ATTENTIONAL BLINK IN GLOBAL VERSUS LOCAL ATTENTIONAL MODES

Purpose: Brain imaging studies have shown that global and local attent ion activate different areas of the brain, with implication for depend ence of perception on attentional state.The aim of the present experim ent was to investigate the duration of the attentional blink in global versus local attention. Methods: Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RS VP) sequences of global/local stimuli were presented to 34 adult subje cts who had to identify a target red figure followed by a determinatio n of whether a certain probe letter 'X' (specified to be either the gl obal or local form), was present in the subsequent string of letters. Results: Attentional blinks were longer than any previously reported ( 1.67 s global; 2.97 s local) and were significantly different. Thus, t he length of the attentional blink is dependent on the attentional sta te of the subject. Conclusion: This pattern of results is consistent w ith the hypothesis that global attention mechanisms receive predominan tly M-pathway input.