SOURCES OF THE ATTENTIONAL BLINK DURING RAPID SERIAL VISUAL PRESENTATION - PERCEPTUAL INTERFERENCE AND RETRIEVAL COMPETITION

Observers watched for 1 or 2 colored words as targets presented in lis ts of distracter strings (10 items/s). Identification of 1 target (T1) temporarily reduced the accuracy of reporting a 2nd target (T2). This attentional blink (AB) effect was most pronounced when T1 and T2 occu rred close together in time. Use of recognition tests (instead of reca ll) improved performance but did not eliminate the AB effect. The AB e ffect was found with both word and nonword distracters, a smaller AB e ffect was found with consonant string distracters, and the AB effect w as substantially attenuated with strings of unfamiliar characters (a f alse font). Analyses of errors indicated that the 2nd target is freque ntly replaced or corrupted by the following distracter during the blin k. The AB effect appears to result from both attentional and mnemonic processes.