Examining temporal and spatial attention with a reaction time attentional blink

ABSTRACT

Spatial distractor processing is impacted by the availability of spatial attention. What is less clear is the extent to which temporal selection alters such spatial selection, when considering response selection. The attentional blink (AB) paradigm is well-suited for studying this question. In this study, we adapted the AB task to measure response times. In Experiment 1, participants identified two targets (T1 and T2), where T2 was presented after T1 at varying lags. Temporal selection is said to select distractors only when T2 is presented within certain lags. Confirming this, an AB effect was found with slower responses to T2 at short lags. To test how temporal selection affects spatial selection in Experiments 2 and 3, response congruent and incongruent flankers were introduced beside T2 to determine if congruency effects change with lag. This was not observed, suggesting that spatial and temporal attention mechanisms may be separable.

KEYWORDS:

• Spatial attention
• temporal attention
• attentional blink
• rapid serial visual presentation

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada under the Discovery Grant 2016–06359 to Jay Pratt. The authors would like to thank Hayley Lagroix for her help with the experimental design and programming of Experiments 1 and 3.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: [Grant Number Discovery Grant - 2016-06359].