The attentional blink with targets in different spatial locations

When two targets (T1 and T2) are displayed in rapid succession, accuracy of T2 identification varies as a function of the temporal lag between the tar gets (attentional blink, AB). In some studies, performance has been found t o be most impaired at Lag 1-namely, when T2 followed T1 directly. In other studies, T2 performance at Lag 1 has been virtually unimpaired (Lag I spari ng). In the present work, we examined how Lag 1 sparing is affected by atte ntional switches between targets displayed in the same location or in diffe rent locations. We found that Lag 1 sparing does not occur when a spatial s hift is required between T1 and T2. This suggests that attention cannot be switched to a new location while the system is busy processing another stim ulus. The results are explained by a modified version of an attentional gat ing model (Chun & Potter, 1995; Shapiro & Raymond, 1994).