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Updated: Apr 11, 2026
A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
Published on: December 5, 2014
Attentional blink in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Juan A Amador-Campos1, J Antonio Aznar-Casanova2, Izabela Bezerra3
1Department of Personality, Psychological Assessment and Treatment, School of Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
Insights
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show a greater attentional blink (AB) in dual-task conditions compared to controls. This suggests temporal attention deficits in ADHD.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention and hyperactivity.
- The temporal dynamics of attention are crucial for processing rapidly presented information.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal attention mechanisms in children with ADHD using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task.
- To examine the attentional blink (AB) phenomenon, which occurs when attention is impaired by the close temporal proximity of stimuli.
Main Methods:
- The study included 30 children (12 with ADHD, 18 controls) aged 9-13 years.
- Participants completed single-task (identifying T1) and dual-task (identifying T1 and T2) RSVP tasks.
- The attentional blink was measured by the ability to detect a second target (T2) following a first target (T1).
Main Results:
- No significant differences were observed between ADHD and control groups in single-task performance.
- In the dual-task condition, significant differences emerged in T2 detection at specific lags (+1 and +4).
- The ADHD group demonstrated a significantly larger attentional blink compared to the control group.
Conclusions:
- The findings support a connection between ADHD and the attentional blink.
- This suggests that children with ADHD experience difficulties in temporal attention processing.
Objective:
To explore the temporal mechanism of attention in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task in which two letters (T1 and T2) were presented in close temporal proximity among distractors (attentional blink [AB]).
Method:
Thirty children aged between 9 and 13 years (12 with ADHD combined type and 18 controls) took part in the study. Both groups performed two kinds of RSVP task. In the single task, participants simply had to identify a target letter (T1), whereas in the dual task, they had to identify a target letter (T1) and a probe letter (T2).
Results:
The ADHD and control groups were equivalent in their single-task performance. However, in the dual-task condition, there were significant between-group differences in the rate of detection of the probe letter (T2) at lag + 1 and lag + 4. The ADHD group exhibited a larger overall AB compared with controls.
Conclusion:
Our findings provide support for a link between ADHD and attentional blink.
