scholarly journals EXPRESS: T1 difficulty does not modulate the magnitude of the attentional blink

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110547
Author(s):  
Thomas Spalek ◽  
Hayley Lagroix ◽  
Vincent Di Lollo
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Refractory Period ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Identification Accuracy ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Response Scale ◽  
Scale Removal ◽  
Rapid Sequence

When the visual system is busy processing one stimulus it has problems processing a subsequent stimulus if it arrives soon after the first. Laboratory studies of this second-stimulus impairment – known as ¬attentional blink (AB) – have employed two targets (T1, T2) presented in rapid sequence, and have found identification accuracy to be nearly perfect for T1 but impaired for T2. It is commonly believed that the magnitude of the AB is related directly to the difficulty of T1: the greater the T1 difficulty, the larger the AB. A survey of the experimental literature disconfirms that belief showing it to have arisen from artificial constraints imposed by the 100% limit of the response scale. Removal of that constraint, either by using reaction time (RT) instead of accuracy as the dependent measure, or in experiments in which the functions of T2 accuracy over lags do not converge to the limit of the response scale, reveals parallel functions for the easy-T1 and the hard-T1 conditions, consistent with the idea that T1 difficulty does not modulate AB magnitude. This finding is problematic for all but the Boost-and-Bounce and the Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine theories in which T1 acts merely as a trigger for an eventual refractory period that leads to the failure to process T2, rendering T1 difficulty and its relationship to the AB an irrelevant consideration.

scholarly journals Attention “Blinks” Differently for Plants and Animals

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Balas ◽  
Jennifer L. Momsen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Refractory Period ◽  
Visual Cognition ◽  
Image Sequences ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Physiological Constraints ◽  
Attentional Resources

Plants, to many, are simply not as interesting as animals. Students typically prefer to study animals rather than plants and recall plants more poorly, and plants are underrepresented in the classroom. The observed paucity of interest for plants has been described as plant blindness, a term that is meant to encapsulate both the tendency to neglect plants in the environment and the lack of appreciation for plants’ functional roles. While the term plant blindness suggests a perceptual or attentional component to plant neglect, few studies have examined whether there are real differences in how plants and animals are perceived. Here, we use an established paradigm in visual cognition, the “attentional blink,” to compare the extent to which images of plants and animals capture attentional resources. We find that participants are better able to detect animals than plants in rapid image sequences and that visual attention has a different refractory period when a plant has been detected. These results suggest there are fundamental differences in how the visual system processes plants that may contribute to plant blindness. We discuss how perceptual and physiological constraints on visual processing may suggest useful strategies for characterizing and overcoming zoocentrism.

Effect of Complexity of the Second Response on Reaction Time to the First Response in the Psychological Refractory Period Paradigm

1987 ◽  
Vol 64 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1075-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig J. Chamberlin
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Refractory Period ◽  
Psychological Refractory Period ◽  
Parallel Model ◽  
Relative Complexity ◽  
Central Processing ◽  
Psychological Refractory Period Paradigm ◽  
First Response ◽  
Grouping Effect ◽  
Flexible Model

An attempt to distinguish serial from parallel models of central processing was made by manipulating the relative complexity of R2 and observing the effect of this manipulation on RT1 in the Psychological Refractory Period paradigm. 14 subjects performed under two conditions, either a simple or complex R2. Experimental controls were used to prevent a possible grouping effect of responses. The results did not support a parallel model of central processing but did support a serial view. Implications of results, combined with previous findings, for a more flexible model of central processing were discussed.

Lateral Masking as a Determinant of Global Dominance

Perception ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 705-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Wayne Podrouzek ◽  
Vito Modigliani ◽  
Vincent Di Lollo
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Compound Stimulus ◽  
High Spatial Frequency ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Global Precedence ◽  
Lateral Masking ◽  
Compound Images ◽  
Frequency Components ◽  
Inhibitory Interactions

The term compound letter refers to a large (global) letter made up of small (local) letters. Reaction time to identify local letters is longer when local and global letters are different than when they are the same (the global dominance effect). The possible contribution of lateral masking to this effect was investigated. Lateral masking denotes reduced probability of identifying a stimulus when it is closely surrounded by other stimuli (as is the case for the local items in a compound stimulus). Three experiments were conducted in which the dependent measure was percentage of correct responses, rather than reaction time. In experiment 1 compound letters were used; accuracy of performance yielded evidence of global dominance such as obtained with reaction time measures. In experiments 2 and 3 the strength of lateral masking in geometrical forms was varied by varying the density of their component items. In agreement with earlier suggestions based on indirect evidence, the results directly implicated lateral masking as an important determinant of global dominance. However, lateral masking could not account fully for the experimental outcome. Factors beyond lateral masking, such as global precedence in the processing sequence or inhibitory interactions among low and high spatial-frequency components of the compound images are required in order to provide a comprehensive account of global dominance effects.

scholarly journals Relative prediction error and protection from attentional blink in human associative learning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Glautier
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Prediction Error ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Attentional Model ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Predictive Learning ◽  
Learning Rates ◽  
Learning Procedure ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between predictive learning and attentional processing was investigated in twoexperiments. During a learning procedure participants viewed rapid serial visual presentation(RSVP) of stimuli in the context of a choice-reaction-time (CRT) task. Salient stimuli in theRSVP streams were either predictive or non-predictive for the outcome of the CRT task.Following this procedure we measured attentional blink (AB) to the predictive and non-predictive stimuli. In Experiment 1, despite the use of a large sample and checks demonstratingthe validity of the learning procedure and the AB measure, we did not observe reduced AB forpredictive stimuli. In contrast, in Experiment 2, where the predictive stimuli occurred alongsidesalient non-predictive comparison stimuli, we did find less AB for predictive than for non-predictive stimuli. Our results support an attentional model of learning in which relativeprediction error is used to increase learning rates for good predictors and reduce learning ratesfor poor predictors (Mackintosh, 1975) and provide confirmation of the AB learning effectoriginally reported by Livesey, Harris, and Harris (2009).

Delayed Masking and the Auditory Attentional Blink

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Vachon ◽  
Sébastien Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Auditory Event ◽  
Rapid Sequence

The attentional blink (AB) corresponds to a transient deficit in reporting the second (T2) of two targets embedded in a rapid sequence of distractors. The retrieval competition ( Shapiro, Raymond & Arnell, 1994 ) and bottleneck models ( Chun & Potter, 1995 ; Jolicœur, 1998 ) predict the attenuation of the deficit with the extension of the delay between T2 and its mask. This prediction was tested using auditory sequences of nonverbal stimuli in which the T2-mask interval was systematically varied. The magnitude of the auditory AB diminished with the lengthening of the interval from 50 to 150 ms while no time-locked deficit was observed with the longest (350 ms) and the shortest (10 ms) intervals. These results suggest that presenting a mask after T2 is not sufficient to produce an auditory AB: The mask must be perceivable as an auditory event distinct from the target and occur before T2 consolidation. The present study also provides evidence that as in vision, AB deficits take place in the auditory domain when T2 is masked by interruption but not by integration. Our findings are best accounted for in terms of bottlenecked processing limitations.

Extrasensory Perception Examined Using a Reaction Time Measure

1987 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 499-502
Author(s):  
Terence M. Hines ◽  
Paul Lang ◽  
Karyn Seroussi
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Reaction Time Measure ◽  
Reaction Time Paradigm ◽  
Extrasensory Perception

ESP research has depended almost exclusively on measures of accuracy. Such measures are much less sensitive than reaction time measures, which have never been used to evaluate claims for ESP. In this paper we describe the use of a reaction time paradigm in the investigation of ESP. In spite of the greater sensitivity of this dependent measure, no evidence for ESP was found.

The Oblique Effect of Stimulus Identification Considered with Respect to Two Classes of Oblique Effects

Perception ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A Essock
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Oblique Effect ◽  
Class 1 ◽  
Different Response ◽  
Stimulus Identification ◽  
Requirements Identification

Two classes of oblique effects are proposed. Oblique effects demonstrated in paradigms reflecting the basic functioning of the visual system are termed class 1, and those obtained in paradigms reflecting stimulus encoding and memory are termed class 2. The present experiments examine the class 2 oblique effect that has been obtained on reaction time (RT) tasks. Three RT tasks with different response requirements (identification, detection, and classification) were conducted to determine the basic conditions necessary for the production of the class 2 RT oblique effect. The results indicate that the source of the class 2 oblique effect obtained in RT paradigms is a greater confusability between the 45° oblique lines than between the horizontal and vertical lines when identification of orientation is required.

Eeg alpha slowing, refractory period, and reaction time in aging

1979 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana S. Woodruff ◽  
Deirdre A. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Refractory Period ◽  
Eeg Alpha
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