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.

Computational Modeling of Visual Selective Attention Based on Correlation and Synchronization of Neural Activity

Abstract: Within the broad area of computational intelligence, it is of great importance to develop new computational models of human behaviour aspects. In this report we look into the recently suggested theory that neural synchronization of activity in different areas of the brain occurs when people attend to external visual stimuli. Furthermore, it is suspected that this cross-area synchrony may be a general mechanism for regulating information flow through the brain. We investigate the plausibility of this hypothesis by implementing a computational model of visual selective attention that is guided by endogenous and exogenous goals (i.e., what is known as top down and bottom-up attention). The theoretical structure of this model is based on the temporal correlation of neural activity that was initially proposed by Niebur and Koch (1994). While a saliency map is created in the model at the initial stages of processing visual input, at a later stage of processing, neural activity passes through a correlation control system which comprises of coincidence detector neurons. These neurons measure the degree of correlation between endogenous goals and the presented visual stimuli and cause an increase in the synchronization between the brain areas involved in vision and goal maintenance. The model was able to simulate with success behavioural data from the “at-tentional blink” paradigm (Raymond and Sapiro, 1992). This suggests that the temporal correlation idea represents a plausible hypothesis in the quest for understanding attention.

RSVP in orbit: Identification of single and dual targets in motion

Abstract: Three experiments using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) tested participants' ability to detect targets in streams that are in motion. These experiments compared the ability to identify moving versus stationary RSVP targets and examined the attentional blink with pairs of targets that were moving or stationary. One condition presented RSVP streams in the center of the screen; a second condition used an RSVP that was orbiting in a circle, with participants instructed to follow the stream with their eyes; and a third condition had participants fixate in the middle while observing a circling RSVP stream. Relative to performance in stationary RSVP streams, participants were not markedly impaired in detecting single targets in RSVP streams that were moving, either with or without instructions to pursue the motion. In streams with two targets, a normal attentional blink effect was observed when participants were instructed to pursue the moving stream. When participants had to maintain central fixation as the RSVP stream moved, the attentional blink was nearly absent even when a trailing mask was added. We suggest that the reduction of the attentional blink for moving RSVP streams may reflect a reduced ability to perceive the temporal boundaries of the individual items.

Spatial distribution of attention during attentional blink is influenced by eye movements

Abstract: The present study examined three factors that might influence the spatial distribution. of attention after the identification of a first target during attentional blink: the maximum distance between the two targets, the spatial configuration of stimuli, and eye movements. Results showed that the U-shaped distribution of attention during attentional blink persisted in the circular configuration of stimuli irrespective of the radius of the circle. In addition, the U-shaped distribution of attention during attentional blink depends on the circular configuration of stimuli and the central fixation. When two targets appeared in noncircular configurations and eye movements were not strictly restrained, a large proportion of observers showed a gradient for the accuracy of the second target (T2) during attentional blink. However, when observers kept fixating on the central cross in a noncircular configuration, they showed a U-shaped distribution of T2 performance during attentional blink. Furthermore, observers are more likely to show a gradient distribution of T2 performance during attentional blink as their probability of fixating the first target (T1) increases. These results suggest that maintaining equal eccentricity for each stimulus is critical for producing the U-shaped distribution of attention during attentional blink.

Adjustment to Subtle Time Constraints and Power Law Learning in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation.

Abstract: We investigated whether attention could be modulated through the implicit learning of temporal information in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. Participants identified two target letters among numeral distractors. The stimulus-onset asynchrony immediately following the first target (SOA1) varied at three levels (70, 98, and 126 ms) randomly between trials or fixed within blocks of trials. Practice over three consecutive days resulted in a continuous improvement in the identification rate for both targets and attenuation of the attentional blink (AB), a decrement in target (T2) identification when presented 200-400 ms after another target (T1). Blocked SOA1s led to a faster rate of improvement in RSVP performance and more target order reversals relative to random SOA1s, suggesting that the implicit learning of SOA1 positively affected performance. The results also reveal “power law” learning curves for individual target identification as well as the reduction in the AB decrement. These learning curves reflect the spontaneous emergence of skill through subtle attentional modulations rather than general attentional distribution. Together, the results indicate that implicit temporal learning could improve high level and rapid cognitive processing and highlights the sensitivity and adaptability of the attentional system to subtle constraints in stimulus timing.

Two faces of perceptual awareness during the attentional blink: Gradual and discrete.

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 of general access to conscious awareness. Using continuous report measures in combination with mixture modeling, the outcomes showed that perceptual awareness during the attentional blink can be a gradual phenomenon. Awareness was not exclusively discrete, but also exhibited a gradual characteristic whenever the spatial extent of attention induced by the first target spanned more than a single location. Under these circumstances, mental representations of blinked targets were impoverished, but did approach the actual identities of the targets. Conversely, when the focus of attention covered only a single location, there was no evidence for any partial knowledge of blinked targets. These two different faces of awareness during the attentional blink challenge current theories of both awareness and temporal attention, which cannot explain the existence of gradual awareness of targets during the attentional blink. To account for the current outcomes, an adaptive gating model is proposed that casts awareness on a continuum between gradual and discrete, rather than as being of either single kind. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).