Is the attentional blink effect located in short-term memory?
The attentional blink (AB) effect is characterized by a failure to detect a second target following the identification of a previous target in a RSVP stream. This effect has been attributed to capacity limitations at a central level of visual information processes. Postperceptual models suppose that the AB locus is located in short-term memory. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the influence of a short-term memory deficit on the AB effect in a patient with such a deficit. The three main results of this study are (1) the persistence of an AB effect, (2) a large number of T1 missed identifications and (3) a T2 detection deficit for a specific delay (367 ms). These results indicate that a short-term memory deficit disrupts the processing of each target (T1 and T2) but does not product an abolition of the AB effect.
Moroni
Christine
C
Hôpital Avicenne, Service de Neurologie, Bobigny, France. christine.moroni@avc.ap-hop-paris.fr
Boucart
Muriel
M
Fery
Patrick
P
Claes
Thierry
T
Belin
Catherine
C
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index