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Individual Differences in the Attentional Blink: The Temporal Profile of Blinkers and Non-Blinkers
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, 8(6):e66185. PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 6, p e66185 (2013)
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2013.
-
Abstract
- Background: When two targets are presented in close temporal succession, the majority of people frequently fail to report the second target. This phenomenon, known as the 'attentional blink' (AB), has been a major topic in attention research for the past twenty years because it is informative about the rate at which stimuli can be encoded into consciously accessible representations. An aspect of the AB that has long been ignored, however, is individual differences.Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we compare a group of blinkers (who show an AB) and non-blinkers (who show little or no AB), and investigate the boundary conditions of the non-blinkers' remarkable ability. Second, we directly test the properties of temporal selection by analysing response errors, allowing us to uncover individual differences in suppression, delay, and diffusion of selective attention across time. Thirdly, we test the hypothesis that information concerning temporal order is compromised when an AB is somehow avoided. Surprisingly, compared to earlier studies, only a modest amount of suppression was found for blinkers. Non-blinkers showed no suppression, were more precise in selecting the second target, and made less order reversals than blinkers did. In contrast, non-blinkers made relatively more intrusions and showed a selection delay when the second target immediately followed the first target (at lag 1).Conclusion/Significance: The findings shed new light on the mechanisms that may underlie individual differences in selective attention. The notable ability of non-blinkers to accurately perceive targets presented in close temporal succession might be due to a relatively faster and more precise target selection process compared to large blinkers.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
DISTRACTOR INHIBITION
SPATIAL ATTENTION
Individuality
lcsh:Medicine
Biology
SELECTIVE ATTENTION
Attentional Blink
CAPACITY
WORKING-MEMORY
MAGNITUDE
Event-related potential
BINDING
Temporal succession
Selection (linguistics)
Reaction Time
Humans
Attentional blink
Attention
Selective attention
lcsh:Science
Multidisciplinary
Working memory
lcsh:R
Contrast (statistics)
HUMAN ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
Pattern Recognition, Visual
RESOURCE DEPLETION ACCOUNTS
lcsh:Q
Female
SERIAL VISUAL PRESENTATION
Cognitive psychology
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....de4c6e11185eb4664e6fad868da733fd