Dynamics of Automatic and Controlled Visual Attention

Weichselgartner, Erich; Sperling, George

doi:10.1126/science.3672124

Cited by 334 publications

(359 citation statements)

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“…The performance deficit in Task, in the experimental condition relative to the control condition at the intermediate stream positions following TI was called an attentional blink (AB) by Raymond et al (1992). Several other researchers have reported similar findings in paradigms that were significantly different (see, e.g., D. E. Broadbent & M. H. P. Broadbent, 1987;Chun & Potter, 1995;Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987), attesting to the robustness of the effect.…”

Section: The Attentional Blink Phenomenonsupporting

confidence: 48%

“…Raymond et al (1992) proposed that the processing ofT 1 in the experimental condition of the experiment described in the previous section begins with a preattentive detection of the white letter. This preattentive detection was postulated to initiate an attentional response, leading to the identification of T t-The identification of T I involves the opening and closing of an attentional gate whose purpose is to regulate the flow of visual information to pattern-recognition centers of the brain (see Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987). Raymond et al (1992) hypothesized that the at-CENTRAL MODULATION OF AB 1015 tentional gate would close for a longer time when information following T1 could be potentially confused with Tl: The perception of T2 suffers if it is presented while the attentional gate is closed.…”

Section: Models Of the Attentional Blink Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modulation of the attentional blink by on-line response selection: Evidence from speeded and unspeeded Task1 decisions

1998

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Two critical target stimuli (T} and T2) were embedded in a stream of white letters shown on a black background, using a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm (RSVP, 100 mseditem). T}was a red H or S; T2 was an X or a Y. Performance in a two-alternative discrimination on T2 was impaired when processing of T} was required-a result often called an attentional blink (AB). In previous work, the response in Task} has been an unspeeded and delayed response at the end of the trial. Three experiments compared performances in Task, that depended on whether Task} required an unspeeded delayed response or a speeded immediate response. A larger AB was found when a speeded response was required. Furthermore, in the speeded conditions, faster responses in Task} were associated with a smaller and shorter AB effect than were slower responses. The results show that manipulations affecting a relatively late stage of processing-response selection-affect the magnitude and duration of the AB phenomenon. A new central inhibition theory is proposed to account for these results. According to this theory, the AB is similar to the psychological refractory period effect and is caused by central postponement of short-term consolidation of T2' This article focuses on the effects ofrequiring a speeded response to the first of two critical stimuli in the attentional blink (AB) paradigm. Using this technique, the relationship between the duration of processing in Task I and performance in Task, can be investigated in a more direct way than in previous investigations of the AB phenomenon. The next section describes one of the paradigms that has been used to study the AB phenomenon, and the following sections describe four theoretical accounts designed to explain the principal features of the phenomenon. These sections are followed by a discussion ofthe potential effects ofrequiring a speeded response in Task I in the usual paradigm used to study the AB phenomenon. Three experiments are then presented. In these experiments the effects of speeded versus delayed Task 1 response requirements are compared. The results show that the nature ofthe response requirements in Task 1 has systematic effects on the shape ofthe AB function, as does the speed of the response when Task 1 requires an immediate response. The implications of the results are discussed in the General Discussion section. The Attentional Blink PhenomenonSeveral researchers have demonstrated a strikingly large and long-lasting deficit in the ability to perform a simple judgment on a second critical stimulus, T 2 , when this judgment follows another stimulus, T I' that also requires a simple judgment. For example, Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell (1992, Experiment 2) presented letters, using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) at the same location on the screen, with 90 msec separating the onsets of consecutive letters. The letters were black, except for T I' which was white. There were two blocks oftrials that differentiated the experimental from the control condition. In the experim...

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Section: The Attentional Blink Phenomenonsupporting

confidence: 48%

Section: Models Of the Attentional Blink Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modulation of the attentional blink by on-line response selection: Evidence from speeded and unspeeded Task1 decisions

1998

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“…Attempts to characterize attention shifts have used five basic paradigms, all of which involve spatial cues: (a) simple reaction times (RTs; e.g., Hughes & Zimba, 1985, 1987Posner et al, 1978;Posner et al, 1980;Remington & Pierce, 1984;Rizzolatti, Riggio, Dascola, & Umilta, 1987;Shulman, Remington, & McLean, 1979;Shulman, Wilson, & Sheehy, 1985), (b) choice RTs (e.g., Colegate, Hoffman, & Eriksen, 1973;Egly & Homa, 1991;Eriksen & Hoffman, 1972, 1973, 1974Eriksen & Webb, 1989;Hoffman, 1975;Jonides, 1980Jonides, , 1983Klein, 1994;Musseler, 1994;Podgory & Shepard, 1983;Posner et al, 1980, Experiments 3 and 4;Shaw, 1978;Tsal, 1983), (c) discrimination (e.g., Cheal & Lyon, 1989;Cheal, Lyon, & Gottlob, 1994;LaBerge & Brown, 1986;Lyon, 1990), (d) partial report (e.g., Averbach & Coriell, 1961;Sperling, 1960; also see Coltheart, 1980, for reviews), and (e) attention gating (e.g., Reeves & Sperling, 1986;Sperling & Reeves, 1980;Sperling & Weichselgartner, 1995;Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987). Major theories of attention shifts-spotlight (e.g., Posner et al, 1980), zoom lens (e.g., Eriksen & Yeh, 1985), gradient (e.g., …”

Section: Principal Paradigms For Investigating the Mechanisms Of Covementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time course of attention shifts measured by the gating paradigm is consistent with the time course measured by Cheal and Lyon (1991) using spatially cued discrimination. Although the attentiongating paradigm was developed for the task of defining the dynamics of attention shifts (Reeves & Sperling, 1986;Sperling & Reeves, 1980;Sperling & Weichselgartner, 1995;Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987), it so far has not been applied to measuring choice RTs of attention shifts to different locations. We describe the paradigm and its application below.…”

Section: Attention Gatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring and modeling the trajectory of visual spatial attention.

Shih¹,

Sperling²

2002

Psychological Review

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In a novel choice attention-gating paradigm, observers monitor a stream of 3 ϫ 3 letter arrays until a tonal cue directs them to report 1 row. Analyses of the particular arrays from which reported letters are chosen and of the joint probabilities of reporting pairs of letters are used to derive a theory of attention dynamics. An attention window opens 0.15 s following a cue to attend to a location, remains open (minimally) 0.2 s, and admits information simultaneously from all the newly attended locations. The window dynamics are independent of the distance moved. The theory accounts for about 90% of the variance from the over 400 data points obtained from each of the observers in the 3 experiments reported here. With minor elaborations, it applies to all the principal paradigms used to study the dynamics of visual spatial attention.We explored a method of measuring the trajectory of spatial attention that is analogous to measuring the trajectory of subatomic particles in a Glaser bubble chamber (Gray & Isaacs, 1975). In the bubble chamber, a three-dimensional space is filled with a superheated liquid. A particle traveling through the liquid causes rapid localized boiling-microscopic bubbles-along its path. The bubbles can be photographed to indicate the particle's track and the tracks of decay and reaction products that it might produce. The complete tracks of all the bubbles define the trajectory of the particle (see Figure 1). In our procedure, a two-dimensional 3 ϫ 3 array is filled with letters. These letters change 7 to 10 times per second. Thus each letter occupies a little cube in a threedimensional space-time volume. During a movement of voluntary attention, some of the letters along the attention trajectory are entered into memory. The track of the remembered letters defines the trajectory of attention through the three-dimensional volume.Once attention trajectories have been measured in a threedimensional array of letters, it would be desirable to know whether these trajectories are the same trajectories as have been inferred from other procedures, such as partial report, which involves transfer from iconic memory (Neisser, 1967) to durable storage (Coltheart, 1980) of letters in a single two-dimensional array. A strong test of the possibility of equivalent attention trajectories in different experimental paradigms requires that all paradigms be tested with the same observers and with similar stimulus materials. Therefore, in addition to the main experiment, which measured attention shifts in three-dimensional letter arrays, two supplementary experiments were conducted with two-dimensional letter arrays: partial-report and whole-report procedures, each with and without poststimulus masks, all with the same 3 ϫ 3 letter arrays.Whereas estimating an attention trajectory from the letter-filled three-dimensional displays is relatively straightforward, estimating attention trajectories from partial-report experiments is complicated, requiring a full model of information decay, information transfer rates fro...

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“…The present work aims to look at the influence of experience of an attentional set in much the same way as Leber and Egeth (2006).The procedure used will also be a RSVP, best known for demonstrating a finding referred to as the attentional blink (e.g., Reeves & Sperling, 1986;Weichselgartner & Sperling, 1987). The method involves presenting observers with a random succession of items in the same spatial location at a rate of approximately 10 items/s, from which they have to identify two or more targets.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Previous attentional set can induce an attentional blink with task-irrelevant initial targets

Thompson

Underwood

Crundall

2007

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Identification of a second target is often impaired by the requirement to process a prior target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). This is termed the attentional blink. Even when the first target is task irrelevant an attentional blink may occur providing this first target shares similar features with the second target (contingent capture). An RSVP experiment was undertaken to assess whether this first target can still cause an attentional blink when it did not require a response and did not share any features with the following target. The results revealed that such task-irrelevant targets can induce an attentional blink providing that they were task relevant on a previous block of trials. This suggests that irrelevant focal stimuli can distract attention on the basis of a previous attentional set.

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Dynamics of Automatic and Controlled Visual Attention

Cited by 334 publications

References 11 publications

Modulation of the attentional blink by on-line response selection: Evidence from speeded and unspeeded Task1 decisions

Modulation of the attentional blink by on-line response selection: Evidence from speeded and unspeeded Task1 decisions

Measuring and modeling the trajectory of visual spatial attention.

Previous attentional set can induce an attentional blink with task-irrelevant initial targets

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