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T1 difficulty and the attentional blink: expectancy versus backward masking
1University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. troy.visser@ubc.ca
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|July 10, 2007
Summary
The attentional blink (AB) magnitude is linked to first-target (T1) difficulty when backward masking is omitted. Observer expectancy affects T1 accuracy but not the AB magnitude relationship.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Attention
Background:
- The attentional blink (AB) is a phenomenon where identifying a second target (T2) is impaired following a first target (T1).
- Bottleneck models predict that increased processing difficulty for T1 should amplify the AB magnitude.
- Empirical evidence for this prediction has been mixed, suggesting mediating factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mediating roles of observer expectancy and backward masking on the relationship between T1 difficulty and AB magnitude.
- To clarify the conditions under which T1 difficulty influences the AB.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted using a standard attentional blink paradigm.
- T1 difficulty was manipulated, and the presence or absence of backward masking for T1 was varied.
- Observer expectancy was also manipulated.
Main Results:
- Omitting the backward mask consistently revealed the predicted positive relationship between T1 difficulty and AB magnitude.
- Observer expectancy significantly affected T1 identification accuracy.
- Observer expectancy did not mediate the relationship between T1 difficulty and AB magnitude.
Conclusions:
- Backward masking of T1 plays a crucial role in the relationship between T1 difficulty and attentional blink magnitude.
- Observer expectancy influences performance on T1 but does not explain the variability in the T1 difficulty-AB magnitude link.
