Attentional blink and impulsiveness: evidence for higher functional impulsivity in non-blinkers compared to blinkers

Effect of Target Semantic Consistency in Different Sequence Positions and Processing Modes on T2 Recognition: Integration and Suppression Based on Cross-Modal Processing

In the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm, sound affects participants' recognition of targets. Although many studies have shown that sound improves cross-modal processing, researchers have not yet explored the effects of sound semantic information with respect to different locations and processing modalities after removing sound saliency. In this study, the RSVP paradigm was used to investigate the difference between attention under conditions of consistent and inconsistent semantics with the target (Experiment 1), as well as the difference between top-down (Experiment 2) and bottom-up processing (Experiment 3) for sounds with consistent semantics with target 2 (T2) at different sequence locations after removing sound saliency. The results showed that cross-modal processing significantly improved attentional blink (AB). The early or lagged appearance of sounds consistent with T2 did not affect participants' judgments in the exogenous attentional modality. However, visual target judgments were improved with endogenous attention. The sequential location of sounds consistent with T2 influenced the judgment of auditory and visual congruency. The results illustrate the effects of sound semantic information in different locations and processing modalities.

Human voices escape the auditory attentional blink: Evidence from detections and pupil responses

Attentional selection of a second target in a rapid stream of stimuli embedding two targets tends to be briefly impaired when two targets are presented in close temporal proximity, an effect known as an attentional blink (AB). Two target sounds (T1 and T2) were embedded in a rapid serial auditory presentation of environmental sounds with a short (Lag 3) or long lag (Lag 9). Participants were to first identify T1 (bell or sine tone) and then to detect T2 (present or absent). Individual stimuli had durations of either 30 or 90 ms, and were presented in streams of 20 sounds. The T2 varied in category: human voice, cello, or dog sound. Previous research has introduced pupillometry as a useful marker of the intensity of cognitive processing and attentional allocation in the visual AB paradigm. Results suggest that the interplay of stimulus factors is critical for target detection accuracy and provides support for the hypothesis that the human voice is the least likely to show an auditory AB (in the 90 ms condition). For the other stimuli, accuracy for T2 was significantly worse at Lag 3 than at Lag 9 in the 90 ms condition, suggesting the presence of an auditory AB. When AB occurred (at Lag 3), we observed smaller pupil dilations, time-locked to the onset of T2, compared to Lag 9, reflecting lower attentional processing when 'blinking' during target detection. Taken together, these findings support the conclusion that human voices escape the AB and that the pupillary changes are consistent with the so-called T2 attentional deficit. In addition, we found some indication that salient stimuli like human voices could require a less intense allocation of attention, or noradrenergic potentiation, compared to other auditory stimuli.

Individual differences in visual salience vary along semantic dimensions

What determines where we look? Theories of attentional guidance hold that image features and task demands govern fixation behavior, while differences between observers are interpreted as a "noise-ceiling" that strictly limits predictability of fixations. However, recent twin studies suggest a genetic basis of gaze-trace similarity for a given stimulus. This leads to the question of how individuals differ in their gaze behavior and what may explain these differences. Here, we investigated the fixations of >100 human adults freely viewing a large set of complex scenes containing thousands of semantically annotated objects. We found systematic individual differences in fixation frequencies along six semantic stimulus dimensions. These differences were large (>twofold) and highly stable across images and time. Surprisingly, they also held for first fixations directed toward each image, commonly interpreted as "bottom-up" visual salience. Their perceptual relevance was documented by a correlation between individual face salience and face recognition skills. The set of reliable individual salience dimensions and their covariance pattern replicated across samples from three different countries, suggesting they reflect fundamental biological mechanisms of attention. Our findings show stable individual differences in salience along a set of fundamental semantic dimensions and that these differences have meaningful perceptual implications. Visual salience reflects features of the observer as well as the image.

Time to see the bigger picture: Individual differences in the attentional blink

If two to-be-identified targets are presented in close temporal succession, identification for the second target is typically impaired. This attentional blink (AB) phenomenon has long been considered as a robust, universal cognitive limitation. However, more recent studies have demonstrated that AB task performance greatly differs between individuals, with some individuals even showing no AB in certain paradigms. Several studies have focused on these individual differences in an attempt to reveal the mechanism underlying the AB, but an overview of this approach is currently missing. Here, by reviewing studies regarding individual differences in AB task performance, we investigate how individual differences have contributed to our understanding of the AB. We show that the individual differences AB literature provides reliable indications that the AB is a multifaceted phenomenon that presumably arises from a combination of factors; individuals with higher levels of executive working memory (WM) functioning and broad attentional focus perform better in the AB paradigm than individuals with lower executive functioning of WM and narrow attentional focus. As it turns out, seeing the bigger picture certainly seems helpful for AB task performance.

Individual differences in dual-target RSVP task performance relate to entrainment but not to individual alpha frequency

The attentional blink (AB) paradigm is widely used to study visual temporal attention. An important feature of the standard AB paradigm is repetitive visual stimulation, more precisely the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of numerous distracters interspersed with two targets. The RSVP stream is likely to result in entrainment of visual cortex, which has been suggested to negatively affect target identification in the AB paradigm. The present EEG study tested this idea with an inter-individual differences approach. AB task performance and measures of entrainment were derived from 51 participants. Other than predicted, moderate positive correlations were observed for inter-trial coherence and performance, but only for targets not immediately preceded by other targets. A positive correlation with power was evident for targets presented in the critical AB time window. In a second step, it was tested whether the distance between individual alpha frequency and RSVP frequency mediated correlations with inter-trial coherence, as entrainment of the visual cortex through repetitive visual stimulation is particularly effective when the frequency of the stimulation matches the individual alpha frequency. However, no evidence was found supporting such link. While compatible with a number of findings related to the AB and to visual entrainment, the findings of the present study do not provide evidence for the notion that entrainment to the RSVP stream creates a neural environment unfavourable for detecting targets an RSVP stream.

Individual Differences in Temporal Selective Attention as Reflected in Pupil Dilation

BACKGROUND

Attention is restricted for the second of two targets when it is presented within 200-500 ms of the first target. This attentional blink (AB) phenomenon allows one to study the dynamics of temporal selective attention by varying the interval between the two targets (T1 and T2). Whereas the AB has long been considered as a robust and universal cognitive limitation, several studies have demonstrated that AB task performance greatly differs between individuals, with some individuals showing no AB whatsoever.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Here, we studied these individual differences in AB task performance in relation to differences in attentional timing. Furthermore, we investigated whether AB magnitude is predictive for the amount of attention allocated to T1. For both these purposes pupil dilation was measured, and analyzed with our recently developed deconvolution method. We found that the dynamics of temporal attention in small versus large blinkers differ in a number of ways. Individuals with a relatively small AB magnitude seem better able to preserve temporal order information. In addition, they are quicker to allocate attention to both T1 and T2 than large blinkers. Although a popular explanation of the AB is that it is caused by an unnecessary overinvestment of attention allocated to T1, a more complex picture emerged from our data, suggesting that this may depend on whether one is a small or a large blinker.

CONCLUSION

The use of pupil dilation deconvolution seems to be a powerful approach to study the temporal dynamics of attention, bringing us a step closer to understanding the elusive nature of the AB. We conclude that the timing of attention to targets may be more important than the amount of allocated attention in accounting for individual differences.