Original Article
Masking of a first target in the attentional blink attenuates the P3 to the first target and delays the P3 to the second target
Benoit Brisson,
Marie-Ève Bourassa,
Corresponding Author
Benoit Brisson
Laboratoire de cognition, neurosciences, affect et comportement (CogNAC), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition (CERNEC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Address correspondence to: Benoit Brisson, Département de psychology, C.P. 500, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières (QC), G9A 5H7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorMarie-Ève Bourassa
Laboratoire de cognition, neurosciences, affect et comportement (CogNAC), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition (CERNEC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorBenoit Brisson,
Marie-Ève Bourassa,
Corresponding Author
Benoit Brisson
Laboratoire de cognition, neurosciences, affect et comportement (CogNAC), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition (CERNEC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Address correspondence to: Benoit Brisson, Département de psychology, C.P. 500, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières (QC), G9A 5H7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorMarie-Ève Bourassa
Laboratoire de cognition, neurosciences, affect et comportement (CogNAC), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition (CERNEC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorThis research was supported by Discovery (402614-2011) and Research Tools and Instruments–Category 1 (406736-2011) grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the UQTR Research Chairs Program awarded to BB. The authors would also like to thank Isabelle Fafard, Andréanne Bourassa, Joseph-Anaël Lemieux, and Jérémie Gosselin for helping with data collection.
Abstract
The attentional blink (AB) refers to the decline in report accuracy of a second target (T2) when presented shortly after a first target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of distractors. It is known that masking T1 increases the magnitude of the AB, and masking a single target (equivalent to T1) in a RSVP stream attenuates the P3 to the target in correct trials. The major purpose of the present study was to clarify how these two effects may be integrated. An intervening distractor was presented at lag 1 (T1+1), at lag 2 (T1+2), or at neither of these two lags (no distractor). T2 was always presented at lag 3, as the last item in the stream. The P3 to T1 was attenuated and the P3 to T2 delayed in the T1+1 condition compared to the two other distractor conditions. These results clearly show that masking T1 attenuates the P3 to T1 and delays the P3 to T2 in the AB. Implications for extant theories of the AB are discussed.
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