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The attentional blink reflects retrieval competition among multiple rapid serial visual presentation items: Tests of an interference model.

1999; American Psychological Association; Volume: 25; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1037//0096-1523.25.6.1774

1939-1277

Matthew I. Isaak, Kimron L. Shapiro, Jesse Martin,

Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

When people respond to a target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation stream, their perception of a subsequent target (T2) is impaired if the intertarget stimulus onset asynchrony is between about 100 and 500 ms. Three experiments supported the interference model's (K. L. Shapiro, J. E. Raymond, & K. M. Arnell, 1994) claim that this attentional blink reflects competition for retrieval among multiple items in visual short-term memory. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that items appearing during the blink are named as T2 on an above-chance proportion of trials when T2 must be identified. Experiment 3 demonstrated that both the size of the blink and sensitivity to T2 reflected the number of items competing for retrieval as T2; such competition, moreover, occurred at a conceptual or categorical level rather than at a purely visual one. The relationship between the interference and alternative models of the attentional blink is discussed.