Attentional Blink

Attentional Blink

How the Attentional Blink Relates To Attention

Attentional Blink refers to the phenomenon that if there are two targets, then the second one of them cannot be identified or detected if it appears closer to time compared to the first one. The basic 'attentional blink' paradigm employs a method which is known as rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). In this paradigm, stimuli such as digits, pictures or letters are presented successfully positioned at a single location at rates of about 6-20 articles per second (Raymond et. al, 1992). A procedure was devised in which the participants were required to point out the white letter they saw which was also the only one, during the RSVP stream of all the black letters which were also the distractors and non-targets, as the white letter was the target. Reports of both these targets were required after the stream of stimulus ended. Thus it illustrated that the attentional blink is defined as occurring when the white target was reported correctly.

Various studies have depicted that the semantic qualities of stimuli which are present in the attentional blink are processed to an extent even when the detection of the target is found to be inaccurate, and it is also noticed that the attentional blink is sensitive to the significance of stimuli which is learned and the stimuli appears as distractors and targets (Livesey et. al, 2009). For example, stimuli that is meaningful or familiar such as the name of person of faces that are famous, seem to be protected to a certain degree from the attentional blink since identifying them seems to be less impaired compared to similar stimuli that is less familiar.

The Experiments Related to Attentional Blink

The rate at which the targets and distractors are presented was changed in experiments that were carried out ...