Data-limited manipulations of T1 difficulty modulate the attentional blink.
When two targets are embedded in a temporal stream of distractors, second-target identification is initially impaired and then gradually improves as intertarget interval lengthens (attentional blink; AB). According to bottleneck models of the AB, difficulty of first-target processing should modulate the magnitude of the second-target deficit. To test this, we examined whether a data-limited manipulation of T1 difficulty (forward masking) would modulate AB magnitude. In two experiments, we show that data-limited manipulations of T1 difficulty do affect the AB, so long as T1 is not masked by an immediately trailing distractor. When such a trailing item is present, the relationship between T1 difficulty and the AB disappears.
Visser
Troy A W
TA
Psychology Department, University of British Columbia--Okanagan, Kelowna, Canada. troy.visser@ubc.ca
Ohan
Jeneva L
JL
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012033:Refractory Period, Psychological