title: Modality-specific attentional startle modulation during continuous performance tasks: a brief time is sufficient.
abstract: Attentional startle modulation has been found to be modality specific in continuous performance tasks (CPTs) and modality nonspecific in trial-structured tasks. Experiment 1 investigated whether attentional blink modulation in a CPT would change if a trial structure was imposed. Participants performed a visual CPT either continuously (CONT), or during brief periods of time signaled by a change in screen color with stimuli either presented all the time (MIXED) or only during the trial segments (DISC). Contrary to expectation, evidence for modality-specific attentional startle modulation-smaller acoustic startle during targets than during nontargets-was strongest in Groups MIXED and DISC. Experiment 2 confirmed that this pattern of results was present during the first stimulus of the task period in group DISC. This suggests that the continuous nature of a task is not critical in determining the attentional mechanisms engaged.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Queensland, 4072, Australia. s.alhadad@psy.uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Sakinah S J
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Alhadad
authors.forename: Ottmar V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Lipp
authors.forename: Helena M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Purkis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult