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.

Visual Attention: Towards a Neural Network Model of Visual Short-Term Memory

Abstract: In this thesis a new type of model for Visual Short-Term Memory (VSTM) is presented. The model is inspired by previous work of Usher & Cohen [37], and it links closely with Bundesen's well-established mathematical theory of visual attention, see [5]. We evaluate the model's ability to fit experimental data from a classical type of psychological study, which is known as ‘whole and partial report'. Further we compare our results with results obtained using earlier types of models. These models have already successfully assessed the spatial distribution of visual attention; our neural network meets this standard and, on top of that, offers a neural interpretation of how objects are consolidated in VSTM. In cognitive psychology there are two types of studies have so far been held very isolated from each other. These are studies of Whole Report (WR) and Partial Report (PR) and studies using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). Bundesen has been very successful in modelling WR & PR data; however no one has so far provided a satisfactory account for phenomena related to RSVP. It is an interesting finding that our model contains an inherent dynamical behaviour, which potentially could lead to an account for temporally dependent phenomena observed with RSVP. We hope that in the future, the model will be able to yield a computational account of temporally dependent phenomena like the attentional blink effect, lag-1 sparing, and perhaps even the newly reported cross-over effects for very short inter-stimulus lags ([34]).

Perception Time Measured with the Slope-Transition Paradigm (STP): Category, Set Size, and Task Manipulations

Abstract: A perception time measure was obtained with the 'slope-transition paradigm' (STP), which is described in detail. In two experiments with the paradigm, participants viewed two sequential data frames, each presented for a wide range of durations. They made a binary response based on combined information from the two frames. The results showed piecewise linear response-time versus frame-duration functions with a slope-0 branch at short durations, followed by a slope-1 branch. The duration where the two branches met (the slope transition) was interpreted as the end of the perception of frame 1. For longer durations, the participant had completed the perception of frame 1 and was forced to waste time waiting for data from frame 2. In experiment 1, an odd-digit enumeration task was used, and set size and distractor category (even digits versus consonants) were varied. In experiment 2, a same/different task with digits was used and the type of judgment (literal versus parity) was varied. Perception time increased with set size. Distractor category and judgment type affected post-perceptual processes. The perception time measure of the STP is considered in relation to the attentional blink, repetition blindness, and object files.

The impact of object organization and its attentional modulation in a visual scene

Abstract: Two objects are presented simultaneously, defined by shape and color, which suffer some mutations in certain local features, to measure the attentional blink’s (AB) effect, which is evident in case of different-object transitions. Results proof that the attentional transitions established between two features of a single object are easier than transitions between two features belonging to different objects, and, in addition, this isn’t a homogeneous effect on the visual field, so there is a favored hemi field in such transitions. A N230 component is obtained with higher amplitude for same-object transitions in relation with different-object transitions. These results are compared with other design that separate the mutant attributes from base figures, and then the behavioral effect is annulled.

The attentional blink: a structural or strategic limitation of the attentional system?

Abstract: The Attentional Blink could be considered as a blind spot in perceptual awareness. This phenomenon results in a marked difficulty to identify the second of two sequential targets, that are presented in a close temporal contiguity, when these are embedded in a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation stream of distractors. The critical temporal window duration of this effect (within 200-600 ms after the presentation of the first target) depends on the time needed from the central processing of the first target. It is interesting to underly that when the temporal interval between the targets is equal to, or shorter then, 100 ms, the Attentional Blink disappears, namely the second target is identified without impairment. This effect is known as Lag-1 sparing in the sense that the second target results spared from the Attentional Blink. Crucial to the present research is the aim to investigate the role of the nature of processing carried out on targets in the Lag-1 sparing phenomenon. In a first series of experiments, 0, 1, or 2 digits (and in one case 0, 1, 2 letters) were embedded with equal probability in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation streams of letter distractors (and in one case in streams of digit distractors). In two experiments (i.e., the first and the third) participants were asked to identify the digits in some blocks of trials and to count the digits in others blocks. In one experiment (i.e., the second) the target to identify or counting were letters and the digits were distractors. In one experiment (i.e., the fourth) the counting task was replaced with a digit-sum task. In the last experiment (i.e., the fifth) the counting task was replaced by a counting task of the digits of a given parity sub-class (odd vs. even digits). Lag-1 sparing was always evident when the participants when the task was the explicit identification of the target digits. Lag-1 sparing was evident when participants were required to sum 2 digits or to count digits of a prespecified parity subclass (e.g., count just even digits). The effect was abolished when participants were asked to count the digits independent on their parity subclass. These results suggest that the occurrence of Lag-1 sparing depends on the type of mental representation that have to be generated on the basis of the target and task information. A numbers of researchers have emphatized the role of distractors intervening between successive targets as the primary determinant of the Attentional Blink. These authors argued that this phenomenon is abolished when 3 or more targets are displayed in a condition of contiguity in rapidly presented serial sequences. In a second series of experiments the present investigation delves deeper into the Lag-1 sparing issue. A multi-targets Rapid Serial Visual Presentation paradigm was employed in which 1-, 2-, 3- digit targets were embedded among letter distractors. Across the series of three experiments both, the numbers of presented targets and the temporal lag between them were manipulated. Evidence of an Attentional Blink was found in each experiment, namely targets that followed the first one in these sequences presented an impairment in the identification task, when the probability of a given target report was condizionalized on a correct response to the preceding targets. These results support and reinforce the notion that some form of capacity limitation in the encoding of targets plays a fundamental role in the elicitation and modulation of the Attentional Blink effect.