two female faces as targets, and examined whether they could identify the targets by measuring their preference to novel faces compared to targets. The temporal separation between the two targets was 200 or 800 ms. We found that the infants could identify both targets under the longer lag, but they failed to identify the second target under the shorter lag. The adult experiment using the same temporal separation as in the infant experiment revealed the attentional blink effect. These results suggest that 7- to 8-month-old infants can consolidate two items into working memory by 800 ms but not by 200 ms.
TL;DR: The novel finding was that Lag-1 sparing occurred in RT, provided that T2 was masked, and predictions from the PRP-based model regarding Lag- 1 sparing/Lag-1 deficit were confirmed.
Abstract: Perception of the second of two targets (T1, T2) displayed in rapid sequence is impaired if it comes shortly after the first (attentional blink, AB). In an exception, known as Lag-1 sparing, T2 is virtually unimpaired if it is presented directly after T1. Three experiments examined the seemingly inconsistent findings that Lag-1 sparing occurs in accuracy but Lag-1 deficit occurs in RT. Experiment 1 pointed to masking of T2 as the critical factor. When T2 was not masked, the results replicated the conventional findings. The novel finding was that Lag-1 sparing occurred in RT, provided that T2 was masked. An account was provided by a psychological refractory period-based model in which processing was said to occur in two broadly sequential stages: stimulus selection and response planning. Experiments 2 and 3 tested predictions from the PRP-based model regarding Lag-1 sparing/Lag-1 deficit. In Experiment 2, we increased T2 salience, notionally reducing the duration of the T2 selection stage, with corresponding reduction in Lag-1 sparing. In Experiment 3, we manipulated the compatibility between the T1 stimulus and the response to notionally decrease/increase the duration of the T1 response-planning stage with corresponding increment/decrement in Lag-1 sparing. The results of both experiments confirmed predictions from the PRP-based model.
TL;DR: This work employed a multivariate encoding approach to extract feature-selective information carried by randomly-oriented gratings within a rapid serial stream and shows that feature selectivity is enhanced for correctly reported targets and suppressed when the same items are missed.
Abstract: The human brain is inherently limited in the information it can make consciously accessible. When people monitor a rapid stream of visual items for two targets, they can typically report the first, but not the second target, if these appear within 200-500 ms of each other, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). No extant theory has pinpointed the neural basis for the AB, partly because conventional neuroimaging approaches lack the temporal resolution to adequately characterise the neural activity elicited by each stimulus event in a rapid stream. Here we introduce a new approach that can identify the precise effect of the AB on behaviour and neural activity. Specifically, we employed multivariate pattern analysis to extract feature-selective information carried by randomly-oriented Gabors within a rapid serial stream. We show that orientation selectivity is enhanced for correctly reported targets, and suppressed when the same items are missed. By contrast, no such effects were apparent for irrelevant distractor items. Our findings point to a new theoretical account that involves both short-range and long-range temporal interactions between visual items competing for consciousness.
TL;DR: Although older adults displayed a larger AB than younger adults, no age differences emerged in the impact of emotion on the AB and negative facial expressions held the attention of younger and older adults in a comparable manner, exacerbating theAB and supporting a negativity bias instead of a positivity effect in older adults.
Abstract: The attentional blink (AB) is the impaired ability to detect a second target (T2) when it follows shortly after the first (T1) among distractors in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). Given questions about the automaticity of age differences in emotion processing, the current study examined whether emotion cues differentially impact the AB elicited in older and younger adults. Twenty-two younger (18-22 years) and 22 older adult participants (62-78 years) reported on the emotional content of target face stimulus pairs embedded in a RSVP of scrambled-face distractor images. Target pairs included photo-realistic faces of angry, happy, and neutral expressions. The order of emotional and neutral stimuli as T1 or T2 and the degree of temporal separation within the RSVP systematically varied. Target detection accuracy was used to operationalise the AB. Although older adults displayed a larger AB than younger adults, no age differences emerged in the impact of emotion on the AB. Angry T1 faces increased the AB of both age groups. Neither emotional T2 attenuated the AB. Negative facial expressions held the attention of younger and older adults in a comparable manner, exacerbating the AB and supporting a negativity bias instead of a positivity effect in older adults.
TL;DR: The data suggest a novel low-level mechanism contributing to AB characterized by reduced MSR, thought to cause suppressed visual cortex excitability, which opens the question of whether attention mediates T2 performance suppression independently from MSR and if not, how attention interacts with MSR to produce the T1 performance suppression.
Abstract: The reduced detectability of a target T2 following discrimination of a preceding target T1 in the attentional blink (AB) paradigm is classically interpreted as a consequence of reduced attention to T2 due to attentional allocation to T1. Here, we investigated whether AB was related to changes in microsaccade rate (MSR). We found a pronounced MSR signature following T1 onset, characterized by MSR suppression from 200 to 328 ms and enhancement from 380 to 568 ms. Across participants, the magnitude of the MSR suppression correlated with the AB effect such that low T2 detectability corresponded to reduced MSR. However, in the same task, T1 error trials coincided with the presence of microsaccades. We discuss this apparent paradox in terms of known neurophysiological correlates of MS whereby cortical excitability is suppressed both during the microsaccade and MSR suppression, in accordance to poor T1 performance with microsaccade occurrence and poor T2 performance with microsaccade absence. Our data suggest a novel low-level mechanism contributing to AB characterized by reduced MSR, thought to cause suppressed visual cortex excitability. This opens the question of whether attention mediates T2 performance suppression independently from MSR, and if not, how attention interacts with MSR to produce the T2 performance suppression.
TL;DR: The findings did not confirm the prediction that AB size covaries with sEBR, mood, or color discrimination, and the implications of this inconsistency with previous observations are discussed.
Abstract: Adaptive behavioral control involves a balance between top-down persistence and flexible updating of goals under changing demands. According to the metacontrol state model (MSM), this balance emerges from the interaction between the frontal and the striatal dopaminergic system. The attentional blink (AB) task has been argued to tap into the interaction between persistence and flexibility, as it reflects overpersistence—the too-exclusive allocation of attentional resources to the processing of the first of two consecutive targets. Notably, previous studies are inconclusive about the association between the AB and noninvasive proxies of dopamine including the spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR), which allegedly assesses striatal dopamine levels. We aimed to substantiate and extend previous attempts to predict individual sizes of the AB in two separate experiments with larger sample sizes (N = 71 & N = 65) by means of noninvasive behavioral and physiological proxies of dopamine (DA), such as sEBR and mood measures, which are likely to reflect striatal dopamine levels, and color discrimination, which has been argued to tap into the frontal dopamine levels. Our findings did not confirm the prediction that AB size covaries with sEBR, mood, or color discrimination. The implications of this inconsistency with previous observations are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the nature of perceptual awareness during the attentional blink and found that it can be a gradual phenomenon, depending on whether targets might compete for the same spatial location or not.
Abstract: In a series of experiments, the nature of perceptual awareness during the attentional blink was investigated. Previous work has considered the attentional blink as a discrete, all-or-none phenomenon, indicative for access to conscious awareness. Using continuous report measures in combination with mixture modeling, the current outcomes show that, in fact, the attentional blink can be a gradual phenomenon. The nature of the blink depended on whether targets might compete for the same spatial location or not. Without the possibility of spatial overlap, the attentional blink was of a gradual nature, in which representations of blinked targets were impoverished, but nonetheless approached the actual identity of the target that was presented. Conversely, with spatial overlap, the attentional blink was discrete; no partially correct reports could be made about blinked targets. These two different faces of the attentional blink challenge current accounts of awareness and temporal attention, which do not recognize the critical role of feature-location binding in producing discrete task performance, and consequently cannot explain the existence of gradual awareness, including that of targets subject to the attentional blink.