The attentional blink is modulated by first target contrast: Implications of an attention capture hypothesis: Proceedings of the Cognitive Sciences Society's Annual meeting 2011

Simon Nielsen, Tobias S Andersen

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Abstract

When two targets (T1 & T2) are presented in rapid succession, observers often fail to report T2 if they attend to T1. The bottleneck theory proposes that this attentional blink (AB) is due to T1 occupying a slow processing stage when T2 is presented. Accordingly, if increasing T1 difficulty increases T1 processing time, this should cause a greater AB. The attention capture hypothesis suggests that T1 captures attention, which cannot be reallocated to T2 in time. Accordingly, if increasing T1 difficulty decreases T1 saliency, this should cause a smaller AB. In two experiments we find support for an attention capture hypothesis. In Experiment 1 we find that AB magnitude increases with T1 contrast – but only when T1 is unmasked. In Experiment 2 we add Gaussian noise to targets and vary T1 contrast but keep T1 ‘s SNR constant. Again we find that AB magnitude increases with T1 contrast.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftProceedings of the Cognitive Sciences Society's Annual meeting 2011
Antal sider6
StatusUdgivet - 1 jan. 2011

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