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Encoding

Encoding

Information enters the brain through encoding, which is the input of information into the memory system. Once sensory information is received from the environment, the brain labels or codes it. The information is then organized with similar information and connected to existing concepts. Encoding occurs through automatic processing and effortful processing.
Automatic processing involves the encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words, usually done without conscious...

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Related Experiment Video

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A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

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Published on: December 5, 2014

Phonological encoding in the attentional blink paradigm.

Veronika Coltheart¹, Lisa S Yen

¹Macquarie University, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. veronika@maccs.mq.edu.au

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|December 20, 2007

Summary

The attentional blink, a deficit in identifying a second target, is impaired by phonological similarity in distractors. Even irrelevant distractors are phonologically encoded, affecting attentional blink performance.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Human Attention

Background:

The attentional blink (AB) is a temporal deficit in visual attention, occurring when identifying a second target (T2) shortly after a first target (T1).
Previous research primarily focused on target properties influencing the AB, with less attention paid to distractor characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of phonological similarity in distractors on the attentional blink.
To determine if irrelevant distractors are processed phonologically and impact dual-target report.

Main Methods:

Four experiments were conducted using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigms.
Participants identified targets within sequences of distractors, with varying phonological similarity between distractors and targets.

Main Results:

Phonological similarity of distractors presented after T1 significantly impaired dual-target report within the AB interval.
Phonological similarity of letter targets had a less consistent effect on performance.
Phonological similarity of distractors impaired dual-target report even when targets were digits, indicating robust phonological encoding of irrelevant items.

Conclusions:

Distractors, not just targets, are subject to phonological encoding during the attentional blink.
This finding suggests deeper, automatic phonological processing of visual information than previously assumed, even for irrelevant stimuli.