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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 9, 2026

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

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

Published on: December 5, 2014

Attentional processing of multiple targets and distractors.

Jaap Munneke¹, Elisa Fait, Veronica Mazza

¹Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Trento, Italy.

Psychophysiology

|August 2, 2013

Summary

Attentional resources increase with more targets but not distractors. Distractors may be suppressed as a group, suggesting efficient visual attention mechanisms.

Keywords:

Distractor processing ERPs Multiple object processing N2pc Visual attention

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 9, 2026

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

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

Published on: December 5, 2014

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

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Published on: July 5, 2015

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Published on: August 29, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Attention Research

Background:

Understanding how the brain selects relevant information amidst distractors is crucial for cognitive science.
The N2pc component, with its subcomponents target negativity (Nt) and distractor positivity (Pd), offers insights into attentional selection and distractor suppression.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the electrophysiological correlates of attention when multiple targets and distractors are present.
To differentiate the roles of target selection (Nt) and distractor suppression (Pd) under varying visual load.

Main Methods:

Utilized an enumeration task with orthogonal manipulation of target and distractor quantities.
Measured electrophysiological responses, specifically the N2pc subcomponents: target negativity (Nt) and distractor positivity (Pd).

Main Results:

Target numerosity significantly modulated the target negativity (Nt), indicating increased attentional resources for target representation.
Distractor numerosity did not significantly alter the distractor positivity (Pd).

Conclusions:

Attentional resource allocation scales with the number of targets, not distractors.
Suggests that visually similar distractors might be processed and suppressed collectively, rather than individually.