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Abstract:
When observers identify a target (T1), their ability to
identify a subsequent target (T2) is impaired for several hundred
milliseconds afterwards. This phenomenon has been called the
attentional blink (AB). While various models have been proposed to
explain the AB, a common theme is that T1 occupies resource-limited
processes that are required for full processing of any visual
stimulus. We observed a strong AB effect with a digit T1 and a
letter T2. However, when the T2 stimuli were replaced with faces,
there was no longer any deficit observed in T2 processing. This
lack of interference between T1 (number) identification and face
discrimination presents a challenge for any account that explains
the AB by invoking a limited resource that is common to all visual
processing. We have replicated this result across a range of T2
difficulty, with different masking stimuli, and with face stimuli
that were filtered for high and low spatial frequency information.
Finally, when the same face stimuli were inverted, an attentional
blink was observed. We discuss the implications of these results
for central and peripheral processing accounts of the attentional
blink.
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