Blink and shrink: the effect of the attentional blink on spatial processing

The detection or discrimination of the second of 2 targets in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task is often temporarily impaired-a phenomenon termed the attentional blink. This study demonstrated that the attentional blink also affects localization performance. Spatial cues pointed out the possible target positions in a subsequent visual search display. When cues were presented inside an attentional blink (as induced by an RSVP task), the observers' capacity to use them was reduced. This effect was not due to attention being highly focused, to general task switching costs, or to complete unawareness of the cues. Instead, the blink induced a systematic localization bias toward the fovea, reflecting what appears to be spatial compression.     

An investigation into the temporal dimension of the Mozart effect: evidence from the attentional blink task

In the present study, we examined whether the 'Mozart effect' would influence participants' temporal attention using a visual attentional blink (AB) task that provides a reliable measure of the temporal dynamics of visual attention. The 'Mozart effect' refers to the specific claim that listening to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K.448 can improve the performance in spatio-temporal tasks. Participants had to try and identify two target digits (in their correct order of presentation) presented amongst a stream of distractor letters in three different conditions (presented in separate blocks of trials): while listening to the Mozart sonata played normally, while listening to the same Mozart sonata played in reverse, and while in silence. The results showed that the participants were able to detect the second target (T2) significantly more accurately (given the correct detection of the first target, T1) in the AB stream when the Mozart sonata was played normally than in either of the other two conditions. Possible explanations for the differential effects of Mozart's music being played normally and in reverse and potential confounds in previous studies reporting a facilitatory 'Mozart effect' are discussed. Our results therefore provide the first empirical demonstration supporting the existence of a purely temporal component to the 'Mozart effect' using a non-spatial visual AB task.     

Object-based attentional selection can modulate the Stroop effect

The Stroop (1935) effect is the inability to ignore a color word when the task is to report the ink color of that word (i.e., to say "green" to the word RED in green ink). The present study investigated whether object-based processing contributes to the Stroop effect. According to this view, observers are unable to ignore irrelevant features of an attended object (Kahneman & Henik, 1981). In three experiments, participants had to name the color of one of two superimposed rectangles and to ignore words that appeared in the relevant object, in the irrelevant object, or in the background. The words were congruent, neutral, or incongruent with respect to the correct color response. Words in the irrelevant object and in the background produced significant Stroop effects, consistent with earlier findings. Importantly, however, words in the relevant object produced larger Stroop effects than did the other conditions, suggesting amplified processing of all the features of an attended object. Thus, object-based processing can modulate the Stroop effect.     

The influence of temporal selection on spatial selection and distractor interference: an attentional blink study.

Both spatial and temporal selection require focused attention. The authors examine how temporal attention affects spatial selection. In a dual-task rapid serial visual presentation paradigm, temporal selection of a target (T1) impairs processing of a second target (T2) that follows T1 within 500 ms. This process is the attentional blink (AB). To test the effects of withdrawing temporal attention, the authors measured concurrent distractor interference on T2 when the distractors were presented during and outside of the AB. Perceptual interference was manipulated by the similarity in color between T2 and concurrent distractors, and response interference was manipulated by the flanker congruency task. Results showed that perceptual interference was larger during the AB. Response interference also increased during the AB, but only when perceptual interference was high. The authors conclude that temporal selection and spatial selection rely on a common attentional process.     

Object-based selection: the role of attentional shifts

The objective of this paper was to investigate under what conditions object-based effects are observed. Recently, Watson and Kramer (1999) used a divided-attention task and showed that unless top-down factors induce a bias toward selection at a higher level, object-based effects are obtained when same-object targets belong to the same uniformly connected (single-UC) region, but not when they belong to different single-UC regions grouped into a higher order object (grouped-UC regions). We refine this claim by proposing that a critical factor in determining whether or not object-based effects with grouped-UC regions are observed is the need to shift attention. The results of four experiments support this hypothesis. Stimuli and displays were similar to those used by Egly, Driver, and Rafal (1994). Subjects had to make size judgments. Using different paradigms, we obtained object-based effects when the task required shifts of attention (spatial cuing, same vs. different judgment with asynchronous target onsets), but not when attention remained either broadly distributed (same vs. different judgment with simultaneous targets) or tightly focused (response competition paradigm).     

The attentional processes underlying impaired inhibition of threat in anxiety: the remote distractor effect

The current study explored the proposition that anxiety is associated with impaired inhibition of threat. Using a modified version of the remote distractor paradigm, we considered whether this impairment is related to attentional capture by threat, difficulties disengaging from threat presented within foveal vision, or difficulties orienting to task-relevant stimuli when threat is present in central, parafoveal and peripheral locations in the visual field. Participants were asked to direct their eyes towards and identify a target in the presence and absence of a distractor (an angry, happy or neutral face). Trait anxiety was associated with a delay in initiating eye movements to the target in the presence of central, parafoveal and peripheral threatening distractors. These findings suggest that elevated anxiety is linked to difficulties inhibiting task-irrelevant threat presented across a broad region of the visual field.     

Developmental changes in attentional skills: the effect of irrelevant variations on encoding and response selection

The present experiments examine how irrelevant variations within a stimulus set interfere with performance in a selective attention task. Second graders, fifth graders, and adults were administered a discrete trial version of a selective attention task in which they were required to search for an object that matched the prime on the targeted dimension. The stimuli in the first experiment were constructed from spatially integrated dimensions whereas the second experiment used spatially separated dimensions. The results indicated that while the spatially separated dimensions were perceived independently by all age groups, developmental differences in perceived structure were evident with the spatially integrated dimensions. Problems associated with response selection were a major source of interference with both types of stimuli, but the severity of the interference varied with the age of the perceiver and the nature of the stimuli. The developmental implications of these findings were considered.     

注意促进效应的ERP研究

近期发现,采用目标探测任务作为二级任务时,目标探测条件不仅不会削弱,甚至会提高记忆成绩,产生注意促进效应（ABE）。为进一步探究目标探测的作用机制,研究采用事件相关电位（ERP）技术,对比目标与分心条件在编码和提取过程中所诱发的ERP差异。结果表明,两类条件在再认过程中所诱发的ERP差异不仅表现在早期与知觉加工相关的ERP成份上,并且一直持续到了后期与细节提取相关的ERP成分上。由此推测,ABE不仅体现在编码早期的知觉加工阶段,更会延续到后期的复述与精加工。     

Working memory and the attentional blink: Blink size is predicted by individual differences in operation span

The attentional blink (AB) is often attributed to resource limitations, but the nature of these resources is commonly underspecified. Recent observations rule out access to short-term memory or storage capacity as limiting factors, but operation bottlenecks are still an option. We considered the operation span of working memory (WM) as a possible factor and investigated the relationship between individual WM operation span (as measured by OSPAN), fluid intelligence (as measures by Raven’s SPM), and the size of the AB. WM operation span was negatively correlated with the AB, whereas fluid intelligence was associated with higher overall accuracy but not with AB magnitude. These results support the idea that individual processing limitations (with regard to either attentional allocation policies or the speed of global cortical integration processes) play a key role in the AB.     

The modulation of inhibition of return by objectinternal structure: Implications for theories of object-based attentional selection

Recently, Vecera, Behrmann, and McGoldrick (2000), using a divided-attention task, reported that targets are detected more accurately when they occur on the same structural part of an object, suggesting that attention can be directed toward object-internal features. We present converging evidence using the object-based inhibition of return (IOR) paradigm as an implicit measure of selection. The results show that IOR is attenuated when cues and targets appear on the same part of an object relative to when they are separated by a part boundary. These findings suggest that object-based mechanisms of selection can operate over shape representations that make explicit information about objectinternal structure.     

Impaired temporal discrimination within the attentional blink

Yeshurun and Levy (2003) reported that temporal discrimination performance of a visual stimulus benefits when spatial attention is oriented away from its location. In the present study, we investigated whether this negative influence of attention on temporal discrimination performance is restricted to transient spatial attention or might generalize to other paradigms of attention. We employed the attentional blink (AB) paradigm and required either a spatial (Experiment 1) or a temporal discrimination task (Experiment 2). The results of both experiments revealed a performance decrement if attention was temporally unavailable during the AB and a recovery with increasing attentional availability. Thus, contrary to the results of Yeshurun and Levy, the absence of attention decreased temporal discrimination performance in this paradigm. We hypothesize that attention which operates at different processing levels might exert differential effects on temporal stimulus processing.     

The attentional processes underlying impaired inhibition of threat in anxiety: The remote distractor effect

The current study explored the proposition that anxiety is associated with impaired inhibition of threat. Using a modified version of the remote distractor paradigm, we considered whether this impairment is related to attentional capture by threat, difficulties disengaging from threat presented within foveal vision, or difficulties orienting to task-relevant stimuli when threat is present in central, parafoveal and peripheral locations in the visual field. Participants were asked to direct their eyes towards and identify a target in the presence and absence of a distractor (an angry, happy or neutral face). Trait anxiety was associated with a delay in initiating eye movements to the target in the presence of central, parafoveal and peripheral threatening distractors. These findings suggest that elevated anxiety is linked to difficulties inhibiting task-irrelevant threat presented across a broad region of the visual field.     

The role of distractor inhibition in the attentional boost effect: evidence from the R/K paradigm

ABSTRACT

Stimuli presented with targets in a detection task are later recognised more accurately than those presented with distractors, an unusual effect labelled the attentional boost effect (ABE). This effect may reflect an enhancement triggered by target detection, the inhibition of distractor rejection, or some combination of both. To test these possibilities, the present study adopted a baseline similar to that of Swallow and Jiang ([2014b]. The attentional boost effect really is a boost: evidence from a new baseline. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(5), 1298–1307); the goal was to separate target-induced enhancements from distractor-induced inhibition. An R/K procedure was applied to further explore the kind of memory that might be affected by target detection or distractor rejection. The results show that the memory advantage for target-paired words was robust relative to that of baseline words; this advantage was mainly observed in R responses. More importantly, a memory reduction was also observed for distractor-paired words relative to baseline words, though this reduction was only observed in R responses. These data led us to conclude that the ABE was triggered by both processes: target-induced enhancement and distractor-induced inhibition. Moreover, both processes were more likely to affect recollection-based recognition.     

Rapid allocation of temporal attention in the attentional blink paradigm

How fast can information of a first target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation be used for top-down allocation of attention in time? A valid cue about the temporal position of a second target (T2) was integrated into T1. The data show that 100 ms after T1 onset, T2 was identified better than without cue, raising the conditional T2 performance. T1 apparently triggers a facilitative effect of attention, known from other paradigms such as peripheral cueing.     

Mechanisms of attentional selection: temporally modulated priority tags

When a single abrupt onset appears in a multielement display, it captures attention. When multiple onset elements occur, they have conditional priority over no-onset elements such that a limited number of onsets can be serviced with high priority in visual search (Yantis & Johnson, 1990). We report three experiments in which we assess two possible mechanisms for attentional prioritization: a priority queue into which a fixed number of high-priority elements are placed for early servicing during search, and a mechanism that temporarily tags all high-priority elements for early servicing or more frequent sampling. We manipulated the visual quality or inter-letter confusability of the stimuli to prolong encoding and/or comparison operations; this manipulation led to a decrease in the estimated number of elements serviced with high priority. We conclude that a mechanism incorporating temporally decaying priority tags is implicated in servicing multiple abrupt onsets in visual search.     

On the failure of distractor inhibition in the attentional blink

We investigated whether a failure of distractor inhibition contributes to the magnitude of theattentional blink (AB). Subjects viewed dual-targetrapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams, where the distractors that directly preceded and succeeded Target 2 (T2−1, T2+1) were either identical to each other or different. Previously, Dux, Coltheart, and Harris (2006) found enhanced target report in RSVP due to repetition of distractors around Target 1, which was interpreted as evidence of distractor inhibition. Here, distractor repetition again attenuated the AB, but only at lag 2, the Target 2 position where T2−1 would have undergone attentive processing. Our results demonstrate that the distractor repetition effect is dependent on attention, and that a failure to inhibit distractors contributes to the AB.     

Top-down controlled, delayed selection in the attentional blink

In a previous study, it was shown that the attentional blink (AB)--the failure to recall the 2nd of 2 visual targets (T1 and T2) presented within 500 ms in rapid serial visual presentation--is reduced when T2 is preceded by a distractor that shares a feature with T2 (e.g., color; Nieuwenstein, Chun, van der Lubbe & Hooge, 2005). Here, this cuing effect is shown to be contingent on attentional set. For example, a red distractor letter preceding a green digit T2 is an effective cue when the task is to look for red and green digits, but the same red cue is relatively ineffective when the task is to look for only green digits or when the color of T2 is not specified. It is also shown that cuing is not interrupted by a distractor intervening between the cue and T2. These findings provide evidence for a contingent, delayed selection account of the AB.     

Offsets and prioritizing the selection of new elements in search displays: More evidence for attentional capture in the preview effect

The preview effect refers to the finding that new elements in a search display are prioritized over old elements. Donk and Theeuwes (2001) suggest that this prioritization is due to bottom-up attentional capture, as new elements that abruptly appear with increases in luminance produce a preview effect whereas new elements that are equiluminant to the background do not. The present study extends this research by examining if new elements that appear from offsets, with and without luminance changes, yield similar findings to onsets. This was indeed the case, as equiluminant offsets did not produce a preview effect but offsets with corresponding increases or decreases in luminance did show the prioritization of new elements over old elements. These findings show that the prioritization of new elements is sensitive to changes in luminance but not to the direction of such changes.     

Personality predicts temporal attention costs in the attentional blink paradigm

Accuracy for a second target is reduced when it is presented within 500 msec of a first target. This phenomenon is called the attentional blink (AB). A diffused attentional state (via positive affect or an additional task) has been shown to reduce the AB, whereas a focused attentional state (via negative affect) has been shown to increase the AB, purportedly by influencing the amount of attentional investment and flexibility. In the present study, individual differences in personality traits related to positive affect, negative affect, and cognitive flexibility were used to predict individual differences in AB magnitude. As hypothesized, greater extraversion and openness predicted smaller ABs. Greater openness also predicted higher overall target accuracy. Greater neuroticism predicted larger ABs and lower overall target accuracy. Conscientiousness, associated with less cognitive flexibility, predicted lower overall target accuracy. Personality may modulate the AB by influencing overinvestment via dispositional tendencies toward more or less stringent or capable cognitive control.