Abstract
When asked to identify targets embedded within a rapid consecutive stream of visual stimuli, observers are less able to identify the second target (T2) when it is presented within half a second of the first (T1); this deficit has been termed theattentional blink (AB). Rapid serial visual presentation methodology was used to investigate the relationship between the AB and object files (episodic representations implicated in object identification and perceptual constancy). An inverse linear relationship was found between the degree of object file continuity and AB magnitude. An important locus of object file continuity was the intervening stream items between T1 and T2. The results are discussed in terms of the heuristic of the object file to preserve limited attentional capacity.
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This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of the first author, who was supported by a PhD Studentship R00429834497 from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship T026271138. Some of the data from Experiments 1 and 2 were featured in a paper presented by the second author at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Los Angeles, November 1999. Data from Experiments 1, 2, and 6 were presented by the first author at the 10th Annual Workshop on Object Perception and Memory, Kansas City, November 2002.
Note—This article was accepted by the previous editorial team, headed by Neil Macmillan
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Kellie, F.J., Shapiro, K.L. Object file continuity predicts attentional blink magnitude. Perception & Psychophysics 66, 692–712 (2004). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194912
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194912