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.

Temporal binding errors are redistributed by the attentional blink

Abstract: When one searches for a target among nontargets appearing in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), one’s errors in performance typically involve the misreporting of neighboring nontargets. Such illusory conjunctions or intrusion errors are distributed differently around the target, depending on task or stimulus variables. It is shown here that shifts in intrusion error patterns can be produced by the manipulation of attention alone. In a dual-task paradigm, the magnitude and distribution of intrusion errors changed systematically as a function of available attentional resources. Intrusion errors in RSVP tasks reflect internal capacity limitations for binding independent features. The present results support a two-stage model of RSVP target processing.

When visual marking meets the attentional blink: More evidence for top-down, limited capacity inhibition

Abstract: An attentional blink (AB) paradigm was used to investigate the attentional resources necessary for visual marking. The results showed that distractors presented inside the AB cannot easily be ignored despite participants anticipating a future target display. This supports the hypothesis that attentional resources are required for visual marking. In addition, probe dots were better detected on blinked distractors than on successfully ignored distractors, but only when the task required new items to be prioritized. In a final experiment, a stronger negative carry-over effect on search occurred for targets identical to distractors presented outside rather than inside the AB. This suggests that at least part of the inhibitory processes involved in visual marking are nonspatial. The study of visual selective attention focuses on our visual system’s ability to prioritize certain visual events over others. In brief, efficient prioritization depends on the spatial and temporal properties of, as well as the task constraints surrounding, the visual event. In the present study, we considered the interactions between these spatial and temporal factors. Visual selective attention has a strong spatial component. Typically, visual objects relevant to our behavior ( targets) occupy limited spatial regions in a cluttered visual field filled with numerous irrelevant objects (distractors) that are simultaneously present. Sometimes selection of a target is quite effortless. For instance, Treisman and Gelade (1980) found that observers were very efficient in searching for a blue T in a display filled with brown Ts and green Xs. In this single-feature search task it is as if the unique feature (color) of the target guides selection. Typically, therefore, the number of distractors (the display size) has little or no effect on search reaction times (RTs), creating flat slopes for the Display Size RT search functions. In other tasks, selection may be more effortful. For example, Treisman and Gelade found that search for a green T among brown Ts and green Xs was much less efficient than a single-feature search. In this conjunction search, visual attention cannot be guided by the target because the target is defined only by a combination of features it shares with both distractor types. Instead, it is as if attention has to be shifted around the display in an effortful way until the target is found. Typically, therefore, conjunction-search RTs are dependent on the number of items simultaneously present, resulting in a relatively steep search slope (see Wolfe, 1994, and Wolfe, Cave, & Franzel, 1989; for variations; but see Duncan & Humphreys, 1989, for a different explanation).

The limits of attention : temporal constraints in human information processing

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

Attention on autopilot: Past experience and attentional set

Abstract: What factors determine the implementation of attentional set? It is often assumed that set is determined only by experimenter instructions and characteristics of the immediate stimulus environment, yet it is likely that other factors play a role. The present experiments were designed to evaluate the latter possibility; specifically, the role of past experience was probed. In a 320-trial training phase, observers could use one of two possible attentional sets (but not both) to find colour-defined targets in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream of letters. In the subsequent 320-trial test phase, where either set could be used, observers persisted in using their pre-established sets through the remainder of the experiment, affirming a clear role of past experience in the implementation of attentional set. A second experiment revealed that sufficient experience with a given set was necessary to facilitate persistence with it. These results are consistent with models of executive control (e.g., Nor...