It's time for attentional control: Temporal expectation in the attentional blink

The attentional blink (AB) reveals a limitation in conscious processing of sequential targets. Although it is widely held that the AB derives from a structural bottleneck of central capacity, how the central processing is constrained is still unclear. As the AB reflects the dilemma of deploying attentional resources in the time dimension, research on temporal allocation provides an important avenue for understanding the mechanism. Here we reviewed studies regarding the role of temporal expectation in modulating the AB performance primarily based on two temporal processing strategies: interval-based and rhythm-based timings. We showed that both temporal expectations can help to organize limited resources among multiple attentional episodes, thereby mitigating the AB effect. As it turns out, scrutinizing on the AB from a temporal perspective is a promising way to comprehend the mechanisms behind the AB and conscious cognition. We also highlighted some unresolved issues and discussed potential directions for future research.