Input control processes in rapid serial visual presentations: target selection and distractor inhibition

The attentional blink refers to the finding that the 2nd of 2 targets embedded in a stream of rapidly presented distractors is often missed. Whereas most theories of the attentional blink focus on limited-capacity processes that occur after target selection, the present work investigates the selection process itself. Identifying a target letter caused an attentional blink for the enumeration of subsequent dot patterns, but this blink was reduced when the dots shared their color with the target letter. In contrast, performance worsened when the color of the dots matched that of the remaining distractors in the stream. Similarity between the targets also affected competition between different sets of dots presented simultaneously within a single display. The authors conclude that the selection of targets from a rapid serial visual presentation stream is mediated by both excitatory and inhibitory attentional control mechanisms.