Attentional Blink Paradigm Research Articles

Decision-making training reduces the attentional blink.

Practice or training on a particular task often yields gains for the trained task; however, the extent to which these benefits generalize to other stimuli/tasks is contentious. It has been suggested that behavioral decision-making/response selection training may enhance temporal visual attention, as measured using the attentional blink (AB) paradigm. Here, we show that AB can indeed be reduced through response selection training, which requires repeatedly performing a speeded decision-making task. Training gains garnered by this approach transferred to distinct AB measures, but not to unrelated measures of visual search and multitasking ability. Moreover, these changes were still evident 2 weeks after training completion. Crucially, training on 2 active control tasks-visual search and motion discrimination-did not elicit similar gains. Such malleability of temporal visual attention via response selection training offers tantalizing prospects for future cognitive enhancement endeavors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Dynamic Interactions between Top-Down Expectations and Conscious Awareness.

It is well known that top-down expectations affect perceptual processes. Yet, remarkably little is known about the relationship between expectations and conscious awareness. We address three crucial outstanding questions: (1) how do expectations affect the likelihood of conscious stimulus perception?; (2) does the brain register violations of expectations nonconsciously?; and (3) do expectations need to be conscious to influence perceptual decisions? Using human participants, we performed three experiments in which we manipulated stimulus predictability within the attentional blink paradigm, while combining visual psychophysics with electrophysiological recordings. We found that valid stimulus expectations increase the likelihood of conscious access of stimuli. Furthermore, our findings suggest a clear dissociation in the interaction between expectations and consciousness: conscious awareness seems crucial for the implementation of top-down expectations, but not for the generation of bottom-up stimulus-evoked prediction errors. These results constrain and update influential theories about the role of consciousness in the predictive brain.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT While the relationship between expectations and conscious awareness plays a major role in many prediction-based theories of brain functioning, thus far few empirical studies have examined this relationship. Here, we address this gap in knowledge in a set of three experiments. Our results suggest that the effect of expectations on conscious awareness varies between different steps of the hierarchy of predictive processing. While the active use of top-down expectations for perceptual decisions requires conscious awareness, prediction errors can be triggered outside of conscious awareness. These results constrain and update influential theories about the role of consciousness in the predictive brain.

The Effect of Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy on Fear-Related Capture of Attention in Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor: A Comparison to Healthy Individuals.

In addition to motor symptoms, Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves significant non-motor sequelae, including disruptions in cognitive and emotional processing. Fear recognition appears to be affected both by the course of the disease and by a common interventional therapy, deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS). Here, we examined if these effects extend to other aspects of emotional processing, such as attentional capture by negative emotional stimuli. Performance on an emotional attentional blink (EAB) paradigm, a common paradigm used to study emotional capture of attention, was examined in a cohort of individuals with PD, both on and off STN-DBS therapy (n=20). To contrast effects of healthy aging and other movement disorder and DBS targets, we also examined performance in a healthy elderly (n=20) and young (n=18) sample on the same task, and a sample diagnosed with Essential Tremor (ET) undergoing therapeutic deep brain stimulation of the ventral-intermediate nucleus (VIM-DBS, n=18). All four groups showed a robust attentional capture of emotional stimuli, irrespective of aging processes, movement disorder diagnosis, or stimulation. PD patients on average had overall worse performance, but this decrement in performance was not related to the emotional capture of attention. PD patients exhibited a robust EAB, indicating that the ability of emotion to direct attention remains intact in PD. Congruent with other recent data, these findings suggest that fear recognition deficits in PD may instead reflect a highly specific problem in recognition, rather than a general deficit in emotional processing of fearful stimuli.

First unitary, then divided: The temporal dynamics of dividing attention

Whether focused visual attention can be divided has been the topic of much investigation, and there is a compelling body of evidence showing that, at least under certain conditions, attention can be divided and deployed as two independent foci. Three experiments were conducted to examine whether attention can be deployed in divided form from the outset, or whether it is first deployed as a unitary focus before being divided. To test this, we adapted the methodology of Jefferies, Enns, and Di Lollo (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 40: 465, 2014), who used a dual-stream Attentional Blink paradigm and two letter-pair targets. One aspect of the AB, Lag-1 sparing, has been shown to occur only if the second target pair appears within the focus of attention. By presenting the second target pair at various spatial locations and assessing the magnitude of Lag-1 sparing, we probed the spatial distribution of attention. By systematically manipulating the stimulus-onset-asynchrony between the targets, we also tracked changes to the spatial distribution of attention over time. The results showed that even under conditions which encourage the division of attention, the attentional focus is first deployed in unitary form before being divided. It is then maintained in divided form only briefly before settling on a single location.

Consciousness and working memory: Current trends and research perspectives

Working memory has long been thought to be closely related to consciousness. However, recent empirical studies show that unconscious content may be maintained within working memory and that complex cognitive computations may be performed on-line. This promotes research on the exact relationships between consciousness and working memory. Current evidence for working memory being a conscious as well as an unconscious process is reviewed. Consciousness is shown to be considered a subset of working memory by major current theories of working memory. Evidence for unconscious elements in working memory is shown to come from visual masking and attentional blink paradigms, and from the studies of implicit working memory. It is concluded that more research is needed to explicate the relationship between consciousness and working memory. Future research directions regarding the relationship between consciousness and working memory are discussed.

Individual differences in dual-target RSVP task performance relate to entrainment but not to individual alpha frequency.

The attentional blink (AB) paradigm is widely used to study visual temporal attention. An important feature of the standard AB paradigm is repetitive visual stimulation, more precisely the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of numerous distracters interspersed with two targets. The RSVP stream is likely to result in entrainment of visual cortex, which has been suggested to negatively affect target identification in the AB paradigm. The present EEG study tested this idea with an inter-individual differences approach. AB task performance and measures of entrainment were derived from 51 participants. Other than predicted, moderate positive correlations were observed for inter-trial coherence and performance, but only for targets not immediately preceded by other targets. A positive correlation with power was evident for targets presented in the critical AB time window. In a second step, it was tested whether the distance between individual alpha frequency and RSVP frequency mediated correlations with inter-trial coherence, as entrainment of the visual cortex through repetitive visual stimulation is particularly effective when the frequency of the stimulation matches the individual alpha frequency. However, no evidence was found supporting such link. While compatible with a number of findings related to the AB and to visual entrainment, the findings of the present study do not provide evidence for the notion that entrainment to the RSVP stream creates a neural environment unfavourable for detecting targets an RSVP stream.

Attentional blink to alcohol cues in binge drinkers versus non-binge drinkers

Previous studies have shown alcohol-related attentional biases in social drinkers; however, the temporal dynamics of these biases are not well understood. The current study examined this issue in 94 participants (27 male) categorized as binge drinkers (BD) or non-binge drinkers (NBD). Two versions of an alcohol-related attentional blink (AB) paradigm were used: one with words and one with images. It was predicted that BDs (versus NBDs) would exhibit reduced AB for alcohol cues, which would be enhanced for the pictorial version of the task (versus words). The relationships between AB and alcohol craving, quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption, symptoms of alcohol use disorder, and family history of alcohol use disorder (AUD) were also examined. While an AB was observed for both alcohol and non-alcohol targets in the NBD group, no AB was found for alcohol targets in the BD group. Furthermore, the magnitude of the AB was related to drinking, such that higher self-reported hazardous drinking was associated with smaller ABs to alcohol-related targets. However, AB was not related to craving or family history of AUD. These results suggest that alcohol-related stimuli are processed more efficiently by BDs, especially those with hazardous alcohol consumption patterns. These results may inform treatment and prevention efforts targeting binge drinkers.

Backward masking interrupts spatial attention, slows downstream processing, and limits conscious perception.

The attentional blink (AB) is a difficulty in correctly processing a target when it follows one or more other targets after a short delay. When no backward mask is presented after the last critical target, there is no or little behavioral AB deficit. The mask plays an important role in limiting conscious access to target information. In this electrophysiological study, we tested the impact of masking on the deployment and engagement of attention by measuring the N2pc and P3 components in an RSVP paradigm. We found that the presence of a mask in an AB paradigm reduced the amplitude of the N2pc, P3a, and P3b components. In addition to reducing encoding in memory, masking also reduced the effectiveness of the deployment and engagement of attention on the last target. We discuss the role of these findings in the context of current masking, consciousness, and AB models.

Perceptual episodes, temporal attention, and the role of cognitive control: Lessons from the attentional blink.

The ability to identify a target is usually hindered if it appears shortly after another target. This simple and somewhat intuitive observation is qualified by a multitude of unexpected findings and conflicting theories that originate from the attentional blink paradigm. In this review, the major results, implications, and outstanding questions that stem from the paradigm are presented and discussed. The extant literature suggests that when the temporal domain is densely stacked with numerous stimuli, the entities that underlie attentional selection and cognitive control are brief perceptual episodes. Specifically, attention is deployed over an interval that frequently encompasses several stimuli. Most theories agree that the length and boundaries of this interval are influenced by cognitive control mechanisms. However, there is little agreement as to the extent and nature of this influence. Some theories suggest that control is needed in order to initiate a temporally limited attentional response. Other theories argue that cognitive control is actively suppressing attentional mechanisms in order to terminate the perceptual episode. Another formulation suggests that both ends of the interval are partially controlled and that the exertion of control corresponds to the focusing of attention on a narrow interval. The contents of perceptual episodes, as well as their deficiencies, can shed light on the features that guide attentional deployment, the goals that guide cognitive control, and the interactions between these mechanisms. Electrophysiological recordings are extremely useful when one tries to pinpoint the timing of attentional selection. Other neural indicators can elucidate the factors that define perceptual episodes.

Frozen in time: Concurrent task performance interferes with temporal shifts of attention.

It is well known that the requirement to perform a concurrent task interferes with many aspects of perception and cognition. Evidence suggests that this interference extends to spatial shifts of attention, which appear to be reduced in efficiency when they must be performed while processing related to another task is ongoing. Here, the authors investigate whether concurrent tasks also interfere with shifts of temporal attention-that is, with the ability to shift attention to an expected time of stimulus onset. In Experiment 1, using the attentional blink paradigm, the authors show that the requirement to identify a prior target interferes with observer's ability to shift attention to the expected time of second-target onset. In Experiments 2 and 3, they confirm the role of the first-target task by eliminating the shifting deficit when the interval between the targets is increased or the requirement to identify the first target is removed. Together, the results indicate that performing a concurrent task interferes with temporal shifts of attention analogously to how it interferes with spatial shifts of attention, implying an impact of task-related resource limitations on a common set of underlying cognitive and perceptual mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record

Summary statistics in the attentional blink.

We used the attentional blink (AB) paradigm to investigate the processing stage at which extraction of summary statistics from visual stimuli ("ensemble coding") occurs. Experiment 1 examined whether ensemble coding requires attentional engagement with the items in the ensemble. Participants performed two sequential tasks on each trial: gender discrimination of a single face (T1) and estimating the average emotional expression of an ensemble of four faces (or of a single face, as a control condition) as T2. Ensemble coding was affected by the AB when the tasks were separated by a short temporal lag. In Experiment 2, the order of the tasks was reversed to test whether ensemble coding requires more working-memory resources, and therefore induces a larger AB, than estimating the expression of a single face. Each condition produced a similar magnitude AB in the subsequent gender-discrimination T2 task. Experiment 3 additionally investigated whether the previous results were due to participants adopting a subsampling strategy during the ensemble-coding task. Contrary to this explanation, we found different patterns of performance in the ensemble-coding condition and a condition in which participants were instructed to focus on only a single face within an ensemble. Taken together, these findings suggest that ensemble coding emerges automatically as a result of the deployment of attentional resources across the ensemble of stimuli, prior to information being consolidated in working memory.

P.1.j.024 - An attempt to establish a sequence recalling working memory model in the rat

Temporal visual working memory (VWM) biases in spider anxiety were studied with an Attentional Blink paradigm. In Experiment 1, participants viewed pictures sequentially presented at rates of 80 ms and were instructed to memorize two target pictures. We varied time between targets and valence of the second target (neutral: mushroom, positive: blossom, negative: spider). In Experiment 2, spider fearfuls and non-anxious controls (both without snake anxiety) participated. Here we tested two negative targets: disorder-related spiders and disorder-irrelevant snakes. Both positive and negative items were memorized more successfully than neutral targets. Spiders were preferentially recalled by spider fearfuls compared to non-anxious controls, implying temporal VWM biases in spider anxiety. This advantage for threat was not related to a disruption of the encoding of non-threatening targets presented before the threat item.

Emotional aftereffects: When emotion impairs subsequent picture recognition.

Emotional stimuli induce a state of natural selective attention and receive preferential processing by the brain. While this enables the organism to detect and respond swiftly to life-threatening or-sustaining stimuli, research using variants of the attentional blink paradigm has revealed that this advantage may come at the cost of processing other stimuli in a picture stream. In these studies, participants have to actively search for a target within the stream. However, it has also been shown that the active task set may exert a considerable influence on the outcome in an attentional blink scenario. Accordingly, the present series of studies was designed to test whether proactive emotional cost effects occur in an experimental context that does not implement an active search task set and in which all viewed stimuli are of equal relevance. Toward this end, a recognition memory paradigm was utilized in which participants viewed rapidly presented sequences of emotional and neutral images. Immediately afterward, they had to decide whether a probe stimulus had occurred in the sequence or not. Across 3 studies, images were better remembered when they had been presented after neutral as compared with emotional images. This was the case after both positive and negative emotional images and regardless of whether participants had to memorize all or only nonemotional stimuli. These findings speak to the robustness of proactive emotional cost effects and link recent research examining emotion-induced blindness to classic observations regarding emotional interference in memory tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record

Differential Contributions of GABA Concentration in Frontal and Parietal Regions to Individual Differences in Attentional Blink.

Selective attention plays an important role in identifying transient objects in a complex visual scene. Attentional control ability varies with observers. However, it is unclear what neural mechanisms are responsible for individual differences in attentional control ability. The present study used the following attentional blink paradigm: when two targets are to be identified in rapid serial visual presentation, the processing of the first target interrupts the identification of the second one appearing within 500 ms after the first-target onset. It has been assumed that the reduction of the second-target accuracy is mainly due to a transient inhibition of attentional reorienting from the first to the second target, which is modulated by the GABA system. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we investigated whether individual variation of attentional blink magnitude is associated with GABA concentrations in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC), right posterior-parietal cortex (PPC), and visual cortex (VC) of humans. GABA concentrations in the PFC were related negatively to attentional blink magnitude and positively to the first-target accuracy. GABA concentrations in the PPC were positively correlated with attentional blink magnitude. However, GABA concentrations in the VC did not contribute to attentional blink magnitude and first-target accuracy. Our results suggest that frontoparietal inhibitory mechanisms are closely linked with individual differences in attentional processing and that functional roles of the GABAergic system in selective attention differ between the PFC and PPC. Selective attention is the process of picking up task-relevant information in the environment. Attentional blink reflects time constraints of visual attention. It has been assumed that attentional blink is induced by the inhibition of attentional reorienting to other objects. This study used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to noninvasively measure concentrations of GABA, the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter, in the human brain. We show that a neural interaction between GABA concentrations in the prefrontal and posterior parietal regions accounts for the interindividual variability of attentional blink magnitude. Our results provide direct evidence that the GABAergic system in the frontoparietal networks is responsible for temporal aspects of attentional control ability.

Changes in temporal attention inhibition following prolonged exposure and sertraline in the treatment of PTSD.

Attentional inhibitory deficits expressed as difficulty ignoring irrelevant stimuli in the pursuit of goal-directed behavior may serve as a fundamental mechanism of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Evidence of inhibitory processes as central to extinction suggests that exposure-based treatments may act more directly on the inhibitory deficits implicated in PTSD, whereas, in facilitating serotonergic neurotransmission, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be less direct and bring about general neurochemical changes in the fear circuitry. If these inhibitory deficits underlie PTSD, then inhibition should improve with successful treatment, with those treated with prolonged exposure (PE) potentially resulting in greater changes in inhibition than those treated with sertraline. Changes in temporal attentional inhibition, using an attentional blink (AB) paradigm, were examined at pre- and posttreatment in 49 individuals (74.5% female, 66.7% Caucasian, age M = 37.69, SD = 12.8 years) with chronic PTSD. Participants completed 10 weeks of either PE or sertraline. Individuals who made greater improvements with PE showed faster improvements in temporal inhibition on the critical inhibitory lag of AB than those who made greater improvements with sertraline (d = 0.94). These changes could not be accounted for by basic attention. Greater improvement in fundamental attentional inhibitory processes with better treatment response to PE, compared with sertraline, suggests potential specificity in how PTSD treatments normalize inhibitory processes, such that exposure-based treatments like PE may target inhibitory processes and improve basic inhibitory functioning.

Predicting Real-Life Cognitive Performance from Laboratory Data: A Case for Developmental Studies Using the Attentional Blink

In an increasingly digital world, complex cognitive skills such as executive control and working memory capacity are crucial for adaptive behavior. In children and adolescents, methods are therefore needed for assessing and predicting strengths and weaknesses in these capacities, opening avenues for intervention and training regimes. This commentary argues that laboratory tasks in combination with suitable brain measures have the potential to address this need, having the potential to quantify and predict specific aspects of cognitive skills in the real world. The so-called attentional blink paradigm and its developmental trajectories are discussed as an example for such an approach.

Rhythm and Attention: Does the Beat Position of a Visual or Auditory Regular Pulse Modulate T2 Detection in the Attentional Blink?

The attentional blink (AB) is one impressive demonstration of limited attentional capacities in time: a second target (T2) is often missed when it should be detected within 200–600 ms after a first target. According to the dynamic attending theory, attention cycles oscillatory. Regular rhythms (i.e., pulses) should evoke expectations regarding the point of the next occurrence of a tone/element in the rhythm. At this point, more attentional resources should be provided. Thus, if rhythmic information can be used to optimize attentional release, we assume a modulation of the AB when an additional rhythm is given. We tested this idea in two experiments with a visual (Experiment 1) or an auditory (Experiment 2) rhythm. We found large AB effects. However, the rhythm did not modulate the AB. If the rhythm had an influence at all, then Experiment 2 showed that an auditory rhythm (or stimulus) falling on T2 might generally boost visual processing, irrespective of attentional resources as indexed by the AB paradigm. Our experiments suggest that oscillatory cycling attention does not affect temporal selection as tapped in the AB paradigm.

Time to see the bigger picture: Individual differences in the attentional blink.

If two to-be-identified targets are presented in close temporal succession, identification for the second target is typically impaired. This attentional blink (AB) phenomenon has long been considered as a robust, universal cognitive limitation. However, more recent studies have demonstrated that AB task performance greatly differs between individuals, with some individuals even showing no AB in certain paradigms. Several studies have focused on these individual differences in an attempt to reveal the mechanism underlying the AB, but an overview of this approach is currently missing. Here, by reviewing studies regarding individual differences in AB task performance, we investigate how individual differences have contributed to our understanding of the AB. We show that the individual differences AB literature provides reliable indications that the AB is a multifaceted phenomenon that presumably arises from a combination of factors; individuals with higher levels of executive working memory (WM) functioning and broad attentional focus perform better in the AB paradigm than individuals with lower executive functioning of WM and narrow attentional focus. As it turns out, seeing the bigger picture certainly seems helpful for AB task performance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.3758/s13423-015-0977-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Exploring the characteristics of the attentional blink paradigm when used to discover concealed knowledge.

Ganis and Patnaik (Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 34:189-196, 2009) reported that the attentional blink paradigm using faces could be used to detect the presence of concealed knowledge. The attentional blink is defined as the inability to successfully detect the second of two target items presented within a short inter-stimulus interval. The present study tested the use of the attentional blink paradigm in a concealed knowledge test by investigating the effect that familiar faces may have on the attentional blink. Participants completed 200 trials where they were told to look for the same familiar target (Target 2; actor Brad Pitt) that was intermixed with neutral face stimuli and one other familiar face (Target 1; actor George Clooney). Target 1 was to act as the concealed knowledge as participants familiar with Target 1 would be distracted by his unannounced presence and report not seeing Target 2 thereby showing an attentional blink. Despite all participants being familiar with Target 2, an attentional blink still occurred, but with higher than normal Target 2 accuracy rates. Overall, we found support for using the AB paradigm with the concealed knowledge test; however, a possible countermeasure to the attentional blink is familiarity with Target 2 as eight of 21 participants who recognized Target 1 (the concealed knowledge) were also able to detect Target 2 on 100% of the trials where Target 1's presence should have created an attentional blink.

Relações entre Adaptabilidade de carreira e personalidade: Um estudo com universitários ingressantes brasileiros

Identificar os fatores que influenciam a experiência universitária dos estudantes é importante para a pesquisa no desenvolvimento de carreira e permite uma maior compreensão da adaptação acadêmica dos alunos. Este estudo investigou as relações entre traços de personalidade e adaptabilidade de carreira em universitários ingressantes brasileiros. 359 alunos participaram (59,3% mulheres), com idade média de 20,6 anos, que responderam a perguntas biodemográficas, uma escala de adaptabilidade de carreira e uma lista de marcadores de personalidade. Foram encontradas correlações significativas entre adaptabilidade e todas as dimensões da personalidade. Não houve diferenças significativas entre os sexos na adaptabilidade e os estudantes de Humanidades tiveram escores significativamente mais baixos em preocupação de carreira do que alunos de outras áreas. Os resultados favorecem a discussão sobre o impacto das características de entrada dos estudantes para a adaptação e o engajamento acadêmico.