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Beyond the attentional blink: visual masking by object substitution
1Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. blgiesbr@psych.ualberta.ca
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|October 21, 1998
Summary
Identifying the first target in rapid visual sequences can impair identification of the second target, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). Masking the second target is crucial, with interruption masking, but not integration masking, eliciting an AB.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Visual attention research
- Perceptual masking studies
Background:
- The attentional blink (AB) describes the impaired identification of a second target when it appears soon after a first target in rapid serial visual presentation.
- Previous research indicated that the first target's masking (simultaneous or delayed) does not affect the occurrence of the AB.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of second target masking in the attentional blink phenomenon.
- To determine if different masking paradigms (integration vs. interruption) differentially affect the AB.
- To explore the relationship between attentional blink and masked priming effects.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted using rapid serial visual presentation paradigms.
- Participants identified two targets presented among distractors.
- Different masking techniques, specifically integration and interruption masking, were applied to the second target.
Main Results:
- The attentional blink occurred when the second target was masked using an interruption paradigm.
- However, the attentional blink was not observed when the second target was masked using an integration paradigm.
- This indicates that the type of masking applied to the second target is critical for the AB.
Conclusions:
- The effectiveness of masking the second target is dependent on the specific masking paradigm used.
- The findings suggest a dissociation between integration and interruption masking concerning the attentional blink.
- These results support a revised two-stage model of visual attention and processing, potentially linking attentional blink mechanisms to those in masked priming.