Topic
Attentional blink
About: Attentional blink is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1346 publications have been published within this topic receiving 53064 citations. The topic is also known as: Attentional blinks.
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TL;DR: Results suggest that a singleton exogenously engaged attention even when processing of a previous target was continuing apace, and even when the singleton did not possess the key target feature, it still succeeded in capturing attention, although the effects were both feeble and fleeting.
Abstract: Four experiments addressed the question of whether attention may be captured when the visual system is in the midst of an attentional blink (AB). Participants identified 2 target letters embedded among distractor letters in a rapid serial visual presentation sequence. In some trials, a square frame was inserted between the targets; as the only geometric object in the sequence, it constituted a singleton. Capture effects obtained when the AB was most severe and when it was over were compared. There were 3 main results. First, capture occurred even when the AB was crippling, suggesting that a singleton exogenously engaged attention even when processing of a previous target was continuing apace. Second, when the singleton contained the key target feature, capture effects were clearly manifest. Third, even when the singleton did not possess the key target feature, it still succeeded in capturing attention, although the effects were both feeble and fleeting.
16 citations
TL;DR: Surprisingly, it is found that during the visual AB, auditory processing is enhanced rather than inhibited, as would be expected by system overload, and it is suggested that multimodal attentional resources may be freed rather than engaged during theVisual AB.
Abstract: It is well established that cognitive system overload is reflected in the attentional blink (AB), the failure to report a second target when it closely follows detection of a first target within a rapid series of stimuli. However, there is intense controversy concerning the effect of first-target detection in one modality on subsequent dynamics of attentional resources in other modalities. Mixed results were found using an audiovisual AB paradigm: depletion of resources in one modality either impaired performance in the other modality or had no effect. Here, we circumvent the need for task switching by measuring an event-related potential, the mismatch negativity, which reflects implicit auditory change detection without requiring task engagement and is present even for background sounds that participants ignore. Surprisingly, we find that during the visual AB, auditory processing is enhanced rather than inhibited, as would be expected by system overload. We suggest that multimodal attentional resources may be freed rather than engaged during the visual AB. Suppression of irrelevant input may require active control by a central executive, which is preoccupied during the visual AB, and/or there may be no reason to suppress other-modal input since the visual system will miss its second target anyway.
16 citations
TL;DR: Findings may support a role for dopamine in the AB and temporal attention, more generally and corroborate the notion that there is an optimum dopamine level for cognitive function.
16 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that LCDs can reproduce results similar to those found in metacontrast masking and attentional blink studies that were originally identified with CRT displays.
Abstract: Recently, the use of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in computer monitors has increased in popularity. Can LCDs produce results similar to those obtained in cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays in studies of temporal attention and perception tasks? Performance in two tasks (metacontrast masking and attentional blink) was examined using an LCD, a CRT oscilloscope, and a raster scan CRT display. Experiment 1 focused on metacontrast masking where a typical metacontrast function emerged irrespective of monitor type. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether differences in monitors influence the attentional blink. Again, all displays elicited similar performance profiles for both the attentional blink and the trade-off between identification accuracy of the two targets. Although our results may not generalize to all LCD applications and all experimental paradigms, they indicate that LCDs can reproduce results similar to those found in metacontrast masking and attentional blink studies that were originally identified with CRT displays.
16 citations
TL;DR: Test the hypothesis that Giesbrecht & Di Lollo's findings were vitiated by ceiling constraints arising from either response scale or data limitations and confirm that an AB can be obtained without either masking of T2 or task switching.
Abstract: Identification of the second of two targets (T1, T2, inserted in a stream of distractors) is impaired when presented within 500 ms after the first (attentional blink, AB). Barring a T1-T2 task-switch, it is thought that T2 must be backward-masked to obtain an AB (Giesbrecht & Di Lollo, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 1454-1466, 1998). We tested the hypothesis that Giesbrecht & Di Lollo's findings were vitiated by ceiling constraints arising from either response scale (experiment 1) or data limitations (experiment 2). In experiment 1, digit-distractors were replaced with pseudoletters to increase task difficulty, bringing performance below ceiling. An AB occurred without backward masking of T2. In experiment 2, a ceiling-free procedure estimated the number of noise dots needed for 80% T2 identification. An AB was revealed: fewer noise dots were required during the AB period than outside it. Both outcomes confirm that an AB can be obtained without either masking of T2 or task switching.
16 citations