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.

Dual task interference on early perceptual processing

Abstract: When two tasks, Task 1 and Task 2, are conducted in close temporal proximity and a separate speeded response is required for each target (T1 and T2), T2 report performance decreases as a function of its temporal proximity to T1. This so-called psychological refractory period (PRP) effect on T2 processing is largely assumed to reflect interference from T1 response selection on T2 response selection. However, interference on early perceptual processing of T2 has been observed in a modified paradigm, which required changes in visual-spatial attention, sensory modality, task modality, and response modality across targets. The goal of the present study was to investigate the possibility of early perceptual interference by systematically and iteratively removing each of these possible non perceptual confounds, in a series of four experiments. To assess T2 visual memory consolidation success, T2 was presented for a varying duration and immediately masked. T2 report accuracy, which was taken as a measure of perceptual-encoding or consolidation-success, decreased across all experimental control conditions as T1-T2 onset proximity increased. We argue that our results, in light of previous studies, show that central processing of a first target, responsible for the classical PRP effect, also interferes with early perceptual processing of a second target. We end with a discussion of broader implications for psychological refractory period and attentional blink effects.

Attention blinks in pure tone rapid auditory presentation

Abstract: When a target in a rapid (11 items/s) series of visual items is attended, the perception of a subsequent probe is impaired if the probe occurs within 500 ms. If this attentional blink (AB) reflects central processing limitations, then an AB should be found using auditory stimuli. Existing investigations, however, have used compressed speech stimuli, namely spoken letter or digit names. Because these stimuli are susceptible to visual recoding, the possibility that the AB reflects a vision‐specific bottleneck cannot yet be dismissed. To redress this problem, pure tones were used in place of compressed speech stimuli. Participants heard rapid auditory streams comprising 20 tones ranging in frequency from 1000 to 2500 Hz. All tones were 50 dB except the target and probe, which were more intense on independent random halves of the trials. Participants detected the loud target and then detected whether the stream contained a second loud tone. Preliminary results show an auditory AB. The AB appears to reflect ge...

The impact of emotions on attention and decision making.

Abstract: Emotional information is widely acknowledged to play a role in shaping human behavior. In particular, emotions, by modulating attentional capacity, provide an evolutionary advantage by facilitating quick responses to potential threat. By contrast, the impact of emotions on the decision-making processes is often seen as engendering suboptimal or even so-called "irrational" decisions In this thesis, I combine innovative experimental paradigms with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral pharmacological manipulations to explore how at neurobiological level these processes share similar mechanisms. In doing so, I aim to attempt a reconciliation of the aforementioned contrasting views on emotion. I examined four key aspects of interaction between emotion and both attention and decision-making: firstly, I investigated how the human brain is able to process emotional stimuli in conditions of limited attentional resources whilst subjects were engaged in an attentional blink paradigm. Secondly, using a similar paradigm and three different drug manipulations I examined the role of noradrenaline in modulating this process. Thirdly, I have studied how the human brain processes contextual emotional information when choice options are presented. Finally I extend my research to study how during economics transactions (in which the contextual emotional information is rooted in the subjects own role as either seller or buyer) an item's value representation in the brain affects the decision process.

The contribution of the fronto-cerebellar system in cognitive processing

Abstract: Over two decades of patient and neuroimaging data have provided increasing support for a role of the posterior cerebellum in cognition, particularly attention. Contralateral connections between the prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum are a probable basis for this effect. It is the purpose of this thesis to understand the contribution of the fronto-cerebellar system to cognitive and attentional processes. The first aim of this thesis was to localize areas of the cerebellum that participate in non-motor behaviour. After transient disruption of cerebellar activity using continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), a form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, Study 1 and 2 identified the right posterior-lateral cerebellum as a contributor to a network involved in two non-motor tasks; word generation and the attentional blink. The aim of Study 3 was to investigate if manipulating task demands increased fronto-cerebellar recruitment. The final study of this thesis employed electroencephalography (EEG) and cTBS to probe the neural events disrupted during the attentional blink task when the left frontal- right cerebellar system was transiently disrupted. Understanding the manner in which these neural events are affected by transient perturbation is integral to the understanding of the fronto-cerebellar contribution to cognitive and attentional processes. Together these studies help elucidate the role of the fronto-cerebellar system in non-motor functions.