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.

Event-Related Potential (ERP) Word Imageability Effects in The Attentional Blink

Abstract: Highly imageable words (e.g., banana) are easier to process than abstract words that are not readily associated with an image (e.g., justice). This difference has been attributed to the existence of two separate verbal- and image-based semantic codes. The advantage of highly imageable words may result from the fact that they activate information in both semantic systems, whereas non-imageable words only activate verbal codes. Electrophysiological research supports the idea of a separate imageability code by showing cortical activation associated with the processing of highly imageable words. This study examines the imageability effect during the attentional blink, a short period of time after the detection of a stimulus in a rapid visual stream in which subsequent stimuli are missed. Previous research has shown that words are processed for meaning during the attentional blink even though participants seem unaware of the word. This study investigates the activation of image-based information in this state of unawareness by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) to fi nd out whether this activation is dependent upon deep semantic processing or whether it occurs automatically. Signifi cant effects of imageability, as evidenced by the ERP imageability effect, indicate activation of image-based codes in the absence of awareness. This fi nding lends support to a view of semantic activation in which image-based codes are automatically activated.

Measuring Biases of Visual Attention: A Comparison of Four Tasks.

Abstract: Attention biases to stimuli with emotional content may play a role in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. The most commonly used tasks in measuring and treating such biases, the dot-probe and spatial cueing tasks, have yielded mixed results, however. We assessed the sensitivity of four visual attention tasks (dot-probe, spatial cueing, visual search with irrelevant distractor and attentional blink tasks) to differences in attentional processing between threatening and neutral faces in 33 outpatients with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and 26 healthy controls. The dot-probe and cueing tasks revealed no differential processing of neutral and threatening faces between the SAD and control groups. The irrelevant distractor task showed some sensitivity to differential processing for the SAD group, but the attentional blink task was uniquely sensitive to such differences in both groups, and revealed processing differences between the SAD and control groups. The attentional blink task also revealed interesting temporal dynamics of attentional processing of emotional stimuli and may provide a uniquely nuanced picture of attentional response to emotional stimuli. Our results therefore suggest that the attentional blink task is more suitable for measuring preferential attending to emotional stimuli and treating dysfunctional attention patterns than the more commonly used dot-probe and cueing tasks.

Temporal Attention Processing in Individuals with Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Abstract: Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11DS) is a genetic syndrome characterized by a variety of cognitive impairments, including difficulty with attention. Methodological confounds within the research investigating visual attention in individuals with 22q11DS make it difficult to understand temporal attention processing both in isolation and in a developmentally meaningful way. The current study addresses limitations of previous work by studying a specific temporal visual attention phenomenon, the attentional blink (AB), within a categorical rapid serial visual presentation task, and by utilizing developmentally appropriate sample matching procedures. Findings reveal that AB performance in individuals with 22q11DS is on par with two groups of typically developing control participants, one matched by chronological age and one matched by mental age. Individuals with 22q11DS performed similarly to both control groups on all measures of the AB, with the exception of reduced accuracy in reporting the first of two targets (T1 accuracy). These results suggest that aspects of temporal attention processing are intact in individuals with 22q11DS, and that attentional difficulties reported in previous research may be largely due to complexities in the spatial domain and/or difficulties sustaining attention in this population. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.