Irrelevant Words Trigger an Attentional Blink
Abstract
It has been argued that salient distractor items displayed during rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) trigger an attentional blink (AB) when they share features with the target item. Here we demonstrate that salient distractor words induce an AB independently of feature overlap with the target. In two experiments a color-highlighted irrelevant word preceded a target by a variable lag in an RSVP series of false font strings. Target identification was reduced at short relative to long temporal lags between the distractor word and the target, irrespective of feature sharing with the distractor word. When the target shared features with the distractor word, target accuracy was reduced across all lags. Accordingly, feature sharing between the distractor word and the target did not amplify the AB, but had an additive effect on attentional capture by the distractor word.
References
(2007). Blinded by emotion: Target misses follow attention capture by arousing distractors in RSVP. Emotion, 7, 465–477.
(2007). Attention and the processing of emotional words: Dissociating effects of arousal. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 430–435.
(1994). Overriding stimulus-driven attentional capture. Perception & Psychophysics, 55, 485–496.
(2004). Paying attention to meaning. Psychological Science, 15, 179–186.
(2004). Language-independent methods for compiling monolingual lexical data. Proceedings of CIcLING, LNCS. 2945.
(2002). Visual attention and word recognition in Stroop color naming: Is word recognition “automatic”?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131, 220–240.
(2002). Priming and interference effects can be dissociated in the Stroop task: New evidence in favor of the automaticity of word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 113–118.
(1995). A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21, 109–127.
(2002). Made you blink! Contingent attentional capture produces a spatial blink. Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 741–753.
(2003). Focal distraction: Spatial shifts of attentional focus are not required for contingent capture. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 78–91.
(2004). Automatic semantic activation is no myth: Semantic context effects on the N400 in the letter-search task in the absence of response time effects. Psychological Science, 15, 852–857.
(2001). Symbolic control of visual attention. Psychological Science, 12, 360–365.
(1998). The demonstration of short-term consolidation. Cognitive Psychology, 36, 138–202.
(1999). A salient distractor does not disrupt conjunction search. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10, 621–629.
(1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 163–203.
(2006). Attentional capture triggers an attentional blink. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 125–131.
(1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18, 849–860.
(1994). Attention to visual pattern information produces the attentional blink in rapid serial visual presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 351–371.
(1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662.
(2004). Rapid serial visual distraction: Task-irrelevant items can produce an attentional blink. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 1418–1432.
